london
I have been catching up on my reading around this time. I have been making no plans for this period, preferring to stay at home by myself. And have borrowed a lot of books from the library. This was not planned. It just happens that i saw books in the library that i want to read and it turned out rather well in the end,(maybe my soul wants it) because now i have lots of books to tie me over this period when the library is shut for so long.
So i have been reading the discworld series of books by terry pratchatt. i like his witches series and only discovered them now. In the past i have read bits and pieces of his books but did not see the connections.
It is typical of life in that we dont understand things we see until we are ready for it. i look back on some of the things that puzzled me in my life and only now see the full picture. Thus, they are like the books by terry pratchatt. I missed the jokes and only later when i have lived life a bit that i can see it.
its the same with things that i see in the recycling bins. some of the things i did not realise what they are until now and have lost the chance to pick them up. haha.
It does not matter whether i did pick them up or not. I say this because I dont use them all that much. It makes me realise that there are very few things we need.
What i noticed is that the things i pick become useful to friends when they come and visit me. Sometimes many days, weeks, months later.
Or i realise how i can use them, sometimes many months later.
I also have found another author rick riordan, who i like. he writes about greek and roman mythology and used it to create modern day children who are the reincarnation of the olden day heroes who are the children of the greek/roman gods. It is a very clever concept, because all these children have been abandoned by the gods, (the gods come across as feckless fathers who run away after fathering the children on mortal mothers.) and so he can play on the fears of all children nowadays about being abandoned by their parents.
as usual all the stories involves running around being chased by demons intent on killing the children who are on quests to find something or other. It's all very silly, but fun to read.
rick is like a modern homer, who wrote the iliad, which is very much like these present day stories. Added. Or rather, his stories are like the stories told in the iliad.
I like reading rather than seeing movies. I get disatisfied with the producers' version on the screen, and prefer my own imagine scenarios.
Thus, i dont like the movie versions of the harry potter books, or the alice in wonderland books. or come to think of it any movie version of books. There may be one or two exceptions when the movie is better than the book, but i cannot think of a example now.
Added 12.11.11 I was browsing my blog and came across this post where i said the film and book of 'breakfast at Tiffany's' are equally good. so u have one example where the film is just as good as the book.
Tuesday, 28 December 2010
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
awareness
london
i have noticed it takes time to be aware of things.
Take for eg learning how to keep warm. You would think that is inherent and everyone knows. But that is not so. Some people are better at keeping warm than others.
Central heating has made us all forgot how to keep warm.
we see people like the eskimos wearing hoodies made of fur, and it does not sink in that that is a good way of keeping warm. \Or if it does sink in, we concentrate on the fur bit, dismiss it out of hand because of our prejudice against fur, and not get the general principle.
Wearing fleece is just as good instead of fur, as fur is expensive, difficult to keep clean, expensive to dry clean, and also involves killing an animal. it is allright if u r killing it for food, and if the skin is a byproduct as the eskimos do.
i myself never know how good fleece can be in keeping warm, nor that there are different types of fleece, if i had not found a fleece hoodie in the recycling bins and so been able to find out for myself.
many people will never find that out, and my telling them of it wont make them go out and buy fleece hoodies. That is not the way the human mind works. No one observes another and notice what they are doing that makes them cope with the cold better than others, or how they live their lives that makes them happy, or what they do that is making life hell for them. We all want to find out for ourselves.
We dont observe and act accordingly. Because we all think our situation is unique and no other can be exactly like us and so their solutions wont work for us.
I am saying all this not to criticise and act holier than thou. This is because i think back to when i first came to uk and was just as clueless about keeping warm. And never thought to look at local people and see what they wear. in those days there was no fleece, just wool and it can be really rough and itchy.
I remember i was always very cold.
And it is difficult to teach others how to do it... u may tell them but they will do the opposite, or they ignore your advise, or do something else to make things worse by taking one aspect of your advise and not the whole thing. The thing is u have to accept that now and then u will get over hot, and have to loosen scarf or hat, to vent out the hot air and cool down a bit. And then u will get too cold and have to wrap up again. it is a constant state of adjusting, which some might find irksome.
The reason why i am getting hot and cold is because my fleece hoodie skirt which i found had been washed and is drying out. And I am wearing a woolly hat and scarf now and another fleece sweater without a hood. Actually i have another fleece hoodie but thought i shall experiment with a scarf and hat. The difference in comfort and warmth is huge.
A fleece hoodie is definitely the only thing to wear.
If you dont have to pay the heating bills there is no incentive to keep warm with clothing.
That is why it is difficult if u live with others or cannot assert a strong authority on the thermostat controls. If you have guests u dont want to impose the same conditions on them either. I guess the only way is to warn your guests first that it will be cold, and let them decide to stay or not. Not many of us are strong minded enough to do that i think.
People are like that i have found that is why i dont bother to say anything to them when i see them doing things that make their lives worst.
I figured their souls wants it and they need to find it out the hard way.
I know, this does not come across as being caring... but too often i have seen well meaning advise taken badly, or even been misinterpreted and made things worst, and then the person blames you for it.
Do gooders may well make things worst.
We dont hear of people who are happy with their lot, and living it now. For all of you people out there who are happy with your lives, greetings and welcome to the club.
I think there are a lot of us about, but we dont really say anything about it, partly because we realise that others soon get fed up of us saying so. haha.
We quietly do our own thing, feel very satisfied with our lives, and ignore all the bad news about... i would say to myself their souls wants it, but maybe u might say it is god's will, or be stoic about it, or say that is their fate, their destiny, their karma.
i have noticed it takes time to be aware of things.
Take for eg learning how to keep warm. You would think that is inherent and everyone knows. But that is not so. Some people are better at keeping warm than others.
Central heating has made us all forgot how to keep warm.
we see people like the eskimos wearing hoodies made of fur, and it does not sink in that that is a good way of keeping warm. \Or if it does sink in, we concentrate on the fur bit, dismiss it out of hand because of our prejudice against fur, and not get the general principle.
Wearing fleece is just as good instead of fur, as fur is expensive, difficult to keep clean, expensive to dry clean, and also involves killing an animal. it is allright if u r killing it for food, and if the skin is a byproduct as the eskimos do.
i myself never know how good fleece can be in keeping warm, nor that there are different types of fleece, if i had not found a fleece hoodie in the recycling bins and so been able to find out for myself.
many people will never find that out, and my telling them of it wont make them go out and buy fleece hoodies. That is not the way the human mind works. No one observes another and notice what they are doing that makes them cope with the cold better than others, or how they live their lives that makes them happy, or what they do that is making life hell for them. We all want to find out for ourselves.
We dont observe and act accordingly. Because we all think our situation is unique and no other can be exactly like us and so their solutions wont work for us.
I am saying all this not to criticise and act holier than thou. This is because i think back to when i first came to uk and was just as clueless about keeping warm. And never thought to look at local people and see what they wear. in those days there was no fleece, just wool and it can be really rough and itchy.
I remember i was always very cold.
And it is only now after so many years living in london that i finally know how to keep warm. Some people never find that out at all, and continue to think that they must have central heating.
And it is difficult to teach others how to do it... u may tell them but they will do the opposite, or they ignore your advise, or do something else to make things worse by taking one aspect of your advise and not the whole thing. The thing is u have to accept that now and then u will get over hot, and have to loosen scarf or hat, to vent out the hot air and cool down a bit. And then u will get too cold and have to wrap up again. it is a constant state of adjusting, which some might find irksome.
The reason why i am getting hot and cold is because my fleece hoodie skirt which i found had been washed and is drying out. And I am wearing a woolly hat and scarf now and another fleece sweater without a hood. Actually i have another fleece hoodie but thought i shall experiment with a scarf and hat. The difference in comfort and warmth is huge.
A fleece hoodie is definitely the only thing to wear.
If you dont have to pay the heating bills there is no incentive to keep warm with clothing.
That is why it is difficult if u live with others or cannot assert a strong authority on the thermostat controls. If you have guests u dont want to impose the same conditions on them either. I guess the only way is to warn your guests first that it will be cold, and let them decide to stay or not. Not many of us are strong minded enough to do that i think.
People are like that i have found that is why i dont bother to say anything to them when i see them doing things that make their lives worst.
I figured their souls wants it and they need to find it out the hard way.
I know, this does not come across as being caring... but too often i have seen well meaning advise taken badly, or even been misinterpreted and made things worst, and then the person blames you for it.
Do gooders may well make things worst.
We dont hear of people who are happy with their lot, and living it now. For all of you people out there who are happy with your lives, greetings and welcome to the club.
I think there are a lot of us about, but we dont really say anything about it, partly because we realise that others soon get fed up of us saying so. haha.
We quietly do our own thing, feel very satisfied with our lives, and ignore all the bad news about... i would say to myself their souls wants it, but maybe u might say it is god's will, or be stoic about it, or say that is their fate, their destiny, their karma.
