end of a decade

london
It's the start of december, and I read in the huffington post a writer saying the end of the decade is coming and it has been the most horrible for america and the western world and it dawned on me that this coming new year eve is the end of a decade.

That is a mile stone that dont come every year. right?
But how to celebrate it? Normally i stay in on new year eve, but i think as an acknowledgement of the end of a decade, and a change from staying in for 2-3 new years' eve,i shall go to my favorite sex pub and usher it in with an orgy. haha.

Well, it appears that the temperature forecast is correct when it said we shall hit 0C, though not in central london. But strangely, i dont feel cold now,(it is about 8am and about 1C) and i have not got the heating on.

I think that is marvellous. With my gas heater kaput, there will be no gas heating this winter anyway. In the past, this would make me panic and call the gas man, but I now have experience last winter when i did not need it, so I am confident that i shall be ok this winter. People never know how easy it is to cope without heating and so they never try it.

I am confident i will be able to go through this winter without increasing my electric heating bill either.

I can, and so can simon. It is my guests who cannot take the cold and may scupper my plans to keep my electric bill low.

Take as a typical example... John M who has gone to usa now has been switching on the heater in his room and have bung up my daily electric usage to 10kwh, from the usual 3.3kwh. Another reason why i am glad he is gone. haha. Fortunately it got cold only the last few days of his holiday here.


Yesterday i stopped him tipping my tea caddy over the teapot in order to pour the tea leaves in. I said no, use a spoon. I wonder whether that is how he do his tea or what? It is taking laziness too far.

I am very easy going about most things, and let people do the weirdest things if they get a kick out of it(like john G cutting bread with an ordinary knife instead of a bread knife) but i draw the line at pouring tea leaves into the pot.


Much as i m a nudist myself, I dont indulge if it is too cold, rather than higher heating bills and certainly not at the expense of my host.

My golden rule as a guest is to be a cost free guest to the host. Cost free in terms of money as well as time. And dont overstay.

Of course there is always the danger of tipping over to the other extreme and being too frugal, to the point of stinginess. Though each person have their own level of frugality and one must respect that and follow their level, rather than impose ours on them, especially if u r a guest.

Generally, u cannot go wrong as a guest and will always be welcomed if u are more frugal with the hosts' things than your own. Every host appreciates a considerate guest by that we mean someone who dont use things extravagantly or wastefully.

Lucky i came back early from the gym. Usually i read the papers there till about 2pm. John M has asked his natwest bank to resend his credit card, the old one having expired. He missed the first time they came, because i was not in to take it, and so wrote them an email on their website to ask them to come again after 3pm today.

My door bell rang just now at 1.10pm, and normally i ignore a call if i am not expecting anyone. I had a look at the caller and he was a young guy and i thought it was some neighbour's visitor pressing the wrong bell. Lucky i decided to answer the ring when he rang again, and it turned out to be the courier with john M's credit card.

I showed him john M's old credit card as identification, and scrawled a hasty JW on the pad and that was all it took to get the card.

It seems to me anyone in the same flat could get it as credit cards have no photo. I suppose it is only a danger of others getting it if u live in a boarding house with many rooms sublet.

Anyway john M wont need this card now that he is in usa. I shall just keep it here till he visits uk again.

If anyone is still reading me, I have to say u have a lot of patience.haha. Everything i write about is very self centred, in that they are things only i am interested in. I enjoy writing about it, and reading it later, it brings back lovely memories and also shows me myself and how i have radically changed my mind over the years. But i cannot imagine anyone else being as interested. haha.

(I happened to read a post in january 2008, and saw i have stopped my gym membership and read me saying it is not necessary. Well i did not go to a gym till june2009 when i joined this gym and now i go everyday and love it. See how i can change my mind just like that. haha.)

I suppose people dip in and out of my blog, like i do with other people's blogs. I dont read them for a bit, and then catch up on them. And they have their good days and bad days, in that sometimes when i pop in to read them, i find they are talking of things i have no interest in, and other times they hit the spot, and say something very interesting.

I have also noticed some periods my life does change radically, especially when i m on holiday, when sex looms large. Otherwise it is talking about the gym and supermarket bargains or recycling bin finds. haha.

The end of the decade is nigh, and I could not even go back to the beginning of the decade to read what i thought because i did not blog for that long.

