Angel Jem's City Cottage

The Insurance man from BIBA on BBC Breakfast this morning was on about Whiplash claims again... You do know there's been a 41% fall in whiplash claims, don't you? I know he never said so, but there has. To hear how the Insurance industry rave on about it, you'd think every day we put in a claim for whiplash. We don't. And a decent lawyer will not put in any risky claims for whiplash because they know it gets laughed out of court. The other little insidious clause in the government's proposed reforms is to raise the small claims limit to £5,000. Like £5,000 is a small claim. That means 90% of accidents including accidents at work and on the road would effectively not get free legal representation. They'd have to go to court facing the insurers who, you can bet your bottom dollar, will be fully lawyered up. Are you cross yet? Cross enough to act? Here's what to do: 1. Read this website http://www.feedingfatcats.co.uk/ 2. Send Liz Tr...

There are so many people eager to see the back of this year. I must admit, I am one of them. I just feel trapped under a large boulder at the moment. No one thing, but lots of little things, just getting to me, making me feel on edge, worried, stressed. And i don't do stress well. To the wind up. What am I reading this week? I am back on the Hardy again. It struck me that I only have this novel and then Tess and Jude the Obscure to read and I will be finished with the novels. So, The Woodlanders it is, almost exclusively until I am finished and then... well, probably some light romance or a good old murder for Christmas. What have I watched this week? I watched the first part of Rillington Place with Tim Roth playing Christie earlier this week. we have the last two parts saved up to watch, so later on this week may be a space to watch them. We also have the interview episode of the Apprentice on tomorrow. I love that episode, every year, because it lays the candida...

I had a whole afternoon in Manchester with my beautiful daughter. The Christmas Markets are on,  and Sarah's never been. We had a good time, not least because there was a goodly amount of stopping for refreshment. Sarah's happy as long as there's a bookshop on the itinerary, and I was warmed by gluhwein and a pint of Kronenberg. How tired were we? Sarah slept on the way home, just after saying she'd had a brilliant day, and could we go again next year! My new friend.... Yes, I have what it takes!!! My final Chase from the beginning of the year is in the new book!!! Prize fund was actually £60,000 between 3. I have had such a good year after being on TV and radio. Being named in a book is the icing on the cake! I had a mint tea and a portuguese custard tart as my afternoon treat. The French macarons caught our eyes... and several came home with us! I did promise I wouldn't post a picture.... but I expect I forgot. Hi Sarah! You are too bea...

Have you ever had one of those weeks? I don't need to ask; of course you have. And December is the worst for being busy, racing, living by lists, having too much to do and too little time to do it. Mr AJ ( Peter Kneale Solicitor ) has an exam on January 6th. It's about Roman Law and he has me typing up revision notes. For the past two weeks I have been over familiar with the paterfamilias, with the law on legacy, inheritance, the potestas, the ius civile and all sorts of obscure things that I never thought I'd need to know about. I don't need to know about them, truly, but I type slowly and one word at a time, the same way I read, and so typing becomes a form of learning, because I have to read and make sense of it as well as just follow his voice. Add to that a family still heart-broken over the death of a cute guinea pig; a solicitor's firm still wondering what government changes will do to our business and those across the country; and teenage children s...

If you or anyone you know cycle regularly then you need to read this article .  Government whiplash crackdown would also hit legitimate claims from cyclists say campaigners This is wrong, yes? If you agree, then you have more things to do:- 1. Write to your MP. You can use the letter in this blog post  http://angeljemscitycottage.blogspot.co.uk/…/want-to-stand-…  as a template. Don't forget to say you cycle. 2. Sign the petition. If 10,000 sign, we get a response. If 100,000 sign we can push for a parliamentary debate on an issue that at the moment can just be passed with no argument.  https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/173099  takes you to the petition. 3. Share this post on any social media you're on. The more people who know what is proposed, the better. £5,000 doesn't seem like a small claim to me. I am writing this post because I work for Peter Kneale Solicitor . We handle a lot of claims for less than £5,000. We don't think it's fair that...

Have you signed the petition against small claims changes? Go and do that... and then write to your MP. Here's an example of what to write: Dear ………………………. MP, On the 17th November the government announced its plans to prevent people who are injured through no fault of their own from having free access to an independent lawyer by increasing the small claims limit from its current £1,000 to potentially £5,000. Innocent injury victims will be forced to fight insurance giants on  their own to get compensation for their injuries. The insurers talk about whiplash and fraud being behind the need for these changes. However, the statistics show that whiplash claims are falling and fraud (even on the insurers’ figures) affects less than 4% of all claims. Yet, these changes will impact on every motorist and minor injury PI claimant. That cannot be fair. Increasing the small claims limit will place justice beyond the reach of thousands of people and just make more money for insurers ...

Have you signed the petition against small claims changes? Go and do that... and then write to your MP. Here's an example of what to write: Dear ………………………. MP, On the 17th November the government announced its plans to prevent people who are injured through no fault of their own from having free access to an independent lawyer by increasing the small claims limit from its current £1,000 to potentially £5,000. Innocent injury victims will be forced to fight insurance giants on  their own to get compensation for their injuries. The insurers talk about whiplash and fraud being behind the need for these changes. However, the statistics show that whiplash claims are falling and fraud (even on the insurers’ figures) affects less than 4% of all claims. Yet, these changes will impact on every motorist and minor injury PI claimant. That cannot be fair. Increasing the small claims limit will place justice beyond the reach of thousands of people and just make more money for insurers w...

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/action-against-raising-the-small-claims-limit-to-ps5000 Nothing pretty, nothing fancy just a need to get people involved in asking the government for justice and access to legal help when they need it most.

