Normally, the impact of changes announced in the budget appear to be fairly marginal but without appearing too pessimistic, I seem to come out at the wrong end of every change that was announced. For example, let us take the abolition of the standing charge on gas which, on the face of it, is good news.The utility companies will just recalibrate their unit charges so if you consume somewhat more than the average amount of gas, you will probably end up paying more. I think this is happening to me because although I try to not waste gas by turning off the radiators in unused rooms, my gas bill is still to heat a large-ish house and so I suspect that I will end up paying more. In a similar vein, I received a letter announcing the award of a winter fuel allowance which is to be recovered through the tax system for some of us. Similarly, the relief on rapidly rising gas prices applied to properties in the A-D band ranges only and so on and so forth. It does look as though reliefs in the budget are concentrated on those with low incomes which must be a good thing in total but I am resigned to the fact that from April onwards when new prices on gas will come into effect, I shall have at least a year when my living standard in purely monetary terms will fall. But there is a very old fashioned expression which will be familiar to the older generation but not to the younger which is that you ‘Cut your coat according to the cloth’. which is self explanatory and which is, of course, what millions of us have done for years. The day today will be a quiet one but tomorrow will be very much busier as my son is calling around, my U3A Philosophy group are having a monthly meeting and in the early afternoon I shall be entertaining the newly formed church Spanish speakers little group round for soup of which I now have a copious supply such that I can offer a choice of either sweet potato or curried parsnip and I remembered to buy some rolls that can be warmed in the oven to serve with the soup. As part of my tidying up activities, I have an emergency flashlight – the sort that can be utilised if you have a breakdown when motoring – which has a choice of three modes of either bright, very bright or multi-coloured flashing mode. This I have put in a particular location in the kitchen so that in the event of a total power cut (which did happen to me about a year or so ago), I can immediately put my hands on it. Bu this flashlight has a charging cable which is a bit messy to store neatly but a solution has come to hand. When I see them in stationary stores, there are transparent pencil cases much beloved of some school children but I find them excellent for storing items such as cables because as well as keeping them neat and tidy, it is immediately apparent what the case contains. In the past, I found this invaluable when transporting medications in a suitcase and going through customs when travelling abroad.
After the Tai Chi class, I went with a couple of fellow group members to my favourite ‘Gifts of Love’ charity outlet on the High street for a coffee. We spent a pleasant half hour or so in each others company before we all went on or various ways. As I was adjacent to various charity shops, I went on a quick whizz around and then in the Cancer Relief shop espied a fleeced waterproof men’s outdoor jacket which looked in much better condition than my old one. It was a ‘large’ size which is what need to go over my quite bulky leather jacket and having ensured that the zip worked well, I was delighted to find that it had two large pockets each made especially safe by being protected by a zip. So purchased the jacket and will bring it into constant use when the heavens open these days as they will during the rest of the autumn and winter. My chiropodist was due to call around I the early afternoon so I delayed my lunch of quiche and stir-fried vegetables until after she had gone. I am not tempted to watch ay old film during the afternoons but as it happened, there was a 1954 version of the J B Priestley ‘An Inspector Calls’. I picked up watching this play half way through but the drama intensifies as the play proceeds so I really enjoyed this viewing. I was a little puzzled by the way in which this version of the play ended so I went onto the net to discover that there are indeed different ways in which the directors of productions have brought the play to a conclusion (as I also found out when I viewed the classic ’39 steps’ recently) Upon consulting one of my soup books, I have noticed a recipe for carrot and orange soup and I happen to have bought 1½ kilos of carrots in my weekly shopping and also have some left over concentrated orange juice so I will make this into my latest venture. When visitors call tomorrow, I hope to have a range of soups to put before them and it will be interesting to see where their preferences lie. As I climbed up the stairs in my house to pay a visit to my bedroom, I idly wondered if there was any connection between stair climbing and the health of one’s heart and/or brain. A search revealed the following. There is strong research evidence shows that regular stair climbing—often considered a vigorous or moderate ‘snack-sized’ exercise—provides significant benefits for heart health and general longevity, while also supporting brain health indirectly through improved cardiovascular and cerebral blood flow. A major research review and meta-analysis published by the American Society of Cardiology (ESC Preventive Cardiology) analysed data from nine studies involving over 480,000 participants (ages 35 to 84) and found that regular stair climbing is associated with a 39% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 24% lower risk of death from any cause. So, I ask myself, why are we encouraging older people to live in bungalows and low rise dwellings? Perhaps we are stuck in a cultural time warp in which the climbing of stairs is judged to be bad for one and I suppose that in the event of extreme old age, infirmity and illness, staircases prove problematic for many. But this can be alleviated by the installation of a stairlift when absolutely necessary – in the case of Meg, we eventually had a stair lift installed and then promptly had it removed after her demise.