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
my laptop clock has gone back to dec 2001
london
I say has anyone's laptop gone back to dec 2001? Mine has. i got online just now and noticed it saying 00.04 even though my ordinary bedside clock says 7.10am.
Do you think that millenium chaos that was predicted for 2000 has occurred now? not on new year 1jan, but on 21dec? we are going into 2011. Wasn't it some had said this is the actual time we enter the 21st century?
or is it a virus or trojan that resets my clock ?
People who rely on their mobile to wake them up might be late for work today.
anyway it was an easy thing to adjust the clock in my laptop. but imagine this happening all over the workplace today. trains, buses, planes timetables will all be affected too.
But perhaps it is only my laptop.
I say has anyone's laptop gone back to dec 2001? Mine has. i got online just now and noticed it saying 00.04 even though my ordinary bedside clock says 7.10am.
Do you think that millenium chaos that was predicted for 2000 has occurred now? not on new year 1jan, but on 21dec? we are going into 2011. Wasn't it some had said this is the actual time we enter the 21st century?
or is it a virus or trojan that resets my clock ?
People who rely on their mobile to wake them up might be late for work today.
anyway it was an easy thing to adjust the clock in my laptop. but imagine this happening all over the workplace today. trains, buses, planes timetables will all be affected too.
But perhaps it is only my laptop.
Monday, 20 December 2010
free offers
london
There was a free voucher offer of seriously biscuits at waitrose in sunday's daily telegraph. But when i got to the waitrose today, the lady who i asked for directions to where the biscuits are kept told me they dont stock it, and ask me to make up a selection up to a total of £1.80 , the value of the biscuits in the offer.
This is surprising, because they usually never allow it, but i am glad she did. I much prefer my choice of waitrose own brand ginger biscuits and tea biscuits. Usually i buy sainsbury's basic brand, but i have just now eaten the rich tea biscuit, and it is way better than sainsburys. and so it should because it is 25p for the sainsburys vs 77p for waitrose.
This lot should last me a long time, because i dont eat a lot of them, just now and then when i fancy some. they go very well with hot tea and when you fancy something to nibble.
I think it says a lot about what kind of a person you are, what your choice is if it is free. i know others will go for the most exotic biscuits up to that price, instead of ordinary tea and ginger biscuits like i did. I dont know what it says about me or anyone who chose ordinary biscuits. what would u have chosen?
I think that is one of the many reasons why i like living in the city as opposed to the country.
I have a friend who lives in a village near brighton, and there are no waitrose shops there. the nearest is in brighton. so even though he buys the telegraph he wont be able to take adantage of these offers.
last time there was a free offer from waitrose in the telegraph was a voucher for duchy mince pies.They are v nice as simon will vouch for as he scoffed most of it. haha. he warms them up slightly in the microwave which makes it really much more delicious than eaten cold.
I know these are not make or break offers but it is still nice to be able to get them without too much difficulty.
yesterday, i saw a load of newspapers strewn on the street as i was walking to the gym. Then, i noticed a huge pile of them in the middle of the road. I went to collect them, as i want to tidy the place up, and i know if left alone, the traffic will spread these papers all over the place and make a right mess.
It turned out to be the sunday mirror with their 2wk tv guide. Some delivery truck must have dropped it. So that is why some sundays my gym dont have copies of the daily paper. my gym stocks the daily mail, and we thought someone had stolen the papers when they were placed outside the entrance since the place dont open till 10am on weekends... but it may be from what i see of those dropped newspapers that the delivery van may have dropped them.
I collected them and put them in the bin.
i wished i retrieved some of the papers to put in the gym for me and others to read because that day, there were no copies of the mail on sunday to read. But the mirror is a boring newspaper.
The weekend that has just passed was a bumper weekend for the tv guides. All the newspapers have a 2wk tv schedule. so much to choose from haha.
I think there is no need to buy tv guides at all as these free guides are available for the taking.
and you can get them online too.
All of us staying at home must be feeling very self satisfied when we read of stranded travellers. Last night heathrow was closed. it is the first time that i know of where it has been closed when there was no snow storm ... just heavy snow clogging the runway. i think whoever used to be in charge of clearing the runway has been sacked or resigned, and no one left who is as experienced has taken his place. it is only when the guy who has kept it running all these years has gone that everyone misses him. of course the owners will say that is nonsense, no one is indispensable, but i have known of many cases where some one who is very experienced has gone and chaos came... and everyone suspects he has been preventing trouble all these years and no one realise it, till he is gone. too late then haha.
i think that is what is happening now ever since the spanish company Ferrovial bought BAA which owns heathrow.
There was a free voucher offer of seriously biscuits at waitrose in sunday's daily telegraph. But when i got to the waitrose today, the lady who i asked for directions to where the biscuits are kept told me they dont stock it, and ask me to make up a selection up to a total of £1.80 , the value of the biscuits in the offer.
This is surprising, because they usually never allow it, but i am glad she did. I much prefer my choice of waitrose own brand ginger biscuits and tea biscuits. Usually i buy sainsbury's basic brand, but i have just now eaten the rich tea biscuit, and it is way better than sainsburys. and so it should because it is 25p for the sainsburys vs 77p for waitrose.
This lot should last me a long time, because i dont eat a lot of them, just now and then when i fancy some. they go very well with hot tea and when you fancy something to nibble.
I think it says a lot about what kind of a person you are, what your choice is if it is free. i know others will go for the most exotic biscuits up to that price, instead of ordinary tea and ginger biscuits like i did. I dont know what it says about me or anyone who chose ordinary biscuits. what would u have chosen?
I think that is one of the many reasons why i like living in the city as opposed to the country.
I have a friend who lives in a village near brighton, and there are no waitrose shops there. the nearest is in brighton. so even though he buys the telegraph he wont be able to take adantage of these offers.
last time there was a free offer from waitrose in the telegraph was a voucher for duchy mince pies.They are v nice as simon will vouch for as he scoffed most of it. haha. he warms them up slightly in the microwave which makes it really much more delicious than eaten cold.
I know these are not make or break offers but it is still nice to be able to get them without too much difficulty.
yesterday, i saw a load of newspapers strewn on the street as i was walking to the gym. Then, i noticed a huge pile of them in the middle of the road. I went to collect them, as i want to tidy the place up, and i know if left alone, the traffic will spread these papers all over the place and make a right mess.
It turned out to be the sunday mirror with their 2wk tv guide. Some delivery truck must have dropped it. So that is why some sundays my gym dont have copies of the daily paper. my gym stocks the daily mail, and we thought someone had stolen the papers when they were placed outside the entrance since the place dont open till 10am on weekends... but it may be from what i see of those dropped newspapers that the delivery van may have dropped them.
I collected them and put them in the bin.
i wished i retrieved some of the papers to put in the gym for me and others to read because that day, there were no copies of the mail on sunday to read. But the mirror is a boring newspaper.
The weekend that has just passed was a bumper weekend for the tv guides. All the newspapers have a 2wk tv schedule. so much to choose from haha.
I think there is no need to buy tv guides at all as these free guides are available for the taking.
and you can get them online too.
All of us staying at home must be feeling very self satisfied when we read of stranded travellers. Last night heathrow was closed. it is the first time that i know of where it has been closed when there was no snow storm ... just heavy snow clogging the runway. i think whoever used to be in charge of clearing the runway has been sacked or resigned, and no one left who is as experienced has taken his place. it is only when the guy who has kept it running all these years has gone that everyone misses him. of course the owners will say that is nonsense, no one is indispensable, but i have known of many cases where some one who is very experienced has gone and chaos came... and everyone suspects he has been preventing trouble all these years and no one realise it, till he is gone. too late then haha.
i think that is what is happening now ever since the spanish company Ferrovial bought BAA which owns heathrow.
Saturday, 18 December 2010
found a ikea poang chair
found this poang ikea chair
london
this morning I was going to the library, when i saw it discarded, tipped over with its leather cushions intact.
it is a poang chair by ikea
this morning I was going to the library, when i saw it discarded, tipped over with its leather cushions intact.
it is a poang chair by ikea
People throw away the strangest things. Later, for one moment, i did wonder if i had taken someone's possession and that it was not thrown away but belongs to someone who wants to keep it but for some reason cannot take it home. But it was in such an unlikely place, not near any houses, and carelessly tipped over that it cannot possibly be so.
i retrieved it and took it back. and then returned to the library, by which time it was snowing and everything was coated with a blanket of snow. I was glad that it was not snowing when i lugged the chair back.
I have found a metal framed ikea chair before. link
It's lovely to see the snow and rather a lot of fun walking in the snow storm.
