simon back with more food

simon got this from his mum.

london

Simon came back from essex. He has been visiting his mum, and when he opened her fridge he told me it was so full of food she bought at reduced prices that she asked him to take some that cannot fit in.so we got some pork chops and stuffed belly pork. I ate a pack of .372mg 2 stuffed 'Norfolk outdoor reared pork belly' last night , 30mins at 200C in my top (smaller) oven, and it was delicious.

I think even though it was reduced it is still too costly but then I compare it to the belly pork 500mg i got for 78p and feel that is better value for money. This one includes the weight of the stuffing. They rolled the belly pork and put the sausage stuffing in the middle and bind it with a net of threads.

His mum is like me, she loves to go at the end of the day and pick up reduced foods. Except she buys so much and freeze them so that they pile up uneaten. It is a easy trap to fall into. When i heard that from simon, i hinted that he should get some from her. And that is why we got some of it today. haha.

A lot of people are not very savvy at buying things. But I was thinking nevermind, if people can afford it, it does not matter if they pay over the odds , it keeps businesses solvent, and in profit and that is a good thing. Thank goodness the world is full of people who are willing to pay the money, if all of them are like me, the economy will still be in the bartering era and the stone age. haha.

I like my lifestyle but it would not be as comfortable living in this world for me if the majority are like me.That is why i dont encourage people to do as i do.

Add 1.5.09 The thought has occurred to me that there is all this pork at reduced prices is because people mistakenly thinks it is contaminated with swine flu what with all this publicity about the flu and calling it swine flu. Well, it seems that even though i said i wont be eating pork if i know that pig has swine flu, it seems a lot of people may allready be acting on it, not buying pork thinking swine flu has infected pigs in uk. If it lowers the cost of pork so much the better, i say. But the farmers will be feeling it. It seems Egypt has started slaughtering its pigs. Foolish fools.

Added 1.5.09 4.09pm found out why they want to slaughter those pigs. The pigs were kept by the christian coptic minority, a pork eating sect amongst an islamic population that regard the pig as unclean. So just an excuse to get rid of pigs and to inconvenience a minority sect that offends them. Intolerance, thy name is religion. So nothing new there.I find it ironic, that for people who dont like pigs, to catch swine flu must be mortifying. To me it is hilarious, and proves that if there is a God, s/he has a wicked sense of humour. hhahaha.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6204695.ece?Submitted=true

Desire to chat.

london
I can understand why these chat groups are so popular. People do have the urge to chat. I found that was what i wanted to do and then found that i have no one to chat to. In the past, we have friends who we meet up and sit around a mamak stall and talk.That was in malaysia where there are still pockets of undeveloped land where the mamak stalls can set up business. Maybe now there is less chatting in mamak stalls because so many have been swept away by development. When I went to singapore to study, we would hang around the shopping complex.
Now not only am I in london, the pubs where people used to meet and chat, as well as cruise, has got too expensive to hang around in, (not to mention too loud background music to tolerate). So what do we do now? We go into chat sites and make inane anonymous chat. haha.
it's not very satisfactory because the people in there are strangers.The major part of the attraction of the talk in the mamak stalls is just making inane conversation with friends, and we know each other well enough to make in jokes, and references that are personal to us.
I think i use this blog to satisfy my desire to chat. It is like talking to a diary, except it is better than a diary, because it may be read by someone who might write a comment. Hmm, seems like that is another reason why i write this blog. It is certainly cheaper than going to pubs to find someone to chat with. haha. And no one interrupts me.
I do miss those carefree days of hanging around late into the night at mamak stalls in malaysia, drinking glasses of hot teh tarik and talking cock. It is the human interaction that I want. How many living in malaysia now still do that? or have the internet killed all that now? or work and family responsibilities have stopped all that. maybe it is something one does when one is young, and a student at college or university. I noticed that when i do go back to malaysia, i dont spend time chatting in mamak stalls either. There are things we just cannot go back to.
I have a friend, Paul M in thailand ask me whether i would be interested in joining him and john on a road trip in malaysia and thailand next year. It sounds tempting, but I dont really have any desire to travel to that part of the world.
I have come to a conclusion which is not new... all our younger days activities cannot be repeated with the same thrill. There is no going back to the past. On a happier note, not that we want to, because when we were young there was no sex.haha. Now we would certainly not exchanged those sexless young days with today, where we have the joy of gay sex.
The month of May has two bank holidays, ( how extravagant!!)and the first one is coming up this weekend. Will anyone spend it abroad, do you think? or spend it in uk, and go to the seaside like brighton or bournemouth.
Or will london be flooded with foreign travellers seeing that the euro is almost parity.
I will just stroll around london near my place and watch the tourists haha. It will remind me of my days as a awestruck tourist in london once upon a time.
added 7.40pm
I called up my friend Tony, the one who had invited me to join him next year to euronat, north france. He said he was in a film production that will be showing in the barbican on 29may. He said they gave him breakfast and lunch and £60 a day for the three days of filming using the barbican conservatory as a backdrop to the jungle. tony does art nude modelling as a hobby, and thought when he was asked to participate that he will be naked. but in the end he said there was no nudity, even though he was supposed to playing a primitive native.
http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=8903

ladder of risk

london
This is a good article about the ladder of risk with HIV.
Instead of telling people two stark choices, wear/not wear a condom when fucking, it suggests that gay men who do bareback are allready making informed choices of the degree of risk that they permit themselves.
First, there was what the researchers call strategic positioning. This means that if an HIV positive person has sex without condoms with a partner who is negative, or who is not sure what he is, that only the HIV positive partner is the receptive partner in anal intercourse. This is because the receptive partner is up to ten times more likely to get HIV from an infected insertive partner than the other way around.
Second, there was negotiated safety – this means that HIV negative men have one steady partner with whom they practice unsafe sex, while they promise each other that when having sex with others, they will always be safe – if an 'accident' happens, they must tell their steady partner.In the Sydney study, both these strategies reduced HIV infection risk to a similar degree as consistent condom use.
A third strategy is called sero-sorting. This means that HIV negative men only have (condom-less) sex with HIV negative men, and HIV positive men only with HIV positive men. This led to an intermediate risk of HIV infection – higher than when consistently using condoms or when employing one of the two above mentioned strategies, but lower than having unprotected sex indiscriminately, without exchanging information about one’s presumed serostatus. Sero-sorting is usually not recommended, as some HIV negative men may in fact be positive, but the virus may have entered their body so recently that it does not show up in HIV tests yet. The period where a person is infected already but the virus can not yet be detected is called the 'window period'. It is also possible that a presumably HIV negative person had his last test quite a while (and quite a few partners) ago – he may in fact have become infected already, but is still relying on his last (negative) test result.Even so, sero-sorting also reduced the chance of transmission in the study; it was simply better than having unprotected sex with partners of whom the serostatus was not known or discussed, but not as good as the other two strategies or as consistent condom use.
A fourth strategy – withdrawal from the rectum before ejaculation – was found not effective.
Other alternatives to fucking such as reducing anal sex in favor of mutual masturbation and oral sex, or (rather than abstinence, using webcams and phones for (very safe!) cyber/phone sex.

http://fridae.com/newsfeatures/article.php?articleid=2457&viewarticle=1&searchtype=all
I might add fingering to the list. Or fisting.

so what is new?

