St Georges Day #review
It’s St George’s Day on Thursday and will be celebrated as St George is the patron saint of England. There is an event at West Bromwich Manor House today and it’s the Stone Cross St George’s Day parade tomorrow.
First day of spring #review
Yes, it’s the first day of spring. Yesterday it was the spring equinox, the solar eclipse and there was even a super-moon, I didn’t see the super-moon, it was a bit cloudy. These things are events like Christmas and birthdays. (more…)
The Saturday Review #Blackcountry
The sun came out a little bit on Tuesday, so we went out to take some photographs. This is Farley Park in Great Bridge. I’ll be using more pictures that I took on Tuesday for my weekly photography lesson on Wednesday. (more…)
Looking forward to Spring?
Retailers always have another way to get us to part with our money. The latest one seems to be ‘pay-day deals’. I wonder how they know when we’ve been paid. It all sounds very Orwellian to me. (more…)
Changing times
Change
Things constantly change and we welcome some changes like improvements in technology. Scientific discoveries lead to new drugs and better healthcare. Some change is based on political ideology, religious fanaticism or is fuelled by hatred and we see no sense in it. (more…)
Thrifty Thursday: Keep on saving
The Aldi super-six this week are cherry tomatoes (300g), savoy cabbage, carrots (1Kg), celery, onions (1Kg) and snack pack grapes (170g). They are all 39p and that offer lasts until the 24th of September. I like celery in soup or stew… (more…)
The Review: Black Country Festival
Here in the Black Country events are being held on the run up to Black Country Day. Today there will be an event at West Bromwich Manor House and they have stocked the bar! They have even gorra Ukulele Band! Dow miss that! (more…)
The Review: Life is so complicated
Today’s picture is of the River Tame. Those flowers are dying off now, but it always looks good in May. The Tame is the subject of a heritage project now and they need a volunteer to help.The application seemed a bit too complicated for a job where you don’t actually get paid. (more…)
The review: We are yamyams!
The weather forecast for this Bank Holiday weekend is good. I’m hoping to get out in the garden today and finish my runner bean trench. Gardening is popular in the Black Country. I’ll also be out taking photographs, watch out for me!
Experts and education
Did you remember to change your clocks this morning? Yes, we changed to British Summer Time here in the UK, this morning. I was up an hour earlier, but the heating didn’t come on to warm the house before I got out of bed. It was a bit chilly… (more…)
The Review: The end of winter
It’s the Spring Equinox on Thursday; winter is finally ending. Some weather forecasters are saying we will have a heat wave again like last summer. The ones on the BBC have said Spring starts on the 1st of March; so we’ll ignore them… (more…)
The review: Local community and events
I’ve had a strange week. I did finally manage to get to the hospital for my blood test. I was in and out in 10 minutes, which left 20 minutes on my 30 minutes parking. At a pound for 30 minutes, it seemed a shame to waste it. The car park was quite full though and so I decided not to join the Costa Coffee crowd, although the Taste Cafe was a little tempting. (more…)
Thrifty Thursday: saving the pennies
The Aldi super-six are lemons (3), swede, leeks (500g), Mangetout (150g), fun-size pears (8) and carrots (1Kg). They are all 69p, except the carrots are 49p. The super-six meat offer includes the chicken thighs and drumsticks for £2.49.
The Review: A week of floods
We haven’t been affected much by the floods here in the Black Country. The River Tame flooded a little and I managed to get a photo. It probably flooded a bit in Sandwell Valley Countryside Park too, but the excess would go into Forge Mill Lake. Maybe they need a balancing lake on the Thames?
Kidding themselves
I watched a video this week of young children going up to smokers in the street and asking them for a light. The smokers responded by giving them a lecture on the dangers and health risks associated with smoking. The children then gave them a leaflet that asked them why, if they cared about the child, they didn’t care about themselves. (more…)
Sunday thoughts in Autumn
We are well into Autumn now and in England that means the changing colours of nature. People around the world have commented on today’s photograph and it’s not that special. Is it? It’s just trees and leaves, but it does represent nature’s ability to change. I think we can probably learn a lot from trees.
How to budget with personal accounts
Accounts Book
We all have money coming in and going out and it helps to keep track of all your money on paper or a computer. I prefer a simple accounts book. It doesn’t have to be a a special book. I use a simple hard backed book from Poundland. (more…)
OMG! The Bullingdon Boys are in Beijing!
Bullingdon
Yes, the Bullingdon Club boys, George Osborne and his mate Boris Johnson have been dispatched to Beijing to get investment for Britain. My apologies for linking the Bullingdon word to the Daily Mail, but like George and Boris I was desperate. The picture is good isn’t it? Notice the big gun on the top of that boat!
Black Country creativity
I went to Bilston Craft Gallery on Thursday and it was much better than I thought it would be. My photographs didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, but I did get some decent ones. It’s a nice Victorian building with interesting gardens. Some of the exhibits are crafts, but most I would describe as works of art.
Darlaston | preserving images of industrial history
I have started photographing old buildings so we have some nostalgic reminders in years to come of our industrial past. I suppose even modern buildings will be interesting, they don’t last like they used to. I found this factory interesting and there are other buildings, like the fire station, that are interesting too. This was in Darlaston in the West Midlands, otherwise affectionately known as Darlo!
Taylor Wimpey PLC (TW.L) | Investments
A lot of shares seem cheap now as we appear to be coming out of a recession. Taylor Wimpey shares have been rising steadily since 2008, but are still a fraction of what they were in 2007. They could return to the highs of over £4.00 a share as the economy recovers. I think there is a housing shortage and they are in a good position to do the building, if the government gets it’s act together.
Solo Oil PLC (SOLO.L) | Investments
My first investment blog post was nearly 2 years ago now. I wrote that after buying shares in Premier foods for 4p each. The company was heavily in debt, but the shares went to 18p before a 1 for 10 share swap. They are still at 129.59 at the time of writing. That’s a return of over 220% so far!
Finance Friday | Breaking away
I read this morning that Amazon will be opening another London office with space for another 1,600 employees. That gets another cheer from Boris Johnson and boos from the North of England. Why does all new investment go to London? Why not Britain’s second city Birmingham or even Newcastle?
Investments | Safe havens?
We hear a lot about so called ‘safe havens’ for investment funds. The United States was a ‘safe haven’ for many US investors and the UK has seemed a safe investment for many funds compared to Europe. It’s not just Government bonds that are seen as ‘safe havens’ by investment fund managers, but blue chip shares too.
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