But that is because i m not going anywhere, and wont be staying out long as i was quickly inside the library to read the papers. It's not much fun if u are too long outside as it is with anything in life... anything gets awful when it is prolonged.
well, christmas has come early for me and i have my christmas present. In fact, i consider i got two presents, with the electric kettle which i found.
added 10pm. Funny how i miss things. there is a place near victoria station, that i pass everyday on my way to the gym, it has a wooden eagle in the front. there is nothing to say what the place is. I did not see any sign. i thought it was an office, with an unusual art work in the reception area because if u look beyond the eagle there is a reception desk as if it is the entrance to the building housing offices..
it turns out that place is jack bell gallery and there is a big space beyond showing an exhibition of a guy, Paa Joe, from ghana who builds coffins in the shape of a fish, eagle, cocoa pod , plane etc. the art gallery was newly started early this year.
I only now realise that was what it was, when i saw that eagle being shown in an article about it on the internet. Before, i had heard of this guy,but never connected the eagle coffin which i pass by everyday with it because the eagle was not shown. i must say the pink fish looks good, as is the cocoa pod.
added.29.12.10
I passed it yesterday, and noticed lettering on the glass saying it is an art gallery. Now i am left wondering if i had not noticed it before and it had been there all the time or had they recently lettered it in. Anyway it is closed for the christmas new year break.
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
huge food bargains last night
found this kettle this morning. just what i was looking for.
a prestige kettle
london
Went foraging at the sainsburys yesterday night.
The supermarket have changed their tactics for reducing the food. They are taking the food away to reduce it rather than reduce it on the spot. That way they prevent the east europeans from loading their trolley with all the foods with today's sell by date, walk about the store with it and wait for the time for final reductions, and then hand them one by one to be reduced giving no chance for others.
I thought this way was rather good for the rest of us who are not so pushy as the east europeans.
I did not see many of the east europeans around last night, maybe because the change in tactics puts them off as they wont be able to hog everything in sight.
so i got 3packs of the 1kg pork chops for 50p each, usually £4. There were so many packs everyone got a chance to get it.
roast beef silverside 90p from £10.70. this one is a real bargain. the price label hid the weight but it must be 2.2kg. it is half priced allready from £8,99 a kg to £4.49 a kg. then they reduced it to £7 and now final reduction straight to 90p. i wonder why they dont reduce it by half earlier, that way it might all get sold. if people are savvy and not greedy, we can all wait till final reductions and not buy before. This does not happen often. it so happen that last night it was a cold night and not many people hang about at 8pm. not many live nearby to pop over to see what is on bargain. haha. i daresay not many people want to do it too, as they might think they have got better things to do with their time haha. i hope so, because the less people searching for bargains means more for us. haha.heeeehee.
added I took it outof its package and was surprised there was so much water in it. if i were to have bought it at its original price i would feel cheated that is why i will only buy them if they are 90p.
added 16.112.10 I think what i did shows the difference between a chinese mindset and a european one. Simon wanted to roast the beef. but he had to go off to his mother's so wont be able to do it till he gets back about 4days time. well the beef wont last uncooked for that long.
so i cut it up and slo cooked it to make a curry. i like to cook it that way as it uses minimum energy whereas his way of oven cooked roast beef will use up lots of electricity... and that is the big difference between the chinese way and his way.
european cooking never seem to be frugal with energy... all the recipes i see say cook for 4hrs... and oven cooking leaks heat a lot.
whilst chinese cooking says simmer on low heat if any tough meat is being used, and nowadays with the slo cooker that is now being superceded.
maybe i am prejudiced against western style cooking because i think it uses up a lot of energy to cook it.
even cooking rice the chinese way compared with the western way of cooking potatoes shows how much energy is used by the west in cooking their staple food.
it is minimum energy for cooking rice, whilst cooking potatoes, in all its forms waste huge amounts of energy).
even when a westerner tells u how he cooks his rice, he will use the most wasteful way of cooking it. One of read said boil the rice , then drain the water, and then put in oven to cook for another 20 mins. they will find any way to increase the energy use even when not necessary.
I read today's daily mail saying everyhousehold over cooks their turkey, because the instructions always over estimate the time. none of them dares to admit that it is ok to eat turkey even if it is slightly red. There is a pathological fear of undercooking poultry for fear of salmonella poisoning.
added 17.12.10 this meat is very lean. yet i prefer stewing beef for the curry. more fat in it. i dont know why the west likes their meat so lean. fat gives it flavour and moist. this one will cook to a very dry roast beef. no wonder the british likes roast beef with gravy.
earlier they were selling off the bread and stuff for 10p each, caribbean bread 800mg which is good value so i bought 2.
6 mr kipling fruitypies for 10p.
There were loads of british brussels sprouts. 500mg for 5p. The night before, similar packs were reduced to 20p. original price £1.29. I am glad i did not buy them at 20p. i got 4packs this night. They are rather like cabbage.
(Added. just realise what a contradiction in terms to call it british brussels sprouts. how come the EU allows it to be called brussels sprouts since it is not produced in brussels? They have legislated against people labelling things that are not produced in that region. so why not this, i wonder?)
but it make me think that they have overpriced the sprouts. you would think being british and local grown they should be cheaper. but not so. and serves them right that customers refuse to buy them at the original price and now they have a glut and have to reduce it. hahahaheeee.
What is rather interesting I saw the assistant taking away 7 of the cheese cakes, and not reducing them because they were dated expiry 9dec. and yesterday was 14dec. It looked like they forgot to clear those from the shelf. i guess they will have to throw them away. (or the thought occurred to me that the manufacturer made a mistake and forgot to add a 1 before the 9 to make it 19 dec. that is more likely as it is not possible for those cheesecakes to be hanging about the shelves for so long after 9dec if that was their real expiry date.)
I bet there is a lot of that going on, food thrown away like that. it is the supermarkets that are throwing away good food. The statistics blame households. not 7 cheesecakes each household they are not....
i cooked 2 of the pork chops and ate them when i got back. Lovely.
later, simon woke up and came sniffing into the kitchen and he said he was dreaming of food. Well, there is plenty of pork chops for him haha so he cooked 2 and ate them.
i was thinking of making a curry out of my roast beef by cutting it up and slow cooking it, but simon said he fancied roasting it so i shall let him do it. I suppose to him it is sacrilageous to cut up a joint of beef which has been all trussed up ready to roast. especially that kind of cut is always most expensive unlike loose cuts of meat for stew or curry. Afterall, i keep forgetting this joint is really expensive at about £10 if i had bought it normally. I dont know if silverside is an expensive cut. Is it?
It appears that the change in tactics by the supermarket has made cheap meats available for the rest of us now. I have noticed there were no bargains before, and that must be because the east europeans swiped the shelves clean giving no chance for others. it is a sad thing that they dont take just enough for themselves but take everything instead. Either they have large families to feed, or they are selling it on. Or they have known deprivation and lack of food, and so tend to hoard and grab everything in sight. Either way, it makes others lose out. Hoarding is terrible for it creates artificial shortages. it is a mindset that is prevalent in deprived people living in countries with endemic shortages, usually former communist countries.
No one is immune, as we saw during the snow storms when it was not easy to restock goods and the shops began to run out of food and people started buying bread , oil, milk and creating shortages for others.
in some ways it is a selfish act.
That may explain why my tesco raised the price of 15 basic eggs to £1.65 from the usual £1.45. Before the snow storms it fell to £1.25. Now it is back to the middle price. And they had raised the price of vegetable oil too. Now perhaps it will come back to 99p for 1litre.
(Added. people usually complain that the supermarkets are exploiting the situation by raising their prices, but i think they are doing it this time to stop hoarding and panic buying. they are not doing it for our good of course, but simply because they want to keep the products on the shelves. they know their supply chain is disrupted by the snow and goods will be scarce and following the market forces of supply and demand, prices rise when goods become scarce.)
I for one, am glad the supermarket is changing their way of reducing the price for their bargain goods.
Added 3pm. This morning i was walking to the gym and passed the recycling bins, as i normally do and lo what did i see? a kettle waiting there for me. haha. Only yesterday simon got back from his mum's with a kettle for me. but i like this one better. It is a prestige kettle, and though it looked rather old, full of limescale, it sits on a base with the contact point in the centre; which means u can put it with the spout pointing in any direction and easy to lift off and use. Simon's one you have to push the plug in whcih can be rather tiresome. I dont mind the limescale, because i shall be using it to boil water for using in the sink in the bathroom; not to make tea or anything. it has a hot plate inside the kettle instead of heating rings. And is good for heating small amounts of water. I shall see if i can dissolve the limescale and clean it up a bit just to make it look nicer. haha. I tested it and it works well, and does not leak, unlike the previous kettle i found.
a prestige kettle
london
Went foraging at the sainsburys yesterday night.
The supermarket have changed their tactics for reducing the food. They are taking the food away to reduce it rather than reduce it on the spot. That way they prevent the east europeans from loading their trolley with all the foods with today's sell by date, walk about the store with it and wait for the time for final reductions, and then hand them one by one to be reduced giving no chance for others.
I thought this way was rather good for the rest of us who are not so pushy as the east europeans.