london
I find I do like to know what is new. It is part of the attraction of life, not knowing what a new day brings in new things cropping up in my life, or in the world.
I read the news to find out what is new going on in the rest of the world. A lot of it is doom and gloom, like that swine flu spreading from mexico. so much of it on the news, yet it does not really affect the majority of us in uk. But the moment i say that, i can see how I can be accused of being complacent, or ignorant, or uncaring. But nevermind what others label u, what are the chances of anyone in uk getting swine flu who are living here and not meeting anyone who has recently holidayed there? (none of the people i know are that wealthy or have so much free time to travel to mexico. haha). The chances are nil. Granted govts must take precautions and wheel out experts to explain to people what to expect, but that does not mean there is anything to worry about as far as individuals are concerned.
Let the people who are responsible for arranging its treatment and confinement worry about it. haha. That is what they are elected or trained or employed to do.
That leaves us wondering what to worry about. haha. because man is not satisfied until he has something to worry about. Whenever anyone hears the words of the song 'Don't worry' they get an image of a layabout who is scrounging on society. be honest now, isn't that the image that comes to mind whenever u hear that? Someone who does not worry is a feckless, unemployed person. haha.
I am now online at a gay website, simply because it sent me an email saying i will be in on a chance of getting a draw for dinner with a celebrity if i log on between 9pm and 11pm today. i have not heard of this person, but that does not mean i wont enjoy the dinner. haha. I know the chances of winning must be nil, but then it costs nothing to be online between 9pm-11pm. right? I dont have to be looking at that website and can do other things like write this post. hehe.
I found once i m online in that website there was nothing i want to do there. It does not have chat, unlike gaydar, so it is not possible to while away the time chatting to other people who are also looking for socialising instead of meeting up for sex. haha.
and they have no forum, so cannot post messages. Though from what i can read of comments in forums, most if not all the comments are not very satisfying. This is not a criticism of those who write in, just that none of them write on things that interests me.
I think a gay website should encourage more chatting and socialising, but maybe that is why i m not running a gay website. haha. maybe everyone just wants to cruise and meet up for sex.
I have called david, near brighton,earlier this evening to chat and to ask him whether he was able to roast the chicken in his new halogen oven. he said it was delicious, right down to the crispy skin. So it works, (which we all know of course). I asked if there is lots of oil dripping to the bottom for him to make gravy out of. He said nothing. Either that chicken is fat free, or the halogen process makes fat not drip down. Next test will be if it can make crispy crackling out of the roast pork. Maybe i shall keep a lookout for a roast pork to buy cheap to bring to him when i next visit.
I got a belly pork from the sainsbury's butcher yesterday. At the end of the day, the butcher will sell off remnants for half price. It was half a kilo at £1.50 a kilo.It costs 78p. Usually pork belly is £3.80 a kilo. It is strange that in uk pork belly is so expensive.In that in malaysia, if I remember right, it used to be the cheapest cut. maybe not anymore if swine flu is so prevalent all over the world. haha;. I found out that actually the pigs dont die from swine flu. They just provide a place for the flu virus to mutate. Theoretically the pigs can be eaten, but i think the fear of it spreading forces govts to insist the sick pigs are killed. Pity, because if u look at it logically, there is nothing wrong with eating sick pigs if they are not killed by the virus. After all the meat wont be affected by a pig having flu. But will anyone eat that meat? Will you? Will I? Can't say i will, unless i m desperately hungry... Just goes to show that logic does not make it easy to do something. haha.
The pork was the best buy that night. i got two 800mg Hovis white bread, thick cut for 31p each. I like thick cut, and white bread is quite delicious when toasted. And two packs of pork sausages for 31p each. That sausage is not such a bargain. there was only 56% pork. I forgot to look at the ingredients and assumed they were over 70%. I must remember to check next time. haha.
I bought a large baguette from sainsbury for 15p. Worth it at that price, and shared it with my friend. he showed me the bread he brought from italy, a dense rye like bread dark brown , and bread-like biscuits, or biscuits shaped like bread. The latter he said helps his stomach, when he has diarrhea.Funny things they eat overseas haha. But no more funny than what we bring overseas. When i was on holiday in the naturist town,capdeagde in france i remember i missed sliced bread. My friends all laughed when i brought a 800mg loaf there from london. I know it sounds silly to bring sliced bread to france, but i do like sliced bread. They are so versatile and make great sandwiches. the baguette is really messy to eat,(lots of crumbs) and the crust can cut into ur mouth.

london

I am so glad to be online again. For some reason my phone went dead, at about 11am. When it happened last time, I just switch off and wait a few hours and it comes on again. But this time, it stayed down till I logged on just now.(about 10pm. I have been to the supermarket to get some bargain shopping) Almost 12hours. its good to have it on again. though I think as an exercise in showing me I can tolerate not being online it is a good thing.
(here i stopped writing for a bit, as my friend who is visitng me asked me how to make tea as he wanted to try some. So I went to the kitchen to show him the tea things. he decided to drink the teabag in a cup. it must have made a really strong cup of tea. He is Italian, and for someone who normally drinks coffee, he is going into tea drinking at the deep end. haha. We got chatting about his life in italy.

I made a earlier posting about bea arthur, one of the actress who played in Golden Girls, a tv sitcom. she died at 86yrs old. Those who can remember the series will be of a certain age, and the fact that i remember her shows my age. haha.

It has been a long time since the series ended. It started in 1986 but I think i saw it on british tv in the 90s. It was a lovely program, the women's characters are so gay.

It made me think that as i grow older, i remember the past from actors and actresses dying and their orbituaries brings up these memories.

Like hearing 'mona lisa' the song on the radio bringing back memories of childhood and teens.

they are lovely memories but i like my present time now. haha. because i get the sex and appreciate the sex a lot more.

this reminds me of the lovely sex we had with my friend paul M who is living in thailand now. I got an email from him, saying he and john (who lives in Poole) are thinking of getting together next year meet up in penang and travel by car to chiangmai in thailand. A road trip, sounds rather good. It might entice me to join them. We shall see how i feel nearer the time.
Talking of a land tour reminds me of my friend who travels to france, euronat, every summer for 6wks. i intend to go with him next summer, not this year though, as he leaves before the naked bike ride in london on 13june, and i have allready planned to join in with friends.

