Update

Well, not blogged for a while so thought I better update whats been happening with me.................not a lot LOL

Well as you may know I sit on local neighbourhood board and at our last meeting I vigorously opposed the funding of bollards for 4 houses in one of the most exclusives areas in the ward, so I stood alone opposing it until a councillor decided I needed more support and thankfully it came and they were refused. Ohhhh and local Tories asked me if I was interested in standing as a candidate I tried not to laugh but couldn't help it, so its a no to that

Next I got my certificate and award for passing my uni course and was awarded it by Vice Chancellor of uni, had a lovely evening there, wonderful buffet too. 

Further development I have applied for job as a tutor support worker, wont hear about if I have got through to next stage until next week, so fingers crossed for me, so thats about  

School Report

Well, parents evening last night and what a surprise daughter is ahead of where she should be in English was not surprised by that to be honest, what was a surprise was how far she has come in her maths. When we moved her to this school in April last year her maths where that of a year 2 pupil (i.e. 6-7 year old), her old school and yes I'm going to name and shame St Albans, only did maths twice a week and when I found out she spent most of her time cutting up old magazines and sticking pictures down, I was fuming, luckily she tried to improve her maths with my help and we got her moving but for all my efforts they were undermined by the school. I showed daughter my traditional way of doing maths which actually she understood better than the 'modern' methods, but when she went to school to use them the teacher humiliated in front of classmates by saying 'we dont do it that way its stupid' 

So after 'explaining' to her teacher that she understood that way better and she was actually improving using it, I set about getting her into a school closer to home. Luckily we have a brilliant school on our doorstep Markeaton Primary and it has an excellent reputation, so in April last year she moved schools, now remembering where she was at in her maths by July she was up to year 4 maths (she was year 5) and now in feb she is at the correct level for her age. So through good teaching and her own efforts she has dragged her self up 4 levels in less than a year and now actually enjoys maths. 

I'm glad to say also that her move to secondary school which happens in Sept she will be going to a school (fingers crossed) that places maths/science/English at the heart of their teaching and that to me is good. She cant wait to start there I think the fact it has a swimming pool is clouding her judgement slightly but its good she is excited in going there. 

As for her old school I was told by a parent that when the children go up to secondary school nearly all the pupils from her old school have to go into special classes to bring them up to the standard they are at some its for a couple of weeks others are for a few months. It went from being one of the best primary schools in Derby to being in bottom 3rd in space of 3 years. However her new school is in top 3 yet again and only just failed to make top 250 in UK. 

So a happy dad here

Chavs

Well, we have started having problems with youths about 2 weeks ago they actually broke into our flats and where smoking the old rock n roll woodbines. I phoned police and to be fair within 15 minutes they were here but the little darlings had run off. then they started going into flats opposite drinking and smoking several phone calls to the police and they never just got them.

Then on Tuesday I received an email from local police officer saying they had caught them causing disturbance in another part of the area, then last night they turned up at flat opposite again however this time the police got them all it was same ones again all now getting asbo's and banning orders, the two that actually live round here will soon be looking for a new home too. 
 
well done to the police for persevering and eventually catch these 'people' the thing that troubled me most wasn't them and their actions but that younger kids were starting to hang around with them and obviously would start to copy and follow and that is when a downward spiral starts, and a whole generation gets lost to drink and drugs.Luckily we may have stopped it fingers crossed

hello: Debt Collectors

hello: Debt Collectors: "Hello all, I am posting this so it can help people who are being hounded by these 'companies' I will point out that if you have debts..."

hello: Debt Collectors

hello: Debt Collectors: "Hello all, I am posting this so it can help people who are being hounded by these 'companies' I will point out that if you have debts..."

Debt Collectors

Hello all, 

I am posting this so it can help people who are being hounded by these 'companies' I will point out that if you have debts you must try to repay them however there is a time when you cant afford to and how these people operate is dubious to say the least. I know of people who offer to pay them silly amounts they have no chance of keeping paying because they think it stops them. It doesn't it can make it 10 times worse. So what do you do when you cant afford to pay your debts and you get your first contact from them. 