I did not see many of the east europeans around last night, maybe because the change in tactics puts them off as they wont be able to hog everything in sight.
so i got 3packs of the 1kg pork chops for 50p each, usually £4. There were so many packs everyone got a chance to get it.
roast beef silverside 90p from £10.70. this one is a real bargain. the price label hid the weight but it must be 2.2kg. it is half priced allready from £8,99 a kg to £4.49 a kg. then they reduced it to £7 and now final reduction straight to 90p. i wonder why they dont reduce it by half earlier, that way it might all get sold. if people are savvy and not greedy, we can all wait till final reductions and not buy before. This does not happen often. it so happen that last night it was a cold night and not many people hang about at 8pm. not many live nearby to pop over to see what is on bargain. haha. i daresay not many people want to do it too, as they might think they have got better things to do with their time haha. i hope so, because the less people searching for bargains means more for us. haha.heeeehee.
added I took it outof its package and was surprised there was so much water in it. if i were to have bought it at its original price i would feel cheated that is why i will only buy them if they are 90p.
added 16.112.10 I think what i did shows the difference between a chinese mindset and a european one. Simon wanted to roast the beef. but he had to go off to his mother's so wont be able to do it till he gets back about 4days time. well the beef wont last uncooked for that long.
so i cut it up and slo cooked it to make a curry. i like to cook it that way as it uses minimum energy whereas his way of oven cooked roast beef will use up lots of electricity... and that is the big difference between the chinese way and his way.
european cooking never seem to be frugal with energy... all the recipes i see say cook for 4hrs... and oven cooking leaks heat a lot.
whilst chinese cooking says simmer on low heat if any tough meat is being used, and nowadays with the slo cooker that is now being superceded.
maybe i am prejudiced against western style cooking because i think it uses up a lot of energy to cook it.
even cooking rice the chinese way compared with the western way of cooking potatoes shows how much energy is used by the west in cooking their staple food.
it is minimum energy for cooking rice, whilst cooking potatoes, in all its forms waste huge amounts of energy).
even when a westerner tells u how he cooks his rice, he will use the most wasteful way of cooking it. One of read said boil the rice , then drain the water, and then put in oven to cook for another 20 mins. they will find any way to increase the energy use even when not necessary.
I read today's daily mail saying everyhousehold over cooks their turkey, because the instructions always over estimate the time. none of them dares to admit that it is ok to eat turkey even if it is slightly red. There is a pathological fear of undercooking poultry for fear of salmonella poisoning.
added 17.12.10 this meat is very lean. yet i prefer stewing beef for the curry. more fat in it. i dont know why the west likes their meat so lean. fat gives it flavour and moist. this one will cook to a very dry roast beef. no wonder the british likes roast beef with gravy.
earlier they were selling off the bread and stuff for 10p each, caribbean bread 800mg which is good value so i bought 2.
6 mr kipling fruitypies for 10p.
There were loads of british brussels sprouts. 500mg for 5p. The night before, similar packs were reduced to 20p. original price £1.29. I am glad i did not buy them at 20p. i got 4packs this night. They are rather like cabbage.
(Added. just realise what a contradiction in terms to call it british brussels sprouts. how come the EU allows it to be called brussels sprouts since it is not produced in brussels? They have legislated against people labelling things that are not produced in that region. so why not this, i wonder?)
but it make me think that they have overpriced the sprouts. you would think being british and local grown they should be cheaper. but not so. and serves them right that customers refuse to buy them at the original price and now they have a glut and have to reduce it. hahahaheeee.
What is rather interesting I saw the assistant taking away 7 of the cheese cakes, and not reducing them because they were dated expiry 9dec. and yesterday was 14dec. It looked like they forgot to clear those from the shelf. i guess they will have to throw them away. (or the thought occurred to me that the manufacturer made a mistake and forgot to add a 1 before the 9 to make it 19 dec. that is more likely as it is not possible for those cheesecakes to be hanging about the shelves for so long after 9dec if that was their real expiry date.)
I bet there is a lot of that going on, food thrown away like that. it is the supermarkets that are throwing away good food. The statistics blame households. not 7 cheesecakes each household they are not....
i cooked 2 of the pork chops and ate them when i got back. Lovely.
later, simon woke up and came sniffing into the kitchen and he said he was dreaming of food. Well, there is plenty of pork chops for him haha so he cooked 2 and ate them.
i was thinking of making a curry out of my roast beef by cutting it up and slow cooking it, but simon said he fancied roasting it so i shall let him do it. I suppose to him it is sacrilageous to cut up a joint of beef which has been all trussed up ready to roast. especially that kind of cut is always most expensive unlike loose cuts of meat for stew or curry. Afterall, i keep forgetting this joint is really expensive at about £10 if i had bought it normally. I dont know if silverside is an expensive cut. Is it?
It appears that the change in tactics by the supermarket has made cheap meats available for the rest of us now. I have noticed there were no bargains before, and that must be because the east europeans swiped the shelves clean giving no chance for others. it is a sad thing that they dont take just enough for themselves but take everything instead. Either they have large families to feed, or they are selling it on. Or they have known deprivation and lack of food, and so tend to hoard and grab everything in sight. Either way, it makes others lose out. Hoarding is terrible for it creates artificial shortages. it is a mindset that is prevalent in deprived people living in countries with endemic shortages, usually former communist countries.
No one is immune, as we saw during the snow storms when it was not easy to restock goods and the shops began to run out of food and people started buying bread , oil, milk and creating shortages for others.
in some ways it is a selfish act.
That may explain why my tesco raised the price of 15 basic eggs to £1.65 from the usual £1.45. Before the snow storms it fell to £1.25. Now it is back to the middle price. And they had raised the price of vegetable oil too. Now perhaps it will come back to 99p for 1litre.
(Added. people usually complain that the supermarkets are exploiting the situation by raising their prices, but i think they are doing it this time to stop hoarding and panic buying. they are not doing it for our good of course, but simply because they want to keep the products on the shelves. they know their supply chain is disrupted by the snow and goods will be scarce and following the market forces of supply and demand, prices rise when goods become scarce.)
I for one, am glad the supermarket is changing their way of reducing the price for their bargain goods.
Added 3pm. This morning i was walking to the gym and passed the recycling bins, as i normally do and lo what did i see? a kettle waiting there for me. haha. Only yesterday simon got back from his mum's with a kettle for me. but i like this one better. It is a prestige kettle, and though it looked rather old, full of limescale, it sits on a base with the contact point in the centre; which means u can put it with the spout pointing in any direction and easy to lift off and use. Simon's one you have to push the plug in whcih can be rather tiresome. I dont mind the limescale, because i shall be using it to boil water for using in the sink in the bathroom; not to make tea or anything. it has a hot plate inside the kettle instead of heating rings. And is good for heating small amounts of water. I shall see if i can dissolve the limescale and clean it up a bit just to make it look nicer. haha. I tested it and it works well, and does not leak, unlike the previous kettle i found.
Monday, 13 December 2010
london
I was at the sainsburys supermarket the other day and saw the workers slicing the loaves which expires that day with the slicing machine and putting them into new plastic bags and applying new price stickers with tomorrow's expiry date.
it is obviously legal for them to do that, but it does smack of dirty practices.
so now u all know that whole loaves that are sliced are a day over their sell by date.haha.
(Did you think they did it out of the kindness of their cotton picking hearts? I thought so too in the past. haha. Now that i have seen them handle the loaves with their bare hands when they fed the machine to cut it up, I am not too keen to buy them now anymore. Unless it is 10p haha.
There have not been any breads reduced in price for quite some time now, so maybe this explains it. i thought people are panic buying bread, but maybe not in london. the most probable explanation is they have difficulty restocking due to the snow.
These breads may well have travelled a long way, because none are baked in the premises from scratch. They are almost fully baked, and brought to the store, where they get the final flash bake.
there seems to be alot of empty shelves in the supermarket, suggesting either the snow is making it difficult to restock, or people are panic buying. who knows.hhaha. Most probably the latter.
there have not been any of the 10p instant noodles for a long time now.
(Amended 4.30pm. I spoke too soon. just got back fr the sainsburys and bought 2packs of their instant noodle. so they were able to restock it. took their time though. but they had not increased the price. still 10p, though it used to be 8p each.)
Ah well, this run up to christmas will be full of overpriced foods on the shelves. wait for it to be over, and prices will drop.
But having said that, i will contradict myself and say that not long ago,i saw two basic chickens reduced from £4 to 80p each. i bought them both and made a curry and a roast chicken. the curry chicken I cut into one-man portions and frozed and am gradually eating them up now. haha.
I see people still buying a lot of food at the check out, but maybe those who cannot are not going to the stores so naturally i wont be seeing them haha; or they are going to lidls, or morrisons...which i dont go to because they are not near me. I am not really the best person to notice trends. for eg, i cannot really believe it when i read that families are spending £140 buying presents per child. I dont know anyone who does that.