no one sending me email

london
I have been too successful in my spam catcher. I dont even have spam mail. And no one sends me email. People complain they have too much mail, and are swamped with it. I have the opposite thing happening to me.
Ah well, better to have no mail than lots of it. But since i dont write to people, it stands to reason no one writes back. haha. On balance i think i like not receiving mail.
People might say unkindly that it is because i have nothing to do and so have plenty of time to answer and control my emails. It is true.
Today is a lovely day, but I just dont feel like going out because i know the london marathon will just block the roads and there will be a lot of joggers about. Two strayed into my neck of the woods. I saw them carrying long sticks in each hand. They are supposed to make walking easier, and I understand from the countryfile tv program talking about it that the practise first began in norway.
They look like ski sticks for cross country skiing. It would not surprise me if someone sees the connection with skiing, and decided that if it is good for skiing , it follows it will be excellent for walking as well. I dont think they do any good for walking, even if they are good for skiing but then i have not tried them so perhaps i should reserve judgement till i tried it myself. i think like carrying a stick on ur walks, it is more psychological, and just feels great when u wack some plant or other with that stick as u walk.
I happen to pass the little community garden and was amazed at how many plants were in bloom.
(I have to mention the lovely dark purple tulips that the tate britain has growing in its front garden. They are at just the right time for viewing. The colour is just so luscious, and the petals feel like satin. I had a happy time feeling them and cupping them, and admiring them. Tulips always thrills me. And these especially. They are so reminiscent of throbbing phalli).
Spring is so transient for some plants. So early in the year, and allready some plants in the community garden have bloomed and now going into seed. This thriving and dying is so characteristic of nature. There must be something here telling us about life. that it is enough to have lived and died, even if it is a short lifespan. That brief moment of glory serves its purpose, whatever it is. In the case of plants and animals I think it is propagation of the species. Because so much effort is put into doing that.
I just wrote down that Man seems to be the exception, but I erased it. Because sex looms large in human beings (and what is propagation if not involving lots of sex) so much so that we are indiscriminate where we put it. haha. So even in Man, the urge to propagate is very strong albeit indiscriminate.
That just shows how important propagation is. The sex drive is strong just so some seeds will get into fertile eggs.
Anyway, I shall not go further into philosophy and just say life is here for us to enjoy, in any way we can, whether in sex, or with just collecting stamps, to give one mundane example. haha.
I see tomorrow is forecast to be rainy, so this sunny weather we had today is just very temporary. But since I dont mind what the weather is ... it does not sadden me to know it will rain tomorrow. I like both sunny and rainy weathers.
I bet hay fever sufferers are delighted at tomorrow's rain. Those who suffer hay fever now are those who suffer from grass pollen. later in summer, those who suffer hay fever from tree pollen will get their chance. I used to suffer from hay fever, usually in summer, so it seems my allergy is to tree pollen. But I took propolis over the years, and the hay fever seems to have gradually gone less and less severe as the years go by. Also, i tend to be in london the past few years,(less trees than in the country, and i stay indoors) or overseas, where it seems i m not allergic to pollen from european trees.
Even though i m not doing anything, I find life very enjoyable. It just goes to show u can enjoy life even if u r just pottering around doing nothing much. haha.In fact, it may be that not doing anything brings happiness. heehee. Is that a secret to a happy life??
Added. just got an email from gaydar saying i have just been upgraded for a week from 24.4.09. Well, i have gone in earlier today and found out i was upgraded but did not linger. But maybe i shall do so now. Cant say i like gaydar very much. There are so many people online (1000 in london alone) that it is too many. Just because a few is good, lots does not mean better.

bought this tupperware plastic container in lime green and with lovely pattern of snow flakes on the sides for 20p at the charity shop today. Even though i vowed not to buy anymore containers seeing simon loses the caps, i just cannot resist this one. I love tupperware products. I have never seen such a beautiful one like this before.

london
Sometimes I read something in the newspapers and have to do a double take. Take for eg, today this article about the london assembly report on air pollution in london. I can hardly recognise the london i m living in. Is this the same london?
The capital's poor air quality leads to at least 2,905 premature deaths annually, and "probably many thousands", according to a study by members of the London Assembly's environment committee. Their findings far exceed the figure of about 1,000 fatalities, which until now has been accepted.
People die earlier than they should because exposure to dangerously high levels of substances such as nitrogen dioxide, fine particulates and ground-level ozone leads to heart and lung diseases, and also affects those who are already ill with an unrelated condition, according to the report.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/26/air-pollution-london-death
I wonder what they mean when they say 'premature deaths'. Do they know when those people would have died? How would they know that? Are they god/s.
I know that the mayor johnson cancelled the 3rd phase of the Low Emission Zone which will include minibuses and vans.At the moment it covers lorries and coaches,(all using diesel engines) and have abolished the congestion charge for the western extension up to earls court. So it might be related to that. It seems london has the highest nitrogen dioxide and particulate in europe.
Does this show that we cannot believe our own eyes anymore? So that even though we see clear, clean looking air, it is not so? Frankly I would continue to believe my own senses. As far as I am concerned living where i am, london air is clean enough.
Perhaps all this pollution is only in certain high traffic areas in london.Well, wish they would say so instead of saying london.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/04/london-emissions-mayor

not so dumb 10 dumbest ways to save money

london
The Times today did an article about the 10dumbest way to save money. But when i read them, they dont seem so dumb after all. Read and see if u agree.
I find the tip about not using loo paper got me thinking. We in malaysia have always known that u can wash with water. But without a tap and running water, I used to think it is not a feasible option. Now i figured there is no need for running water, which gets on the floor and splashes everywhere. Just a spray container of water will do.No need to buy that commercial portable bidet,either.
As for reusing tea bags, I have found that since i have been using tea leaves, it is possible to top up with hot water again without using fresh tea leaves. It is good for another pot full. It seems people do that with tea bags, especially when the old adage, one for the pot +1 can produce really very strong tea. Now i have stopped putting milk in my tea, I find I like a milder tea. Somehow with milk, the tea must be strong, otherwise it looks very milky.
These tips dont seem like credit crunch practises, more like not wasting things, because the savings must be very small. Still, as they say, take care of the pennies and the £ will take care of itself. (or have i just made that up?haha)
The article mentioned reusing sandwich bags without washing them first. That might be rather offputting. Someone in the comment suggest using containers, and that is something i have been doing for a long time. Also making ur own sandwiches saves money. A lot of savings, because now sandwiches bought in shops cost £2.95 according to john when he went to studland bay yesterday. I started making my own long ago, because i did not like the salt in the commercial sandwiches, as well as the cost.
It looks like so many people are coming round to doing what i have been doing for years.


http://timesbusiness.typepad.com/money_weblog/2009/04/the-10-dumbest-credit-crunch-tips.html

scavenging

selected works of porphyra, by thomas taylor found in the street.

london

I was walking past brewer st market and saw a box on the road, with a sign near it saying help yourself. It was full of books. Most of it in French, but i found this one. A very new looking purple book. When i saw the title 'Select works of Porphyry' I thought it was a disease... but it seems to be collected works of a chap called thomas taylor, who was born 1758 died 1835, and was the 'first english translator of the whole of plato's works, of the whole of Aristotle, and the majority of works of plotinus, porphyry, proclus, iamblichus and other later Platonists.' This edition was the second, and printed in 1999.It was first published in 1823.

Well it will be interesting to see what those oldies said about life.

I have heard of plato, but never knew what exactly he said about life.

Usually i keep clear of philosophical works, as it sometimes seem to be splitting hairs, and is more rhetoric than anything. Still, since it is free, I shall read it and see what he has to say. I wonder sometimes whether the original greek is so convoluted that the translator just cannot figure it out. Maybe that is why sometimes u can get really obscure and meaningless paragraphs.

Even nowadays when anyone tries to explain their philosophy it can come across as weird. Imagine how much more weird it can be by trying to translate it from the greek.

I dont know what it is about a book that attracts me so much. Just to feel it, touch it, smell it gives me a thrill.

I had another thrill, when i saw a lap tray being offered for £3 at the charity shop. I got a thrill because i found a similar tray in a recycle area, and got it for free. haha.

Actually, in the past, I have seen it priced at £5, so the charities are now at least pricing it more realistically.

