Highlander's Austerity Budget

I had mentioned previously that we, as a family, are collectively imposing our own austerity measures for numerous reasons including (but not limited to):

My pay is not keeping pace with inflation (as I am sure yours isn't either).
The price of essentials (food, gas, electricity, water) is now a consideration when budgeting.
The cost of our living to the planet.

So far:

1. I have cancelled my defined contribution pension with my employer.

It is currently worth less than the amount of money that has been deposited since I changed job in 2006. Long term I have no confidence in DC pension schemes. The idea that you could save for 20 or 30 years only to watch your pension be wiped out in one of capitalisms irregular but necessary slumps fills me with dread.

2. I sold my car and we are now a one car family.

My 2003 Citroen Saxo was hardly a gas guzzling extravagance but the petrol, insurance, MOT and service costs are not missed. I had to buy it (again for the change of job in 2006) but I have been increasingly working from home so it had to go.

3. I cancelled the family gym membership.

What are you? Some kind of bourgeois with your two cars and your fancy-dan gym membership.

No. I joined the gym initially to help with my depression - exercise did make a difference. But it is cheaper and much more pleasant to go on bike rides alone, or with wife and daughter, for pleasure or out of necessity (to the shops for milk for instance).

And I don't have to defend myself to you.

4. Sky TV has been cancelled and replaced by FreeSat.

6 million channels of shit that I pay for replaced by 1 million channels of shit that I don't pay for.

5. eBay is now the preferred supplier of any consumer goods. I also sell a fair bit on eBay as well.

I won't buy it new if I can get it 2nd hand and if I can get it cheap then even better. Not only that but if I sell all the stuff I no longer need or want then the transaction descends into a convoluted swap with PayPal acting as the (money grabbing) middle man. Who says a barter economy couldn't work?

The eBay approach has also been coupled with our long-standing commitment not to fund purchases through credit. If we can't afford it then we sell on eBay and save until we can. Simple as.

6. Charity shops are the 2nd preferred supplier of any consumer goods.

If I can't get it cheap on eBay then Charity shops are a good bet, especially for books, CD's and old vinyl.

7. Two car boot sales so far this Summer.

If it won't sell on eBay it gets added to the pile of stuff we take to car boot sales to sell. And if we see it cheap at a car boot sale then it gets bought.

8. No summer holiday this year.

Speaks for itself.

9. Weekend breaks paid for with Tesco Clubcard vouchers.

Yes, I'm an evil bastard because I shop at Tesco. I don't enjoy it.

But it does allow me to accumulate Clubcard tokens which I then exchange for Clubcard deals at 4x the value which I then use to book 3 nights away in a hotel in Nottingham for myself, wife and daughter. It's a cheap getaway.


Despite all the above I don't feel any better off but, long term, I think it will make all the difference.

Depeche Mode - Rapido (?)

An interview with Alan Wilder and Martin Gore of Depeche Mode from 1990-ish. I've got it down as Rapido but it may be SnubTV, not sure. Depeche Mode - Rapido pwd: c4ctusm0uth

Zig Zag May 1980 - Linton Kwesi Johnson & Suicide

Not The 'Misery' One

I knew Paul at school.

I remember Calum and I sat in Chemistry one time looking at him with puzzled expressions as he sat there messing with a piece of equipment and making sizzling noises.

"What are you doing?"
"I'm cooking my breakfast."

He had drawn bacon or eggs or some such and was pretending to cook it. Naturally, being teenage boys, we pissed ourselves laughing.

You know when you get to laughing so bad that you can't even look at the other person? Mostly at times when you shouldn't be laughing. Your shoulders bob up and down in silent hysterics as you try to suppress the mirth.

That's how we used to end up in lessons. Not always but enough to make me smile to think of it.

Paul, Jamie and I used to go out drinking and clubbing in Edinburgh and both Paul and I were lucky enough to benefit from Jamie's attendance at George Watson's by way of introduction to the girls of that institution. I think Paul came out tops with Merry and I struggled with Laura.

But most of the time was spent listening to records in each others bedrooms and talking rubbish. Paul always remarked he could see if I was in my room as the window faced the road he walked down and the bedroom light illuminated the 'Head On The Door' poster I had. This was visible on the cupboard door opposite the window.

