Day Four: Fuel

I really, honestly had no choice - I had to buy fuel today. It embittered me to see that prices have soared in the past fortnight to way over £1.34 a litre, but due to the lack of bus services heading towards school at the time needed and my flat bike tyre, it was a necessity to fill up and shut up. As I angrily counted my money away, I realised that having a car really is a massive luxury - especially now that we ladies have to pay the same premiums as the men. I really don't agree with this move; after all, it's been researched and proven that women do indeed have fewer accidents. Older people tend to have fewer accidents, and so their premiums are lower; why shouldn't it be the same for any other group? The EU are calling sexism; if that's the case then I'm also calling ageism, because surely it's also discriminatory to charge younger drivers more - we seem to not be looking at the proven chance of accident any more, so why penalise those with the least cash?

Speaking of which, we're all getting ready at school for the big march on the 26 March - England's biggest protest so far against the cuts. Teachers' pension contributions are set to go up by approximately £100 a month (for those on M4 on the scale), which is a massive hit for those of us living in expensive cities. To top that, the government, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to make a huge change to the pension scheme in that we no longer have our pension calculated from our final salary, but as an average from our entire career, which means that those who take maternity leave or have time off for sicknessreally do lose out. Add that to the widespread education cuts that have left SEN students without support, SureStart cuts that leave poorer and less educated families without assistance and help and the lack of tax for the richer members of society and this fiver challenge is beginning to take on a whole new meaning.

After all, there must be thousands upon thousands of people in the UK having to live on less than that every day - I'm truly starting to realise how lucky I am.

Cashmoney spent: £5.00
Cashmoney saved: £0.00
Cashmoney dropped by students and rescued by yours truly: £0.05

Total: £0.05