Re: The R word
- From: mothed out <mothed-out@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:42:33 -0700 (PDT)
On 14 Jul, 18:06, "Cat(h)" <cathy...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It started 3 Tuesdays ago, according to the ESRI, and it is making us
all awfully jittery. The dreaded RECESSION is now upon this green and
gentle land.
Retail sales are down, house prices are collapsing, supermarkets
promise price cuts, unemployment figures are on the up again and most
of all, the meeja are all getting terribly excited about how this is
almost, but not quite, as bad as in the 80's, how we're doooooomed,
how we're not doooooomed, because it's not the same as in the 80's
because we're starting from a better point, how there is no way the
queues will go all the way around the block, because, errrr.. because
things are just not as bad as they were in teh 80's. And the clothes
and makeup are better, too....
But nowhere are the journalistic minds more exercised than with
showing readers and listeners what to do to tighten their belt
painlessly and save money.
In every Sunday paper, there will from now on be a list which will
include some or all of the following:
1) take down your water/heating thermostat by 1 degree
2) insulate your attic
3) get 3 quotes for every job you need done
4) shop in Lidl or Aldi for food (it is quite amusing to see the meeja
types suddenly realising that these strange "furrin brands" for sale
in Lidl and Aldi are actually not all that bad)
5) shop in your local butcher and greengrocer for cheaper meat and veg
6) buy seasonal local veg - carrots are just as much a superfood as
okra
7) cross the border to benefit from the lower rip offs in NI, *and* to
capitalise on the more favourable exchange rate
8) Shop around for insurance, mortgage and other financial products
9) Car pool to commute to work
10) bring your own ground coffee and plunger into work, and save up to
€3/coffee cup
11) cycle or walk to the shops - you can carry less, therefore you
will spend less
12) ditto, leave your credit card at home and only bring cash
13) darn your socks
14) cut your own hair and your family's manes
15) get a chicken coop in the back garden
16) grow your own veg - you can even do that in a window box ( if one
is to believe the Sunday meeja) if all you have is a 1/2 bedroom
cupboard overlooking the M50
17) unplug all your appliances as they use lots of electricity when on
standby.
18) Don't turn them on at all, and you'll save even more.
19) bring your surplus junk to your nearest car boot sale
20) Pull on a sweater if you're chilly, rather than turn on the heat
21) make your own sandwiches for your workday lunch
22) cook in large batches, and freeze for later use
23) join a How-To-Make-Feasts-Out-Of-Leftovers cookery class
You get the gist.
Mark my words, fellow sciers, in this post-celtic tiger Ireland,
thrift will be the new black!
Cat(h) (SCI secretary for thriftiness - whose red leather hemline has
again headed south, as befits the new R era)
I'm with the car pool and the cycling bit, but I think a specific
bullet-point stating
24) get rid of the filthy great four-wheel drive that you haven't paid
for and which you only borrowed from the bank to try and impress the
neighbours.
should have been included.
and having watched with tears in my eyes as the planners missed a
unique, blindingly obvious, once in a lifetime opportunity to create
towns actually built to suit the needs of 21st century, could I
suggest for the Republic of Ireland in general-
25) create some worthwhile employment for the newly redundant
workforce with a countrywide scheme to rip out and erase the lousy car-
centred town orbital systems, and sing some kind of global national
anthem as you create (for the people!) a system of proper pedestrian
crossings and cycle-lanes-that-actually-go-somewhere that will be
something to be proud of and a great gift for coming generations. None
of us are going to be able to afford to fill our four-wheel drives, so
perhaps creating cities apparently exclusively built for them (with a
little pedestrian bit in the middle) was a BIG mistake. It's not just
the East Europeans and Brazilian 60 euro-a-day illegal migrants who
are going to be trying to survive their cycle to work on these race-
tracks now (half of them have gone home already), but maybe your own
kids and relatives. Who knows, you may even have to cross the road on
foot yourself sometime if this downturn continues.
(mostly based on observing the sad demise of Galway City)
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: The R word
- From: Cat(h)
- Re: The R word
- References:
- The R word
- From: Cat(h)
- The R word
- Prev by Date: Re: tiny hand
- Next by Date: Re: tiny hand
- Previous by thread: Re: The R word
- Next by thread: Re: The R word
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
