Winter has a way of dragging you down. The weather is bad which means you need to wash your car more often (a pet hate of mine) and the days don’t seem to have any light in them. So there is no time to get in to the shed to snatch up my bucket and sponge. The summer holiday you had (don’t mention caravans) seems so long ago that it never happened. The only thing to look forward to is Christmas, but you know that there will be an awkward moment with the relatives that couldn’t be bothered to see you all year long, but with the whiff of a turkey dinner and the knowledge of a gift that they know you can’t afford with their name tag on it waiting for them they still all flock to your door.
And now there is the snow warning (At the time of writing this article the UK has been warned of a nationwide blanket of the white stuff landing all over the place causing chaos and much disruption). I love the snow and love watching my son try and wade through it, which is hard work as he is only 2.3 years old. Last time we had a decent sprinkling of the frozen water kind we were on holiday (log cabin this time not caravan) and it came up to his middle. It was fun for about one minute before he got too cold and began crying.
Times are hard and money is tight, everyone knows this, and when the calendar ticks round to January the powers-that-be have made the decision to put up VAT by 2.5%. Yippy! How this will save the economy I, a simple man in his shed, has no idea. Surely this will put prices up and therefore people will become more selective with what they buy or rather can afford to buy.
Garden centres and DIY stores will feel the hit next year, of that we are sure. Given the short length of time we all have left before the belt is tightened another notch, we should consider what we might be thinking of buying in 2011. I, for one, will be getting the new garden shed I’ve been threatening for the past year, pre the Janruary madness . We may even dig deep to get our son his birthday present a wooden playhouse. His birthday isn’t until July, but we think that we will be priced out of most things next year and should either commit to these considered purchases now or forget about it completely.
Whatever happens this winter has brought with it a darker presence than before with the malevolent and impending price hikes to come. You can, however, beat the VAT rise and grab a bargain at: www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk. Luckily garden buildings and wooden sheds are exactly what I am looking for.
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