I have to look back into the archives of my old blog, to find that i started in 30.6.03.that first post brings back lovely memories.
http://gametes69.20six.co.uk/gametes69/art/194903/simon-s-dream

things that happen today

getting old me. These are the reading glasses i bought for £1 . strength 1.0 I like them because they look like ordinary glasses instead of half moon.

london

It's not even 2pm and allready I had an interesting morning.

At about 9am, my friend, Thierry,who lives in north london, called me to say he will be coming to victoria, to visit an old lady pensioner friend of his. he said he is not sure if she can see him, but he is coming to town anyway, and hope to meet up with me.

I think he called me early this time because last time, he called at about 12pm, when i was at the gym and I missed his call and so by the time i got the message it was at night, far too late to call him or for him to come to my flat after visiting his old pensioner friend who lives near me.

Anyway, i said to him if he is early, or if, as he said she is too ill to see him, he might come to the gym instead of my flat. i had taken him there before so hopefully he would know where it is.

After my workout, and after i have read the papers, he still had not come.So i went to clintoncard's in victoria station to redeem the free voucher for a roll of wrapping paper which i cut out from the daily mail.

It costs £1.99 (very expensive paper) retail price but i got it free. The daily mail costs 50p so i wonder how they are able to make a profit, unless the wrapping paper, (there was only 3 choices of colours, gold, silver and red, I picked the gold) is very cheap to make.

I was passing the Chamama tea shop opposite the sainsbury's and there was a guy giving out this free tea voucher. I asked for two thinking my friend might like to have tea with me there. (in the end, we did not use it. i had another look at it, and there is no date, so maybe i can use it another day. It's not that i crave tea, not at all, but it is a pleasant place to sip tea and read the papers.

I passed the tesco, and saw outside the entrance two metal carts overflowing with bakery goods, doughnuts of all kinds , bread, etc and I thought so that is why they dont sell it cheap, preferring to throw these away. Bloody wasteful. I heard freegans raid these carts and take away the foods, and i wish them all the best. I only wish i know where they store these carts so i can raid it too.

That is the capitalist system for you. The profit from their products is large enough for them to make it worthwhile to manufacture the goods, so u get large choices and easy availability in the shops at a price. The correllary to that there is waste... the excess is thrown away. It cannot be sold cheap or given away to the needy, or people will wait for it rather than buy it at full market price.

How do we get hold of these thrown away stuff?????By doing what the freegans do, raid the waste bins at night.

After seeing all that food wasted i simply did not feel like buying anything from the store at their inflated prices. I walked in and walked out again.

Added. 1/12/09 I am putting in a correction to the above. I think i jumped to the wrong conclusion about the food. I think it was a new delivery, just offloaded and waiting to be rolled into the store through the goods entrance next to the customer entrance. So it was not old food. there were no price labels on them, now i recall. Lucky i did not take any, otherwise it would be theft. haha. my apologies for castigating tesco. sorry.

I thought i shall put this apology instead of erasing the embarrassing bit above, to show that we can make mistakes and make false accusations.

many times i have read other people's ranting about something in their post and realise they were mistaken. I did not write in of course, but had hoped that they would find out their mistake and post an apology. There would be no harm in admitting mistakes. So i thought now this opportunity has arisen, i shall follow what i preach. haha.

I got home and was surprised that john M is still here. In a way i will be glad to get privacy again when he leaves tomorrow early to catch his flight back to the usa.

When I got back to the flat, I got a few calls on the phone from a marketting company asking me to do a survey, but i put the phone down on the first time they called. And usually they dont call again, but for some reason this company called soon after, so i asked them to take me off their list.

Then, my friend Thierry called to say he is not feeling well, and prefer to go home rather than come to my flat and asked me if i mind. i said, i dont mind. he sounds a bit down, and i hope his old lady friend had not depressed him.

I know now why old people like the company of the young, because if they visit their old friends, it will only be to listen to more groans about old age, and that I think will depress anyone.haha.

I have to admit i dont really like being with really old people.They moan too much, and the thing is they have good reason, so u cannot tell them to snap out of it, haha. but it is still very dispiriting to listen to it. Or if they dont moan, they are actually showing the effects of age, and it is just as dispiriting to see them with their disabilities.

Added. I know it all sounds bad thing to say about old people but it is how i feel then, and i just write how i feel. sorry if it sounds offensive, but hey this is my blog and i shall write how i feel, even though it may reflect badly on me.

I think generally i dont like to be with people who moan a lot. So whether young or old, i tend to avoid them.