Added. This volume is about porphyra's defense of vegetarianism. Since i am not one, I am not interested. Taylor talked about the soul at the end of the book. Can't say i understand him. Neale walsch in his conversation with god books says it better.

round the world in 80trades.

london
Sometimes tv programs can be really showing what real life is like.
This one is like that. it is a man who used to work in the city, selling his home, and using £25,000 of the profit buying and selling all over the world and hoping to double it.
this episode i m seeing is his trading in taiwan and japan, trying to sell a raw piece of jade he bought in china and which he had a master carve it, and selling it in taiwan, where he missed getting it sold to someone who offered $13,000. In the end, he could not sell it in taiwan or japan.
then he bought vintage tea, having a writer telling him he will be able to sell it for a fortune to a collector in Japan, that failed.
He bought tea from a farmer, and had to sell it at a loss in japan.he assumed the tea from the highest tea plantation in an area well known for its tea, will be the best. he did not even drink the tea. Not that he would be able to tell how good it is if he did.
he then went fishing for mackeral in japan, spending £300 to hire the boat and the fishing skills of the owner, and could only made a profit of 75p. because he could not catch enough fish,(they fished with a line). he and the owner managed to catch 12boxes of fish instead of the normal 18.For the fisherman who own their own boat, and who normally fished with his elderly father, they would be able to get 18 cases of fish and it would be a tidy profit.
It makes u see how difficult it is for a novice to make money. You have to know ur business, and not speculate. In other words u must have a buyer or buyers in mind when u trade in something. Otherwise it is a gamble.
I can see why people go into the drugs trade, because there are always buyers available.Their illegality makes the drugs difficult to get and so makes demand for it insatiable.Of course, it helps that the product is so addictive.haha.
And it makes it obvious why trading in shares and financial instruments so lucrative. No physical transporting of the stuff involved. Buyers and sellers dont even meet. What a wonderful way of dealing. No wonder there were so many people doing it. The money is v good too.
I think at the end of the journey he will have to admit that city dealing is so much easier than anything he had done in his 80 trades.

back from brighton

london
I had a lovely time at david's. Thanks to david, we had some really good sex. If david is reading this,(now that he is online again) he would know exactly what i mean. Looking frwrd to a repeat when i next visit him.haha.
(he asked if i said rude things about him in my blog. I said of course. haha.)
The journey back was very pleasant. I forgot that i booked a different time for the return than the last trip i made...and thought I was supposed to take the 11am national express bus when it was really the 1pm bus that i should take. So i had time to take my time looking at the charity shops (I was looking for stainless steel pots but there was not a single one of any kind to be found) so much so that when i arrived at the library and sat outside in the sunshine eating my snack, it was 12pm, and there was no time to finish the Times paper in the library before i had to go to the coach station. I thought it will be a long drag waiting, but no, Time really flies.
Brighton has a very hippy feel to it. I see lots of young people wearing hippy type clothes, and some with purple hair. Don't know why i associate purple hair with students , esp those arty types.
The weather was sunny, and so the country view from the bus on the way back has a sprinkling of green, the light green colour of spring, rather than the dark green foliage of summer, with bits of colour from the flowering plants.
Spring in the english countryside is very pretty.
Came back to my flat and found it looking exactly as i left it, except for the slightly open windows of the lounge. Lucky for being on the first floor, so it does not matter that the windows are open with no one at home.
Not that there is anything worth stealing. I dont have home contents insurance... waste of money in my opinion.
My flat is like an open house with friends coming and going. And insurance never pays out if there is no forced entry, so what is the point of paying for home content insurance? right?
Simon has been using my laptop, because he left it in hibernation. After a bit, when i sorted it out, i got it working again to my satisfaction which is to log out of his page, and log into mine.
Its lovely to be back at my own place.
I am having some friends come to stay on saturday, so i suppose i should do some cleaning. haha. If not for them, this flat wont get cleaned at all.

country life

near brighton

Nice to visit , but I am a city boy at heart and wont be happy in a countryside. I find the poor bus service, and expensive at that, irksome. Also the lack of shops, and unable to get bargain foods in the supermarket. The shops do have a captive customer base, and they know it and customers just dont have much choice.

I was on the bus to david's place and i thought what would make countryside living logical would be if u have lots of garden to grow ur own food, and ur own chickens and laying hens, and pigs and ducks so u are self sufficient.

But it is hard work rearing animals and planting food. Even seeing david working in the garden, keeping the hedge growth at bay and the plants in some kind of order shows me that it is a never ending task to keeping a well ordered garden. That beautiful garden is achieved at some cost in labour.

For me coming to stay with david is also a sex trip. haha. and not totally because i yearn for the country. I guess people who know me will have gathered as much. Reading between the lines they must have got it figured out. Why else would a self confessed city boy want to come to the country??? if not for the sex. haha.

I can see it is not so easy to get sex buddies in the country. I dont know how david coped, especially as he has no internet before i fixed it for him. Even getting to him is a bit of effort.

But maybe i m seeing it all from my perspective. I do am aware that not everyone thinks sex is such a big thing. And normally, i would agree with them, in that when i m at home in my flat in london, i hardly think of it. But when i m on holiday i expect it. otherwise it is not worth the bother of leaving my comfy flat.

I am sure other people's actions and thought processes must be subjected to their own interests.And all we need to know about them to understand their motives is to find out how they view life. What is important to them, at different stage of their lives and also at different locality and circumstances.

That is so obvious I dont know why i bother to state it. But for some reason, that is forgotten by a lot of people and that is why it needs stating. If nothing else just to remind me.

How is life treating everyone? Now the new budget has been read out, and everyone would have some idea of what the new financial year brings to them, hope people are still happy. haha.

It does not affect me thank goodness. But it is still interesting for me to read about it.

50% rate of tax for those earning more than £150,000 a year. That is going back to the old days. don't forget they still have to pay their national insurance, and that is another 10% tax on top, so effectively it is 60%. I wonder if any of them will leave the country.

Yesterday, i cooked meat balls in the halogen JML cooker that david bought for £60 to replace his oven that has stopped working.

At first, we could not get it to start, and david thought it confirmed his belief that electrical appliances never agreed with him. But i noticed the handle when brought flush with the surface also pushes a little button at the back, and so i solved it. Well, I could not help saying to david, his soul wants to make life difficult for him, but my soul overruled his and told his soul off and it meekly followed my soul. What do u think of that why of looking at these mishaps? David says it is a funny(as it peculiar) way of looking at things. Is it? Not to me, obviously, but I daresay it will look strange to others. but tell me how else to explain why the problem was solved so easily by me?

It is quite quick to cook the meat balls, but I daresay the real test of its usefulness is how well it cooks a roast chicken. and how well it produces crackling from roast pork. That would be the ultimate test.

I dont quite know the science of halogen cooking. Is it based on induction? there is even a halogen heater. I am all for fuel efficiency, and if it cooks food using very little power, i m all for it.

in brighton

near brighton

I am visiting david.

Came here yesterday, and stop off at patcham, thinking it might be cheaper on the bus to his place, but it is only 10p cheaper. So i think i shall take the local bus and stop off midway, and walk the rest of the way to his place. It wont be an hour to wait.

I managed to get david's laptop to connect online. he has been with tesco.net, all this time but never used it as he could not get online.

So now I can be online too. that is rather nice, as i could access my email whilst here. I had thought I shall be completely cut off and unable to blog or read my email.

But here I am.

