I learnt a new word today and that word was Greedflation but it’s meaning held no surprises for me. Actually, quite the opposite. Its what I and many thought was going on but were told it was nonsense.

Greedflation; the process retailers have used to artificially rise prices under the excuse of Covid-19 and the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Okay, there was a shortage of materials, products and services during Covid-19 as many items could not be shipped, mined, produced and developed. This cut wholesale stock-piles to low levels or even nothing. Supply and demand dictated prices. I think we can all forgive and understand that.

However, many retailers pushed up their prices well above their extra incurred costs and therefore made a larger profit. Take BT for instance. It raised its prices by a whapping 14.5% when inflation was running at around 10%. That is pure profiteering, which I thought was illegal. Why were they seeing higher costs than everyone else?

Oil and gas prices went historically low but the end user still hasn’t seen anywhere near the price cuts that could have been offered and these giants have bragged about their collossal profits at our cost.

Suppermarkets have inflated prices, cut the portion sizes and have hoodwinked their customers under the banners of Covid-19, War and the erratic supply chain. Even our loyalty cards have been hit all in the name of pricing.

While incomes have hardly moved for the masses, the elite have been languishing off bumper profits paid for by a squeezed society in the midst of a cost of living crissis. An artificial cost of living crissis if truth be told.

Many companies didn’t need to use these hikes as the Government paid them subsidies or gave them massive contracts which were paid for by the tax-payer but not delivered.

Where have the billions of wasted money gone which should have been paid back or never paid out inthe first place? Corruption, greed, mates and immorality is where and we are to beleive it was all necessary for our benefit and safety of the citizen.

All these price hikes have made a massive impact on the little traders and self employed as all their costs have spiralled up but the difference is their customers can’t cover the increases so these traders have had to take a loss in earnings just to keep their businesses alive. Many have folded as they can’t afford to carry on.

The sad thing is that now we learn that a lot of these increases were unnecessary and unfair and weren’t just to cover supply problems. They have linned the pockets of the boss.

I just hope they are happy and have put some of their gains aside for the future because this practice is not sustainable in the long run. Unfortunately, I fear it will be the front-line staff, mid-low income earners and junior managers who will suffer due to job losses, pay-cuts and over-work to justify profits and so called efficiency drives.

The Sherrif of Nottingham and King John were the good guys compared to our modern day capitalist boss who care nothing about morals, rights, laws loyalty and a company’s future.

Still on the plus side we are getting closer to net zero and a way of life that is own nothing and be happy.

Work sets you free!!!

I don’t know about you but routines and habits are important to me and if they are broken it takes a huge amount of time and effort to get back on course again and I don’t really understand why or how to fix this.

I end up drifting along without any sense or purpose and feel there is always something missing, loose myself or ask the question “what am I doing and whats it all about?”.

Since the death of my parents (7 yrs mum and 5 yrs dad) I have had fads. I’ve always had fads but there was focus and parental grounding then but now I just feel like I am awaiting the end and I am a spare cog no no in the wheel of life and society. Its not depression or loneliness or even sadness, its an empty void that just cannot be filled and its this space which is hindering lasting change.

I have a lovely family, a comfortable home, a pleasant car to drive, money in the bank, possessions and clothes and good health for my age so what is not to like. I even have a part-time job with another in the pipeline to keep me busy. It should be enough. Why is it not enough?

However, I used to blog regularly then got distracted by a new relationship, death and moving home. Before that it was cycling until time and fitness (unfitness is more accurate) got it the way. I even started writing a book but halfway through it stopped. Woodworking became another interest but a lack of inspiration, money and an unorganized workshop has made it hard to continue plus I was getting a mountain of completed projects with nowhere to store or show them. Injury has blocked my gym routine and although I am feeling a lot better I just can’t find the motivation to go out there because its cold and requires discipline and effort.

I feel like clearing everything out and starting again as everything feels cluttered, lost, dirty or in the wrong place and there are too many of each thing. We have three dinning tables and chair sets, occasional tables (more than a few) and many, many bowls. I’ve got more t-shirts and clothes than are necessary for a man and stuff I never use and its just habit that I keep them or buy more. I just can’t come to let go of things as they may come in useful, have sentimental value or I just can’t be bothered.

I know what is wrong now I have written things down and that is there are too many things happening in my life and instead of trying to do them all I should focus on one at a time but here lays the rub. What to do as if I focus on one thing then everything else gets abandoned and I don’t want that to happen and this is where routine, habit and discipline come in and my guess once one gets interrupted then all the others do too.

There I have it!!!!! The answer!!!