I am saying all this about old people when I am getting old too. I just bought a reading specs for 99p in brixton from the 99p shop. Though the receipt the cashier gave me was for £1.99. Did she make a mistake? It cannot be a mistake right? because everything in that store is supposed to be 99p. Anyway i did not bring it to her attention, because as far as i m concerned she charged me the right price nevermind what it says on the receipt. In fact if these glasses are actually £2, and she had asked me for £2, i would not buy it. I did not see any price on the glasses, so assumed it is £1 or rather 99p. The cashier gave me 1p change.

Ah well, all i can say is i hope i die before i get to that stage where old age takes its toll. My soul will make sure i do, i hope.haha.

This afternoon, i decided to cycle to brixton to buy garlic and ginger as I have run out. The garlic, 4 usually for 50p is now 60p. The ginger is still 50p. I saw 3 red peppars for 50p and bought them. Lets hope the increase in garlic is a seasonal one.

The temperature was about 6C, when i cycled there, but i did not feel it was cold. maybe all that exercise cycling there kept me warm.

Change always happens. The reason i say it is because right now my hot air gas heater is not working. It worked yesterday. The pilot light wont light up. Sometimes i wish i know how to maintain these things.

Is it better to stick to just electricity usage? rather than dual power? In other words just have the flat use electricity only? Well, i m going to find out, whether i like it or not.haha.

The way the tariff is structured, there is an initial very high cost for the first amount about 1.3kwh a day electricity used, then after that the cost is halved. It drops to 11p a kwh from the 22p a kwh.

Gas appears to be cheaper at 6p per kwh initially, dropping to 2.5p a kwh later. But one unit of gas is actually 33kwh. And a unit of gas gets used up very quick. I figured one hour of gas burnt uses up 1unit; that would be 33kwh.

In the past, gas was cheap, but since they increase the tariff by so much more, it has become closer to electricity now. That is why last time i used only electricity for heating, it was expensive, but now i think it will be cheaper.

The stand alone electric heater use about 1kw an hour. So i have to use 33 hours heating by one electric heater to use up 1unit of gas or 3 heaters going for 11 hours non stop. but of course, cost per kw in electricity is 5x more expensive.

maybe after all, gas will still be cheaper.

Well, I shall find out at the next electricity bill for I shall be using only electricity now. Unless by some miracle I am able to get the pilot light on again.

Tonight we are supposed to have temperatures as low as 0C. We shall see if the reality fits the forecast. It's about 3C now.

Original weather data dumped

london
It seems the original data from the weather stations that was used to compile the paper that concluded global warming is man made is dumped.

The credibility of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia (UEA) had allready been questioned with the revelation of the emails hacked from their website, and now this revelation that they had dumped the original data must be the coup de grace.


The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.
The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals — stored on paper and magnetic tape — were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6936328.ece

What might surprise many of us, who are not scientists but at the minimum know that peer review must involve original data, is to read that the original data was never published and made available for peer review.

The scientific journal where the first paper warning of global warming by man, is at fault for not being rigorous in its peer review.

So many reputable scientists have believed the conclusion of the CRU paper and never thought to check the original data... and now their reputation has been tarnished by association.

It is frightening to see that this global warming scare has been based on non peer reviewed work.

I found this when i googled 'university of east anglia'.

In relation to the specific requests at issue here, we have handled and responded to each request in a consistent manner in compliance with the appropriate legislation. No record has been deleted, altered, or otherwise dealt with in any fashion with the intent of preventing the disclosure of all, or any part, of the requested information. Where information has not been disclosed, we have done so in accordance with the provisions of the relevant legislation and have so informed the requester.
http://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2009/nov/homepagenews/CRUupdate

it looked like their lie have been exposed.

There was a comment that the bbc is biased against reporting sceptical views of global warming, and it is true that as from this writing, the bbc website has no report on this in their science and environment page, nevermind the front page.

Perhaps the times is the only one breaking the news. If so, than it has a scoop. If murdoch gets his way and we have to pay to view it, in future we might not be able to read it for free. But sooner or later, this news will be picked up by the other websites.

free public conveniences

london
Yesterday, we enjoyed the slo cooked curry beef so much that simon took out the other lot of beef which he had frozen and thawed that and cooked it. This time he divided it into two batches. One he slo cooked using the bottled sauce(adding a lot of chilli, like me he likes it chili hot), the other he cooked in the pressure cooker as a beef stew with dumplings.

It's one of the simplest and nicest pleasures of life to eat stewing beef.

