life is fun

london

I was browsing in a rather upmarket charity shop in pimlico, not to buy but to see what they have got. I saw a bottle in their waste paper basket,near the cashier, and was eyeing it because it looked like what i would like.

'Is that to be thrown away?' I asked the cashier. she said 'yes'. Can i have it? She nodded.

I know charity shops have said in mary portas tv program that they get junk, but hang on a minute, if that is what they call junk, i wish they would ask me first if i want it. haha.

Ok, this is not hugely significant, but glass containers like these are useful. we dont normally like to buy these and in the past we get them when we buy stuff they come in and used up. i dont buy those things, as i think it silly to buy expensive stuff just for their containers. but this is where charity shops can do a big service. They get these donated to them, and so why dont they just slap a 10p or 20p price tag on it, and sell it quickly.

these glass containers will always find people wanting them for use in the kitchen.

and it will make people buy more things. it works because when people buy something low priced , they tend to pick up other more expensive things in the shop too.

Unfortunately the charity shops are now infected with corporate and business management gurus and they are all upping their game, all wanting the designer bag, and shoes. haha.

And looking with disdain at glass containers for the kitchen. That is so low class and cheap. They dont realise that these may be the ones that sell steadily.

Still, I must not complain, as i got this free didn't I? haha.

brixton market

london

ginger, 4cloves of garlic, red onions, green chillis from brixton market.

Brixton market is really quite close to my flat. Strange why I always thought it is quite far away. It's good to realise it, because then i could go there to get my vegetables. There are not as much fruits being sold unlike what paul L tells me when he went to wood green market. I wonder why, maybe because the locals dont buy them. There are no big bags of ripe tomatoes for £1 like in brewer street, one summer past which i bought to make passata. Or bags of bananas, for £1 like in the milton keynes streetmarket when i used to work there. They were all near to their overripe stage, but perfect for making banana cakes (in those days when i make cakes a lot).

Lots of meat being sold, all unrefrigerated, which is quite offputting if u dont realise they are all thawing from frozen. Apart from the usual chicken, beef, pork, there are cows' hoofs,tails, chicken feet by the bag, (£1.50), tripe. And lots of fish, tilapia being the only name i recognise. haha. Not cheap, 3 or 4 big fishes for £20. All from frozen and thawed when being sold. Does it mean that at the end of the day, they will have to sell it off cheap? as it is not possible to refreeze them?

What i like about the market is that it is the only one that sells 4cloves of garlic for 50p, and ginger, chilli, tomatoes(did not buy those) onions for 50p. Other markets sell more for £1 but to me since i dont use them up so quickly, i prefer smaller portions for half the cost. That way they dont go old and stale.

such a lot of free recycled stuff.

london
This morning I was going to the gym and saw a huge electric radiator, brand name glen, left at the recycling bins. it is the type where there is oil or liquid inside which gets heated and in turn heats up the air. I was looking at it wondering whether to take it when the council truck came by and so i left it.
Then this evening when i was on the way to forage in the supermarket, i saw in another recycling area, a bagless vacuum cleaner and a kettle. I thought of getting the kettle on my way back but forgot, and just as well, i have a lot of kettles.
Anyway, the foraging yielded some bargains. I bought 2 500mg packs of mince pork, 57p each, reduced from £1.80, and 3 packs of 500mg mince beef, 68p each from £2.20.
Its quite reasonable, but not as much of a bargain as in the past, when it was 40p. 'Still, as simon said, the prices have generally gone up so the reduction % is about the same.
Simon says when he used to work for a supermarket chain, they make so much profit out of bacon, the manager goes apeshit if it runs out. The mark up in bacon is enormous, and the profit is a lot because so many people buy it. Simon said the mark up in the expensive cuts of meat is high too but not much of that is sold.
I wonder if people know that there is so much markup in bacon, will they continue to buy it? I dont buy bacon at its normal price anymore. Even if reduced, I try not to eat too much of it, so that even though once, danish back bacon was reduced from £2.20 to 30p,(which just goes to show how big the markup) i only bought 3. I dont really want to eat too much of it. Usually simon finishes it.
'Recently there was a tv program about labelling... They tested minced beef labelled as less than 10% fat, and found the fat was double that. i never believed the labelling anyway and as a matter of habit, I just dont pay the full price.
As for chicken breast, it is not only very expensive per kg, but they add water to it,(easy to spot, because the meat looks so shiny and wet) and to make the water stick they use animal protein, usually beef or pork protein, and the program found out that it was used in halal meats. So u have muslims being fooled. And everyone doubly fooled, with the added water making it extra heavy. Obviously, I never buy chicken breasts. haha
And organic salads were washed in non organic water, which makes it non organic, it seems. I supposed they have to be fussy about even the water that is used to wash the salad.Why cannot use tap water? but personally all this organic hype is totally meaningless to me. If followed strictly it makes it not only ridiculous like the water example but really expensive to produce and the benefit is not worth the extra. Anything less and corners are cut, and u are not getting the strictly organic foods which u think u r paying for. Best not to bother.