Make a list of what is important, schedule time, tidy up, think about selling some products to pay for the hobby, relax and dispense of the things that hinder growth.

Its not wrong to be spontaneous but routine is key.

I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.

Who can honestly say they like working? How many of us get to do the job they wanted to do? How did one get the inspiration at a young age to know what career or job they wanted to do? Is work that simple?

I have had many different jobs over the years and some I have enjoyed and some I have hated but I have been lucky to have received an income from my services. Greengrocer assistant, engineering, warehousing, builder’s merchant, English Heritage tour guide, hospital porter, groundworker, self employed grass cutter/odd jobman, postman, dot com assistant for Tesco, distribution auditor for a prison and helping my wife do end of tenancy cleaning.

Okay they are nothing great and quite simple to do but most are physically demanding and require teamwork. The best jobs by far were grass-cutting and postman until it went privatized (as the greed of the bosses outshadowed the service needs of the job) and I was happy doing these. Health and personal problems made things very difficult in the end so a change was needed.

However, throughout my working life there has been a constant theme and that is bullying by bosses, supervisors or colleagues and this has resulted in resignation from jobs I would otherwise have probably stayed in. How do these bullies think its right to hurt other people? Even when one reports a problem it is rarely looked into and when it is the victim is the one who so often is the one to suffer even more and the bully continues in their position to prey again on another weaker victim.

I do feel angry at times for the workers in our present times as a job is hard to come by and with the rise in the cost of living bosses can capitalize on this as they know their staff will have little or no power to argue. Bullying, harassment and contempt are at an all-time high and moral, pay and conditions are at a low. This is no way to structure a business or service. Rarely will one see high productivity, efficiency and profits from an unhappy workforce but the bosses and bean counters seem to think this is the perfect recipe for success just because their pay-packets are swelling beyond eye-watering amounts and once they have bled one company dry off the trot to another to do the very same without any remorse for the carnage they leave behind.

Our Unions have been crushed, our many years of experience have been ignored, loyalty counts for nothing and failure is greeted with promotion. Demonstration are being ignored, hindered by new legislation or banishment so even our voices are slowly being silenced. How has this come about? It cant’t be as simple as seeing university graduates being fast-tracked into management (with little or no experience) at the expense of those working up from the ground who are kept down and ignored or the fact that investment in upper-management takes priority over equipment and staff at the sharp end? What is the point of trying when one can receive the same wage/salary as those who just turn up and do the bare minimum?

Is work then all about money, power, status and feeling better than everyone else? Do our kids at school now aspire to a career of bullying, power, money, dumb influencer careers and selfishness and gone are the days one could, when asked what do you want to do when you leave school, answer dustman, pilot, soldier, nurse, fisherman, welder, builder, doctor,musician, actor, accountant all in the same classroom?

Everything costs today and life is so fast and complicated that its almost suffocating and chasing the dollar to pay the bills is an endless race and that’s without the constant threat of scams and hackers intent on draining what little we have left. Its little wonder mental health problems are on the rise and more and more homeless are walking our streets or need help.

Work and the World have gone mad and the only way forward is to rebuild the ethics of work from the ground upwards and do away with the power/money greedy bosses (who are causing our businesses and services to become so bad) and restore our efficiency and productivity to levels never seen before. Then maybe we can all share from the fruits of our labour.

What a World we live in!

I have had solar panels on my home for a while now and they seem to work well but I felt they could do more. Not produce more, as I am no electrician or solar expert, but work to increase efficiency and lower costs.

Only time will tell if the choice I have made was worth it.

I have taken the step of going electric in my choice of car and the one I opted for was the Nissan Ariya E-4orce Dual Motor AWD in a dark blue colour.

It is a massive leap for me and a very different drive to the Mercedes C300d Cabriolet and I was very nervous about the change.

Yes it was an expensive purchase but then again most cars are nowadays and some of the second hand cars have gone insanely high. However, I was pleased with the deal I brokered and the service I received so I went for it.

I am into my second week of owning a purely electric car and I must say there have been no issues apart from a software conflict between the remote control cabin climate control and the car alarm when it is set to warm the car up before one gets in. This I am assured will be sorted.

I had to wait for a week to have a PodPoint charger installed (cost included in purchase price of car) but it does charge from a three pin plug but be prepared for long wait if that is your only option. From 50% to full on three pin is around 14 hours but through wall charger it around 3 hours.