Weather not as sunny as the forecast would lead me to believe, but it is pleasant enough. A nice change for me to be in the country instead of in the city.

a funny thing happened.

london
I had a nice laugh just now.
Simon came and said his mum gave him a electric wok.
I said 'how come? its not very useful, why didn't u tell her u would much prefer a induction hot plate'.
He said he did not want to upset her by refusing her gift. It turned out that one day while watching the tv where they were showing this electric wok, he was making conversation, and she thought he wanted one, and bought it.
I said, 'why dont u tell her u dont want it, and see if it can be returned'?
He then said, actually , she got delivery of it 3months ago, and forgot until now. so it has gone past its 28days return date.
I said, with a sigh,' that is the trouble with westerners and their gift giving. they dont tell each other what they want. Instead they try to guess and it leads to a lot of disastified gifts and money wasted'.
he said he got it in the flat now. So i had a look at it, and it was a typical product created to fool a westerner into buying.
A wok is a simple thing, designed so that u can lift it with one hand to control the heat, while being able to stir frying with the other. this one has a base where the lead goes in, and has only a small handle, so no way can u lift it up with one hand. Not that it is much use being able to do so, as lifting it will also lift the heating element in the base.
Because it is electric, u need to be able to lift the wok off the heating element, as switching off doesnot immediately stop the heat.
Usually, with ordinary electric hobs, we just lift the wok off the element, and so control the heat that way. Or if it is gas, we can reduce the heat or turn it off by turning the knob.
Woks are really simple things, and very cheap. Mine i bought about 20yrs ago from chinatown, and it is a cheap thing but lasted me all those years and still going strong. There is no need to pay £18( or so simon guessed. If it is more it is a even sadder waste of money) for this electrical thing. It might suit someone who lives in a bedsit which has no cooker, (even then it would be better to buy a small hob)so even there it is a useless thing.
I know i sound like my mother now. She has no hesitation in saying something is rubbish, if she knows it is rubbish in her field of expertise, which is anything involving cooking.
Simon did not want to tell his mum he did not want it. He says she will get upset.
I said, 'i wish westerners will follow thechinese custom of giving money. it is so practical, and no one need to give a lot, and yet the recipient can amass a huge amount simply from lots of people giving small amounts'.
It is such a good way of giving, but trust the westerners not to do it. Fools!!!! now u know why we chinese not only think but know that we are a superior race.haha.
I said 'maybe u can give it away to some newly marrieds, or something'. I said' remember the married couple friend of yours u gave my sofa to'?
What couple? he said.
He had forgotten that he had given away my ikea sofa.... I said,' a fine thing, you gave away my sofa to someone and u cannot even remember that.
Just as well, i m such a easy going fellow. I can just imagine anyone else will be throwing a big sulk.haha.
But I dont mind, as I did not want that ikea sofa anymore and was glad he found someone to take it. It stops my flat being crowded with so much excess furniture.
But I still lament the useless unwanted gift giving custom of the westerners.Such a lot of wasted money spent and disastisfied people.

oatmeal and cauliflower

cauliflower with one third cut off for my dinner last night.haha

london

Went to visit Ian yesterday, and he was telling me of the home made snack he gave me. It was delicious because he did not use any suger, just the sweetness from the raisins. ( Ian tells me the secret is butter. He says if he adds lots of butter to anything, people invariably says how lovely it tastes.)And he took out the bag of oatmeal to show what it was made of, and i was surprised to see it was a tesco 1kg bag costing 58p. I had seen only 500mg bags on sale in my local tesco and they cost 39p each. It was similar to last time when i visited him. he told me of the peanuts that tesco sells for 19p,(which went up to 39p then came down to 21p). My local tesco do not stock them then. Now it has started to stock the peanuts. And I now realise my local tesco do not stock the 1kg bag of oatmeal either. I wonder whether even larger branches of tesco stock 1.5kg oatmeal bags and whether it might be even cheaper per gm.haha.

I had them for my breakfast this morning, and they are very nice. Quality of oatmeal must be the same whether it is from the basic range or the high end. After all, what can they add on to oatmeal to make it any better than it is allready? right? that is why i think it silly to pay over the odds for branded oatmeal.

I am glad i found out from him about it, because i was running out of oatmeal and was about to buy the 500mg ones for 39p at my local tesco.

he asked why i dont go to the big tesco in vauxhall. I said big tescos dont seem to sell bargain meats at reduced prices.

later, we went to the Church street market. On the way we pass by some art galleries, which require u to ring up before they open the door to let u in. First time in london i see such places where u have to ring to get in. We went into one, it was on the first floor. Its strange that the area is full of council flats, and yet we see so many art galleries and antique shops, but no charity shops. There was even a flower shop with huge branches of cherry blossoms in pots of water, and in full bloom. We wondered whether cherry blossom branches will flower when u cut them and put them in water, like pussy willow... a lovely name. I get a cheap thrill everytime i say it. haha. Pussy willow, pussy willow. The same thrill i get from saying cockfoster, cockfoster. haha.

Ian says there is a lot of art about. I agree, there seem to be no lack of people wanting to create things with no function other than to look 'nice'. Ian says where do they put it all. I said, there are a lot of bare looking walls to fill up. haha.

I saw the streetmarket was selling 2 big heads of cauliflower for £1. That is good value, and i bought them, sharing it with ian. You have to be careful to pick those that are still fresh. There must be a glut of cauliflowers because as we walk further along, we saw more stalls selling cauliflowers. Though one stall had the nerve to sell some really sad looking cauliflowers for that price. Who are they kidding??? \Maybe ian, because he told me he has no idea how to tell if they are fresh or not. I said it is obvious, just look at the florets, if they are tightly bunched together, or not. and feel them, if they are firm or not. last time i was there, i did not find any bargains. So it looks like what you find depands on pot luck. ( I am beginning to sound like my mother. haha.)

It's been some time since i had cauliflowers so it was rather nice to get them. One head of this cauliflower will make 3 meals. It just goes to show how big it was. Last night i had just stir fried cauliflower in a sweet sour sauce with rice. (it sounds difficult and exotic to make doesn't it, but it is really very simple, just add vinegar and suger.haha.i did not add tomato ketchup because i dont have any, but u can to give it that red colour. ) amazing how filling it is.

I walked back via Hyde park, it was raining, but i was dry under my umbrella so it was rather pleasant. The park was misty from the rain, and gave a very strange atmosphere. It felt like I was the only person there. though later on nearer the knightbridge end, i came across a lot of joggers. Strange people, joggers, running in the rain like that.

tea cakes

london

Bought these from sainsbury for 20p for a pack of 6, and this morning, microwaved 2 and am having them for breakfast.

Rather nice, better than some of the so called fresh baked hot cross buns u get in the bakery. Perfect washed down with freshly brewed tea in a pot.

curry beef slo cooked.

That table on which the plate is on,i found yesterday night next to the recycling bins. Very overexposed pictures making everything look pale.

london

This beef has been cooking in the slo cooker from 6am to 12pm. and it is done.

Added 17.4.09

I had it for lunch and dinner, and it was delicious. Especially the dinner, because there were bits of meat there with some fat in it and it tastes so much better with fat. I find if the meat is too lean it is not as tasty. In these days of health consciousness, no one has stated the obvious, that fat makes things delicious. You need it. Better to eat less and exercise so that you can have the fat in your diet without getting fat.

I have filled 3 individual portions into containers. Plus the one i had for lunch, altogether this beef will have provided 4meals. Rather good value for money i think for £2.I have freezed the remaining 2 containers for the future.

I find I like one course meals, everything on one plate. I have been brought up in the chinese traditional way, we never have starter, nor dessert as such. It is a western concept , a 3course meal of starter, main meal, and sweet dessert, and more a restaurant device to get people to spend money.

