Day 56: The Benefits of Being Without Car

This evening, I have a very special event to attend.  A friend is being ordained to a country church south of Edinburgh, and I very much want to be there.  This, however, is where my carless status is going to bite.

Yes, there are buses to this small town, and direct ones at that.  So I can get there fine as long as I allow a good hour and a half for the journey.  The problem is getting home again.  The last bus from this town to Edinburgh leaves at 18.05 hours.  The ordination service begins at 19.00 hours.

Fortunately, I have a day off tomorrow.  Even more fortunately, Friend Julie lives nearby, and will also be attending the service.  Most fortunately of all, Friend Julie is the hospitable sort, and so my tentative request for a bed for the night has been met with a hearty welcome.

This being-without-car is going to be quite a problem at times, I can see.  In  particular, I have a big family event to attend in about three weeks time, on a Sunday afternoon.  I have as yet no idea how I am going to get there, and less idea how I am to get back.  Though there might be some mileage in a car rental, or a city car scheme.  I shall have to investigate this possibility.

But while it is a great restriction on my movements, I can see that being-without-car is going to have the benefit of forcing me to be more sociable.  Up till now I have tended towards the fiercely independent, and I probably wouldn't have asked if I were able to leap in the car at the end and drive off.  But now I am really looking forward to catching up with Friend Julie.  What is so great about independence anyway?  A little bit of dependency upon others could turn out to be rather more fun.

So no more flying visits from me - when I come to see someone, I stay!  Friends have been warned.

Day 47: Car Woes

What to do with the car?

Here's the thing.  The car has been essential for work for the past few years.  There is every chance that it will be essential again.  But this year, it is not essential.  In fact, living where I do right in the centre of town, it is downright inessential, and would not be particularly safe if parked here.  Instead, it has been lodging at Friend Nik's house just outside town, from where it is pressed into occasional service.

However, even cars which are doing very little still cost a lot of money.  Especially, in my case, at the end of August.  First its MOT.  Then a full service.  Then AA membership.  Then Insurance.  Then Road Tax.  There is no way of saving on any of this, and the total is going to be something approaching £800.  I got rid of my last car at the 12 year stage, when it started costing more in repairs than a monthly repayment plan on a newer model, and I am afraid that this car may have reached the same stage.

I am not extravagent when it comes to cars.  I have only ever owned two in my life, both of which were 4 years old when I bought them.  My current one is now 11 years old, and on the whole still runs well.  But there is no doubt that it is showing its age, and has sadly failed its MOT until the garage can sort out a list of fairly minor problems, but which taken together mount up considerably. 

Yeah, right.

I have considered getting rid of the car altogether.  There is no doubt the money would be useful.  But looking ahead a little, without one to trade in, the purchase of the next one will be that much more painful.  And if I was going to sell it, I should have done so before now.  Now that it is (of necessity) being serviced, taxed, and MOT'd, I may as well keep the thing for another year. 

So for now the garage has it, and I had to take the bus back from the farm to the town.  It was a later bus than I meant to take, because the online timetable was wrong, and I got soaked waiting half an hour for one which had left 10 minutes before I arrived.  One of only four buses a day, mark you.

Am depressed now. 


Total Expenditure: £9.15

Day 44: The Incalculable Value of Friends

det norske flagget

I am writing this on the ferry home where there is free internet access.  This is A Bargain, and is passing the time nicely and productively.  The only downside is that all the tabs are now, somewhat inexplicably, in Norwegian.  I know it is Norwegian, because I cut and pasted Rediger innlegg into Google Translate, and that is what it detected.  Rediger innlegg is Norwegian for Edit Post.  Don't ever say that you don't learn things here.

That aside, I am happy to report that this little jaunt to Ireland has been well worth it.  I have managed the whole thing for just over £100, which is not too much all things considered, and is nothing compared to the value of this particular friendship.  More practically, Friend Jared is almost as strapped for cash as I, so while we did dine out (there is not much by way of cooking facilites in a Northern Irish B&B), we happily made do with a cheap (but extraordinarily good) Chinese meal, with tap water to drink. 