In a person's life so many things pass them by. for eg, recently just down the road from me in parliament square there have been the student riots over the tuition fees rise, but i never see any of it, until i hear of it in the news.
A chap can go through life oblivious of all this mayhem. and in the olden days before we had 24hr news, many of us dont know about it, nor care less.
and we continue to live our lives and be v happy.
haha.
but now everywhere we hear of these troubles, and hear many millions are in debt and so on. and even hear of people from far away in foreign lands having their troubles.
and snow in paris and collapsing roof from snow in a stadium in minneapolis in america. heavy storms in israel, with a great forest fire there before the rain. drought and floods following each other. But that is the weather for you. it has always been contradictory.
frankly, i could not care less what mishaps happens in other parts of the world, or even in other parts of uk or even down the road. As long as it does not affect me directly, i could not care less.
My soul just do not want to be bothered with it.
I was at the sainsburys supermarket the other day and saw the workers slicing the loaves which expires that day with the slicing machine and putting them into new plastic bags and applying new price stickers with tomorrow's expiry date.
it is obviously legal for them to do that, but it does smack of dirty practices.
so now u all know that whole loaves that are sliced are a day over their sell by date.haha.
(Did you think they did it out of the kindness of their cotton picking hearts? I thought so too in the past. haha. Now that i have seen them handle the loaves with their bare hands when they fed the machine to cut it up, I am not too keen to buy them now anymore. Unless it is 10p haha.
There have not been any breads reduced in price for quite some time now, so maybe this explains it. i thought people are panic buying bread, but maybe not in london. the most probable explanation is they have difficulty restocking due to the snow.
These breads may well have travelled a long way, because none are baked in the premises from scratch. They are almost fully baked, and brought to the store, where they get the final flash bake.
there seems to be alot of empty shelves in the supermarket, suggesting either the snow is making it difficult to restock, or people are panic buying. who knows.hhaha. Most probably the latter.
there have not been any of the 10p instant noodles for a long time now.
(Amended 4.30pm. I spoke too soon. just got back fr the sainsburys and bought 2packs of their instant noodle. so they were able to restock it. took their time though. but they had not increased the price. still 10p, though it used to be 8p each.)
Ah well, this run up to christmas will be full of overpriced foods on the shelves. wait for it to be over, and prices will drop.
But having said that, i will contradict myself and say that not long ago,i saw two basic chickens reduced from £4 to 80p each. i bought them both and made a curry and a roast chicken. the curry chicken I cut into one-man portions and frozed and am gradually eating them up now. haha.
I see people still buying a lot of food at the check out, but maybe those who cannot are not going to the stores so naturally i wont be seeing them haha; or they are going to lidls, or morrisons...which i dont go to because they are not near me. I am not really the best person to notice trends. for eg, i cannot really believe it when i read that families are spending £140 buying presents per child. I dont know anyone who does that.
In a person's life so many things pass them by. for eg, recently just down the road from me in parliament square there have been the student riots over the tuition fees rise, but i never see any of it, until i hear of it in the news.
A chap can go through life oblivious of all this mayhem. and in the olden days before we had 24hr news, many of us dont know about it, nor care less.
and we continue to live our lives and be v happy.
haha.
but now everywhere we hear of these troubles, and hear many millions are in debt and so on. and even hear of people from far away in foreign lands having their troubles.
and snow in paris and collapsing roof from snow in a stadium in minneapolis in america. heavy storms in israel, with a great forest fire there before the rain. drought and floods following each other. But that is the weather for you. it has always been contradictory.
frankly, i could not care less what mishaps happens in other parts of the world, or even in other parts of uk or even down the road. As long as it does not affect me directly, i could not care less.
My soul just do not want to be bothered with it.
Added. talking of events that can pass you by even though u live right in the middle of it, reminds me of simon telling me years later how big the peace demonstration was against the iraq war. I did not realise there were a million came to london. it was all so peaceful too. maybe that was why i did not know about it, because it was not featured much in the news, the govt did not want it to i think because President bush was on his official visit then.Maybe if they did create a riot, the whole world will report it. Sometimes it seems u can only get attention when u create trouble. a sad indictment of our present day i think. the naughty ones gets all the attention.
Thursday, 9 December 2010
foodchain award
london
got a nice surprise from the postman today. it was left by my door as it was too big to put into my letter box slot. it is an award from foodchain for volunteering over 100 hours with them.
Rather sweet of them to let me know.
I have forgotten when i started with them, and did not realise i had done those hours. They recently had a new website, where we can do online bookings, and in there i saw all my sessions with them and the first one was to hammersmith on 9.2 2003. there was a hiatus of 2yrs when i stopped doing it.
funny how long i have been with them. Just goes to show how easy they are to do.
they are in their 21st year.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
julian assange
london
The Americans dont like his releasing classified files, but they cannot find a law against it.
Stealing the documents is a crime, but publishing them is not, in a country like america who thinks it is so good an example of democracy to uphold freedom of speech.
Now there are people in power in america asking for julian to be assassinated, or executed, or kidnapped and brought to usa.
Shameful really that they can say all this and no one condemned them for inciting murder for saying such things.
it would make all of us outside america who can think for ourselves question whethr America as a country is as good as the good guys they want us to believe. Though after all that history that has been recounted of dirty tricks that the CIA gets up to, I dont know why we still think of america as good guys. Maybe because we think they are on our side, when maybe they are not on anyone's side but their own.
I was walking to soho this afternoon, and down the road from my place i saw a crowd of people with microphones at the entrance to a police building at the corner from the home office.
i have often passed this building, and it has always been deserted, with no activity around it so it was surprising to see it the hive of activity now.
Later, when i got back and saw the tv news, it was where julian assange went to volunteerily present himself to the police in answer to the arrest warrant taken out by sweden.
it is for an alleged rape... and what is surprising, even though there were people willing to pay his bail, the magistrate sent him to prison.
Extraordinary to say the least.
It stinks doesn't it???
There was an account in today's daily mail of the events and actions of the two women who shouted rape. Very interesting reading, the two women invited him to their homes and have sex with him. Read it in full in the article here. At first the chief prosecutor in sweden said there is no evidence to uphold rape, and dismissed it, but a politician got it reviewed by another prosecuter and revived the case.
I got the impression from hearing of it in the news on tv that during the hearing today it came out that he fucked one of them while she was asleep, without a condom. That was rape in her book.
All i can say is thank god i am gay.
I really pity these straight men ... it reminds me of the male spider who wants to have sex with the female spider who will eat him afterwards if he is not careful or even if he is. haha.
Normally i would not be interested in julian assange and his case, but i must admit I got interested after seeing the crowd this afternoon round that police station, and it being so near me, and then this revelation of refusing bail for a rape accusation, and he is not even accused of it. They went to great lengths to bring a warrant of arrest just for questioning...!!!!
Something is smelly here, and america and sweden look like they are deep in shit over it.
The Americans dont like his releasing classified files, but they cannot find a law against it.
Stealing the documents is a crime, but publishing them is not, in a country like america who thinks it is so good an example of democracy to uphold freedom of speech.
Now there are people in power in america asking for julian to be assassinated, or executed, or kidnapped and brought to usa.
Shameful really that they can say all this and no one condemned them for inciting murder for saying such things.
it would make all of us outside america who can think for ourselves question whethr America as a country is as good as the good guys they want us to believe. Though after all that history that has been recounted of dirty tricks that the CIA gets up to, I dont know why we still think of america as good guys. Maybe because we think they are on our side, when maybe they are not on anyone's side but their own.
I was walking to soho this afternoon, and down the road from my place i saw a crowd of people with microphones at the entrance to a police building at the corner from the home office.
i have often passed this building, and it has always been deserted, with no activity around it so it was surprising to see it the hive of activity now.
Later, when i got back and saw the tv news, it was where julian assange went to volunteerily present himself to the police in answer to the arrest warrant taken out by sweden.
it is for an alleged rape... and what is surprising, even though there were people willing to pay his bail, the magistrate sent him to prison.
Extraordinary to say the least.
It stinks doesn't it???
There was an account in today's daily mail of the events and actions of the two women who shouted rape. Very interesting reading, the two women invited him to their homes and have sex with him. Read it in full in the article here. At first the chief prosecutor in sweden said there is no evidence to uphold rape, and dismissed it, but a politician got it reviewed by another prosecuter and revived the case.
I got the impression from hearing of it in the news on tv that during the hearing today it came out that he fucked one of them while she was asleep, without a condom. That was rape in her book.
All i can say is thank god i am gay.
I really pity these straight men ... it reminds me of the male spider who wants to have sex with the female spider who will eat him afterwards if he is not careful or even if he is. haha.
Normally i would not be interested in julian assange and his case, but i must admit I got interested after seeing the crowd this afternoon round that police station, and it being so near me, and then this revelation of refusing bail for a rape accusation, and he is not even accused of it. They went to great lengths to bring a warrant of arrest just for questioning...!!!!