After school we drifted apart slowly as Paul went to college (might have been Newcastle) and I dropped out and moved out and started working.

He died on a night out with his brother. There may have been another person with them. I don't believe I ever knew the exact circumstances but there was an altercation of sorts which resulted in Paul facing two blokes on his own with his brother catching up. He was stabbed in the heart and died in his brothers arms a short time later.

There were appeals for information and a concerted media campaign at the time around youth and knife crime as a result (and indeed, as there has been every time since). Paul's parents appeared on TV and there was a considerable press presence at his funeral.

His parents wanted the funeral to be a 'celebration' so mourners were encouraged to dress however they wished. Being a Goth it wasn't hard to 'dress up' for a funeral and the, at the time, future Mrs H and I have probably never looked better. Paul would have been proud. He loved the look but his hair was all the wrong colour to go for it - a kind of auburny brown. I also think he was too life-loving to really commit to the moroseness required of a teenage Goth.

They caught the two blokes and if my memory serves, which in the main - it doesn't, they blamed each other initially. However, it ended up they both went to prison. I don't remember the sentences.

Paul is buried at Currie Kirk and my parents live in Balerno, for those of you lucky enough to know the geography, so I go and see him when we visit. I was in Edinburgh recently and took this picture.

The Wolfhounds - Son Of Nothing (EP)

"Pale blinds drawn on day Nothing to do Nothing to say Blue Blue"

The Wolfhounds - Son Of Nothing (EP) (September SEPT7-T 1988) 320kbps Son Of Nothing Cottonmouth Second Son Torture Drifting Into My Solitude - pwd: c4ctusm0uth

Not In Tony's Book

Zig Zag May 1980 - Stiff Little Fingers & UK Decay

Trees, Paper, Ink, Energy. All Wasted.

The Observer Magazine tackles the burning issues of the day.

At Least We Know That...

...come the Revolution, if the casualties are bad then the first aid kit may be inadequate. And branded.

Size Of An iPod 7

"I never meant for you to get hurt"




"You smile and think how much you've changed"




"I put up with all the scenes"

Zig Zag May 1980 - Siouxsie And The Banshees & Adam And The Ants

Manchester (Sky)Ride

Highlander in rare smiling shocker

I originally had Sky TV installed when we lived in Edinburgh - for the Premiership football. I've never had any desire to have the movies or any of the other add-ons (I don't own an HD telly for instance) and so our relationship, despite early promise, has been on a downward spiral since.

The fact that I sat flicking through a multitude of desolate channels with a classic "hundreds-of-channels-with-nothing-on" look on my face time after time, convinced me of the necessity to expunge this evil. (Or, at the very least, replace it with FreeSat). That and the cost. And the fact it's owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Sky has always been on my hit list of Highlander family austerity cuts (which we may return to at a later date).

Against this background, Mrs H, daughter and myself attended the (Sky)Ride in Manchester today. The idea is that a section of the city centre is closed off to all traffic for one day and cyclists are free to roam safely. We drove to Old Trafford, arriving about 10:15, where we parked up and got the bikes out. (And before anyone gets their green credentials out we drove because daughter would never have made the cycle from Timperley to Mancunia) Lots of other people there for the start and much cyclist camaraderie.

On the way out of the car park I exercised the right not to don a (Sky)Ride bib, which you will see in most of the photos, preferring to keep my message unsullied. (I think Mrs H might have muttered "Prick" under her breath but I can't be sure) I couldn't face cycling around with Murdoch advertising down my front. It'd be like puking over your shirt and then showing it off to everyone. Then it was a couple of miles cycling up to Castlefield for the official start and handing out of more advertising crap - particularly plastic flags.

It was a perhaps too-well marshalled 12km route from Castlefield Arena to Sportcity and back with promotional stands, refreshments and cycle repair facilities at either end. The cycling was good - no killer hills - and everyone was courteous and helpful. We had a good few hours cycling overall and thoroughly enjoyed it. Despite the freedom though you never really felt like stopping to take it in or to marvel at the absence of cars, vans, lorries and buses. The one-way system and the weight of numbers kept the cyclists moving in a similar fashion to cars in traffic - all moving in one direction and where you simply couldn't just stop. I found that a bit strange as surely the beauty of cycling is the fact that you are not restricted by the speed of movement of the vehicle in front or encumbered by the vehicle you are sat in.