After my misanthropic rant yesterday, it is good to be reminded how important other people are.  (I say this even as I am being squashed into a corner by a chap who has decided to lie out on the banquette with his head practically in my lap.)  I am content not to buy stuff this year.  But I am also content to buy time with people who are important.  That is not money wasted: it is money invested, because without good friendships neither poverty or riches are endurable.

So no tips today - just a little moralising!  I see Ailsa Craig out of the window, which means that Scotland is close, and I shall soon have to pack up and make the return coach journey.  Pray for sober travelling companions; for sleeping children; for the low hum of quiet conversation; and for strong-willed smokers.

  

Total Expenditure: £4.45 

Day 43: The Horrors of Cut-Price Travel

I HATE coach travel. 

There - I've said it.  I dutifully went for the frugal option for my Ireland trip, and I suffered for it.  There is a reason why those who have money choose the plane or the train.  Because you have to spend just a little less time mingling with the obnoxious and the drunken.  How can you be drunk at 6.15am?  A couple of my fellow passengers managed it.

First of all, the coach ticket stated that I should be at the bus station an hour early.  Why on earth?  It is not as if there was anything resembling security screening.  It is a bus, for Pete's sake!  And an hour early when your bus leaves at 5.15am is very early indeed.  But, fearful of being somehow barred from the journey, I decided to aim for 45 minutes early instead.  I dutifully trundled my suitcase through the streets of Edinburgh (still busy with late night revellers), and arrived at the bus station to find that it didn't even bloody open until 4.45am.  That's right.  It doesn't open until half an hour after you are instructed to arrive.

The bus arrived.  I got on the bus.  There were only four of us, and for the first hour of the journey, things were peaceful.  Then - and I am sorry to stereotype - we arrived in Glasgow.  About 20 people got on.  Some were still recovering from the night before.  One was particularly foul-mouthed.  And all were noisy.  Very noisy.  Then there was a particularly pleasant moment, when someone lit up, and the driver stopped the coach on the hard shoulder and threatened to throw whoever it was off the bus.  And then, after Ayr, two 10 year old boys sat behind me, and decided that it would be highly amusing to crawl under the seats and appear at my feet, so that had I been wearing a skirt, they would have been in a perfect position to look up it.  I resisted the temptation to stamp on the young face at my feet, and instead summoned from the depths of my dark soul my best teacherly tone and tore a strip off them.  They didn't do it again.

After this almost unendurable journey, we finally arrived at the ferry terminal.  Only to find that because the boat had broken down, the 9am sailing had been cancelled, and we would all have to take the noon service instead.  Given that I only had 24 hours in Ireland, this was a huge chunk out of my time.  In a tone tired but mild (in a strained kind of way), I requested a complaints form from the girl at the desk.  I was met with a blank look.  Obviously, we are not supposed to complain, but just let them shoo us into the over-crowded waiting room without anything like an offer of a cup of tea.  All credit to Citylink/National Express, though, because they quickly arranged to transfer us to the Cairnryan-Larne service, run by another ferry company, sailing at 10.30am.  In the event, we arrived in Belfast only half an hour late, and I was impressed by that.  But what a horrid horrid journey.

This is the first time that I have hated having less money.  I don't mind the longer travelling time.  I don't mind the extra planning and preparation.  I don't particularly like, but can cope with, the limits on my social life.  But I do mind the obnoxious behaviour by other people in an environment from which there is no escape.  And now I really really resent my self-imposed poverty, and want to have enough money to travel everywhere first class from now on.  Because more than anything, what money buys you is space, seclusion, privacy, and good old-fashioned peace and quiet.  That is true luxury.