Something is smelly here, and america and sweden look like they are deep in shit over it.
Sunday, 5 December 2010
hiya everyone in weblog land
london
hope everyone is having fun. I am because all those headlines of snow bound roads, and countryside stranded in snow and hoarding and panic buying and running out of fuel seems like another country to me living in central london.
Last year, london was hit with heavy snow falls, but not this year. or rather lessons were learnt and they threw down lots of grit. haha.
And even though the weather forecasts says -6C for london it never happened. the lowest i got was -3C and I hardly noticed the cold.
I found this fleece hoodie outside the charity shop in the summer and even though at that time i thought it was a mistake to take it, because it was a woman's fleece hoodie dress, that reach down to my knee, and i tried it on when i found it and it was too tight at the shoulders. But that was because i was wearing it with a sweater on.
But now i am wearing it with just a t shirt underneath , and it is so soft and warm I am amazed not more women wear it. But then, i noticed it bunches out at the hips and so will make a woman look fat, seeing they have fat hips anyway and this will accentuate it.
but for me it is perfect because it covers my bum and keeps it warm.
all the men's jackets falls short of the bum, so that the bum gets frozen and dont even mention the front. (i was cycling in the cold and it frozed my cock off) (haha) and i have noticed that is a failing of the blouson type jackets. nowadays u dont see jackets for men coming to the knees.
it is sold as a coat if it does that.
Have anyone noticed that the men equivalent of this fleece hoodie is not only shorter but costs much more? It is bulkier too so not really suitable for wearing in bed.
it is funny because if i had not found this fleece dress, i would never have considered wearing one, and i would not have found out this fleece dress would be so suitable for wearing in winter. it is perfect for sleeping in, or wearing indoors or outdoors. It has the warmest and snuggiest fleece hood and it replaced wearing a woollen hat and scarf.
its not ideal to wear a woollen hat and scarf, as it feels restrictive gripping the head and neck. so to do without both with a hoodie whilst being just as warm is a boon.
We have all been brainwashed to separate fashion into men and women, and would not dream of wearing clothing of the opposite sex ,or suffer being accused of harbouring transvestite tendencies.
but i now consider this hoodie fleece dress as ideal winter wear.
Mine is in grey, with white insides for the hood; which is rather fortunate for me as it does not look too girly.haha i have seen it in google in purple! those pockets in front are called kangaroo pockets. haha. With a name like that i can see why no woman wants to buy it.
if u see the catwalk, even on the model the back view looks fat. there was a velvet hoodie dress in the sidebar, and when i saw the catwalk of it, i cannot help laughing ... what is the point of the hoodie when the legs are exposed from the thighs down. and would any woman want her hair messed up like that?
So now i am rather confident no need to have the heating on all winter.
hope everyone is having fun. I am because all those headlines of snow bound roads, and countryside stranded in snow and hoarding and panic buying and running out of fuel seems like another country to me living in central london.
Last year, london was hit with heavy snow falls, but not this year. or rather lessons were learnt and they threw down lots of grit. haha.
And even though the weather forecasts says -6C for london it never happened. the lowest i got was -3C and I hardly noticed the cold.
I found this fleece hoodie outside the charity shop in the summer and even though at that time i thought it was a mistake to take it, because it was a woman's fleece hoodie dress, that reach down to my knee, and i tried it on when i found it and it was too tight at the shoulders. But that was because i was wearing it with a sweater on.
But now i am wearing it with just a t shirt underneath , and it is so soft and warm I am amazed not more women wear it. But then, i noticed it bunches out at the hips and so will make a woman look fat, seeing they have fat hips anyway and this will accentuate it.
but for me it is perfect because it covers my bum and keeps it warm.
all the men's jackets falls short of the bum, so that the bum gets frozen and dont even mention the front. (i was cycling in the cold and it frozed my cock off) (haha) and i have noticed that is a failing of the blouson type jackets. nowadays u dont see jackets for men coming to the knees.
it is sold as a coat if it does that.
Have anyone noticed that the men equivalent of this fleece hoodie is not only shorter but costs much more? It is bulkier too so not really suitable for wearing in bed.
it is funny because if i had not found this fleece dress, i would never have considered wearing one, and i would not have found out this fleece dress would be so suitable for wearing in winter. it is perfect for sleeping in, or wearing indoors or outdoors. It has the warmest and snuggiest fleece hood and it replaced wearing a woollen hat and scarf.
its not ideal to wear a woollen hat and scarf, as it feels restrictive gripping the head and neck. so to do without both with a hoodie whilst being just as warm is a boon.
We have all been brainwashed to separate fashion into men and women, and would not dream of wearing clothing of the opposite sex ,or suffer being accused of harbouring transvestite tendencies.
but i now consider this hoodie fleece dress as ideal winter wear.
Mine is in grey, with white insides for the hood; which is rather fortunate for me as it does not look too girly.haha i have seen it in google in purple! those pockets in front are called kangaroo pockets. haha. With a name like that i can see why no woman wants to buy it.
if u see the catwalk, even on the model the back view looks fat. there was a velvet hoodie dress in the sidebar, and when i saw the catwalk of it, i cannot help laughing ... what is the point of the hoodie when the legs are exposed from the thighs down. and would any woman want her hair messed up like that?
So now i am rather confident no need to have the heating on all winter.
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
tesco selling 5kg basmati for £9.and get one free.
salaam brand basmati rice from the punjab
london
Funny to get this special offer in my pimlico branch of tesco.
I was there yesterday and saw ordinary rice 5kg for £4, it was unbleached rice. Today i thought i shall buy it so went there. I was using the self service till and was about to pay for it, when the shop assistant who was overseeing the tills said, it is buy one get one free, and then she checked my bag and said oh, not this one, the offer is for basmati rice.
Really I said where is it? and aborted the sale , went back to where i found the bags, and saw next to it a whole lot of basmati rice, 5kg, with a sign saying buy one get one free for £9. that means it is only £4.50 a bag, better than the offer that paul L told me of (10kg for £10)in his branch of tescos in Wood Green.
I had not noticed this new offer and so am rather glad for the shop assistant alerting me to it.
Considering all this talk of increasing prices, it surprises me to see rice being sold cheap.
One wonders what is happening for tesco to be able to offer these ... unless they are loss leaders just to entice people into the store. Interesting that they sell it as a BOGOF, rather than 10kg for £9. sounds more enticing i suppose to buy one and get one free. Though i dont remember them selling it at £9 for 5kg in the store. isn't there a regulation that it must be sold for a period before they can advertise it reduced? or maybe they get round this legislation by calling it a BOGOF.
well, i m well stocked with rice now haha.
Added. My blog shows me a list of the traffic sources by which people come to my blog, and the second most popular one for today was this . it is a google search page for 'buy one get one free basmati rice'. My weblog was listed after this website which gives the prices of basmati rice. last time i bought kohinoor basmati rice for £5.50. i see in that website that i got it for half price.
Funny to get this special offer in my pimlico branch of tesco.
I was there yesterday and saw ordinary rice 5kg for £4, it was unbleached rice. Today i thought i shall buy it so went there. I was using the self service till and was about to pay for it, when the shop assistant who was overseeing the tills said, it is buy one get one free, and then she checked my bag and said oh, not this one, the offer is for basmati rice.
Really I said where is it? and aborted the sale , went back to where i found the bags, and saw next to it a whole lot of basmati rice, 5kg, with a sign saying buy one get one free for £9. that means it is only £4.50 a bag, better than the offer that paul L told me of (10kg for £10)in his branch of tescos in Wood Green.
I had not noticed this new offer and so am rather glad for the shop assistant alerting me to it.
Considering all this talk of increasing prices, it surprises me to see rice being sold cheap.
One wonders what is happening for tesco to be able to offer these ... unless they are loss leaders just to entice people into the store. Interesting that they sell it as a BOGOF, rather than 10kg for £9. sounds more enticing i suppose to buy one and get one free. Though i dont remember them selling it at £9 for 5kg in the store. isn't there a regulation that it must be sold for a period before they can advertise it reduced? or maybe they get round this legislation by calling it a BOGOF.
well, i m well stocked with rice now haha.
Added. My blog shows me a list of the traffic sources by which people come to my blog, and the second most popular one for today was this . it is a google search page for 'buy one get one free basmati rice'. My weblog was listed after this website which gives the prices of basmati rice. last time i bought kohinoor basmati rice for £5.50. i see in that website that i got it for half price.
Added 10.12.10 friday. i saw two packs of this basmati brand on the tesco reduced price section. both were marked as £6.30. I thought what a cheek, marking it as reduced when they are selling it 2 for £9. then it occurred to me that maybe it was 2 for £6.30. so i brought both of them to the self service till, and sure enough, when i clik to pay, one of the price was deducted from the total. hmm u have to be savvy about these things if u want to get bargains. so these 5kg packs cost £3.15 each.
update. 19.4.11 I opened the last of the 5kg bag yesterday.
added 13.9.12 bought 10kg basmati 'pakistan' from tesco for £10 yesterday. so we are still getting this price after so long.