Nowadays, even chinese restaurants are taking up this trend of providing starters. They make more money that way not to mention they can reduce the portions in their main meal. Seems like everyone in the catering trade wins, maybe even the customer, because they can be fussed about and made to feel they have 3courses instead of just one with everything coming at once. If u brainwash them they might even say they like it as so many have been.

I have western friends saying to me they dont like the free for all that a chinese meal can become. And having to eat fast.

whereas the western way with allotted portions leads to some people getting too much and leaving it uneaten, whilst others getting not enough and hungrily eyeing the wasted food on another's plate. hehe. Whether u like this or not will depand on how u view life.

If u think people must get fair and equal portions, rather than given what they can use, then u will like the western way. There is a bit of dog in the manger attitude here, like saying well, even if i cannot eat it all, i still dont want u to have it , u greedy thing...

whilst the other way, where u help urself, is a more generous attitude, like saying go ahead eat and be full, because i m a generous host, and the onus is on me to provide lots of food so none of my guests go away hungry. The only person to lose out is the host. Or if the meal is shared, than those who dont eat so much for they still have to pay an equal share. But if u think we take what we can handle, and no more, than u will let others do so too, and not mind if they take more. You hope each person will exercise restrain and not take more than he needs.And everyone will know u have taken more than u can eat if u leave food uneaten on ur plate. People round the table will really look askance at u if u have not finished the food on ur plate and start to take more food from the dishes on the table. As a subtle exercise in sharing, a chinese meal with ur family and friends, is a great way of showing people how it is done. If u grab everything, u leave nothing for others, so u take only what u can finish, and adjust ur speed. That is why there is so much of offering and urging others to eat first and helping others fillling of their plate first before your own in a traditional chinese meal. If the elders do that, it is a subtle lesson for the kids.

You take a small portion, first, then u wait till others have taken their portion, than if there is any left u go back for another portion, if u r still hungry, and so on till the food is gone or u r full. The westerner way is to take a huge portion right from the start, because going back for more is looked at as being greedy. So they take a lot and then find they cannot finish and leave food behind. To us chinese, it is a terrible waste, and very unsocial, taking so much and not finishing it.

This is the way i see it, i wonder whether there are others who disagree. i would like to hear why and see if they can give an alternative viewpoint.

how technology can make choices for us.long island,poole

london
This is not new. We have always have people or society skewing our viewpoint, religion being the most prominent and the oldest. And i dont mean the relatively new religions of christianity, islam, but the older ones like pantheism,(of which the greek and roman gods/goddesses feature, druidism...
But add to that we have google. haha.
As this article showed, it decided to change the search engine to remove gays from search engines, to make them more family friendly.
At one stroke, it removed gay literature from its ratings, and so no one can find them unless they specifically search by title or author.
I think this is inevitable, and just like religion, we all have to make sure we question and seek without accepting what is most easily available. On the other hand, many will like being told what to read, or to believe and have full fledged religions given to them as a package. Like a package holiday as opposed to a do-it-urself holiday.
I like do-it-yourself holidays, so maybe the idea of a do-it- myself philosophy appeals more than ready-made religious teachings.
When I first read the article, my first thought was to be concerned that we have technology influencing what we read, but really, it does not matter. haha. It matters to the authors because they cannot sell their books, but to the rest of us? not much.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8000401.stm

Now for something totally unrelated.There is another item about ramblers right to roam on Long island, in poole harbour. It was put up for sale more than a year ago by the family who owned it but so far no buyers, and not likely to have one unless ramblers right of way is resolved.
A rambler has now applied for it to be recognised for right of way. He has to produce evidence that a certain number of people have been using it regularly over 20years. It is crossed only with a flat bottomed boat. It will make it more difficult to sell if the ramblers right is recognised.
people can camp there.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567388/On-sale-1m-island-haven-in-Poole-harbour.html

culture, and more supermarket bargains

silverside beef for roasting,1.2kg

london

Wednesday is the civilisation tv film, at the national gallery. But also there is a japanese film festival, sponsored by a japanese charity for old japanese people living in uk, also held at the same venue. In between, I went to have my haircut at the £5 barbers, in soho. When I arrived I saw 3people waiting, but two were not there for haircuts, but were waiting for their friend. And i got the boss, as well. there were 3 cutters. Afterwards, there was so much hair plastered by sweat to my forehead that he could not brush it off. So he gave me permission to go to the back room and wash it off. Which I was delighted for it got rid of all the bits of hair, which can be really uncomfortable, especially as I was going to attend the japanese festival talk and film afterwards.

The talk was about the influence of japanese prints on the western painters. And the film was about hokusai.

Today's film was free, but tomorrow and the next day of the festival, the films are mainstream films and costs £5 to see.

I have seen bits and pieces of hokusai's work before but never realise he had many styles and names, changing his style everytime he changed his name. though how they know it is him, and not an entirely different man... Afterall, all they have as evidence is many prints and art work by many different names. What make them link all these names to this chap called hokusai? Sounds like a way to make money from those other names, by linking it to and saying it is by hokusai, simply because the name hokusai is famous in the West. Maybe i should not be so cynical.haha.

Ah well, it does not matter really. The art is all very nice to look at.

Tonight I was delayed going to the supermarkets, and so arrived at 9.20pm. I got the last remaining chicken sausages at tescos. First time i see sausages made out of chicken. They were 50p, so i thought i shall buy them and bring them to David's near brighton when i visit him next week.

added 26.4.09 David and I had the chicken sausages, together with beef sausages, and I for one could not tell the diffference. They looked the same. the chicken sausages have lots of herbs in them, so the herbs masked any meat taste. The beef sausages does not taste of anything. I think generally even at 40p for 8sausages is not as good value as 500mg minced pork or beef which i can get reduced at my supermarket for 40p-60p. I wish there is an easy way for me to make my own, because it is nice to eat sausages. Even at 70% meat with the rest as fillers (mainly bread crumbs to soak up the fat) 500mg of mince can make a huge amount of sausages. I will keep a look out for a sausage making appliance.

Anyway, i was at the sainsbury afterwards, and saw the reduced section was empty of bargains, and thought i have missed out. I happen to go back to the counter later and saw lo and behold, a shop assistant coming towards me bringing a whole trolley load of reduced foods, and i saw a mince at the bottom. Suddenly a whole load of men came crowding round the trolley all clamouring away, one of them jokingly mimic grasping hands pretending to grab at the goods, and jovially saying, 'can get a heart attack from this.' I happen to be in front,and instead of waiting for the guy to take out the goods and put them on the counter, everyone was piling in and helping themselves, so i did, and got a mince beef 11.5% for 49p, and a 1.2kg beef roast silverside for £1.99. I was craving some beef and thought of making some curry beef out of it rather than roasting it. It takes ages to roast, uses up a lot of electricity, and after all that comes out very dry and tough. whereas boiling it in a curry is really very quick. Especially the way i do it, whcih is to dice it up, and bring it to the boil, and then switch it off and let it cook as it cools.

Amazing how easily it cooks and the meat is so tender whilst still being rather chewy, and full of flavour.

That is a tip to u people out there.

added. I had cooked the roast beef as a curry. They have put slabs of fat round the roast, and tied it up with string. it is supposed to provide the fat to roast. The meat itself is very lean and that may explain why the roast can sometimes comes out very dry. u need some fat in between,for meat to taste nice... what I call a marbling effect. I think stewing beef is ideal for it. no idea what part of the cow this silverside is from but it must be an expensive cut if they can charge £8.99 per kg.I would never buy it at the normal price of £11.62 though.