My day today, has been rather ordinary. It was raining when i woke and chatted with John M who had come back from amsterdam, and is going back to usa on tuesday. he is now having a final fling at a piss club and has not come back yet.

I decided not to work out today,so delayed going to the gym till about 12noon and just go to the gym to read the mail on sunday paper.

Yesterday there was no saturday paper in the gym, and i asked why of the receptionist. But she had no idea why either. So i was glad to see the paper there today.

I enjoy reading the paper there and would be rather sad if they decided it is too expensive to carry on with it.

I enjoy walking about the neighbourhood, even in the rain and sussing out the supermarkets to see what bargains to be had,(none today).

Using the toilet in the gym,even though my gym membership only allows me entry before 11am but the receptionist let me; and also the public toilets at the streetmarket near the tesco. It is paid for by the market traders in their rental, but everyone can use it.

You might say i am scrounging on it, but then my council tax is used to pay for these things too. EVen if my council tax is used to pay for other facillities that i dont use, I dont mind it. It is part and parcel of living in a community and letting others have free use of the facillities.

Unlike other countries, even malaysia, where all these toilets have to be paid for with an entry fee, these public toilets are free to use.

The public toilets in the westend, in trafalgar square, in leicester square and elsewhere are free too, and i like that. so many places in other countries wants u to pay for it. And of course the toilets in the free museums and art galleries in uk are free to use too.

It's a good thing. I think if i were a tourist i would appreciate that. I certainly appreciate it as a local person living here. Nowhere in the rest of the world do u get to use public toilets free. Now dont u agree that is unique to the uk?

overdrawn accounts

london
banks will charge u a hefty fee if u get overdrawn without permission.
A lot of people who got caught out, were aghast to be fined £35 or more for being even 1p overdrawn. it might be unfair, but perhaps it would make them ensure they have enough money in their currant account.

I remember once, a long time ago, my bank charged me £35 for telling me i was overdrawn. I successfully persuaded them to waive that fee. But then, i am a customer who very seldom if ever go overdrawn. I would rather put my currant account in credit rather than be overdrawn.

I wonder whether my present bank, first direct,(it is an internet bank) knows i am a careful customer and wont abuse this facillity. That is why it allows me to overdraw by £250 on my currant account without penalty. Theoretically, i can from now on incur a minus balance up to £250 and not have to pay interest on it either. But even though i can, I still dont. Habits die hard and i am still very loathe to go too much overdrawn. What this facillity do is to make me less meticulous about keeping the currant account always in credit.

That is why i agree with the writer of the article (link below) which says dont all of you assume it is the poor who are always overdrawn.

More often than not , it is the person who spends more than they earn and some of these people earn a lot. It is just that they spend a lot too.

It is the reckless and careless who do. And i think they should pay for it, rather than have the bank forced to charge everyone for currant accounts.

The uk is unique i think in having free banking.

It would be a shame if that is withdrawn all because of some who abuse it by being always overdrawn which they will do if they dont have to pay a penalty fine.

Even with a fine, if the fine is not large, these people will be tempted to use it to get credit and then keep borrowing without permission, until the debt gets so big, they cannot pay.

Better that the bank show them they cannot do that by charging them a huge fine and that will make them stop.

We all know such people exists who if given an inch, will take a yard. That is typical of some humans, and if i were to be unkind i would say majority of humans.

having said all the above, I know the banks are relying on human nature to take that yard, and go overdrawn. They love it because than they can fine that person and make lots of profits. haha. It is because so many go overdrawn that the banks can make so much money that they can give the rest of us free banking.

There was a tv program showing two houses next door to each other and saying one house did not claim on his flood insurance and has an excess of £100. The house next door had claimed about 10times and has an excess of £10,000.

The tv program said it is unfair that two houses next door to each other have different excess.

I cannot help thinking that it is fair. That house that claim so much thought it was onto a good thing, and claimed every time it could, whilst the other did not wish to claim. So i think it is fair that the one that claimed have its excess go up and up. That might teach him not to claim every time it floods. All insurance have no- claim bonuses.

But everyone seems to side the house that claims and say it is unfair. No one pointed out that if u claim so often, ur excess is bound to go up to reflect it. I wonder why the presenter did not point it out either!!

If the insurance companies treats everyone the same, premiums will go up for everyone, and it will penalise the prudent and careful houseowner who did not claim, whilst the one who claims all the time gets a lot of benefits without any penalties. So u will have the situation where everyone subsidises the few who are mavericks.

