The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: sabrina on February 03, 2011, 03:25:56 pm
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Having worked since I was 13, ( part time job before and after school ) my pension age is now to be 61 years and 9 months. Longer wait if you were born in 1954. when my children were growing up I took jobs that meant I was home when they were or they had there father. I have never had unemployment in my life. My health is not all that great but better than some. As the government keeps moving the finishing line I have decided that what they really want is us all to die and never get any pension. what do others think .
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To be honest I think that has always been the aim. I am going to do my best to get the most pension out of them as I can since both my dear husbands died before they got to retirement age.
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this is the year that people will actually realize that the government really are totally corrupt .
They are pulling the welfare state apart in fact ending it , although the people will still actually continue to pay for it in ever increasing taxes.
David Cameron is an upper class twat and a complete crook , as are most of his government . He is installing his big society making out that he is doing the country a favour , he isn't . He is ending many social benefits that we all pay for in taxes , making the people who carry out these benefits to society unemployed , and then telling the people of this country to do the work for nothing instead ... a total rip off a complete con .
They have talked about selling off the state pension side of the welfare state , but they may just end it instead .
Every single cut back that the government are making , only affect the poorer people in the country , the people that need what is provided. The government are all extremely wealthy people and not one will be affected by a single cut back . In fact they actually benefit by them .
The whole government needs pulling down , removing , they are corrupt . It isn't just the one in power now ... they are all the same . The people running the country are the big companies , and any government is just the corporations puppet ... they are ALL corrupt .
As for pensions , grab what you can when you can .. but basically , look after yourself ...they won't !!!!
George Osborne an inexperienced buffoon leading us to civil unrest? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8qV45BhJr4#)
just look at the clip above .. that twat is Chancellor of the Exchequer ....and look at who his bum chums at Oxford were !!!
I think what is going on in Egypt, is long overdue here now . We need to remove all of these corrupt arsholes from our government , end this elite dictatorship we are stuck with , and get real people to run the country . Sorry for the rant !!!
cheers
Rustyme
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this is the year that people will actually realize that the government really are totally corrupt . Sorry for the rant !!!
cheers
Rustyme
No you're not ;D ;D ;D Keep on ranting Russ! We listen!
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I did one of my teaching practice placements at St Paul's Boy's school in Barnes. It was a real eye opener. I followed that by going to Featherstone High School in Southall in West London one of the most deprived mixed race schools at the time.
Every day I went to SPB's I was treated like a dirty skett by the pupils and despite having every right to be there as a teacher I was lampooned and treated as though my place was to lick the high s**t off there shoes.
The only highlight of that experience was when Andy McNabb came to talk during one of the afternoon activity slots in the Atrium and he fended off some really stupid questions with blunt realism that caused a wave of disgust to get right up some very arrogant and ignorant noses.
I have worked in almost every type of educational establishment in my time, I get very vexed about the endless mill of government change for ill thought out change's sake. The Right Hon Michael Gove would like schools to return to Blazers and ties and two year A level's and an end to critical thinking in favor of dates and learning by rote. I could spit lacework in steel. Bottom line - cuts in public services, cuts in front line services, cuts on the wrists of children I work with and a lack of funding to deal with it. Mental health issues in our communities will grow as people get into debt and more vaccine damaged young people flood into society.
As long as the old boy network functions the next generation of overprotected twerps will be in place to carry on in government.
The finishing line is there to finish us off. I truly hope that this is the year people see through the sham of democracy but I suspect that the control of the media is so tight that the age of endarkenment will continue.
Sorry to rant on with my stygian wings a flapping in your faces.
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I lived not far from Southall ... I grew up in Ruislip , but I actually worked sometimes in Southall, at one time in Dormers Wells school ..small world eh ?
cheers
Rustyme
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Old boy networke???? I can see only the rich will get richer for the next few years, what a future for the young and as I said on another post, a lot of us will end up loosing are smallholder life unless we live in a remote part with few over heads!! poaching, thieving and crime are the only ways forward unless you are from the old boy network!
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Gosh Russ! We are from the same manor! I taught at Bishops Ramsay School in Ruslip for a bit and my mum went to school at Dormers Wells. I was born in Hayes and lived in that bit of London until my mid twenty's. If you ever taught at Mellow Lane Comp in the 80's I could have been your pupil!!! Blimey you might even have been my dealer!!!!!
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Blimey you might even have been my dealer!!!!!
