Eating Before Heating...

[Baby_Sham]

I've just been listening to a phone-in on Radio 2 on 'eating before heating'.
Call me naive, but I had no idea things were *so* bad, and listening to how some people have to cope through the colder, winter months, has left me feeling both saddened and sickened.

A woman having to choose between feeding her three children, or keeping them warm... how did things get so bad and why are we in this situation? Why does the government not do something about it?

I just broke my heart listening to a lady phone in and break down in tears live on air, as she explained how she was forced to get into debt, using a payday lender to have the heating on.
More and more people are having to make a choice between 'eating or heating' and I just wondered if anyone on here has to make similar choices over the winter?

Surely change HAS to happen?

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

I'm on a breadline wage and I can afford bugger all.
I have a car because without it I wouldn't be able to get to work at all.
You think a car is a luxury? Or are you suggesting I cycle 8 miles every morning on treacherous and badly maintained country roads?
I dress up like the Michelin man most evenings and I would rather freeze to death than remain in a world where people treat pets as movable stock.

[Baby_Sham]

Food costs are horrendous! I went into my local supermarket the other day, grabbed a packet of cashew nuts and went to the till.
Granted I should have looked at the price, but I had a fiver in my purse and that was all I needed so rushed to the checkout.

£4.99!!!!

No more cashews.

[sherrardk]

Tell me about it, there are seven of us :(

[Baby_Sham]

Emmie, according to The Met Office, we're in for an exceptionally cold winter :-/

[Baby_Sham]

mojo, times are desperate when people think it's 'ok' to rehome animals willy nilly, because they have to make a choice on feeding them or feeding their pets.

I know it's like banging your head against a brick wall, but I just don't see how this can continue.

[vakayu]

Oh BabySham really another on,well that on top of increased heating costs will take the figures of hypothermia through the roof,so that will alter one of their statistics.

[Baby_Sham]

Yep. I heard something like 'there will be more deaths this year due to the arctic conditions'... or something like that.

[emmie]

last winter lasted so long, and it was a most depressing time.

[Baby_Sham]

Agreed. Temperatures have already started to drop, and we're only in October.

Sorry to be so glum on a Friday evening :)

[emmie]

really cold and wet for most of the day, expect more of the same.

[Baby_Sham]

Yep, same here. Bloody miserable isn't it.

Oh god, I'm even depressing myself now. Sorry :)

[pixie373]

It's started to feel like winter the last couple of days. I drive a lot for work and hate it when you have to scrape the windscreen/icy roads. Roll on spring!

[piggynose]

hc4361, not all phones cost an arm and a leg, i'm all ears, please tell me what i dont know, eg an affordable phone!!! no strings attached, no bs

[vakayu]

Yes BabySham it is depressing,pixie lol it is only October right enough and I too am lamenting summer but unfortunately it seems like spring is a long way off.

[pixie373]

I know vakayu :-(. Well, nights start drawing out again in eight weeks. That's how i look at it.

[vakayu]

Oh well,that's all right then:0) Positive attitude that's what's required and the song when all else fails,"Always look on the bright side......."

[pixie373]

...exactly. And a few months in Tenerife...

[Celtigra3]

I am on the state pension and a small company pension (on which I pay tax) I have no money to save after paying all the usual bills and I prefer to eat rather than heat. I go to bed at 6pm as it is warmer in my bed and cheaper than heating the house. I cook from scratch and ensure that I have a healthy diet and make full use of my freezer. What really annoys me is all those people on benefits with all their gadgets and big TVs. They are usually smokers and live on fast food.....and don't get me started on the immigrants coming in who get everything handed to them. And all the money the Govn gives in aid to the third world that ends up in Swiss bank accounts of dictators. Rant over.

[emmie]

not sure some of what you say is true, how do you eat a meal unless its lunchtime if you go to bed at six.

[emmie]

how do you know people on benefits didn't work once, and bought these goods before retiring, were made redundant, fell ill, lost a partner,
it is not that cut and dried, it never is.