Reach out to WordPress?

Posted on March 2, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Apps, Confused, Cost, cost of living, extra expenses, Jetpack, Memory, Money, Support, Time, WordPress4 Comments

I keep trying to submit a question about Jetpack to WordPress but the support submission form won’t open. I filled in a question on another page but at the bottom it said this comment box is not for questions and to use the support form. So I tried and it still won’t open. I feel like I’m going round in circles and that people like me are too unimportant to WordPress.

This is what I wrote:

I don’t have enough memory on my android phone to add another app. I’ve asked what to do and someone suggested deleting other apps but I use them daily. Or I get messages that deleting them will affect the performance of my phone. I cannot afford a new phone (I can’t afford to pay for fuel, how can I pay for a phone?) This is stressing me out and I only have five days to try and work out what to do. I feel this is for the convenience of WordPress and Jetpack and not their customers. I’ve been told to ‘reach out’ but don’t have a solution. I will have to spend my pension money on a new memory card if I want to keep using WordPress on my old android phone, I feel so frustrated about this.

Postponed craft fairs

Posted on August 26, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Cost, Craft fair, Crafts, Energy, Life, Money, postponed, Rent, Spode, Studio2 Comments

Sadly the two craft fairs I signed up for have been postponed because they fall too close to Christmas, there are other similar fairs on at the same time and the cost of living makes them less likely to be profitable because no one will have any money.

I would like to participate in ones next year but how can I be certain that things will be any better then? People are going to suffer financially and luxuries like arts and crafts may not be saleable. The whole idea of being an artist and trying to sell work seems less and less feasible.

Meanwhile, I’m seriously thinking about leaving my studio at Spode. I didn’t use it very often since Covid happened because I’m still avoiding people. I don’t know if I can afford it any more. Life isn’t terrible but sometimes you need to be sensible.

Baked beans

Posted on July 3, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beans, branded product, Cost, Expensive, Food, groceries, Money, own brand, Pence, Pounds4 Comments

I went to buy a few groceries today and was shocked at the price of a branded can of beans. £1.45! The shops own brand was 36 pence a whole £1.09 less. So the most expensive can was four times more !

This is madness, the food you buy is costing more and more. But why should something cost that much more. I wonder how much more they will charge if they can. How much is because of limited stock, the cost of delivery, manufacture or because of making profit from people who can’t afford the increasing cost. This would be difficult to determine, except for the cheapness of the other can!

Keep warm

Posted on February 3, 2022February 3, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, cost of living, Creativity, Energy, Fairness, Food, fossil fuels, Life, Money7 Comments

The cost of energy in the UK is going up 54% in April this year. That means that the average household bill will be around £2000 per year. There are already people having to choose between heating and eating. All this in an age when we have been told (and rightly so) that we need to cut our carbon footprints. There are ideas and suggestions, being considered, but whether those will work no one knows. I am lucky to live in a first world country, but the poorest in the economy will be hit hardest by this price hike. They spend a higher percentage of their money on energy.

Why as an artist, am I writing about this? Partly because it means that creative people are being squeezed. If people have higher bills they can’t afford to pay for luxuries like art, music, restaurants, just anything that they have to balance their bills. It means that children are going to suffer more poverty. Life continues to get difficult.

So we face hard times, but what about the rest of the world? Life is hard, conflict increases, people have lost their homes, people starve. I have no solutions to offer, but I wish things were better.

Relief

Posted on January 14, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Charity, Comedy, comic relief, Fun, Money, red nose, Red nose dayLeave a comment

#bandofsketchers prompt on Thursday was relief. I wanted to draw a comic relief red nose (a charity that collects millions of pounds for people in need all round the world) but I can’t find one, (been buying them every couple of years) so I tried to draw one from memory. The telethon has been going for years and mainly relies on comedy to encourage people to donate.
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Cost….

