Sunday Stuff: On The First Sunday Of April

~ beetleypete

The weather remains sunny but cold. Beetley escaped the forecast snow, though there was some snowfall as close as two miles south.

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It might just be me, but this year seems to be going by very fast. Three months in, fourth month on the calendar, and it still seems to me that Christmas was only a couple of weeks ago.

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Ollie has stopped moulting so badly, so I am hoping his new summer coat is fully grown now. He is still rather sluggish on his walks, becoming stiff-legged after less than 90 minutes.

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We have our grandson here. He stayed overnight yesterday, and Julie took him to the cinema to see ‘Sonic 2’. He loved it, she dropped off to sleep in the warm dark auditorium. When they got back, we took him for dinner at a local pub, and later this afternoon Julie will drive him home.

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Panic buying of petrol and diesel has started again, following climate change protesters blocking some fuel depots. Now all three petrol stations in town are closed, as they have run out of everything. I believe it is high time the fuel retailers imposed a minimum/maximum purchase limit of £50, to stop people constantly topping up car tanks.

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Still no news about my driving licence. I contacted my member of parliament by email, and his staff have assured me that he will investigate my case with the DVLA. The small irritations of me not being able to drive are beginning to bite. Julie was asked to work extra hours next Thursday, and would have welcomed the additional salary. However, Ollie has a long-term booking at the groomer for that day, and we are unable to change it. So she has to decline working overtime, as she will have to drive Ollie to Scarning. This also impacted with Ollie’s Vet trip to get his annual booster jabs. We cannot tie in a time when a Vet is available and Julie is around to drive. Now she has to try to change shifts next week so we can arrange to take Ollie to Swaffham.

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All of us are feeling the pinch of prices rising on everything. The biggest rises are yet to come, especially on bread and flour, as long as the war in Ukraine continues. Even if it stopped now, Ukraine has been unable to plant wheat, and it is one of the biggest exporters of that staple. I am expecting things to get much worse by late summer, and possibly far worse than that by October, when the utility companies add their second massive increase on gas and electricity prices just before we face the winter months.

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I hope you can stay chirpy, and make the most of your Sunday.

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54 thoughts on “Sunday Stuff: On The First Sunday Of April”

  2. The future is looking rather dim, that’s for sure, my fear is that once the fuel, gas, and electric bills go up, they’ll never come down? Makes retirement all the more tricky as incomes remain the same. We live in interesting times Pete, xxoo, C

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  3. Prices are going up, and up, and up, for one reason or another, so, yes, it doesn’t look good. I hope your MP gets things moving on the driving licence front, as it is becoming a true inconvenience for all of you now.
    Here there was stockpiling of sunflower oil a few weeks ago, we also had a lorry drivers’ strike, to make matters worse, and now the government has introduced a discount on all fuel, and people kept queuing to get the better prices, and it seems drives from Portugal and France are also driving over…(The problem is that the government hasn’t paid the discount in advance to the petrol stations, and some can’t afford to sell at such a price until they get the money, so… yes, petrol stations also closed here in some places). I don’t have a car here, so it doesn’t affect me that way, but a mess nonetheless.
    Good to know your grandson had fun.
    I’m off to visit a friend and his mother in a couple of days, but I’ll be back a couple of days after Easter, so I should catch up then. Have a great Easter.

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    1. It is falling apart, Molly. The lunchtime news reported that the price of a pint of milk is soon to double, and a box of 6 fresh eggs is increasing by 40p soon. ($0.52 approx)
      I just bought diesel for my car (my wife driving) and it is $11.82 US a gallon.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Tesco and Morrison’s in Dereham have closed their petrol stations as they have no fuel. BP is open, but charging £1.82 a litre for diesel. We filled up my car on the way to Swaffham this afternoon, at the Co-oP petrol station in Necton. It was £1.78 a litre there, and £65 didn’t fill up my car to the brim even though I had a quarter of a tank already.
      The people in Dereham are notorious panic buyers. They use Facebook to spread rumours all the time, and suddenly the town is full of idiots topping up a few quid’s worth in their tanks. BP had a man on the forecourt checking fuel gauges. If they had over half a tank, he was turning them away.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  10. (1) It’s heating up here in the Mojave Desert. Somehow, that was expected.
    (2) Time flies as long as the industrial glue keeps the wings attached.
    (3) Hang in there, Ollie! We all know that you are Pete’s ghost writer!
    (4) I prefer quiet firmly-rooted desert prickly pears to hyperactive sonic hedgehogs.
    (5) Here in the U.S., gas prices are so big an issue that grown teary-eyed men are asking for a tissue.
    (6) My friend Bond says that if you can’t get a driver’s license, ask MI6 for a license to kill and then storm the DVLA’s secret underground lair.
    (7) The price of gas, groceries, and gewgaws is definitely rising.
    (8) I haven’t been chirpy since I abandoned Twitter over a year ago.

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  11. I have to say I would be driving by now, how you can be made responsible for the failings of the DVLA is a crime, not you driving without a license. Maybe you need to get yourself one of those cargo carrying electric bikes, a side car or trailer for Ollie would be great 🙂
    I think we will see our fair share of rioting countries this year, much like the Arab Spring again, but on the bright side there are lots of glutton free alternatives nowadays. Of course I shouldn’t joke, its not only wheat but corn and sunflower oil as well. Not to mention all the industrial stuff that Ukraine produces. Add that to the supply chain chaos following COVID and we have the perfect storm.
    Make sure you plant some potatoes this year, it could get tough 🙂
    We got the snow, but it should be gone by tomorrow after a hard frost tonight (-6c)

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  15. I agree, the year is flying by. I always think back to when I was a child waiting for the summer holidays and time seemed to drag. Now I feel as if I’m on fast forward all the time. Your driver’s license problem is seriously annoying and as you say, changing appointments now is not as easy as it used to be. Sometimes it’s hard to look on the bright side but what else can we do?

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  16. I don’t understand why people can’t get wheat from The United States. Whatever happened to our flowing fields of grain that once made us “The Bread Basket Of The World?” I am sorry to hear that Ollie is developing leg cramps. I hate to hear that. Yes, we are all tightening our belts because of that Russian idiot in the Kremlin and it can only get worse from here on … I agree with you about the rapid passing of time …the older I get the faster it seems to be.

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    1. Thanks, John. Russia and Ukraine combined are the largest exporters of wheat to Europe and Africa. The cost of transporting wheat across The Atlantic from America makes it more expensive to European buyers.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  17. I now don’t have a car, but no doubt the fuel price rises will have an impact on taxi fares. I used my bus pass for the first time on Friday and, thankfully, it was very straightforward. As for flour & bread, that will affect everybody, of course. Cheers, Jon.

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    1. I use my bus pass to go into Norwich, but I have to drive into town to get a bus. The taxis will have to put up prices, given the huge increases they are having to pay.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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