Forgive my misanthropy.  I am sure I will soon regain my general air of vague benignity towards my fellow human beings.  I've just had a little too much of them today.

Total Expenditure: £7.30

Day 42: Weekend Plans

All of a sudden, I am off to Ireland tomorrow.  Just like that!  One of my best and dearest friends is over from the States, and it would be madness not to go and see him while he is so near.  Frugality be damned!  Friends matter more.  And while a two-day trip to Ireland is costly, it is a lot less costly than a flight to the US.

I can move fast when I have to!  A quick exchange of emails established that tomorrow and Saturday suited us both best.  Within 20 minutes of getting his message, I had travel and accommodation booked, and I am all set to depart at a horrifyingly early hour tomorrow morning.

For travel, there were four options.  I have flown with Flybe from Edinburgh to Belfast City before, and it is quite reasonable, but at this late date there was nothing under £100 return.  (EasyJet flies to Belfast International, but it is MILES out of town.)  Meanwhile, the trains are messed up at the moment with flooding - the Train Line tells me there are none at all, though who knows if that is true.

The most obvious option therefore seemed to be to pick up the car from its temporary home at a friend's and drive from Edinburgh to Stranraer.  That journey takes three and a half hours, whereupon I would leave the car in Stranraer, take the ferry as a foot passenger, and then a train or bus at the other end.

However, I was determined not to repeat the Great Newcastle Train Fail.  I did some googling, and established that a National Express bus ticket to Belfast, including the ferry, costs less than a foot passenger ferry ticket alone.  That's even before you factor in petrol costs (about £40-£50 worth, I reckon).  The full return bus ticket including ferry costs £52; a return foot passenger ticket for the ferry alone is £56.  It would actually be cheaper to fly than to drive.  It is madness, but there it is.

So I will be taking with me a bottle of water and grabbing a couple of slices of the quiche out of the freezer for my breakfast and lunch combined.  I really do need to invest in a thermos flask, as coffee would have been nice at such an early hour.  But apart from that, I am all ready to go.

Signing out now to get what little sleep I can.  I'll see you in Ireland tomorrow.  Good night xx

Total Daily Expenditure: £89  (includes one night's B&B accommodation)

Day 28: Accommodation in London

Beit Hall, Imperial College

I am going to rhapsodise a little about our accommodation, because I think we have found one of the best deals in London.  That is not to say that it is cheap as such, but relatively speaking, it is very cheap indeed for central London and the height of the tourist season.

We are staying at Imperial College in South Kensington, which lets out its student rooms for short stays from July to September.  We have been given a perfectly adequate ensuite twin room, are entitled to a HUGE breakfast every morning, and because we booked online, we even have free access to the college swimming pool, sauna, and gymn.  All for £48.50 per night.  (I admit it: it hurts a bit.  But was all paid for while I was still earning.)

Another big advantage is the area.  South Kensington is not only elegant and lovely, but it has three great and free museums: the Victoria and Albert, the Natural History Museum, and the Science Museum.  Today we visited the Natural History Museum, whose interest for me was more in the architecture than in the exhibits.  I was charmed by the stone monkeys climbing the interior arches, and the pterodactyl grotesques peering down at the queuing crowds outside.  I was also delighted to purchase an elephant painting-by-numbers in the gift shop for only £4: a substantial-looking present for my 8 year old nephew come Christmas.  You gotta buy these things when you see 'em.

The old turbine hall at
the Tate Modern

We also took a Tube into town this morning, and had a wander round the Tate Modern: another free attraction.  (Unfortunately, their cafe is horribly expensive.)   I rather loved it, though I have no pretensions to artistry.  They also seemed to be very geared up to children, with plenty of activities for them to do.  We spent over two hours there, and left without seeing everything, as we were becoming very leg-weary indeed.   I also loved the Millennium Bridge, a footbridge which stretches between the Tate Modern and St Paul's, making it easy to wander from one to the other, and allowing for some stunning views of the Thames.  In fact, one of the main pleasures of London on a good day is simply walking around.