Posted on December 28, 2021December 28, 2021 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged affordable, Art, bills, Car, Cost, Fine Art, Life, limited edition, Money, Print, tax, Thinking, Time3 Comments

My friend is offering a beautiful print for sale and as a limited edition (not the image here, it has similar colours). I would love it, and it’s at a fair price for an artist to charge. But all I could think was, car tax and other bills are due in January. I have to realise I cannot afford it. Now I feel guilty for just enquiring.

I realise I don’t charge enough for my art. I have this strange idea that I want my art to go to a good home, so I undersell, swap art, or offer ways people can pay in installments. But I’m also doing other artists a disservice. If I charge less, how can they charge more? I think it might be my upbringing. Having a belief in myself? I guess it’s just how I am.

Yes I hate football

Posted on July 7, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged dislike, Football, Game, Money, Playing, Poverty, wealth3 Comments

Football ⚽

Used to like it, the beautiful game. The skills, the athleticism, the ability. But I got fed up with it. The prices players are bought and sold for. The money they earn. I hate the way some teams can receive millions of pounds in TV rights, while the bottom clubs languish and are often running out of money.

The other thing I dislike is the way the fans act. They can be so antagonistic, fighting and getting drunk. The rivalry can turn into violence. I don’t think there is any need for it. There is too much racism too.

I hope that things will go OK tonight. That’s when England play against Denmark. May the best team win.

Roofer?

Posted on November 10, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Bricks, Building, Con artist, Landlord, Maintenance, Money, Roofing, Tiles, WorkLeave a comment

Loud knock on the door. I opened the door to see a man in a mask under his chin proffering his elbow?! I stood back. Er can I help you? I’m your neighbours landlord. ( OK, so I know my neighbour owns his own house which is not in good condition). I didn’t believe him.

The man said I’m just doing work on your neighbours house and damp is getting in from your chimney. Is it? I asked. (We have problems with damp from next door). He said I’ve got a man on the roof now and I will go halves, I’ll charge £600 and you will pay £300. I said I can’t afford that, he wandered off and offered £200. I said I’m not sure, will have to talk to my husband. So then he said he was working on a house three doors up? So I said how does damp from my roof get three doors up (we are in a terraced house). He then said the water tracks under the roofing felt (this would be uphill and up brick walls)….. So I said which house do you own and he said the one up the hill with the purple bricks sign.

So then hubby arrived. He was not impressed. We walked across the road and yes we could see one missing tile. We could also see no one on the other roof, no ladder, no scaffolding. Do these people realise we use our eyes? Hubby told the man he wanted to see proof of who he was and proof he owned the house up the hill. By this time the man looked panicked. Hubby can be forceful when he wants and said no we would get our own builder in. The man was now upset, seeing £200 melt before his eyes and clearly worried by my hubbies attitude. I calmed things down. We bumped elbows and said goodbye. I don’t think he will be back!

Filled up with ⛽

Posted on November 2, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Car, Covid19, Humour, Life, Minimal travel, Money, Motorbike, Petrol, TankLeave a comment

I’m not convinced getting a motorbike was a good idea for my hubby. He doesn’t use it very often. He’s done 160 miles in…….. Two years! His tank was on red so he went down the garage. It cost £2.65 to fill the tank. When I think how much it costs to fill my car. No comparison. But I have only filled my tank up five or six times since March so its cost considerably less than before. Plus we are walking more.. Win win.

Ice lolly 6 pence?

Posted on June 26, 2020June 26, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 1960's and 70's, Decemalisation, Design, Icecream, Memories, Money, Nostalgia, Pence, Poster, Pounds shillings and pence, Time, Times changeLeave a comment

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I can remember before decimalisation in the UK when money came in LSD, (pounds, shillings and pence) if you bought an icecream cone it might be 6d, which meant you paid a sixpenny piece or two thrupences 3d.

This picture is after decimalisation. Because the prices, like 6p have the new letter. I remember sixpence old money was 2 1/2 pence in new money (we actually had coins marked as ‘new pence’).

Oh how times change! Dracula and Dalek ice lollies! I think they still sell funny faces though. As they say ‘I scream you scream, we all scream for ice-cream!’

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Money