Well of course their letter makes out if they are wanting to help you and are your best mates THEY ARE NOT, most of them have bought the debts off companies so going back to original company is no good they will just refer you back to Debt collection agency.

So you have their letter saying contact them in 14days to take advantage of their kind offer well yes contact them via letter but your letter shouldn't be offer to pay it should be asking for a copy of the CCA (consumer credit agreement) I have a letter template for you to use here it is:
The Loan Company
Company House,
Church Street,
Newtown,
Kent,
R1 7HG

Dear Sir/Madam

Re:− Account/Reference Number 4563210025897412

This letter is a formal request pursuant to s.77/78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. I require you to provide me with a true copy of the credit agreement relating to the above account, together with any other documentation the Act requires you to provide.

I expect you to comply fully and properly with this request, within the statutory time limit. You are reminded that should you fail to comply with my request, the provisions of s.77 will apply.

If it is your view that you are not the creditor, s.175 of the CCA 1974 applies in the case of a simple assignment, and places a duty upon you to pass this request to the creditor. In the case of an absolute assignment, you are a creditor as defined by s.189. If you contend that you purchased the rights but not the duties of any agreement, you are reminded that s.189 of the Act is clear that an assignment is of both rights and duties.

Your attention is drawn to ss.5(2), 3(b),6 and 7 of the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading

I enclose a postal order in the sum of £1.00, which is the statutory fee. Note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose.

If you are unable to comply fully and properly with this request, you should confirm this in writing at the earliest opportunity, and certainly within the statutory time limit for compliance, and return the fee.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully
Mr A N Other

so there you go thats the letter you send including a £1 Postal order never a cheque as they will then have your bank details, also send it recorded delivery that should be £1:30 so for £2:30 you have helped yourself to stop any further action for time being they will then have 12 days to send CCA and if they dont they are in default and also after 30 days if they havent sent CCA then they are committing a criminal offence so contact your local Trading Standards and complain. So what happens if they send CCA well make sure it is a CCA if its just your signature on an application then its not a CCA you need to have terms and conditions, APR, etc. So supposing they then do send CCA in the time required (I doubt they will they never do) whats the next move well actually nothing they want the money you havent got it what can they do???

Lets deal with the threats they will use:

1 the bailiffs will be sent  round to remove goods......How can they? there is no court order no court case so no-one can remove goods and I mean no-one until its been to court and the court has ordered them to remove the goods. so ignore that threat I will show you how to stop them 'visiting' you
2 Our representative will visit to arrange payment and collect the debt. Now they can send someone round however this is easy to stop there is only an implied right of access to your property so you need to send a letter to DCA stating you remove their right of access and that you will not speak to anyone and you will only correspond in writing. 
3 they send a 'Statutory Notice' letter saying they will make you bankrupt... well first off a statutory notice has to be delivered by hand by a licenced agent not via 2nd class post. Also it will cost them a lot of money to make you bankrupt and the chances of them getting any money back is nil....its an empty threat.
4. We are starting court proceedings against you to recover our money, they can and actually if you are in a position that you cant pay this is the best option for you so let them. A judge will then decide if you have to pay (remember they to prove you owe the debt) if so how much now if you can only afford a £1 a year then thats what the judge will order, do you think the DCA want that of course not so they wont be going to court any day soon. 

Also if they have failed to comply with CCA request in the time stated they will not be able to persue the debt any further so chances are they will try to sell it on again so you start again. 

Remember this is my advice I'm not legally trained but I have used these methods myself and I'm completely debt free.  If you do need advice go to your local CAB or even council they can and will help you. 