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
getting even
london
So many things in life u can simply cut out of your life. I say this because I got something posted to me that reminded me that that is how my life is now.
i got an estimated bill by british gas for my gas consumption. They estimated i had used 1 metric unit and charged me 74p for it.
But i have used 0 units. hahaheeheeee.....
i had tried to tell them of my reading using their online site, but it refused to accept the reading because it was the same as the last time.
now i had a good look at the paper bill , and saw a 0800 number to call and so i was able to ring that number and gave the reading to them.
Such sweet satisfaction in getting even... it is a dish best served cold, like revenge. haha. though i dont do revenge. too destructive on my wellbeing. i feel it is bad on my wellbeing to harbour thoughts of revenge, but getting even i wholeheartedly advocate.
And it was really their own doing that make me stop using gas. Normally, if they had not raised their tariff, i would have carried on out of habit to leave the pilot light on. Two pilot lights actually, one for the hot air heater, the other for the gas hot water boiler. I would leave them on even all year round.
With it on, i used about £18 a quarter. What a waste of money...and then i found out even with it off, a small amount leaks fr the pipes. Now i dont use any gas at all as i have switched off the gas at the mains.
And in the process, I found out i dont need to use gas at all.
I found out i dont need the gas heater on as i am perfectly comfortable in the flat, even when the temperature outside is -3C as indicated in the temperature websites. Fleeze is such a super warm material.
And i dont need hot water from the boiler in the bathroom as i can just heat up water in the kettle. Faster and more efficient too. Not that i need to because i found that it is quicker to heat up a mug of water in the microwave to brush my teeth.
I found out i dont use the electric shower anymore, as i shower in my gym. You could say i have paid £26 a month for that and that must be more than any shower bill, but of course, going to the gym gives a lot of extras. It is a leisure activity that gets me out of the flat, gives me a daily paper to read, as well as let me exercise and keep the muscles in shape, as well as indulge in a sauna everyday and make friends.
Life is so much less complicated now.
Added. After reading the above, i cannot help laughing because it did seem illogical to pay £26 a month whilst trying to save by not using the electric shower at home. but it just goes to show we all have our priorities and desires. My soul wants it. it seems i rather pay that money every month rather than stay at home and save that money. it can be rather boring staying at home all the time. that is why i think people spend money going out to the disco clubs, to eat out, to see pictures, or to the theatre, it is just so they have something to do rather than stay at home all the time watching tv.
It is the same illogical reasoning that makes me pay £12.50 a month for a landline just to be able to get the £7 a month call package that gives me free broadband. That broadband is not really free after all that. but the desire to have broadband at home all the time is too strong an attraction for me. when the soulwants it , it will get it.
Added 30.10/11 a year later the line rental is now £9.30 and the broadband package is £3 a month. It is strange how circumstances changed and which u think will make life more difficult, like increased gas and electricity tariffs,or giving up the car, or giving up work, drinking tap water instead of bottled water, eating porridge instead of eating cereals, using tea leaves instead of tea bags, stop drinking milk, no more suger, and much reduced salt in foods, getting all my clothes and things from recycling bins free, buying reduced sell by date foods, stop buying presents for christmas, sending emails instead of using stamps, etc can make u rethink your priorities and open out a life that is much simpler and fulfilling.
Changing attitudes and beliefs helps too. For eg, someone said if u have to do something, do it well. I think that is a nonsense. You dont need to do anything well to enjoy it.
And another belief, your life must be meaningful and have a purpose. Why? its a nonsense belief that.
So many things in life u can simply cut out of your life. I say this because I got something posted to me that reminded me that that is how my life is now.
i got an estimated bill by british gas for my gas consumption. They estimated i had used 1 metric unit and charged me 74p for it.
But i have used 0 units. hahaheeheeee.....
i had tried to tell them of my reading using their online site, but it refused to accept the reading because it was the same as the last time.
now i had a good look at the paper bill , and saw a 0800 number to call and so i was able to ring that number and gave the reading to them.
Such sweet satisfaction in getting even... it is a dish best served cold, like revenge. haha. though i dont do revenge. too destructive on my wellbeing. i feel it is bad on my wellbeing to harbour thoughts of revenge, but getting even i wholeheartedly advocate.
And it was really their own doing that make me stop using gas. Normally, if they had not raised their tariff, i would have carried on out of habit to leave the pilot light on. Two pilot lights actually, one for the hot air heater, the other for the gas hot water boiler. I would leave them on even all year round.
With it on, i used about £18 a quarter. What a waste of money...and then i found out even with it off, a small amount leaks fr the pipes. Now i dont use any gas at all as i have switched off the gas at the mains.
And in the process, I found out i dont need to use gas at all.
I found out i dont need the gas heater on as i am perfectly comfortable in the flat, even when the temperature outside is -3C as indicated in the temperature websites. Fleeze is such a super warm material.
And i dont need hot water from the boiler in the bathroom as i can just heat up water in the kettle. Faster and more efficient too. Not that i need to because i found that it is quicker to heat up a mug of water in the microwave to brush my teeth.
I found out i dont use the electric shower anymore, as i shower in my gym. You could say i have paid £26 a month for that and that must be more than any shower bill, but of course, going to the gym gives a lot of extras. It is a leisure activity that gets me out of the flat, gives me a daily paper to read, as well as let me exercise and keep the muscles in shape, as well as indulge in a sauna everyday and make friends.
Life is so much less complicated now.
Added. After reading the above, i cannot help laughing because it did seem illogical to pay £26 a month whilst trying to save by not using the electric shower at home. but it just goes to show we all have our priorities and desires. My soul wants it. it seems i rather pay that money every month rather than stay at home and save that money. it can be rather boring staying at home all the time. that is why i think people spend money going out to the disco clubs, to eat out, to see pictures, or to the theatre, it is just so they have something to do rather than stay at home all the time watching tv.
It is the same illogical reasoning that makes me pay £12.50 a month for a landline just to be able to get the £7 a month call package that gives me free broadband. That broadband is not really free after all that. but the desire to have broadband at home all the time is too strong an attraction for me. when the soulwants it , it will get it.
Added 30.10/11 a year later the line rental is now £9.30 and the broadband package is £3 a month. It is strange how circumstances changed and which u think will make life more difficult, like increased gas and electricity tariffs,or giving up the car, or giving up work, drinking tap water instead of bottled water, eating porridge instead of eating cereals, using tea leaves instead of tea bags, stop drinking milk, no more suger, and much reduced salt in foods, getting all my clothes and things from recycling bins free, buying reduced sell by date foods, stop buying presents for christmas, sending emails instead of using stamps, etc can make u rethink your priorities and open out a life that is much simpler and fulfilling.
Changing attitudes and beliefs helps too. For eg, someone said if u have to do something, do it well. I think that is a nonsense. You dont need to do anything well to enjoy it.
And another belief, your life must be meaningful and have a purpose. Why? its a nonsense belief that.
Sunday, 28 November 2010
no complaints
london
It's a nice life. Though if u read the papers, u would think everything is terrible.
take for eg, all this horror headlines of the coldest winter night -17C in wales. Well tough shit for those in wales, but here in london it is only -3C and to show how it affects me, i did not even notice it. I dont have the heating on and have no intentions of starting it.
(I would even caution against putting too much significance on that -17C statistic. it is most probably recorded on a remote gauge high up in the mountains, where no one lives and it is read remotely and sent to a station somewhere else.)
I am beginning to realise that i have been brainwashed to thinking 0C is cold. now i have experienced -3C and think nothing of it, i am quite prepared to say even if it is -10C outside, in the protected and sheltered flat even without the heating on it will be bearable.
So really nothing to worry about certainly never have to worry about the heating bill.
What else has been in the news...? tomorrow's tube strike for two days. and the increase in transport fares from january. it seems it is about £3000+ a year to commute from brighton to london and even a 10% rise will mean an extra £300 on it.
(The tube strike does not affect all services. I was at the charity session today, and my driver says the northern line was working in all the tube strikes before).
But those who do pay that money must earn a lot to even think of commuting that long way, so i doubt we need to give them our sympathies. No one is forced to make that long commute so if they do, they must earn a lot of money.
The papers always highlight the costs, but lets face it, if u earn a lot of money at your job, what is £3000 a year? its all relative. If they dont like to pay it, then come rent a place in central london and get rid of that long commute. or find a job nearer to where they live. it is their choice.
Christmas is not long away and so those who want to bother with it will be buying presents and stocking up on food. Those like me who dont want to bother will have an enjoyable time looking at the festive decorations and seeing others going mad doing the present buying frenzy.