;D ;D ;D ;D
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I really think that things are going to go to pot in a very bad way soon . The affects of the cut backs are only really just starting to kick in . But petrol is set to hit £8 a gallon later this year , and I have heard talk of £10 maybe even £15 a gallon not that far away , plus the government have already had talks about rationing fuel , but they say they are not going to do it, of course ... thats why they are talking about doing it !!! wtf ?
Once fuel goes up to that sort of price , everything else follows up very fast , food, travel, clothing ...everything . Some very iffy times are literally just around the corner . Fewer jobs , less money , higher bills , less services , higher taxes = recipe for total disaster .
Just on the rise in cost of food alone , makes it almost essential to grow your own now , if you can . The £5 a loaf of bread isn't THAT far away . Anyone with land I urge you , grow veg and start saving seed . For years people have almost laughed in my face when I have spoken of this situation coming at us like a runaway train , now some of the ones who did actually laugh at me , are now growing their own , as they have lost their jobs and are finding it almost impossible to get by ....and this is just the start .
Thieving and crime IS the old boys network ... they steal from us to make them wealthy .
Still , even with 20% vat , rope is still cheap , and there are a lot of lamp posts around Westminster :o
cheers
Rustyme
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blimey it really is a small world .. Wasn't Bishops Ramsey originally called Ruislip Manor school ? that's where I went ... Warrender way , the old building, then on to the new building from the 4th year on . The new building was next to Highgrove swimming pool , which I think may have gone now ? I left about '73 when I was 16
Anyway , I didn't teach at Dormers Wells , I worked their repairing windows and doors etc, general maintenance , and also fitted out the language room with state of the art headphones ..lol.
I worked there on and off for about 3 years I think , my dad had a building firm and had the contract to repair the place .
I think I remember working at Mellow lane too , but again it was in the early '70's . We did a lot of work in many local schools about that time , Hayes , Harrow , Ealing , Southall , Greenford , Northolt , in fact it was right next to Northolt airport I grew up , although Northolt airport was in Ruislip really . Ruislip Gardens was the estate right next to the airport , my 2 allotments were about 100 yards from the airport perimeter .
I have lived in Wales since I was 20, '77 onwards.
cheers
Rustyme
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Rustyme
We could all rant on about something we see as wrong, no matter which party are in power.
We have the coalition in power now because the general feelings of those that made the effort to vote, was that of distrust for all but mainly the Labour Party.
I don’t believe Cameron and Glegg are corrupt, both have enough money to live comfortably without the need of a minister's wages, but are determined to try and turn the country around.
They took over the country when it was both financially and morally corrupt!
Looking after the “fat cats” is not a new issue. Under Labour we had:
Bank Bonuses in excess!
Civil servant pay and severance deals that make your blood boil.
Politicians on the take.
Public sector non-jobs to massage the unemployment figures.
The list goes on.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree with you, the country needs a “revolution”.
It will be unpalatable to many and politically incorrect, but:
We need to stem immigration of those who see Britain as a “Cash cow”.
We need to reduce the burden of population expansion.
We need to stop all public sector pension and severance payouts.
Get all public sector employees doing a proper job for a proper wage.
Stop immediately this farcical “Bonus culture”.
Get the youngsters off the dole and into apprenticeships.
We need another “Oliver Cromwell”
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Rustyme
We could all rant on about something we see as wrong, no matter which party are in power.
We have the coalition in power now because the general feelings of those that made the effort to vote, was that of distrust for all but mainly the Labour Party.
I don’t believe Cameron and Glegg are corrupt, both have enough money to live comfortably without the need of a minister's wages, but are determined to try and turn the country around.
They took over the country when it was both financially and morally corrupt!
Looking after the “fat cats” is not a new issue. Under Labour we had:
Bank Bonuses in excess!
Civil servant pay and severance deals that make your blood boil.
Politicians on the take.
Public sector non-jobs to massage the unemployment figures.
The list goes on.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree with you, the country needs a “revolution”.
It will be unpalatable to many and politically incorrect, but:
We need to stem immigration of those who see Britain as a “Cash cow”.
We need to reduce the burden of population expansion.
We need to stop all public sector pension and severance payouts.
Get all public sector employees doing a proper job for a proper wage.
Stop immediately this farcical “Bonus culture”.
Get the youngsters off the dole and into apprenticeships.