We did try to go into St Paul's Cathedral, but the entrance price for adults is now £14.50 each!  I know these places have massive overheads, and don't really blame them, but it does seem a shame that a church should be so closed off to poorer people.  Though again, I am not personally claiming to be poor: after all, we have allocated some money for a show tomorrow night, which will cost considerably more!  (Which shows where my rather shabby priorities lie.)  Actually, we could have come back to the Cathedral at a later time, and attended  a church service for free - perhaps the Choral Evensong which they hold at 5pm every weekday.  That way we would not only have seen the cathedral in all its glory, but also would have experienced it in the way it was meant to be experienced, with some sublime music to boot.  But Friend Claire wasn't too fussed, I have visited before, and the timing just didn't fit.

Friend Claire and I: Reflection Inception

So now I am back in my comfortable room, and blogging away quite happily, having purchased 3 days worth of internet access for only £5.  Add up all the spending, and it is rather nasty.  But still, it was a 'cheap' day considering what we could have spent, and so I am relatively content.  Tomorrow will be the biggie. 

Expenditure: 

Day Ticket for Tube: £6.60

Lunch: £4.10

Snack: £2.40

Dinner: £10 (splashed out a bit in a restaurant)

Gift for nephew: £4

Internet Access: £5

Total Expenditure = £32.10

Day 27: Off on Holiday

St Paul's Cathedral

It may seem that I have already had a holiday this month.  But that, I remind you, was work.  This is the real deal.  This is it for the year.

I am writing this from London.  It is years since I was in London.  A former job used to take me here quite often, but the last time was about 12 years ago.  So it is great to be back.  We are here for 4 nights, and then spending another 3 nights in Oxford before returning home.

The true frugalist would have avoided a holiday altogether, of course, even one of just a week in length.  I confess that I have cheated a little on this one, as the majority of it was paid for before the Year began.  Nevertheless, things have been done on a budget, and I am determined to stick to one.  It helps that Friend Claire, with whom I am holidaying, has a mortgage to pay off, and so has similar aspirations to frugality.

Accordingly, we have laid down one Frugal Holiday Principal, from which we are determined not to deviate: No Frittering.   We want to enjoy our holiday.  It would be a waste of money not to enjoy it.  So while we shall mostly content outselves with free museums and art galleries, etc. (of which there are plenty in London), we are happy to spend money if there is something we really want to do.  In particular, Friend Claire wants to go on the London Eye, and we both want to see a show. 

But what we shall avoid are the countless little careless expenses which add up and up.  No lattes while out and about.  No expensive cafe lunches.  No paying extra to be "fast tracked" on the London Eye.  The Special Exhibitions in the galleries and museums are not necessary, when there is so much else to see anyway.  No ice creams.  No postcards home, no souvenirs, no fripperies.  We shall take care of these pennies, and spend the pounds on the stuff that really matters.

We got off to a good start by sensible advance planning for the train journey.  We purchased the return ticket from Edinburgh to London back in June, and it cost us only £56 each.  (Buses take a whole day - we only have a week, and had to leave Edinburgh after 2pm, so this was not really an option.)  We also ate a hearty lunch before travelling, and took along for the journey a 49p packet of oreos, and some strawberries that had been in Friend Claire's fridge.  We remembered the bottles of water.  And when we got here at 8pm, we went foraging for food and found a fast food shop and dined remarkably well for £6.50. 

So this will not be a cheap week in the usual round of things.  But it will, hopefully, be a cheap holiday.  At any rater, as holidays in London go.


Total Expenditure: £12.59 (includes Tube ticket)

Day 15: Trains

I didn't manage to post yesterday, as I was too tired and ever so slightly depressed.  For I have to report a frugality fail. A fail which was entirely my own fault.