It's difficult sometimes to whip up support for Lawyers; "They're a well-paid bunch of people who are just out for themselves" is a common viewpoint. But I'd like to speak up for a whole section of lawyers who actually aren't just out for themselves. Unlike commercial lawyers, who can charge what they like, or libel lawyers whose clients are the rich and fabulously rich, most personal injury lawyers are working for people who, through no fault of their own, have suffered injury at home, at work or on the street. They work for the ordinary person whose accident at work has left their hand out of action for a month, six months or a year and stopped them living a completely ordinary life. They're working for the little old lady who fell over a badly-placed paving slab and whose leg injury kept her in the house and in need of care that she had always said no to before. They could be working for your son or daughter whose car got side sw...

Last Saturday (Saturday last, to be formal) I attended the Lord Mayor's Parade. Don't get excited. I wasn't like a formal guest or anything, it was just that Peter had his course for becoming a Notary Public on in London and I was going with him to share the driving and freeload, and it was on. I've watched the Lord Mayor's Parade on TV since I was little. It used to be one of my favourite moments of the year, a little like Children In Need it was a signpost that Christmas was coming because... duh.. November leads to December. So it has always had positive associations for me. I didn't look to see if it was on TV this year. It always used to be, cutting Swap Shop or Saturday Morning Superstore short, and cutting to endless shots of drizzling weather and crowds who waved flags and shouted (posh Londoners) Huzzah! And the parade of floats and bands and people walking along. I love pageantry and pomp and circumstance, so when I knew it was on the Saturd...

Bet you never thought I'd make it this week and on a Wednesday? True enough, my Hygge job is taking off. We have a Facebook group, The Hygge Nook , of around 192 members that keeps me busy finding the bits & bobs to post and administering the applications. It's a lovely place, very hyggelig, full of positive and happiness. Just the post-Trump comfort we need. And physical work is fun as well. I write this at my desk, as Mr AJ is out to see a client and the phone lies silent for the moment. I'm enjoying being an Office Ninja, but I have to say I miss my time at home. I don't get a chance just to sit and be. And I was always a great human just being. Then the Big Festival is rearing its head. I am simultaneously full of anticipation and horror at the closeness. Anticipation because I know it will soon be here!!!! (39 days as I write) and horror because my to do list is a page and a half (no, make that two pages long) and my bank balance  is probably not going to...

Oh, if only I could sit and watch the coverage of the US election all night long. I have a friend who lectures on American Studies and she has the perfect excuse to sign off work tomorrow and sit up through the night. It's professional interest. My interest is far more personal and a lot less extrinsic. I just think the US election is such a big thing for the world... after all, the USA is the Top Dog of the Western world at the moment, biggest in size, in self-belief, in bombast... and I like the place! Who ever gets to be POTUS and leader of the Free World is inheriting a world full of woe and sorrow. From what I've seen, if they jump one way we get a leader who will roll up the sleeves, look forward and get to work to build a world that benefits the US but also helps her allies to climb up the ladder as well. Jump the other way and.... well, the Mexico Wall may not be the only barrier built between America and the world, just the most physical one. It woul...

This is my desktop at work.... no, not the one on the computer, although it could quite well have been, but my real desktop at work. The teapot and cup are from the charity shop, and are marked Royal Spencers, so I don't know where you'd get one. The tea is Spiced Orange from Hoogly Tea and is gorgeous, beautiful light and delicately spiced orange flavoured herbal infusion. I'll link to it, I promise I will. I want you to look beyond, to look behind. Can you see the golden box flickering in the sunlight? See the delicate wisps of tissue sticking out? How I wish we had smelly vision. I would offer it to you to rest your delicate nasal passages along and hear to say, " Mulled wine scented tissues ? Who on Earth thought up those? And who would buy them?" That second question is, alas, redundant. I would. And they do mulled wine scented toilet paper with pretty gold Christmas pattern on as well. I'm going back after payday. Indeed. My payday treat th...

Here's a round up of all my hygge page posts from last week. Please, do, click through and say hiya. I'm finding Wordpress an interesting use, but I'm not as confident about it as I'd like to me. Any and all visitors warmly welcomed in a very hyggely way! Just click on the quotes to go through to the page! Hygge words are cracking to play with. You basically take a concept and add hygge to the front or the back of it; so enjoying shopping is hyggeshopping, time with the family is familyhygge and a list of hygge words is a hyggelist. October 4th is Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden. I baked buns to celebrate, and this was my post the night before. My year of living hyggely officially began on October 4th, with the inaugural Recipe Tuesday as well. A recipe for... guess what?.... cinnamon buns. Contentment at the core... I love this quote. It was a look at whether Hygge is Mindfulness in a Danish wrapper. My book review of Scandinavian Kitchen'...

Oh my Gosh! It feels like I haven't posted a wind up for ages! My little City Cottage is in need of an Autumn tidy up and a clear out of ideas and attitudes. After all, this is where my friends are, not my followers. Here's my wind up; What am I reading this week? I'm reading every hygge book going; I have about 7 so far and another one on order for the end of October. The more I read, the more I like and the more convinced I am that hygge is what we do naturally; that all I need to do as a Hygge Ambassador is send people your way; all the homemaking, caring, crafting, living that you do and share on the interweb; that's hygge. Apart from a mass of Hygge books, I read This House is Haunted by John Boyne. It's a good old-fashioned ghost story in the tradition of Susan Hill's The Woman in Black or Henry James' Turn of the Screw . Eliza Caine loses her Father and takes a job on impulse at a deserted house in Norfolk. You could have told her it wasn...