Tag Archives: cost

New Year and I’m Already a Day Behind

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Yesterday I avoided the internet as I had pains in my shoulders. I still haven’t set up my workstation as I would like and shoulder pain is often a sign of this. During the day it spread into my arms, forearms, wrists and hands. With rest and a hot water bottle it had receded by bedtime and with a night’s rest I have pain in my left wrist so am attempting some typing. Of course, it may all be down to old age or arthritis, you never know. Maybe it was just my day for pains in the joints and the location was a red-herring.

Feeding tits at Budby Flash

I dismantled a bird feeder yesterday. It was empty and we have made a commitment to good feeder hygiene. Two screws to remove the bottom plate was fine, though I did feel they could have been more substantial.  Four perches to twist off – no problem. Getting the collars round the feeding holes was more tricky. Each pair is held together by a small screw. They aren’t good quality screws and I managed to mess one of the heads up, so it no longer works. I could drill out the broken one and replace it, but the metal is poor, accessibility is poor and my ability to carry out simple tasks has always been poor. Any tale I may tell of my adventures with tools often hinges round my lack of dexterity and leads on to a succession of misadventures.

I will find a way of cleaning without dismantling. It will be better in the long run. Meanwhile, the moral is clear – don’t buy medium-priced bird feeders. Anything that is medium-priced is simply a trap for the unwary. It looks like you are buying something good but you aren’t. You are just buying better paintwork at a higher price. The durability and efficiency stay the same.

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We always used to buy cheap feeders, and they worked. This time, as we want the garden to look nice, I went for better looking feeders, with the consequence of paying a higher price. Unfortunately, higher price translates to better looking rather than better quality. I really need to put some thought into future purchases.

The plan is to feed birds in an efficient and healthy manner. If the feeder can’t be cleaned properly, or falls apart, the plan has failed. It’s not quite as profound as Ruskin, but it’s still  lesson in life, even if it is delivered by bird feeders rather than a man with a serious Victorian beard.

Great Tit

To Buy, or Not to Buy?

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I’ve been thinking about the Coronation recently. Having a Coronation, for the first time in my life, tends to bring this sort of thing to the front of your mind.  I’m familiar with them from dealing in commemorative medallions, but this is the first one I’ve actually seen.

I’m told the final cost is about £160 million, which is well up on the estimate of £50 – £100 million we were told beforehand.  Unfortunately, my sources being limited to Google, I can’t confirm this.

Is it worth it? Personally, I had a bonus Saturday off work, then a Bank Holiday on the Monday, so I was happy. I’m fairly sure that the souvenir trade and providers of food, drink and accommodation will all have had a boost too. However, some people have different views.

Sovereign of King Charles III (Obverse)

Sovereign of King Charles III (Reverse)

Sorry the pictures lack detail – they are low-relief and very shiny, which is difficult to photograph in the shop lighting.

After the Lord Mayor’s Show . . . as the saying goes. No matter how good something is, we have a constant stream of people wanting to criticise.

The first quibble was that we shouldn’t have a monarchy. That’s a question for a later post. The second was that we could spend the money on something better.

We could use it to alleviate poverty, for instance. If you take the number of people of working age on benefits and divide the money up between them. It works out at £16 each. It might be a welcome boost, but it’s not going to make a lasting difference.

Or you could divide it up between the 1.6 million people who earn the minimum wage. That’s £100. It’s a nice bonus in one lump, but spread over the year its £2 a week.

To be fair to the Government they have already paid out far more than that in helping reduce fuel bills. Where do you draw the line?

What about buying things that Governments actually spend money on?

Nottingham 1902 coronation medal

We could buy 6oo Javelin anti-tank missiles for £104 million and still have change to buy 5 Challenger tanks. These are always useful when a World War is brewing, and I’d take more comfort from 600 anti-tank missiles than I would from knowing that we’d given people a few extra quid. You can buy cheaper tanks and missiles, but if people are shooting at you it’s probably wise to heed John Ruskin on the matter.

Or you could buy a top of the range F35 jet fighter and still have money left over to hang a load of bombs and missiles off it.

Or you could buy a private island. The truth is that to me (and I assume, to my readers) £160 million sounds like a lot of money,  To some people it’s just a yacht and a holiday home.

Nottingham 1902 coronation medal

Of course, despite the opinions we often see, the Royal Family does pay back. Judging by the amount of Royalty memorabilia we handle, there is a strong market for it. We also have tourism. It’s difficult to quantify how much this actually makes for us. I know it made us several hundred pounds last week after a big sale of commemorative coins and medallions to a keen buyer and that  hotel prices always go up at the time of Royal Events.

As a final thought – the Prince’s Trust has worked hard over the years to help the disadvantaged, and I’m guessing that it has probably done far more to help people than the cost of the Coronation.

I’m ambivalent about the Royal Family, and I’m not but I’m happy that £160 million on a Coronation (if it did cost that) isn’t bad value. It isn’t just frittered on trumpets and velvet, a lot of it goes on security. We live in a dangerous world, as we’ve seen many times.

1911 coronation – Nottingham

1911 coronation – Nottingham

1952 Coronation medal from Mansfield Woodhouse

Eternal Sunset of the Trivial Mind

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“There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person’s lawful prey.”

That’s a quote often attributed to John Ruskin but, as with so many quotes, there is no evidence he ever said it. However, there is definitely no doubt that it describes my buying habits.

About twenty years ago I bought a cheap, low quality shredder. That wasn’t what I meant to buy, but it’s what you end up with when you buy the cheapest.

About nineteen years ago Julia bought a more expensive, better quality, shredder, because she was fed up of my running commentary on the uselessness of mine. It worked well for years, before with, a screech and a smell of hot plastic, it stopped, and never started again.

That is why I’ve just been muttering at the older machine, whilst prodding at it with a screwdriver and unravelling yards of creased paper from the cutters. I fear the blades are not as sharp as they used to be and, despite the supposed five sheet capacity, they are struggling to cut three.

This is not what you want to see when you have a pile of rugby club records to shred. Even after my efforts of the morning I still have a pile of paper three inches thick to get through. A lot of it is pink and yellow sheets from three-part registration forms and a lot of the rest contains personal details so can’t be re-used as scrap paper.

This is what happens when a conscientious man with access to his work’s printer keeps records. I’ve already disposed of various ten-year-old policies and grant applications.

It’s not as if they are really my responsibility – I was landed with a box of them by a man who is clearly smarter, and more cunning, than I am. After several years of trying to pass them on I have admitted defeat and started to shred. It is not going well, as you can probably tell from the reference to the screwdriver. There is, I can confirm, a small margin between a shredder and a device for screwing up paper in tight folds.

When I buy another I am going to buy an expensive one and hope the price reflects the quality.

The header picture is shredded paper – I took it myself. I did originally take the lazy option but the image search offered a single picture, which was actually a cheese grater. I’m beginning to think that my early enthusiasm for this feature may have been misplaced.

The lower pictures are sunset, taken from the back of the house.

Sunset over Sherwood
Sunset over Sherwood
Sunset over Sherwood