With today’s current economic downturn that is affecting everyone the world over there still appears to be a belief that somehow everything is going to get better and turn itself around so that once again we can all live in better more prosperous and positive times. People the world over are asking for help whether it be poverty or war torn nations, financial institutions, manufactures or individuals struggling to make ends meet, they are all asking for help.

How much help though can be given is the question being asked and will there be a time of the simple answer of No we can not help?

As an example let’s look at new car producers across the world and it seems as if most of them are in a financial crisis as demand for new cars fall. The companies are asking for money to help them out but if no one is buying new cars then why keep making them?
If there is not a demand for new cars then the manufacturers simply need to stop making them. Yes, people will ultimately loose their jobs or have to work less hours and earn less but that is the best option rather than make a lot of cars that end up stock piled somewhere. Of course the other alternative is to cut the prices of new cars and make them more affordable to a wider base of people. That will mean making less profit for the companies, although less profit with increased sales still would mean that demand will increase.

Car companies are not alone as every type of industry appears to be struggling, a decline in people taking short haul or long haul holidays means that travel companies will struggle and in turn airlines are struggling as will plane manufacturers as the need for new planes drop when airlines can not afford to increase or replace their fleets of aircraft.

Productivity the world over is in free fall as demand decreases because consumers either can not afford to buy or simply because of a growing power of thinking that has not been fully realised yet takes hold.

That power of thought is a simple one where more and more people are asking

Do I need to buy a new car or a new T.V or some new clothes, perhaps we can miss a holiday this year, after all everyone is trying to live on money that is worth less whilst paying for everything that all costs more.

Have we reached a point in our evolution when people will begin to say?

Let’s make do with what we have?

So, then Lets all of us put on the biggest pair of Dirty Glasses appropriately called
`This is how it is and it is going to be like this for quite a few years to come` Dirty Glasses as we say to ourselves

` We all knew this was going to happen one day but we just didn’t expect it to happen quite so soon. `

The mind does control the body and it is important for all of us to keep the mind very active in our twilight years.
Having just learned a new job that meant I had to learn a great deal of new knowledge, I have never felt so good in a very long time. For anyone who feels that they have reached a time when they can simply switch off and take the easy highway in life I would strongly urge you to reconsider. There are too many instances where people that have done that do not enjoy a very long highway ending up finished for good.

We are never too old to learn new skills and we are never too old to completely change direction in our lives. The mind is a very powerful and resilient part of us and you must never think that your mind can not take on more knowledge and understanding.

Instead of wasting time exercising the brain by doing Sukudo, crosswords and other brain games use the need to keep the mind active by learning something new.

For all those people who feel that they can learn no more I award them a hazy pair of dirty glasses as this how they are viewing their life but it is never too late to teach an `old dog new tricks` and a leopard can change its spots!

“Would you like to see the world be a better place” theatre

where at my front door stood a pamphlet clutching believer in what it is they and there to late to notice for me clan of believers who were cruising down the road to knock on my fellow neighbours front doors as well, believed in.

So, a conversation developed and although I did not ridicule or counter argue what it was that was being said I did say that despite what their message is I did not think that it would make any difference to anything unless those that they preached too wanted it too in such a strong way that they would make the pretty and fluffy things that they believed in happen.
We all believe in what it is that we have chosen to believe in, we make the choices and then we live to those beliefs and if at some point we decide that we feel the urge to believe in something else then we will make that choice.

So, Cold Callers of a Religious Kind are awarded a ` blinkered pair of Dirty Glasses` as this is what they are accustomed to.

Well, in my wallet I do have one of their cards but I do not use it at all because I do not qualify for any privileged interest rates for purchases or balance transfers. I don’t even qualify for the 1.7% charges on balance transfers that new customers are being wooed with at the moment which is well below the normal offers of 3% charged by most other credit card companies.
The advise that I have been given by Capital One is truly amazing and hard to believe as they advise me that I should close my existing account that I have had for at least 8 years and open a new one where I will be offered a much improved offer of interest rates and services that I can expect being a new customer.
Well, for a change how about offering something that gives existing customers a better level of service rather than new customers.

So, `Dirty pound note shaped Glasses` are then awarded to Capital One who it states prefer new customers to their loyal existing customers.

For now though I must set about closing my Capital One Card Account so that I can then open that `we prefer new customers one` !!!!

At last my turn to be served and what the sales assistant and me actually said is here written.

Me: “You have a lot of things around your store not priced”

Assistant: “You know what, this is only my 2nd day here, I normally work at Chatham and we don’t have that problem there.”

Me: “Well are you saying I need to go there to find out the price of something!”

Assistant:” No, of course I aint it’s just we don’t have that problem there”

Me: “So tell me how much is this item that I would like to buy”

Assistant:” Hang on I’ll scan it, £6.99 for you, would you like to buy it?”

Me: “Yes, of course but it would be nice to know how much some of these things are as I browse the selection of items you have on sale”

Assistant: “Enter your PIN please”

Assistant: “You can remove your card now; shall I put the receipt in the bag?”

Me: “Yes “

So, let’s look at my shopping experience a little closer then.
A lot of shops full of a lot of stock crammed out onto overflowing pegs and shelves does mean that in some cases that stock ends up not being priced or that it lacks a price sign below it or anywhere near it. We the customer are then left to speculate into how much that item is and if we need to know for sure then we have to find someone who will then say the all too familiar sentence.