I think an ordinary english cook will think it rather sacrilegious of me to cut up a perfectly well tied roast. After all people pay that premium price just so they can roast it. if they had wanted to stew it, they could have bought cheaper cuts. But I can do this because i have got it at a cheap price.haha. I think there is another cut of beef, that has fat inbetween the meat rather than this one with suet added on the outside; that is better for roasting.Anyone knows what that beef is called?

Added. Guess what, i googled silverside beef ,and found this.It is really brisket. So that is what it is,haha. I have been saying there is no brisket of beef anymore, but now i see it is masquerading as silverside.I think this joint's normal price is very expensive for brisket. Just by calling it silverside, they can bung the price up, or is there different quality of brisket? These different names for the cuts of beef are all a mystery to me. If I have known it was brisket, i would have cooked it in a slow cooker. maybe i may still have to do it in a slow cooker as my method of cooking may not cook this.We shall see tomorrow.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070914053911AASCmuE

Added 6am 16.4.09

:Woke early and tested the beef. It is tough still, so I tipped the whole thing into my slow cooker and it is now on. I shall leave it to cook for the whole day and see how long it takes to cook it. Hope it will be done in time for dinner tonight.

a quiet life

london
I was looking back on my posts and saw that I have been writing about buying bargain foods in supermarkets. It is easy for casual readers to get the impression that it is a sad, poor life, haha. It is not, I am glad that i go bargain hunting in supermarkets out of fun, rather than need. I do like buying things at much reduced costs. And getting useful things that i like for free in recycling bins. Who would not like that, right?
It is true that not much excitement happens in my life. I dont count sex of course.that always gets the heart going. I was thinking of my life outside the sexual field.
(In fact, I read the archbishop of canterbury says people should stop consuming and cut down on their sexual appetite because of these stricken times. I would have thought with money down, people should take up more sex. haha. It will take their minds off this economic gloom and have fun instead.)
Then, just now, I heard on the radio news that Phil Spector was found guilty, and his lawyer saying he will appeal because it was unprecedented to allow some witnesses to give evidence... his ex girlfriends, and his chauffeur, who said Phil was drunk that night and reported phil at having said he thinks he killed someone. hmm if the jury convicted on that evidence ,it is very flimsy. Hearsay on a speculation statement, not even a confession.
But the jury verdict was unanimous, with the head juror saying they heard all the evidence, it was a painful decision she said. Interesting that they chose to convict on murder instead of manslaughter.
I have not followed the case, and do not know what is this 'wall of sound' work of phil spector, but i m glad i m not him.
Right now, the radio is playing a selection of his work. I am surprised to hear they are very familiar songs, never knew he was involved in them. Maybe he is a producer, not the songster.
This was the 2nd trial, the first in 2007 was abandoned. He met the actress in a nightclub, took her home, and she was found dead the next day. Very strange things the soul gets up to.
Well, thankgoodness for my quiet life.
Added. this link below gives a comprehensive account about the events that led up to the trial, that is if u r bothered to want to know more.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6087828.ece

nice sausages

There were actually 8 sausages but I ate 4 and they tasted so delicious that I decided to take a photo of the rest to show how there is so little fat.one thing after seeing the picture, dont take pictures under neon light. those sausages look terrible in the photo,but they look better in real life. just goes to show pics are not always truthful.

london

My faith in sausages have been restored and all by accident.

I bought some reduced price sausages from sainsbury the other day. They were 50p. and consist of 72% pork.

Today I cooked them. Usually i cook sausages without oil, in my teflon frying pan, and normally it will leak fat so much so the sausages will be swimming in it. But this time, there was not much fat at all. I was amazed and when i ate them, they were delicious. I fished the label out of my dustbin, to see what brand they were. They are called london banger. and on the package was a label stating British sausage week winners 08. never heard of them, but certainly, I shall keep an eye out for them again but only buy them if they are reduced. haha. They cost £2.29 originally.

generally sausages are just really cheap cuts of pork mixed with rusks.(wheat flour, salt, raising agent, stabilisers, herbs, ascorbic acid and even flavour enhancer or monosodium gluatamate.) No wonder it tastes so good.haha.But at 50p it is worthwhile. Once in a while it can be enjoyable.

I dont often buy them unless reduced to 50p for a pack of 8. They weigh 454gm.

It is much better to buy the same amount of fresh pork mince for 60p. (which u can get when they are reduced price).you can get more meals out of it, and it is healthier, being only pork, and nothing else.

But it is amazing how salt and sodium glutamate can make things so delicious. It is terrible in a way, that our tastes buds can be so fooled. What price those critics judgeing food by their taste? The cynic might say just add sodium glutamate, salt and fat and u will have them all saying 'delicious'.

I bet if u dont add salt, they will all say, 'tasteless'.

modern vs traditional

london
this post is prompted by prince charles criticism of the plans for Chelsea barracks. The plan for glass and steel tower blocks with large open spaces between them may sound very 60s, but these are luxury blocks and their insides will be light and spacious with nicely proportioned rooms, and well appointed numbers of bathrooms.
Prince charles objects to it. Of course he would. its like asking is the pope catholic?
Prince charles wants the traditional heavy solid stone facades with classic columns. He would,because he is a rich man who has lived in spacious palaces all his life and have no idea of what these buildings built for the common people are really like inside. All he sees is the nice facades. he dont have to live in them.In my experience, these buildings will have very small poky oddly shaped rooms to conform to the outside symmetry, whilst the public rooms will be impossibly huge and ornate and too grotesquely out of proportion for comfortable living. In the old days, they build these public rooms to impress at the expense of their private quarters and servant rooms which are invariably very small and poky because there is no one to see it and so no need to impress. That style of living is obviously out of date now.
those who want new build to ape traditional styles are those who dont have to live in them.haha.
I know because i live in a victorian estate which illustrates it very well. My flat is nicely proportioned because it is in the middle of the block. The corner flats have really funny shaped rooms, or small, or have too many windows because the outside symmetry must not be compromised. Those flats are really awkward to live in. They have some really too large rooms as living rooms, and a third bedroom that looks like a closet which have windows on two walls because it lies in a corner and the window arrangements must look harmonious from the outside. It has a long narrow kitchen. The insides are totally subservient to the demands for symmetry outside.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5140723/Im-backing-Prince-Charles-in-the-joust-for-Chelsea-Barracks.html?state=target#postacomment&postingId=5143682