browsing charity shop

london
I was browsing inside the oxfam shop in pimlico, and was amusing myself looking at some of the weird stuff they have for sale there.
There is a telescope where u look through to find everything u see is all broken up into fragments, because the eyeglass is facetted. It is like a kaleidoscope.
Then there is a really well constructed knapsack with self insulated lining for a lunch box. Inside there was a plastic microwaveable lunch box with a small lid on the lid which can be opened to serve as an air vent when food is microwaved. The small knapsack is very well made.with compartments for various things. it was on sale for £4. Too much. if it were £1 i might be tempted to buy it though i cannot think what i would use it for. so just as well it is too much.haha.
There was a strange clock with metal rods all over the place and ramps carrying ball bearings to tell the time. it is battery operated (4 batteries!!) which is a huge minus point with me...
I have not been inside for some time, as what with getting my things for free in recycling bins, i have stopped going into charity shops except to see what i have saved by not shopping there.
My antinorton is expiring, and i have downloaded the free AVG. Hope it will be all right, but i am always nervous when i start a new antivirus download.

i found a george foreman grill last night

london
I was walking past the recycling bins last night, when i was coming back from a late night forage in the supermarkets, and saw a george foreman grill on top of the bins. I did not realise it was a george foreman grill, till i saw the trade mark whilst walking back with it.
I have heard of this name before, and heard how useful it was. has anyone got one and is it really useful?

I googled the make i found, and i think it is this

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500001501&productId=1500364323&langId=-1&engine=froogle&keyword=Baby+George+Foreman+Lean+Mean+Fat+Reducing+Grilling+Machine

£14.69

Seems it is good for grilling sausages and hamburgers. The compact shape and grilling on both sides at once may make it more economical than an open grill, especially for small amounts of food

Added 1.30pm. I grilled some sausages with it, and it is very good. Used about half the amount of electricity using a frying pan, and also the real plus is that u can just leave it to cook without having to stand over it turning it over like if u fry it, not to mention it is not swimming in its own fat, so none of that spitting oil into the air and settling on the surfaces of the kitchen. the thermostat switches it on and off when it reaches the right temperature. I can only cook 4 sausages at a time, but that is not a bad thing if i m only cooking for one. It shows how good it did the job, i cooked 8 sausages and ate almost all .haha.It makes the skin so crunchy.

Amazing what u can find in the recycling bins in my area. It is the first time i have seen a george foreman grill, though i read in the website that it has been going on since 1995.

lazy summer days

the old fashioned wind up clock.

one of the speakers and hifi that i found long ago in the recycling bins. I am listening to the radio now. The hifi dont have input leads for simon to plug his laptop into.


london


These are lazy summer days i am having in london.


Not a care in the world, and plenty of peace of mind. Lots of events and deaths and happenings all over the world of course, as the newspapers are so keen to tell us, and the news broadcasts. But they need not impinge on my life. After all, I dont know those people so their troubles dont affect me at all.
I dont know why people get affected by the death of people like michael jackson. After all, they dont know him from adam, only know him from listening to his music, and since his heyday has long since gone, they won't miss much of his output by his death.

My feeling is it does not matter what their personal lives are like.They have left their legacy to us, their music, and we celebrate them for that.

I think that is true immortality, that their music can still affect us many years from now. it remains to be seen if michael jackson's music affects us as much as beethoven, mozart etc etc.


Life in our immediate surroundings can be as complicated or simple as u make it. I make it simple and so enjoy these lazy summer days. If your life is full of events, you make it so. A lot of people get restless and worried if they dont have things to do. They want to be busy and as i have always said, be careful what u wish for, u will get it, so they make things happen.Then when it gets too busy, which is inevitable really, they find they cannot stop it, or unable to get out of it.


Ah well, I leave them to live their lives.


Right now, i enjoy the summer lazy days of my life. Drifting from doing nothing, to doing little things that i enjoy and that dont take a lot of planning. I am glad i have no travel plans, till two weeks from now. That is quite a long time away so i need not think about it for now.


I saw another big screen tv left in the recycling bins this morning. No one took it as it is so heavy, and they must have realised as i did that it is useless without the remote control. I have more than enough tv screens now. I am looking out for an amplifier, but i wonder whether anyone have any to throw away. They are so old fashioned. But simon found out that he needs an amplifier to put his music on his laptop to external speakers. Those old fashioned speakers which people were throwing out are actually very good for music. The laptop speakers sounds too tinny.


I find i m coming full circle and going back to old fashioned things. They don't use up electricity to operate. The new fangled electronic stuff nowadays eat a lot of power. I found out my tv screen, even when switched off but plugged in, uses up a lot of electricity. i now unplug it whenever i dont use it. They tell us to switch off instead of leaving it on standby, but no one tells u that even when not on standby, these electrical appliances still uses up some power. I have found out it is not the tv screen but the video recorder which is linked to it. When plugged in, the recorder is on standby.
I dont use my video to tape movies much now, as it uses up electricity both to tape and to rewind and see later; also i have to leave the video recorder on standby waiting for the program to come on and that eats up electricity. Now, I watch the program as it is broadcast if i m so keen on seeing it. A lot of times i watch and then switch off as it is too boring to continue.
I am taking out an old winding clock to use again, as it does not need electricity. Though it is not working well. Tends to stop. I have forgotten how to fix it. (added. i forgot to wind it.haha)

I dont think i shall use ebooks because they need power to operate. Whilst books need no electricity to use.

simon's new car

london, its not really his car, but a pic of a similar model taken from the website which simon sent me, when i asked what car he bought.