For reasons connected with work, I had to take a day trip to Newcastle.  Now, Edinburgh to Newcastle is a very easy journey.  It is a mere matter of hopping on a train, and the whole journey takes only an hour and a half.  So I went straight to www.thetrainline.com, which is the best place I have found for buying cheap tickets.  Had I been more than a day in advance, they would no doubt have been cheaper, but as it was, I managed to get a return for a painful but not unreasonable £39 - even saving about £6 in the process.

No sooner had I hit "Confirm" than something else hit me.  Not literally, of course: that would probably have been fatal.  For the thing that hit me was a bus. 

A bus!  So conditioned am I by my pre-frugality days that I had gone straight for the train option, and had never even considered a bus.  With an air of futility, I turned to http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/index.cfm and searched for bus tickets for the same journey.  And sure enough, they would have come in at £21.  Almost half the price.  Certainly, the journey would have taken an hour longer, but that would have been okay.  And so I had a comfortable and speedy journey there and back again, but have wasted £18.  £18 would have fed me for over a week.


More and more I am realising that frugal living is as much about mindset as anything.  In the first place, I have to get into the habit of asking, Do I really need this?  And if the answer is yes, then my second question and natural follow-up has to be, What is the full range of my options?  Until I retrain my brain to remember that I truly cannot spare this money, I will continue to throw away pounds on the more luxury option.  The old saying may be correct, Look after the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves.  But what is the point of looking after the pennies and living on the same savoy cabbage for two whole weeks, if I don't first and foremost look after the pounds?

So I have fallen.  Nothing to do now but get back on the frugality bicycle and pedal for all I am worth.


Total Expenditure: £40.95

Day 8: Tipping and Other Lost Monies

As I feared, there is no internet access at this conference centre.
The following pages were written daily, however, and uploaded all at once.

I fear that I am failing the frugality test. Okay, so over the last five days, I have spend precisely 5.50 euros and £2 of my own money. Which isn't too bad, all things considered. But here's the thing – I should have spent nothing. In other words, I have spent just over £6 that I did not have to spend. I made 8 portions of soup for a quarter of that!

But I was thirsty one evening, and instead of asking for tap water at the little bar at the conference centre, I found myself ordering a Holunder Bionade (a fizzy cranberry juice, to you and me). And then last night, I not only bought myself another Bionade, but found myself saying, “Would you like something to drink?” to a colleague. I actually also said it to a third person, as was only polite, but luckily he declined. Nevertheless, that was 3 euros more. And the rest of the money went on tips – tips! - to two taxi drivers.

The trouble is, to do this properly, I am going to have to become downright mean. No more rounds in the bar. No more tips to taxi drivers or waitresses or hairdressers, even if someone else is paying for the rest. Luckily, in the UK, you don't have to tip. It is not required, and not necessarily even expected. But it is a nice and a polite thing to do if the service has been good, and I have been brought up to be nice and polite. I see that I am going to have to cultivate a certain hardness of heart.

But perhaps there is hope for me. I am writing this in the airport at Düsseldorf (no drinking fountains here - Amsterdam wins!), and they have a book shop with a nice big section of English crime novels. I had a good browse to pass some time, and saw quite a few that I want to read. Crime novels, you should know, are my trash of choice. But I want you to know and admire this, for this is a true and faithful account:

Düsseldorf Airport

I DID NOT BUY A BOOK.

*bows*

Thank you.

Total: £5 

Day 4: Frugal Travel

As I feared, there is no internet access at this conference centre.
The following pages were written daily, however, and uploaded all at once.

Gosh, I am tired. 

Let me say that again. 

GOSH, I am tired. You would be too if you had missed an entire night's sleep. I left the house at 3am this morning, having not been to bed at all. It is now 7.30pm, and I have managed to sneak away from my conference to get an early night. But first, I blog. That's how dedicated I am.