Actually, if u r really wise, u wont bother to have flood insurance, but spend the insurance money on watertight seals to the bottom half of ur doorway or make ur doors waterproof. That way u wont have flood waters getting into the house. You prevent it happening, rather than the stupid way... wait for it to happen and claim the insurance.

It is the same with bank accounts. All of us careful account holders will have to subsidise those reckless people. That would be really unfair.

Right now, allready tax payers and ordinary people have to pay for the propping up of the banking system by govts. That is manifestly unfair. There should be a tax on all investment transactions for the banks and financial services to pay for this subsidy. That is why i am all for the Tobin tax.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6932397.ece

expiry date oct 2007

london
Yesterday,I made a curry beef out of a bottle of tesco's balti indian curry sauce which bears an expiry date of oct 2007. Simon bought it long time ago and left it at his mother's house and forgot about it. He brought 3 of these bottles back to the flat. The other two bottles expired june 2008, but if they are like this one i opened, the contents should be edible.

I tasted the contents of this oct 2007 bottle when i opened it, and smelt it, and it was fine so i poured it over the stewing beef, that simon bought cheap at the butchers, and cooked it in the slo-cooker.

I started it at about 2.30pm and went out to visit a friend and when i returned I ate it at 9.05pm and it was delicious.

What pleased me all the more is that it took only about 1kwh of electricity.

I was at the tescos, and looked up these sauces and found out these readymade indian curries in bottles cost about 85p. the other two bottles were sharwood brand, which are about £1.30. I am sure cooking from the curry powder is much cheaper than buying these bottles of curry sauce,(for eg, the malaysian curry powder pack 150mg £1.25 each,can make 5 dishes.But then a lot of westerners like the convenience.You just pour it over the meat and cook. (If you use curry powder, it has to be fried first with garlic, onions, ginger and water or canned tomatoes added. Alot more effort needed).


I am surprised that simon did not buy the ones labelled jalfrezi, korma, dopiaza, all names the indian restaurants give to the various indian currys because what makes british indian curries so nice is the different types.

And it is difficult to copy it and make your own because the different spices that make them up are known only to the cooks.

This episode shows that it is safe to eat bottled sauces well past their sell by date. Curry sauces are particularly safe to eat even long past their sell by date as the curry is a good preservative.

a little bit of joy in my life.

Three-tier tea trolley which i found near the recycling bin. It is missing its top tray. I converted it into a two tier trolley


london

I have not been picking up things from the recycling bin for some time, and I think when i saw this yesterday, the urge to do so came over me. I actually pass it and then turned round and went back to pick it up.



I have seen many of these in charity shops before, but never bother to buy them.



Why now? maybe because this one is a particularly well preserved specimen even though its top tray is missing.It's free, and i just felt like making myself happy and find something to take home. haha. I find joy in such small things. I am easy to please, aren't I? No wonder I am always so happy.



After all, if later i find it is not useful, or if i tire of it clogging up my flat, i can always return it to the recycling bin.



I have been googling these tea trolleys trying to find out how the top tray slot onto the pegs at the four corners of the top shelf. But I was unsuccessful. It is only of academic interest of course, as i dont have the top tray and the spare tray(which i picked up in the recyling bin, and is part of a tea trolley too) that i have is of a different design to this.

The two trays at the bottom are fixed and not detachable.

I find these tea trolleys evoke another age. Do people still use them? They are very old fashioned, and reminds me of elderly spinster aunts. haha.



They are very useful when i have a lot of people come for tea. The crockery , teapot, milk jug, suger bowl,biscuits, cakes etc can be loaded up on it and wheeled into the lounge from my kitchen in one trip.

I went to sleep early that night but woke up at about midnight and thought of going online in the lounge. My gaze fell on the tea trolley there, and i took a closer look. I noticed that the protruding rods at the top shelf were really screws. The lower trays were held by screws. Without the upper tray the whole thing was very wobbly. And it occurred to me that i could unscrew the middle tray and bring it up and make this a two tier tea trolley instead of a 3tier one. It would serve my purpose better in fact if it were a two tier trolley and as it came to prove, it was more stable too.

So I did it. And it is much more effective as there is a lot more space and easier to put in and get out the things in the lower tier.

I am delighted at the new look of this tea trolley and at my ingenuity.

I realise it looked like the two tier tea trolley I inherited from the previous owner of my flat. They left it behind when they moved. I had been using it all these years as a shelf for keeping odds and ends and things. And I realise this new found trolley can also double as a shelf for things when it is not being used as a tea trolley.