Self sufficientish 2020

[Flo]

Let's say that the year has not started well.
1. The weather has been so wet during February that it's not been possible to get a start on the allotment; think buying veg later in the year.
2. The local high street up hill is a poor offering with only the Co-op and the Heron's being shops worth the name - standard of the 7 cafes is Greggs or below. Means travelling to buy or shopping online. Haven't found anything I want in the charity shops there. It's only about 15 minutes walking from one end to the other mind.
3. The same up hill town has moved it's out of school education classes to the highest point of the hill (steep) so adult education is out of thought as there are no buses going that way and I don't drive.
4. Looking for ideas to be more self sufficient seems to be hard as this board is having it's troubles and there's no other one anywhere near as good for ideas.

On the other hand - there's a film club in the village once a month and it's showing Downton Abbey tonight - grand sum of £3 to get in and not much more for a can of coke in the interval. That sort of price saves going to the cinema. The Chat Club for us older gossipers does have some outings on at a discount rate. Save Thurday mornings then except in July and August and the Christmas closure.

The market town the other way along the road (buses 9am to 5pm Mondays to Saturdays) is becoming posh - Fat Face, White Stuff and now a small Seasalt due to open. Suppose there is a Millets and Mountain Warehouse and Edinburgh Woollen Mills. Now that the anchor department store has shut taking it's food store with it you can't even get a loaf of bread in the town centre if Iceland has sold out (normally it has very early). Better standard charity shops though. And a large Oxfam second hand bookshop.

But with the bungalow being in good order, the home made curtains hung before Christmas, it's having something to do that is the main problem.

[Odsox]

Yes it has been very wet and windy here too and I'm getting fed up with it like everyone else.
I am certainly pleased that I made the decision 15 years ago to garden almost exclusively under cover. I bought my first polytunnel in 2005 and the second one 2 years later.
At least I can garden whatever the weather, it's just getting out there is sometimes a problem.

I have a quite a variety of veg for eating now in there and I have started on the later crops. One little thing I can do is sow wrinkle seeded peas during winter, getting nice flavoured crops of Hurst Green Shaft rather than the so-so flavoured Douce Provence.
Also I am in the process of redesigning my hydroponic system in the big greenhouse, so that I can get a lot more grown in the same space.
And when all else fails I've always got amateur radio

[Flo]

And when all else fails I've always got amateur radio

Nope I'd say that you have all else when the amateur radio fails if my old circle of years back is anything to go by

But they were the most self sufficientish group of master fixits that I have seen in most of my life.

[Green Aura]

In order to retain some level of Ish, apart from the stuff we can do in the house, we working on moving!

[ina]

In order to retain some level of Ish, apart from the stuff we can do in the house, we working on moving!

Moving?
Tell us more!

Bus service is getting worse here, too - the likes of us are supposed to stay in Sundays and evenings...

[Flo]

Same problem ina with the bus service. If you need to go shopping because you work all day and only have during evenings and on Sundays it's a pain. We do have the option of walking over the "bridge of historic interest" that crosses the river as this allows us access to trains and a better bus service. However, the bridge is not somewhere you consider when the wind is blowing a hooligan or the rain is horizontal and you don't look down when the river is in full spate.

[Flo]

In order to retain some level of Ish, apart from the stuff we can do in the house, we working on moving!

Where? Why? Will the house sell? Are you looking to move into civilisation or something?

[Odsox]

we working on moving!

Somewhere south of the arctic circle?

[Green Aura]

Well, I'm off down the road to do some shopping shortly - 2 hours each way and we're not even going as far as Inverness, so that's part of it.

The lack of a regular doctor - we've had some great locums but they're never here for more than a week or two. We're neither of us getting any younger and have had a couple of health issue - that 2-3 hour trip to the hospital, when necessary, doesn't get any shorter.

The weather has changed dramatically over the last 5 years - to the point where we can't really grow much outside and the last really big wind wrecked the polytunnel. Short of walling ourselves in the only things that survive are underground crops (not a big feature of a low carb diet ) and woody shrubs. If you're not a big gardener its fine.

But the biggest thing is the increase in tourism, great for certain individuals' pockets, but is making life virtually unbearable for everyone else - slow moving camper vans/SUVs/coaches etc on single track roads that don't realise people live and work in the area and won't get out of the way (making that 2 hour journey 3-3 1/2 hours at times). Emptying their waste (yes, all of it ) in laybys or passing places because there isn't the infrastructure to cope with the huge influx of these campers. It doesn't directly affect us until we want to go anywhere, which isn't often, thankfully.

Because of the increase in tourism folk are buying up properties to turn into holiday lets and the village isn't the same. So we plan to go nearer to, but not in, Inverness. Our gal is probably moving there in September so it would be nice to be close enough for a visit (that doesn't involve overnight stays ). Somewhere off the main tourist route.

Finally, my shop is now closed and I always said when I retired we'd sell up to someone younger to allow them the opportunity of a home and livelihood.

The house will sell no problem and I will miss it dreadfully, we've put our hearts and souls into renovating it, but the time feels right. No rush, we want to get it right.

Anyone interested in a home in the Highlands? I've made it sound so appealing.

[Green Aura]

Oh, and the bus service, twice a day which takes us half way to Inverness, to the nearest train station, takes three hours and only runs the twice a day to meet the train. And (I see Odsox shuddering at my grammar) costs an absolute fortune!

[ina]

At least your bus does meet the train - here they don't know about coordinating public transport!

I fully understand about the tourism, though. Even Stonehaven can get a bit annoying... And very few shops that cater for "normal" people. And these days, when I need the doctor more often than I'd like, too, that's a very good reason for moving. (You never think you get to that age when you are young...)

[Odsox]

You get a bus service TWICE A DAY, wow how lucky are you. We get a bus once a week, there and back to our nearest town. And we have the same problem as you with tourists, even in the depths of winter now that they have opened and promoted "The Wild Atlantic Way" which passes our house.
When we first moved here we had a lull from just after Christmas until Easter, with a brief surge in people coming home for Paddy's day, but now it's continuous all year.

[Odsox]

I see Odsox shuddering at my grammar

Nah, I've given up. And I have resisted the spelling of "Self"

[Green Aura]

I have resisted the spelling of "Self"

Sorted.

[Flo]

Aw come on - there were just too many Fs in my scrabble hand.

Anyway I'm sat at home going through the files that are stored on Drop Box for the allotment association. Much history and not a lot of relevance. Now if you want self sufficient in typed garbage, policies that are ignored and information from a town council that doesn't know diddly squat about gardening - all I can say is that self sufficient in verbosity is the way to go.