The car itself drives similarly to a normal automatic car but the response is instant and can be quite fun along with the fact that its quiet so one can hear their sound system better. The technology on this car is staggering. but the few things I love are the Heads-Up Display, the E-Pedal (allowing the motor to brake and regenerate the battery) which cuts down on braking and the ability to warm up and defrost the car from inside the home. Oh and to set the sat-nav remotely from a mobile phone. The voice control is a bit flakey but that might just be this users fault as he may not quite understand it yet.

Like any fuel powered vehicle one must keep an eye on how much there is in the tank but charging is a doddle, the AP shows where the nearest public chargers are (and what type of charger they are. Slow being the cheaper and super fast being eye-wateringly expensive) and for most use one has to charge up once a week. If you have solar panels then choose a sunnier day and its free.

First impressions are very good. Lower brake wear, no emissions, quieter ride, smooth acceleration, lower running costs, AW drive and great technology are certainly great factors to go electric. However, for those doing frequent, long-range journeys, have no off-road parking, maybe have yet to invest in solar panels and prefer the roar of a V8 then electric is not quite there yet.

I shall endeavor to continue my experiment and evaluation and report back my findings.

I can’t be alone thinking that everything in the world has become a little or a lot frustrating can I?

I love technology which won’t be a shock to many but I am beginning to hate it too as instead of getting better it so often gets worse or one is forced to upgrade to the next thing as older versions are not compatible.

Take WiFi for example. It enables wireless connections and allows one to stream music, connect cameras, browse the internet and do a plethora of other things and its great when it works but it is a bore when it stops working or has a weak signal. As with so many modern systems the tech is advancing faster than our providers upgrade the infrastructure to meet demand. Oh but they still take your money even though the service deteriorates. Every home should have fibre to the house by now but no we are left floundering on low bandwidths that can’t cope.

Since Covid customer services (or they should be renamed inconvenient user non-services) have become a joke. One is kept hanging online for beard-growing lengths of time only to be told you’ve come through to wrong department even though you have painstakingly pressed 1 for this, 2 for that and have given over details down to which side of the bed you sleep and that is after one has spent an hour or so trying to find a contact number. Oh and don’t thing e-mailing or writing is any better as a simple question can take day/weeks to answer by which time it is often too late. Then we come to the chat bots that can’t even answer basic things without gathering half a screen of information that is irrelevant to the conversation. With all the recording and customer surveys and feedback one gives this simple art of helping customers should be exemplary but they are let down by bosses cutting staff numbers, people working from home (with access to limited information) introducing AI and generally forgetting that without custom these bosses and companies would go bankrupt.

WHO (world health organisation) has quietly been passing a bill for global authority over our health and the final vote, behind closed doors and with no debate, will be held in May 2024. If passed they will have the power to restrict movement, lock-down areas, force vaccination, do genetic manipulation, say what plants and animals can remain or not and we will be powerless to stop them. If it happens then what next forced electronic identity cards, a world central bank dictating a digital currency only, a point system where you can only do certain things and a manipulation of what you can buy (a person who eats too much or drinks too much can be rationed). It is all coming and we as a people have slept-walked into it.

To be honest I am glad I am happy with who I am. Yes I know I could talk less, be a bit less boring and try and improve on all of my shortcomings but then I would be someone else so you are stuck with the I am happy who I am guy. However, it is becoming increasingly dangerous to talk to others as it could offend their gender category, is not inline with their views (debate is slowly being eradicated as another’s view is shouted down as rubbish and then you are demonized) and its confusing to know which loo to use or whether to hold a door open or thank someone. Low and behold one actually says hello in the street.

All this madness seems petty compared to Ukraine, Israel and Korea but it certainly doesn’t help as it feels like we are on the edge of another World War and unless we change things look quite worrying and terrifying.

Religion, Money, Greed for Power and Selfishness are the root behind all of the world problems but sadly there seems nothing we can do to stop the machine from moving onward and crushing everything in its way.

But I guess with Global Warming, Climate Change and Nuclear Power Earth will shortly be a place uninhabitable by the average human and it will only be the elite few who have deep dug bunkers, rockets to speed them away or undersea palaces that will remain.

Good luck to them.

I am no Royalist if I am honest but I do respect The Monarchy of Britain and The Commonwealth and am proud to be amongst It’s subjects.

It has been a long time since I posted on here but the passing of Queen Elizabeth the 2nd has stirred many emotions, thoughts and memories.

To serve a nation for seventy years is longer than any Monarch this country has ever seen and probably will never be surpassed and to remain honest, caring and graceful to the very end is nothing short of amazing. I wonder how anybody else could have pulled this off with such a steadfast sense of duty and adherence to a promise given all those years ago?