at the supermarket tonight

london
I suspected there will be some bargains tonight because it is the night before easter sunday.
Well, little did I know that tomorrow the sainsbury will be closed. So they were reducing the loaves to 20p. Strangely not the bread which is only reduced to 49p. There were lots of 800mg loaves, so I was a bit puzzled why they did not reduce it further to say 25p (I would buy them for that price otherwise no) and get rid of them. Instead they sliced them up and resealed them. maybe they give it to some charity.(or more likely they slap a new sell by date to it, and take it to the few branches that opens on easter sunday; paddington sainsbury is open on easter sunday, and flog it off. No baker will be working on easter sunday to bake fresh bread anyway).
I saw some of the eastern european women and men searching the oranges, talking excitedly amongst themselves, and found out why. They were bringing those that expire today to the attendant for him to stick a 20p price on it. One lady got a big haul. And it was another lady who tried to get the strawberries costing £1 reduced to 20p, that the supervisor spotted it and stopped the staff worker from doing it saying it does not apply to people taking it to him to reduce. Its a pity he stopped it, because surely those goods not sold by their sell by date will have to be thrown away.
I could not help admiring these eastern europeans... they are so savvy.
I was too slow to get the oranges but i saw a lady taking the organic potatoes to have it reduced and got one done for myself. By then the supervisor had vetoed any more, but the attendant was kind enough to do a final one for me. I can certainly learn a thing or two from these eastern europeans. Such resourceful people.haha.
i am surprised that the supermarket is closing tomorrow. Times must be hard if they are opting to close.
There was a free for all at the bread section, where they were reducing a lot of the packaged bake goods. One chap ask if the store is open tomorrow, and that was when i found out that they are not open tomorrow.I bought two of the sainsbury own brand so called tea cakes , really not cakes but raisin buns, for 20p (for a pack of 6) because i had bought some before and they were quite delicious. Well worth buying if it is 20p a pack to freeze.They cost 75p usually.
It is tempting to buy the other things like doughnuts and stuff, but even at 20p they are not really worth it. At least in my opinion. I was tempted to buy two packs , one of 4 choc coated doughnuts, the other of 3 raisin icing buns. but really I have tasted one and it was not worth it. remind me not to bother next time.haha.
Life can be quite fun doing these bargain hunts.

suckers for charity(or not depanding on how u look at it)

london
I was chatting to my friend who volunteers to man the shop of a charity. He told me he likes doing it on sunday, as he dont have much to do on sunday anyway. Then he told me there is a manager who is specially paid to come in and do the books on sunday. My friend said he always gets a volunteer to man the till, and goes downstairs. my friend suspects he reads the papers there.
I said, 'do u feel exploited?' My friend said he likes to do it. He even said 'the money goes to pay their staff at head office'
I said ' that has been suspected, whereby a huge percentage of money given to the charity is paid out in staff wages and office costs'.
Yet, people continue to volunteer. My friend has been in there helping every sunday. He prefers to helping that charity rather than foodchain. Whereas I prefer foodchain to helping out in a charity shop. Just goes to show how our temperament determines who we help.
I am sure volunteers must gain something from it, not monetary or in kind, for the charity do not even give lunch to my friend, and he said the manager will even expect them to work without a lunch break. Maybe my friend never ask so never got. has he been working throughout without a break? Anyway, when he saw the manager having his lunch break, he decided to take a half hour off too.
I cannot help thinking my friend has got the wrong end of the stick. instead of resenting the manager for not doing his bit on the till and shop floor,he should only offer to help when it is convenient for him to do so, and say no when it is not.
No one will think the worst of him, but somehow tied in with all this altruistic work, there is some complex psychological issues here.
Maybe I misunderstood him and my interpretation that he resents the manager is a false one. It may be he is just stating a fact when he told me about the manager.
I think most volunteers have this conflicting issue with what they think is their praiseworth altruism, and being exploited. Am I right, or is it another misinterpretation of mine? I know i wonder about it sometimes... wondering if the charity is taking advantage of the volunteers goodwill. But I tend to give all charities the benefit of the doubt, and take it all at face value. that charities appreciate and honour the work of their volunteers.
What I would suggest is do like i do. Find out what u can get out of that charity, and it can be anything from purely the feel good factor, or wanting to help that charity because u think it is a good cause, or that once upon a time, that charity had helped u and u want to return the favour, to getting some monetary gain out of it, or some gain in goods or services, or do it because u have nothing better to do, or it gets u out of the house and saves u putting the heater on. haha. And do it without caring where the money goes to, who gets it, who does not get it, whether it is really helping the needy. do it for urself, and stop if ur desires changes, or u got fed up with it. haha. And dont feel guilty or proud about it. Your helping a charity does not need praise nor blame.

simon came back yesterday

london

What a surprise. It was about 8pm last night when I heard the front door open and there he was. Back from Phuket. I am so happy to see him back.

I thought he was going to come back on monday, and this is friday. i remember when monday came and went and no sign of him wondering whether something happen to him. But I realise there is no point panicking about it, and worry myself sick.so I did not.I just asked my soul to bring him back safely.
I told him 'just as well I am not the worrying kind, because I thought you are supposed to come back on monday'.

'What day is it today?' he said

'Friday, Good friday'.

'Well, it seems i m away for 17days then.'

I asked him if it was a good holiday.

He said yes.

Then, he sat beside me and said.

'You know, something happened on the way to the airport. I took my passport and ID out of my bag(it was a small hand luggage bag) and slung it over my shoulder. It was later I noticed I forgot to zip the bag up, and I found all my Bahts, about £900 worth, gone'.
The envelope containing it must have flown out when he slung thebag over his shoulder.
I said, 'it must have been a big bundle of notes'.
No he said, 'it was in 1000baht notes'.
He retraced his steps hoping to find it, but nothing.
Whoever found it must have thought it was his lucky day.haha.


He debated with himself whether to return home, and forget about the holiday, or go on. and decided to go on.

arrived heathrow with 45mins to spare, and at first they refused him entry, but he told them he had a bad journey, lost all his holiday money, and just want to get on. So they allowed him in, and he ran to the departure lounge and found they were still queueing to board.
When he got to phuket, he withdrew £400, all that was left in his account, and used that for the rest of the 17day holiday. He was so frugal, that he had 5000bahts left over.
He still manage to get boys, though he said he offered a woman he met on the beach a place to stay at his hotel room. which he rented for 500bahts a night. She was sleeping on the beach, whilst waiting for her foreigner boyfriend to come.
What a strange story, I thought. she had money, but prefers not to waste it on a room, but to share a room with a guy and pay in kind. haha. I think simon just wanted to help her, thinking he have a room and why not. he said one disadvantage of sharing a room with her, was that she have to have the tv on all the time. Simon says thai people are like that.
he had told her she will have to go out, if he brings a boy back.
After the first night, she asked why he did not jump on her. So he did, and he said when she realise he is not expecting her to put out, she relaxed and their relationship became more natural.
(I would get a boy to share my room instead of a woman, but than i m exclusively gay. Even then, It would have to be an unusual boy to entice me to give him carte blanche to the room. But I was thinking it would be a nice way of solving that problem of getting sex regularly with a boy when one dont have enough money, or dont want to spend money on buying rent boys. haha. Offer one free lodging for sex. Worth thinking about, dont u think? When u consider more chances of two pulling u may get more chances of group sex too.)
It was a strange holiday for simon, he thought he had enough money to go do all those things,go to clubs, live it up, like going scuba dive, etc, but when he lost his money, in the end he spent all his time on the beach reading a book. Though it still did not stop him from enjoying the boys.haha.
he would sleep early and wake up at 4am and go to the beach to pick guys up, and stay up till it gets hot at 10am, go back to sleep, wake up in the afternoon.
he said it rained practically every afternoon, between 2pm-4pm.
On the last day, a lady boy he was sleeping with gave him a pill saying to take it and he will be able to sleep. he took it, and slept right through from 8pm to 6am and even though he had booked the taxi man who he knows to wake him up, the guy did not. They made it to the phuket airport only 15mins to spare, but he was put on a fasttrack, and managed to catch the plane.
he would be really fucked if he missed it, seeing he had no money to buy another ticket.
hearing all that, I cannot help laughing. His soul wants it and gave him a fantastic holiday. I am glad after all that adventuring, all turned out well for he returned safe and sound.
Nothing else matters, really. What an adventure he had!!
(written beforehand and posted on a scheduled post)