Doggy

My dog decided that it was wake up time this morning at 6:45am he did this by dropping a chewed soggy tug toy on my head, he followed this up by performing a leap if death onto me from the bedroom door, now this would be ok with the leap if he was a little dog but he is a great big border collie, I must train him to make a coffee in morning to wake me up in future. when the dog had finished the cat decided it was time to get by rolling all over me so I was up and in shower by 7am instead of 7:30 

Thanks Animals 

Derby Council Waste

Well here we go again with his highness Cllr Harvey Jennings he forces through the refurbishment of the council house and then slashes like a mad man every service possible that were developed by Labour (and to be fair Lib Dems) when they had the control of city council. So here we go with some numbers about the refurb of council house first is the councils own words about it and figures.

We will refurbish the Council house it will cost £40million which will be repaid at £900k per year over 40 years this will save on costs of maintenance of £1.1 million a year so we will be saving £200k a year sounds good eh? but wait here comes the sting that wasn't reported or put out by council (conservative control of 1 councillor but lib dems refuse to vote) so get ready for the figures.

True cost of build will be £93million that equates to repayment figure of £2.2million a year a lot more than the £900K put out first of all. So it actually is £1.1million dearer to refurb than just maintain the building. Good old Harvey said the repayment can be bought down by selling and renting out other council buildings unfortunately he cant say when this will happen due to the economy...thats the economy that was shrinking before he decided to go ahead. Another point we have to make £23million savings due to cuts from Tory government now I may not be an accountant but can see by stopping the refurb we have made £53million saving over 40 years so we have a surplus of £30million to improve the City.

Lets carry on with the figures previous councils Lab/Tory/Libdem have made savings that go into reserves these reserves re for cuts from central gov or capital spending so we have lost £23million over 3 years from Gov. followed by the £40 million refurb is what the reserve is for so we use £63million for this the total reserve stands at £123million leaves a total of £60million for reserves more than enough dont forget previous gov asked councils to build up reserves to help them to cut deficit so the cuts wouldnt affect the public. 

The vast majority of people in Derby dont want this refurb and have never done I think our dear leader is in for an almighty shock on may 5th local polls say that Labour will win full control of council and they have vowed to stop this refurb and put the money in to the services that are due to be cut. but we shall see.

Final point that did make me laugh they are cutting funding to adult services home helps etc the spokesman said that people wouldnt have to pay, but he was asked that the shortfall would have to be made people receiving the service he said yes but they wouldn't have to pay they would have to co-fund it but its not paying ohhhhhhh nooooo not pay co-fund it.......it makes you weep. 

The Council

Well where do I start..........With the ConDem government making spending cuts to local government it was of course inevitable that there would be cuts in council expenditure however Derby City Council have embraced this with glee and relish, Derby suffered a 5.6% cut in funding which to be honest isn't much and could be easily achieved with a few minor savings but oohhhh no not our Beloved Leader Harvey Jennings he insists we need a refurb of council house of wait for this £40million, when it was pointed out that shelving this would make the necessary saving but noooooo jennings folly must be pursued.

So what do you cut to save 5.6%??? well first to go is Derby Industrial Museum that can go, regardless of the amount of visitors it receives and the start of Unesco World Heritage Trial and that to shut it could mean it looses the World Heritage status, still lets start on the £40million refurb ohhhhhh english heritage say that the refurb might be stopped as Council house is due to be listed building good old Harv aint letting that stop him he presses ahead. 

Next to go school kitchens amazingly the day before a review of school kitchens the council amazingly has to close nearly all kitchens down due to health and safety......now they can implement the move they wanted too which is cook food in big central kitchen and reheat meals at school how nutritious for kids, but fly in the ointment is massive anger from parents, teachers, governors so idea is on hold while schools desperately scrabble to raise funds to get kitchens fit for purpose that way they can stop our Gracious Leader Jennings plan. this is still ongoing and at one school the children haven't had a hot meal for 12 weeks.

Onto next step sacking 639 workers now one reason for refurb of council house (remember that £40million) was to house staff  as it was over crowded now call me silly but if you getting rid of 639 staff wont that free up space in building??? apparently not because the staff he is targeting aren't the managers, ohhh no its the street cleaners, toilet cleaners, gardeners, manual workers so we will keep the infrastructure and keep that fully staffed but they wont have any workers to admin, or manage. Another point previous Chief exec did a good job raised Derby's profile and promote the city but he retired so we get new chief exec how is on £40k a year more but straight away in job he was looking to axe services and staff. So he gets £40k a year more but heyho.