We need another “Oliver Cromwell”
Not sure about bringing OC back but at last a sensible approach tot eh situation with constructive comments. Thank you, tuggers, a good first post, I hope you will introduce yourself - welcome to the forum ;D
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Re pensions (sorry hope this is ok to say) I retired last year, having worked part time from age 15 to put myself through 5th year (an option in those days) and then to put myself through college. I had some years off for child raising but have worked full time since youngest was 5.
I paid full stamp for most of those years. My pension when it finally came was £32.00 per year. Apparently they have no record of most of my working life. So far one year of fighting with little response from pensions or tax office, and counting. If I was French I would have retired at 60 regardless of sex, on a damn good liveable pension and lots of aid from the community - free wood, reduced rates, various help with bills when needed.
God it was good to get that off my chest. Thanks.
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Having been born in 1965 I expect I'll have to wait til I'm 100 before I get a state pension and it'll only be a pittance anyway compared to prices ::) The way they keep extending I won't hold my breath put it that way ::)
My take on it is that most of the folk that try and govern inherit a bad situation and do the best they can with it, but usually end up worse rather than better ::) The mindset is all wrong and tho "welfare state" was a good idea in its day to pay for the poorest in society, it's now become so bureaucratic and bizarre a system that some learn to manipulate it to earn more than a minister of state, while others never manage to get enough to pay their bills and continue to live well below the poverty line.
I'm not sure about Oliver Cromwell, but I do think the system needs a revolutionary review that takes on not just benefits and taxation, pensions and salaries/bonuses, but environment, ethics the lot :o And because it's too hard, nobody will do it because so many are making a decent living (or millions) off things the way they are ::)
Self sufficiency is an ideal most of us will never reach, but really needing less and making more of what we need ourselves or bartering to share skills, is what I aspire to. If I don't "need" what the media and society tell me I need, then I don't need as much money to buy it and I will have enough for far longer. And at the end of the day if I live to get a pension I'll have probably had a lot more enjoyable life than I did when commuting to an office ::) And if not then, well, every moment will just have to count a bit more won't it ;)
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Re pensions (sorry hope this is ok to say) I retired last year, having worked part time from age 15 to put myself through 5th year (an option in those days) and then to put myself through college. I had some years off for child raising but have worked full time since youngest was 5.
I paid full stamp for most of those years. My pension when it finally came was £32.00 per year. Apparently they have no record of most of my working life. So far one year of fighting with little response from pensions or tax office, and counting. If I was French I would have retired at 60 regardless of sex, on a damn good liveable pension and lots of aid from the community - free wood, reduced rates, various help with bills when needed.
God it was good to get that off my chest. Thanks.
If you paid the reduced stamp those years don't count. If you were at home looking after your children they DO count. You should at least get the very basic minimum pension. The Basic State Retirement Pension for a single person is £95.25 a week for a single person and £152.30 for a couple in 2009/10. Whether you get this can depend on how many national insurance contribution years you have completed.
The basic pension is lower than the income support threshold, so if they have no other income, state pensioners can top up with income support. This comes in the form of a means-tested Pension Credit which brings the weekly amount up to £130 for a single person and £198.45 for a couple. HTH
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Thanks d&J and yet, still battling with the pension people who can not find a record of most of my working years ...
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We certainly don't want another Oliver Cromwell, but the country (in fact the world) does needs a major shake up.
The trouble is we don't live in a society any more; we live in an economy. So things are only valued in terms of how much money they can make - hence forests are valued only for the potential timber sales; the wildlife has no value unless it can be exploited in some way. The same applies to people: Bankers are highly valued 'cos they make a lot of money; rich people are valuable 'cos they 'invest'; nurses merely care for sick & injured people - little money to be made there. And as for little people who just make enough money to keep themselves and their animal fed - well we are just numbers on a computer.
Rant number one over.
I keep paying my NI contributions & Tax, although it's anyones guess as to wether I'll see anything in return when I need it.
Sorry to hear about your pension hillarysmum - that's why I keep all my paper records so I'll be able to prove I've paid when the time comes (I've got bank statements dating back to when I opened my first account in 1978 - failing all else I'll have plenty of firelighter when I 'retire' ;D ).
I do have a (stakeholder type) pension from when I was PAYE, but I don't expect much from that - and I don't trust the company that holds it to work in my interest. They produce massive annual statements that are very hard to understand with several pages of small print, but I always looked through them 'cos one year I noticed that one of my monthly contributions was missing. I chased them up on it and my employers HR dept sent them proof that the contribution had been deducted from my pay & sent to them. They reluctantly admitted that something had gone wrong and credited my pension, though they never offered any explanation as to how it could have gotten lost.
