Credit where credit is due

I'll admit, the title is almost completely unrelated to what this post is going to be about, a lot like the posts of Dave Williams of mylifeisdaverage would be (in case you were wondering, he did not go AWOL, he just defected to tumblr, just like every other teenager with too many thoughts and feelings that can only be expressed by pictures or quotes.). This post is about credit but not the good kind of credit, it is about money lending.

I am of the rather traditional view of "if you don't have money then don't spend it" which if everyone shared rather than the typical DFS "buy now, pay later" mindset, we would not still be in economic meltdown. Big businesses and banks have taken advantage of the human nature to spend what they have, in fact Parkinson's second law is "Expenditure rise to meet income", present a man with £100, even if he has to give it back in the future, that money will be spent and he must recover the money in order to give it back or face the consequences.

Obviously there is a need to borrow money to buy a place to live and this is done by a long term mortgage from the bank, details are set out, conditions put in for loss of job or unexpected problems and eventually the money is paid back with interest. A newer form of borrowing money is in the form of the credit card, this short term lending causes all sorts of problems, unless incredibly strict on yourself, you will spend stupid amounts of money you don't have. This is obviously a bit of a pickle when it comes to paying off that credit card, yeah, you have to give back all that money you spent plus a little bit extra to pay off that kind, lovely company that let you use their money. It gets pretty nasty when you don't pay and the interest really kicks in, plunging you further into debt without you having a penny to show for it.

What I really hate are the new short term lending companies such as QuickQuid, Wonga and countless others, they focus on people struggling to pay bills with payday just too far away to wait it out and charge stupidly high interest rates in exchange for the speed and ease you can borrow money. Here is my message to the world: don't use these companies, short term lending is a terrible idea, if you have bills that need paying but payday is still a week away, phone the electricity/water/phone company and ask nicely for an extra week, they are human and will understand! Not to mention that most companies give you the option of what day of the month to pay your bills so it can be shortly after payday.

Sorry this one hasn't been hilarious, I am quite passionate about this.

The Weather Forecast

I will break the ice in true British style by talking about the weather, or more specifically about the weather forecast. My old geography teacher always moaned about the weather forecast because of the dumbing down of it all. Firstly they don’t show the jet stream, which is a passage of air in the upper atmosphere that essentially controls the weather, they even show the jet stream in America but broadcasters deem us as not intelligent enough to comprehend it. And secondly the presentation of the weather forecast is no longer done by meteorologists but by attractive men and women reading a script and waving their arms.

My problem with the weather forecast is far less sophisticated; it is one of those petty irritations I so often write about. The clue as to what a weather forecast is, is in the name, a forecast of weather, that is what the weather is going to do in the future. This is very useful, it helps us plan our outfits and excursions but also gives us a scapegoat when the weather tricks us all and the country grinds to a halt under a foot of snow or countless barbeques are ruined by thunderstorms. However I can appreciate that the weather is pretty difficult to predict as it is based mainly on what it has done in the past so if they get it wrong and I get drenched, I don’t really mind.

We have established that the point of the weather forecast is to predict weather so why do they tell us what the weather is doing now? I always thought that windows were invented for the very reason of seeing outside so telling me it is sunny is a waste of your time and mine. So then, why does the weather forecast go on to tell you what the weather did earlier? I was there Mr Weatherman, I experienced the cold wind and as a result I put my coat on, but thank you for telling me this redundant information. What is even worse is when they get it wrong, how can one possibly get the weather wrong when describing what it did only a few hours ago? I had spent an afternoon in central London and it had rained and rained and rained for hours. I came home still dripping, got changed and watched the news. There was the weatherman on the London news telling me what the weather had done earlier. He claimed that it had been a lovely day all across London, not a cloud in the sky and glorious high temperatures. How wrong he was, it had not been a lovely sunny day and I had the damp clothes to prove it. I briefly imagined a cartoon-style raincloud that followed me around, raining on me and me only but it seemed more feasible that the weatherman was an imbecile.

You should check out the blog of my biology friend Katie Barry at http://worldofkatiebarry.blogspot.com/ She is just starting out in the blogging world and needs some air time.

And a shoutout for Claire because...well because she asked for one.

Finally, happy birthday to Irritated Mutterings, we are 1 today.