Next to get the axe flower beds and floral displays this saves £170K a year (council house refurb £40million in case you forgot) also means we lose glasshouses in Markeaton park these glass houses have a world wide reputation for producing excellent flowers (RHS even say so and are dismayed they are to close) this is a City that won City in Bloom just 3 years ago, this was announced just 5 days ago local paper ran poll 79% who voted were against the cut

Then the latest cut is the Tory favourite cut of all the plan to close all SureStart and Childrens centres in Derby I can just seeing him foaming at the mouth at the joy of closing them, these are really needed now more then ever with job cuts benefit cuts, they dont just do health issues but provide training for young mothers, while providing quality childcare they are the lifeline for some parents who will become isolated by this.
 

Final point to savour in last local elections Labour were the majority party that means Labour should have been in charge however Jennings cobbled together 3 independents and one other to become the leader of council, and the lib dems who belly ache about all the cuts have a pact of not voting in council votes, my hope is that on may 5th we get a large majority labour council who can stop these illogical cuts that to my mind are idealogical rather than out of necessity final point cut to budget by Government 5.6% cuts to services and staff 36% in one year, ohhh one other point is that they want disabled and vulnerable adults to pay for care a councillor when asked on local radio about this said we dont expect them to pay no we wouldn't want them to pay but we would like them to co-fund??????? errrrrr that means you want them to pay you just changed the phrase FFS

there we go rant about council over 

Neighbours again

Well here we go again I have previously ranted about the neighbours above me and yet again I'm ranting about them. Today its been non stop thumping, banging, slamming, & dragging furniture around all day until about 4 when they went out shopping, they came back about 5:30 and we heard shouting when a bag split, now most people would pick up the split back and put it in the bin in flat but not these dirty gits, they walked off and left it outside our front door. On top of this they have chucked an empty biscuit packet onto our balcony along with numerous fag ends all in the space of 4 days. Worse still they are still chucking dirty baby wipes out of the window and again theres a nappy appeared again. I complained to council about it they said unless we can catch them or have proof its them there is nothing we can do.Well thats a big help!!!!!

I spoke to my neighbour below who had to clean the garden from all the crap they have thrown out she is sick of it she has complained to council too, we are formulating a plan though......we are going to box up a load of the rubbish and post it to them. 

About another neighbour in block who bleats about her hard life she has 2 kids under 5 in 1 bedroomed flat but she forgets to mention she has 3 kids in care because she was druggie who couldn't give a shiny shite about the kids but she now has two more and apparently social services have no problem with this, ohhh and Daddy is a drunk who sits there drinking Lambrini all day in front of the kids, the real shame is the two kids are wonderful, the one redeeming feature is the Dad is getting help for his drink now and to be honest he does look after the kid when sober. 

well thats the neighbours done trouble is before these neighbours it was a lovely place to live and hopefully they will be gone soon, if not we will have to move on ourselves which we are seriously considering trouble is the area we live in is quite expensive and we certainly dont want to leave this area.........

Another unrelated point is I have now been asked by two political parties if I would interested in standing for councillor........I think not if I was to stand it would be as an independent I couldn't take orders in how to vote in council chamber

padja xx

about me (work)

well  little about me

I was born in Wirksworth Derbyshire and was bought up in the West End of Derby, where co-incidentally I now live which I love, and lived there til I was 14 years of age when we moved up to Mackworth on outskirts of Derby, there I stayed until I was 18 and actually bought my first house. Anyway I went to first St Marys RC Primary School (now demolished) and then onto St Ralph Sherwin RC School until I was 16 where I then left and went into the world to seek work. It was the time of Maggie Thatchers appalling YTS scheme or slave labour as it should have been called, luckily I got offered a place at college doing a City & Guilds in Television Radio repair. However during the long 10 week hols I got an actual apprenticeship at Gee Joinery as a wood machinist.