I did watch, from home, the funeral yesterday and I was overwhelmed at times by the shear volumes of emotion and pride that one single person can evoke even though they are not a close relation or known friend. The organisation was planned to perfection and executed in a flawless manner and everyone involved in this should be deeply proud and happy that they enabled so many to pay their respects and say goodbye.

Seeing Her Majesty’s favourite pony standing alone with a lone groom was among one of the simple touches that made such a poignant statement and was such a warm tribute.

The thousands of armed forces personnel, police units and representors from around the world that made up the almost endless procession through the streets of London was a joy to behold and every single one of them was a shining example and inspiration to our Nation. As for the eight young men who had the honour of being the Pallbearers; they fulfilled their duties above and beyond.

I sincerely hope that these events will bring a family closer together and repair the many rifts that need to be bridged.

There have been many occasions in recent years that have left a very sour taste in my mouth and made me feel less than proud to be British. Examples including Brexit, anti-immigration, illegal wars, revelations of racism and slavery, hooliganism in sport, riots and the selling off of some of our national institutions have all damaged our world reputation but the sights and pageantry shown over the last week maybe will go some way to restore our status. I know its given me pride and humility.

I appreciate my words will come across as simple and dull and may not portray the huge sentiment that I was trying to convey but I am no writer. I just felt compelled to say something.

Farewell Your Majesty and have a long and well deserved rest and thank you.

Long Live The King.

Once again we seem to be in the same position as we found ourselves two or three years ago.

No one seems to have the first idea of what is going on or is actually going to happen and all that it is resulting in is that everything is confused and surrounded in spin and scaremongering.

All the people want and need are the hard facts and numbers so they  can make an informed and honest decision for our future. 

As it stands we don’t have a hope in hell of deciphering the true from the false and our Government will just blunder on regardless because their term of office will be done and dusted when the true horrors will emerge. These leaders will have their pockets and futures secured and filled and will be able to sit back and let some poor mugs carry the can.

The older generation will have little worries as they probably will not be around to see the results of blind justice.

The real problem area are the nursery school children who will have to grow up and shoulder the responsibility and try and make something out of this disaster. 

However, attitudes must change. Capitalism, boardroom greed, out of touch leadership, bonuses for incompetence, dishonesty and pay gaps must be looked at and changes must be made to regain a balance in society that will embed trust, stability and a beneficial future for all.

Sadly, I  cannot see this happening as our role models have no moral compass, leadership skills, honesty or benevolence outside their own selfish estates.

So my view at present is we are doomed to remain, ill-equipped to leave and totally misrepresented to make a choice.

Democracy? 

I love my job but hate the politics and unrelenting demands and bullying that seem to increase monthly to justify the bonus culture and fat cat business practises by those incharge. So I may love my job but I hate actually doing it under these constraints.

With very few qualifications or relevant skill sets it is not an easy ask to find a job that renumerates  one at the same level. Happiness is the key but if that price comes at a lower cost then the results would be catastrophic.

I am by no means old but I am certainly not young. Age is not the important factor here it is the physical abilities to keep going.

Retirement is not an option at present as mortgages and such bar the way let alone the fact that the savings pot is almost empty. However, one must begin to think about it.

And here lies the problem or question. What to do?

Many people have hobbies and interests that gradually take over their lives and work then lessens and the hobby takes over until one day it replaces work entirely. Some love their work that they remain in it regardless of age. This is all well and good but for those of us that do not want endless days of nothing it is all very daunting and reminds us of days gone by.

When I was about to leave school I had to attend a careers advice session. Great, I thought until it was over and I was none the wiser and in this state of ambient limbo I have remained. I am confident that I have attributes and skills way above what I give but sadly they have not been drawn out of me and I don’t have the direction to focus on to show them.

I am not saying I do not have interests. Far from it. What I lack, though, is something “filling the day” interesting. I am sure I am not alone in this.

I cannot retire with nothing to do but finding something that inspires me never seems to materialise. However much I seek, whatever I discover and whoever gives advice it just is not what floats my boat or is so expensive that it is dismissed.

So this is what worries me. I must be lazy at heart. I do not particularly relish the day that I wander into town to sit in coffee shops to read the paper, watch the world go by, walk about a bit till its time to go home for an afternoon and evening of television and bed. Equally, I could not see myself sailing round the world single handedly.

The countdown to retirement is real and somehow between now and ten years time I have to set out some sort of plan to realise that dream.

Life has brought me this far and I am proud that I am beginning to overcome one of my crippling conditions through hard work and looking at things in a different way so who knows what influences are around the corner.