Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Household addition



Last year on Remembrance Day, we lost our dear old dog to a chronic condition called CDRM. I have shared my life with several pets - cats and dogs - and have never had to watch such a heart rending deterioration in my life. This beautiful German Shepherd with the most generous nature (unless you were a stranger in the house!!) gradually lost the use of his back legs and rear end, with its inevitable tragic end.




Our house has been decidedly empty ever since, not least because he was a large dog (!) in a big house. But now we have a new addition.



So, meet Sonny - a delightful black and white, two-year old tom cat. A stray brought in to the local Animal Rescue centre and just what I was looking for. Over the last couple of weeks he has gradually gotten used to us and the house and now trots around with us, exploring as he goes. He has yet to tackle the outside - we live on a very busy road - and will not do so until the summer I think. But he seems to be settling in pretty well considering he was a stray and, I suspect, did not live in a house. Although he seems pretty Ok with people.
He has some funny little habits, like laying against furniture - like a dog would, or in doorways to watch you. A great time waster, as are most animals! But already much loved and a welcome addition to our household.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Recessionary tactics

Recession seems to be the buzz word of the last few months. If you turn on the news all you hear is how the latest bank has taken a dive or a major retail outlet has closed its doors - Woolworths for heavens sake! An institution.
A recent article about the 1930s Great Depressions sparked some interest in that the author covered a more realistic outlook. Tim Price writes for the Price Report at Fleet Street Publications and was summarising a book called America’s Great Depression by Murray Rothbard.
'Rothbard, who died in January 1995, was something of a Renaissance man: scholar, economist, historian and philosopher. He was also a leading member of the ‘Austrian’ school of economics – which amongst other things maintains a healthy cynicism about the value of mathematical modelling in markets, and prefers ‘sound money’ to more speculative and ultimately dangerous credit creation. It is the perfect read for our time - not least in its suspicion of the role of banks. (You can read more about Rothbard and the Austrian school via the excellent Mises website here: http://mises.org/about/3249).'
I mention it because in his summary he states that Rothbard considered the Government's intervention in our current crisis a major obstacle to our eventual recovery, an opinion I entirely agree with. The tinkering that is going on at the moment does nothing more than lull everyone into believing that things will soon return to normal. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If we are to sort this mess out, we all need to start being more realistic, accept that everything must be deflated in value and find its natural level, before we can move forward again.
I heard on the news last night that some retailers didn't even pass on the VAT reduction to the consumers - something I would have thought was illegal - which simply means that the recession will continue for longer. Short-term tactics such as these will not improve the situation and will only make the population angry at being used yet again to shore up ailing businesses. This coupled with Gordon Brown's generous use of tax payer's money to shore up the ailing banks - isn't it our money in the first place? - makes you feel that as usual the general populous are at the bottom of the list for recovery.
As I watch my pension slowly dwindle and hope that the state pension will still be around by the time I retire, I once again feel that at the end of the day the only person you can rely on is yourself in such times and continue my search for the additional income streams to help prop up finances.
So far my vintage prints on eBay (search on eBay name 'sylverzone' if you are interested) are proving to be a slow but possible route and a website may be the next step.
Till the next time . . .