22-08-21 - Sunday I - Farewell to the C-Max

For a number of years now, we've had a Ford C-Max. I'd forgotten how long, actually, but looking at the paperwork it's been since 2016, so six years. A couple of weeks ago while driving home from an appointment, it developed a fault. As we pulled out of Tesco, I noticed that the red battery light had come on. I pulled over and stopped the car, and restarted the engine. Great, I thought to myself, the light has gone out. But after a few seconds it came back on. Okay, not a big deal, I thought to myself, we're probably less than a mile from home. We can sort it out when we get back there. So things were fine, until we tried to turn into our road, when I realised that the power steering had stopped working. Trying to turn into the road at a low speed meant really applying some elbow grease into turning the wheel. I got that done, and then pulled up opposite the house, and stopped the engine, which was a mistake. When I tried to restart it, there was a clicking noise but the engine didn't turn over. So we had to push the car into the garden, and resolved to call the RAC the next morning.

Well the RAC man came and advised that the alternator was in a bad way. Not only had it stopped working (because normally it powers the battery) but it was short-circuiting, which meant that it was draining the battery - hence the speedy failure of the power steering. If we had driven much further I am sure other essentials, like the lights for instance, would have stopped working. So he offered to tow it to the garage for us, and I asked them to give us a quote to fix it, which came in at £890 - a bit too rich for my blood. If it had been more like £500, I would have done it, so instead we decided to scrap the car, and we got £250 for it. 

It's a bit of a shame, because we liked the size of the C-Max. We could fit the dog in the back, or a tent, or a super-massive weekly shop. Now we are reliant on a Fiesta, which is a much smaller car, and while in the short run there is no issue, I can see that long-term we will start to miss the C-Max. But while the cost of second-hand cars is so high, I can't see us replacing it - except that we might get some money in a couple of months from Dad's estate - but that is already ear-marked several times over, to pay for the extortionate energy costs incoming, and also to pay for TE's accommodation when she goes to University next year. So a spacious second car is very far down the priority list... 

TTFN. 

22-08-17 - Wednesday I - What to Write?

I sit here, angry and despairing in equal measure. Faced with a blank page, I have no idea where to start. Prices are rising and wages are stagnant, as has been the case for the past few years, and while some people have been willing to suck it up, prices are now rising at over 10% per year, which is unpalatable to those who have seen their disposable income being whittled away over the previous years, albeit at a slower rate. 

I realise that the prices are rising due to the war in Ukraine, but we could have taken steps in the last 12 years to ensure that the UK has a robust economy. Instead it feels like we've been hollowing it out, so that it looks fine from the outside, but at the first gust of unexpected global headwinds it collapses. The number of trades unions waking up to the fact that they are providing their labour and expertise for basically the same price as they did five years ago, despite the fact that their wages don't buy the same amount these days appears to be growing exponentially, and they are all deciding to strike. 

I'm not a member of a union, but normally wage discussions are ongoing when I get my annual settlement, and I have in the past been awarded what a union might refer to as "a derisory pay increase". As it is, I do (and have done) okay. But I can see why these guys are upset, and I can see why things are coming to a head now. So fair play and good luck to them. 

I guess the TL:DR point of this is that the UK economy is screwed (putting it politely) and currently I can't see any solution - certainly the solution isn't called Truss or Sunak. 

TTFN.