Then a couple of years ago when the stocks went down I asked about advice on moving my funds to other more stable options. I couldn't get any advice from them except to set up an online login where I could choose where I could put my funds. I did this only to be presented with a list of options that mean absolutely nothing to me. Apparently I have to pay an independent advisor to tell me what my options are.
OK 2nd rant off my chest. :) Feel better now.
mab
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Thanks d&J and yet, still battling with the pension people who can not find a record of most of my working years ...
It's all on here - http://www.pensionsorter.co.uk/statepension.cfm#howm (http://www.pensionsorter.co.uk/statepension.cfm#howm) Quote anything I have said and this website too. Go get 'em, gal! ;D
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Reading these posts I agree with them all...
My OH worked all his life first as an employee and then as a self-employed builder, while he was very successful and worked Dammed hard he was never going to make a million - enough to feed and look after his family - no holidays because if you didn't work you didn't get payed.
I worked full time from 16 until 21 when i had two children and spent my time looking after them and the home and the animals (so didn't 'work!!!! for many years). That was at a time when you cooked meals with fresh vegetables and meat (no fridge/freezer in those early days) it didn't come in a cardboard box ready made from a supermarket - children ate 'proper' food, sat at the table and not adlib or running around with it in their hand or dumped infront of the TV.
During his SE time (we thought being SE was a good idea at the time - own boss etc!!!!) money was short - but we managed to put some into a pension plan - at that time we were assured it would 'keep' us in our 'old age' plus the state pension (which lets face it - we have also paid into all our working lives, so is NOT a 'freebie' given to us by the gov) we thought we should be reasonable 'well off'.
As doganjo say the 'state pension' is £198. odd per week for a couple - this wouldn't even pay our MPs drinks bill for the week. I would like to see them surviving on it.
Due to inflation our 'pension plan' is hardly worth having now.
So we are still working if only part-time to make ends meet - we have our hens and sheep (and hopefully a pig or two if I can persude OH) plus our veggie patch. This helps keep our head above water and tastes better than shop bought stuff anyway.
What I don't understand is with all the 'billions' of people in the world - not enough food to feed them or work to for them 'people' are still having 3-4-5 children, can't they see that the future is going to be bleak for them...
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I know it's off topic but I just saw an advert for Save the childfren - wanting £2 a week to save children's lives. Surely they should be helping the parents by providing contraception instead? They don't have to force it on them - just make it available.
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Well, you can't blame me, I didn't vote for this lot and actually, like most people, was much better off under Labour. But then, I'm one of the 'baby boomer' generation and accept my share of the blame for what we unwittingly afflicted on our children's generation by being the ones to benefit from having free university education with maintenance grants, choice of jobs and also the beneficiaries of the housing market boom of the past 30 years. I won't be getting my state pension till 60 and 9 months (Dec 1950 born) but at least I have a good occupational pension and will get a state pension. I doubt our kids ever will.
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due to getting divorced after 25 years marriage to a gambler I was lucky enough to meet my now wonderful OH and we have been married 13 years, together 15. What I did not know at the time by remarrying I lost all the child rearing credits for raising my children, how can this be right. It was not my fault that my first husband was such a rotter, I work part time but only paid the then small stamp, money was always very tight and I did struggle to keep my kids in shoes and clothes. They are all men with their own families now so I know I did a good job but I do feel that the government has treated me very badly for something I had no control over.
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Hmm, not convinced that is correct. I'd have a word with a pensions expert if I were you. Your own lawyer will know of one.
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My dad retired in 1980...and has been drawing his pension ever since! I always have a laugh about it, as most in his old job seem to curl up their toes the first year after retiring. He has done well after working hard all his life. Unfortunately, he is on his death bed as we speak.
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Well done, old chap, getting 30 years of pension! Hope he passes in peace. :wave:
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30 years ago the average baby boy could expect to live 71 years. Now it's 78 years, and 82 for females.
All the ideas of a few years ago for everyone to retire at 60 like my mum did has reversed cos no-one can pay for it. And all the actuaries who worked out the sums that said it would be OK have retired on good pensions.
My father in law has nearly been retired for as long as he worked and has had a very comfortable retirement of the sort which many fewer are going to see in the future. But we have my grandfather's inscribed clock for working for fifty years in the same firm. Weird.
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I was born the same year as ellied and feel pretty much the same about when I'll actually be allowed to retire.