“Hang on mo and I’ll scan it for you”

As for the assistant in Clintons, what he said quite frankly was something that in no way connected to what it was I needed to know. Perhaps I should drive down to Chatham where he feels that everything is priced so I wouldn’t then have to keep asking people how much something is.
Maybe it might be a better idea if retailers ensured that items that they would like the public to view and select to purchase have the price on them in the first place.
A pair of Seasonally Festooned Dirty Glasses, are hereby awarded then to Clinton Cards and any other retailer who fails to price their goods for sale adequately.

Today more then ever a lot of house owners are staying put where they are and improving what they have.
So, the need for skilled tradesmen is as you would expect in high demand as we need them to do all those D.I.Y jobs that we actually can’t do ourselves.
Do It Yourself thus becomes S.T.D.I.F.Y, Someone To Do It For You.
This is when you may like me, wish that you would have learnt such skills yourself as to do it yourself will of course work out a whole lot cheaper. You would think then that a Tradesman as we call them i.e. a skilled builder, plumber, electrician or painter and decorator would be most happy to do what they know best and earn well in the process.
However, it would seem that in my experience such professionals are having a `Dirty Glasses` experience with me or could it be us the general public.
Finding these elusive Do it for You heroes is a hard enough thing in itself but when you finally stumble across the chosen one, who from the advert in the Yellow Pages or your local paper appears to be just what you are looking for they often turn out to be far too busy and won’t be available for months.
But, if they are available and when they do call on you to provide that all important quote then what seems to happen next is one of two things.
Some of them measure up the task and say I will get back to you with a figure but alas the figure never materialises or
Worse than that the magic numbers freely flow and you agree by saying great we want you do it and then they fail to turn up to do the job.
So, all you expert tradesmen out there if you can Do It For Us then you need to do it or as it would seem for some of you just keep wearing those `Dirty Glasses` and let potential earnings carry on slipping past you.

When is an offer not a good offer?

When whatever it is that is on offer isn’t available is the answer.

Retailers across the country from time to time advertise something that is at an incredible price or has on it such a good deal that naturally we the public note what a stonkingly good offer it is and march off to the shop or go on line and set out to grab one. And this is where the offer ends up costing us far more than we bargained for, because what we don’t realise is that stocks of this item are of course limited and that means that in a lot of cases the seller simply runs out in record time and then leaves hundreds if not thousands of potential buyers un-catered for as they leave the shop or go off line empty handed.

But, there are a lot of us who once tempted to buy that elusive fantastically priced item will decide to buy the next nearest priced item to it. That happens a lot of the time where we are either persuaded to spend more by buying the same thing at a more expensive price that may just may do something a little over and above that original or may just be branded differently but ultimately be exactly the same thing.

One such item is sited in the Argos catalogue, there it is but all that you can get of it is a picture of it because most if not all of the Argos stores in the Kent area are out of stock.
A Texet Swivel 512Mb Flash Drive at only £5.99.

This sort of item is what used be called a `Dog Line` simply because it is rather like a cute little puppy in a pet shop window that by its sheer presence tempts people in to buy it and take it home.
Most of us if we wanted a Texet 512MB Swivel Flash Drive for an amazing £5.99 will end up buying the next available item that will require us to spend more than we had `bargained` for in the first place.

Retailers and sellers alike then are worthy of a pair of higher profit earning `Dirty Glasses` as they woo us in with attractively priced items that they have insufficient stocks of to `meet the demand` but don’t worry they can easily sell you the next higher priced item that surprisingly is in stock!

This is an interesting thing and I am sure you have seen it as well; who knows you may even do it yourselves.

Whilst passing a Harvester eating place on a Fast-Track bus the other day I saw a man outside in his Wellington boots vacuuming the grass. Now you have to work on this because when you stop and examine what it was he was doing then it will make you realise just how insane this world of ours has become.

Using, electricity to power his Flymo vacuum he spent his time sucking up what?

He was sucking up discarded bits of paper, crisp packets, cigarette buts, sweet wrappers and similar sort of stuff.

Now I suppose this job needed doing as the Harvester wanted to keep the grassed area and pavements outside the front of it looking clean and well looked after.

So, how do you suppose all that rubbish got there in the first place?

Yes, of course it was thrown there by the very people who expect to see their local Harvester looking clean and tidy.

But, what’s the big deal you say after all it’s only a few crisp wrappers and some cigarette buts, everyone does it and after all look they employ staff to clear it up and even better than that they even equip them with a Flymo hoover that takes all the hard work out of clearing up someone else’s rubbish.

Look at it another way if everyone stopped just chucking their rubbish onto the floor and placed it a litter bin or waited till they got home to put their rubbish in their bins then we
would not have to pay someone to use a vacuum cleaner to clear it all up and waste electricity while they were doing it.

`Dirty Glasses` then are awarded to all of us including me who do at some time or another discard unwanted paper on the ground and let someone else pick it up.

So, whilst on the subject of outdoor vacuum cleaners I wonder how many people have one of them? I also wonder how much power we could save if we picked up a broom and a brush and dustpan and did it the environmentally better way.

Worst still than Electric Outdoor Flymo’s and even more insane are of course Electric Blowers. These it would seem are used to blow leaves off peoples lawns and driveways so that when the wind blows them back or maybe blows down some more it will once again enable us to get out the Electric Blower to blow them all away again.

Manufactures of Outdoor Electric Vacuum cleaners and Electric Blowers are awarded a pair of `Dirty Glasses`as well.