So I spent 3 years there and at Burton College, where the beer is brewed...students and beer what could go wrong, I spent many a happy afternoon in The Dog drinking Bass and eating the best chip butties ever, as a matter of interest it was run and owned by Des Anderson (ex assistant manager of Derby County when they won the league in 1975 only team other than Liverpool to win League title twice in 70's) 

When I had finished my apprenticeship Gee's announced they were re-locating to north Derbyshire so I had to find a new job which I did making saucepan handles it was so brain numbing after all the skills I had I quit within 3 days I then did temp jobs stepping in to help friends etc however this didnt help me with mortgage and in the end I had to sell the house I made £3k on it only to find out if I had kept it for another 6 months I would have made nearly £30k ahhh well. 

In the end I started working at a place called DIPT which I hated it was too much hard sell and not what I liked at all in the end I again told them to shove the job. I then found work making pine furniture which I enjoyed even though the boss could be a cock but on the whole he was a good guy and worked bloody hard as hard as most of the workers and in most cases harder. 

Then in 2000 in September my G/F wanted to return to work after the birth of our daughter so I decided to swap roles which is what I have done for past 10 years. In the 10 years I have qualified as a Reflexologist, Swedish Body Massage, Indian Head massage,become a director of 2 community based businesses and a trustee of charity too. Now I am looking for work in community based project and I have a level 5 qualification in community development (this is a hint if you have a job give it meeee) anyway thats my employment up to date

 

ranty one

So my plan this morning was to have a lie in thanks to me going into town Friday and get veg and meat. However my neighbours above me decided other wise yup they started their favourite trick of furniture moving round at 7am then their kids woke up and so the stampede started. so I guess I was getting up. They were ok when they first moved in but slowly they have turned into a bit of a nightmare, they do insist on chucking rubbish out of their windows so it litters up the communal garden but just recently it has got much worse we now have dirty baby wipes and nappies being thrown out. They also chuck their fag ends over balcony and one has burnt a hole in one of our chairs. 

Rant over I'm off to get a bath and have a long soak. See you tomorrow or later on

Hello all

Hello all,

well lets see if I can try and keep this blog up to date and current. I hope you enjoy my ramblings and incoherent rantings over the smallest things.


As I sit typing this the cat is sat on comp chair giving me a look that says "disturb me I will kill you, stroke me I will kill you, move I will kill you" so I shall get a beer brb......cat now says " awwww dad your going in the kitchen I love you fill my bowl with food I love you" got me beer where was I??


ahhhh yes I'm 43 a little extra padding that I intend to lose very soon, had major knee op last June which has made serious exercise impossible. I have a 10 year old daughter who can be good at times but can also be a pain but on the whole she is good. My G/F works for a major baker and gets a lot of crap being management also she has 6 tattoos and is planning at least another 4 or 5 at least. 


I've been on twitter for nearly 2 years I think my twitter name is @padja1, I've made good friends on there and met a few from twitter @ceggsxx is one and @anz_rocks is another also met the team at Quad too some I already know from real life.


I'm passionate about helping local communities to better themselves and no not how Cameron sees it with his poxy big society. I have been involved in community work for over 10 years, I was trustee of a charity that has since I left been ruined by people wanting power and control the two things you should never seek being a trustee. I was also a company director for two companies as well. I cant get a paid job in community development due to not having relevant degree despite having 10 years experience....still I have started to slowly get a combined studies degree and should have it by the time I'm 65 thanks to Nick Clegg. 


My politics are left leaning but I dont want this to be a political blog but at times I will be having a rant at Cameron, Osborne, & Clegg. 


Well thats me hope you stick with it, I will try to keep blogging ohhhhh cat found a toy and is now rolling all over the floor being cute, dogs asleep on bed, guinea pigs asleep in daughters room, in their cage, so bye for now and nip on twitter and say hi too


Padja xxx