I've got a couple of frozen company pensions that are worth buttons, and have pinned retirement security upon the increased equity in our houses, over the years, but the bottom seems to have dropped out of that plan in recent years, too.
Fortunately when we bought our present house I was able to arrange to buy the half an acre of land around it at the same time, but keep the bank's thieving hands off it, so at least we own that outright.
That's also the land where we keep our pigs and chickens, and at some point in the future we'll sell the house and self-build on the land instead (when all the kids have left home).
It's reassuring to know that if everything goes pear-shaped and we lose the house we'll still own the land (which currently also has a static caravan on it.) If nothing else we'll still have somewhere to live and should be able to manage a fair degree of self-sufficiency.
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Is the access to the house across the land you own?
Farmer friend of mine was going to be busted by Barclays when they realised that the only access to the house they held as security was across the land they didn't have as security. A reasonable discussion followed and they then decided to back him not sack him.
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Sorting out Britain should be easy enough, but the system is rotten to the core.
Stop paying to bring other peoples kids up.
Bring back national service and anyone that is not in full time gainfull employment goes in, aged between 16 and 30 Teach them what work is and how to repect other people.
To save the police force having to lose staff Treble all fines.
Drunk in a public place £500 fine.
Parking on double yellow lines £250.
No tax or insurance on your car. Crush the car and fine them £2000 or 6 months in jail.
Bring back the birch and hanging for 1st degree murder.
I just started getting my pension at 65. £119 per week.
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Is the access to the house across the land you own?
Looking at the site plan I'd say yes, although I'm sure I remember there being a right of access along the short track that leads down the side to it.
I do get a little annoyed with politicians and other people on the telly when they refer to citizens and democracy, because that's one thing we really aren't. We're subjects of the Crown which makes us little more than property, in the eyes of the ruling classes. I'm sure given the option they'd euthanise us all when we'd exhausted our usefulness to them.
Sooner or later the price of fuel is going to mean those of us in the very rural areas are going to be effectively isolated from the urban areas.
Already it costs us half a tank of petrol to go to the supermarket and back (190 mile round trip to Inverness, or 120 if we go to the little one in Ullapool). That's about £35 before you even begin to factor-in wear and tear on tyres and such-like.
At least being where we are we'll probably avoid the really nasty stuff when a revolution comes along.
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Oh yes ambriel thanks for reminding me, I will also have 2 frozen company pensions to look forward to - a civil service one kicks in when I am 60 - something like £2k a year I think which might not buy me a cup of coffee by then ;) and the university USS one I have no idea because they keep changing the terms even after I've left so while I should have it at 65 I am not sure it will be there and not in debt as a fund by then - let alone whether I'll ever get it by surviving that long ::)
I reckon the equity in my house and land is my only security - have to sell this one but should be able to buy something smaller - cottage with an acre or two or plenty of land and a caravan depending on my circs ;) and live off the rest.. Oh no, I forget, they'll probably want capital gains tax if I do that ::)
Do we have any financial advisers for self employed folk on here? ;)
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I hope to be able to run this B&B in my retirement as its not too hard going and keeps the bills paid, otherwise, sell up and downsize, all we need is a little house with a nice view and open fire!!
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and some hens and ducks ;D :&>
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Trying to make contact with the HM Taxes to sort out my pension. Despite 2 letters no response, so wondered does anyone have a contact EMAIL address for them. Any department would do.
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I have at least another 32 years of work before I can think about retirement, and by then the retirement age will no doubt be abolished altogether and I will have to work till I keel over.
And I have been working on the assumption for years that I wont get a state pension because there just wont be any money left by the time I retire, so I need to think private pensions and investments.
However, as it looks like I am about to be redundant, what I really need to be thinking about now is how to develop my very own strain of money trees and start an orchard growing £50 notes.
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Trying to make contact with the HM Taxes to sort out my pension. Despite 2 letters no response, so wondered does anyone have a contact EMAIL address for them. Any department would do.
You need to ask for a quotation - you can do it online these days, (but not if living outside the UK, sorry) but remember any time spent at home looking after children or caring for sick relatives counts towards your entitlement in pensionable years. Do a yahoo search for this 'uk state pension forecast' and you'll get lots of sites with advice on them.
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will money tree cuttings be available? put me down for a dozen. grow for victory, we could feed this country, and i personally will be charging politicians £1000/ lb for chantenays!!!
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Thanks for that will try.