Now, this trip is being paid for in its entirety by my employers. So actually, I don't have to worry about spending on food and things this week, because I will get it all back. I even took a taxi to the airport rather than struggle across town on the late (early?) buses, which was fair enough, I think, at 3am. But ever vigilant, I have made good use of my time today, and have scouted out a few frugal tips for travelling.

If we are to resist them, it is important to externalise the subliminal signals being sent to our brains. So I shall begin by stating the obvious: airports want us to spend. Pottering around Edinburgh Airport at 4am with my sleepy eyes wide open, that was as clear as the dawn I got to witness. Even if you avoid the duty-frees, your average chain shop seems to be about twice the price in there. For example, I wandered into WH Smith's with a vague idea of buying a pen. The cheapest pens on sale were £2.50. I wandered back out again, closing my ears to the silent "Buy me!" screams being emitted by the family-sized packs of Maltesers.

The problem is, if you are in an airport at all, it is practically a given that you will be tired. And when you are tired, what you want more than anything in the world - bar actual sleep - is food. Because food gives you energy, and right now, your energy is in seriously short supply. But the food on sale is grossly overpriced, and because of all the security checks, you couldn't very well bring a sandwich with you.* You couldn't even bring that bottle of water you filled up at the sink. Did I mention the raging thirst? You will also have a raging thirst.

So here is my best frugal travel tip for British Airports, such as it is: Boots the Chemist. I am going to sing their praises, because the important thing about Boots the Chemist is that they are exactly the same Boots the Chemist inside the airport as they are outside. True, they are trying hard to sell you lots of over-priced mini shampoos for travelling, but don't hold that against them. Because Boots do a Meal Deal, and it is the best Meal Deal out there. 3 items for £2.99, so you can fill up on the usual sandwich-crisp-juice combo, or even on sushi, mango slices, and a fruit smoothie, if that is your thing. A full meal for the price of a large cup of coffee.

My other tip is to look out for drinking fountains rather than buying expensive bottled water. I didn't see any at Edinburgh airport, but I saw a few in Amsterdam, all situated just outside the toilets. I had a slurp and it was perfectly acceptable. Of course, if I'd had a bottle, I could have filled one up, so it might be worth bringing an empty one in my hand luggage next time.  Come to that, is there anything intrinsically wrong with the water in the toilet sinks, that it can't be drunk as usual?  Or maybe the best thing would be simply to swallow my pride and just ask the nice lady at the coffee bar for a cup of tap water.

Logging off now. Gotta sleep …

* Or could you?  Must investigate for future reference.

Day 1: The Last Hurrah

Can I report a Fail on the first day?

Dr Fran!

Actually, not a Fail at all, but a Huge Big Pass!  For today I graduated!  Four years of reading and thinking, and 285 pages of agonized prose later, and I am officially Dr Fran.  And that called for a celebration.

It also called for £50 for gown hire.

Well, what can you do?  I won't be doing another PhD, not in a hurry.  And my very kind mother forked out for the celebratory meal afterwards.  I can also report a minor frugal victory.  One of our party refused her after-dinner mint, so I of course snaffled it.  That means, together with my own mint, I now have TWO PIECES OF CHOCOLATE for future consumption.  This may later be of the utmost importance.

On reflection, I probably should have delayed starting this project for another two weeks.  I have not yet moved into my new accommodation, so there is still a lot of travel to pay for, not to mention the impending nightmare which is removal costs.  I also have a most irregular week ahead, which I shall blog about in due course.  But there is a lovely symmetry in starting with the day that marks the end of one period of my life and the beginning of this new one.  And besides, I promised.

So here it is:

Lunch (in which I also fed my mother)

• 2 x bread rolls from the corner shop = 30p
• cheese and salad leaves with dressing (bought a few days ago - no cost today)
• packet of vegetable crisps = 65p  (my mother fancied them)
• pint milk = 55p

Travel

• petrol = £4
• bus fares = £2.60

Which together with the £50 for the gown hire =  £58.10
AARRRGGHHH!