I dont suppose they will ever go to just giving money as gifts, like the chinese do with chinese new year angpows(red packets containing money in pairs). giving money is so practical, and can be geared to any budget,usually people give $1 and a 10cent coin, and the recipient can accummulate all the money to save or spend as they wish.
Not giving any presents at all my way means u dont look on christmas with dread.
Just as u dont care how low the temperature gets.
It's a nice life. Though if u read the papers, u would think everything is terrible.
take for eg, all this horror headlines of the coldest winter night -17C in wales. Well tough shit for those in wales, but here in london it is only -3C and to show how it affects me, i did not even notice it. I dont have the heating on and have no intentions of starting it.
(I would even caution against putting too much significance on that -17C statistic. it is most probably recorded on a remote gauge high up in the mountains, where no one lives and it is read remotely and sent to a station somewhere else.)
I am beginning to realise that i have been brainwashed to thinking 0C is cold. now i have experienced -3C and think nothing of it, i am quite prepared to say even if it is -10C outside, in the protected and sheltered flat even without the heating on it will be bearable.
So really nothing to worry about certainly never have to worry about the heating bill.
What else has been in the news...? tomorrow's tube strike for two days. and the increase in transport fares from january. it seems it is about £3000+ a year to commute from brighton to london and even a 10% rise will mean an extra £300 on it.
(The tube strike does not affect all services. I was at the charity session today, and my driver says the northern line was working in all the tube strikes before).
But those who do pay that money must earn a lot to even think of commuting that long way, so i doubt we need to give them our sympathies. No one is forced to make that long commute so if they do, they must earn a lot of money.
The papers always highlight the costs, but lets face it, if u earn a lot of money at your job, what is £3000 a year? its all relative. If they dont like to pay it, then come rent a place in central london and get rid of that long commute. or find a job nearer to where they live. it is their choice.
Christmas is not long away and so those who want to bother with it will be buying presents and stocking up on food. Those like me who dont want to bother will have an enjoyable time looking at the festive decorations and seeing others going mad doing the present buying frenzy.
I dont suppose they will ever go to just giving money as gifts, like the chinese do with chinese new year angpows(red packets containing money in pairs). giving money is so practical, and can be geared to any budget,usually people give $1 and a 10cent coin, and the recipient can accummulate all the money to save or spend as they wish.
Not giving any presents at all my way means u dont look on christmas with dread.
Just as u dont care how low the temperature gets.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
chipped my mug that the gym gave me
london
Lots of things happened, but they were just sex meetings with other people and though it is nice to experience, it can be boring to hear about it. so havent felt the need to write a post for some time until now.
So why now?
because i was walking about in the supermarket when a lady told me my knapsack had sprung open and my things were falling out.
the cup fell out as i took the bag off my shoulders, and it was later that I noticed the rim was chipped.
That is the danger when u have knapsacks that zip all round the bag. I remember once it happened to john G when he was carrying a 2litre bottle of milk, and it smashed down onto the pavement and burst open, spilling all the milk. Rather a bother that.
When you zip it up u must bring the zip to the side and not let it meet at the top otherwise the weight of the things in the bag will pull the zips apart and open the bag.
Anyway, i shall continue to use the mug,as it is still useable.
Added 24.11.10 2.15pm when i poured coffee into the mug, i discovered it leaked. and then i saw a thin crack running from rim to bottom of the cup. So i had to throw it away. my soul obviously dont want me to use it. ah.
Are you still buying bottled water? The reason i ask is because i am watching a tv program now about bottle water.
I am glad i have regained my reason and stopped buying bottled water long ago.
Lots of things happened, but they were just sex meetings with other people and though it is nice to experience, it can be boring to hear about it. so havent felt the need to write a post for some time until now.
So why now?
because i was walking about in the supermarket when a lady told me my knapsack had sprung open and my things were falling out.
the cup fell out as i took the bag off my shoulders, and it was later that I noticed the rim was chipped.
That is the danger when u have knapsacks that zip all round the bag. I remember once it happened to john G when he was carrying a 2litre bottle of milk, and it smashed down onto the pavement and burst open, spilling all the milk. Rather a bother that.
When you zip it up u must bring the zip to the side and not let it meet at the top otherwise the weight of the things in the bag will pull the zips apart and open the bag.
Anyway, i shall continue to use the mug,as it is still useable.
Added 24.11.10 2.15pm when i poured coffee into the mug, i discovered it leaked. and then i saw a thin crack running from rim to bottom of the cup. So i had to throw it away. my soul obviously dont want me to use it. ah.
Are you still buying bottled water? The reason i ask is because i am watching a tv program now about bottle water.
I am glad i have regained my reason and stopped buying bottled water long ago.
Friday, 19 November 2010
my gym presented me with my own mug
the mug which my gym gave me this morning
london
I was in the gym as usual, reading the newspaper, when the receptionist came up and gave me a mug, saying u have come very morning so we decided to give u this...
well, i must say that was a surprise. later i saw this chap who i have come to know who hangs around the place too and he was drinking from a mug of the same pattern, and i asked him if reception gave it to him too. it did.
Well, i would have liked them to give me the old small cups they had before they got rid of it and used paper cups instead. And i saw such a cup on the table, with no one using it. i was sorely tempted to ask reception if i could swap.haha. but i did not.
Well, we all know about present giving... seldom do u get what u really want. haha.
still, it was rather nice of them to give me a mug to drink the coffee from. much nicer than the paper cups they provide.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
books, sausages, bike saddle,
london
I saw a bike mainframe in the recycling area this morning. I cannibalise the saddle, and the clamp that fix it to the bike. This is because mine is getting worn.
It was missing its back wheel and pedals. It is a mystery to me why it was left there. If someone knows about bikes it should be easy to make it roadworthy again. I have more bikes than i need and i m not good with diy anyway. So i left the rest of it to be taken by the council workers who happened to arrive just when i finished with it. (in fact, i walked away at first and only after i thought about it and realised i need a saddle that i turned round and got back to it).
last night I went foraging, and was in time to see the sainsbury sales person reducing everything. it was 9pm so it was final reductions, and i got eight 8pack pork sausages for 20p each. and 2 pack of chicken livers 20p each. lamb £1 fr £6.75.Earlier i was at the tesco and bought a 8pack sausage for 49p. After i saw the 20p ones, i thought i made a mistake buying the tesco sausage, but just now i cooked it and found they are beef sausages which is a rare find. Not only are they difficult to get at normal prices,(£1.97 according to the label, same price as the pork sausages, but the beef ones are more worth it; not that i will buy them normal priced.haha) but i have not ever bought any at this reduced price. i much prefer beef sausages actually. there is hardly any fat from it and it is full of beefy flavour unlike the pork sausages which dont have any flavour at all.
I can remember a time when most sausages sold were beef sausages. Then came the mad cow scare and they all disappeared.
I bought darjeeling tea leaves, sainsburys own brand, for£1.25 for 125mg. No reductions, but the tea bags version were reduced. But i wanted tea leaves ( I dont buy tea bags anymore) and thought i shall see what the fuss is about these tea leaves from that area of india. At first when i brewed them i thought they were too weak, but i have since left them to seep and the tea got stronger and stronger, so i m quite pleased with them. They are not bitter, unlike the ordinary tea leaves frm sainsburys red label. And the leaves unfold into quite a bulky amount. And since i was using a tea pot with holes in it, it acted as a strainer so no need to use a separate strainer.
The teapot i used is one of those metal ones that u see in workmen's cafes, with a lid on a hinge. They are v useful, and is one of my favourite charity buys , only 50p too.
I saw a bike mainframe in the recycling area this morning. I cannibalise the saddle, and the clamp that fix it to the bike. This is because mine is getting worn.
It was missing its back wheel and pedals. It is a mystery to me why it was left there. If someone knows about bikes it should be easy to make it roadworthy again. I have more bikes than i need and i m not good with diy anyway. So i left the rest of it to be taken by the council workers who happened to arrive just when i finished with it. (in fact, i walked away at first and only after i thought about it and realised i need a saddle that i turned round and got back to it).
last night I went foraging, and was in time to see the sainsbury sales person reducing everything. it was 9pm so it was final reductions, and i got eight 8pack pork sausages for 20p each. and 2 pack of chicken livers 20p each. lamb £1 fr £6.75.Earlier i was at the tesco and bought a 8pack sausage for 49p. After i saw the 20p ones, i thought i made a mistake buying the tesco sausage, but just now i cooked it and found they are beef sausages which is a rare find. Not only are they difficult to get at normal prices,(£1.97 according to the label, same price as the pork sausages, but the beef ones are more worth it; not that i will buy them normal priced.haha) but i have not ever bought any at this reduced price. i much prefer beef sausages actually. there is hardly any fat from it and it is full of beefy flavour unlike the pork sausages which dont have any flavour at all.
I can remember a time when most sausages sold were beef sausages. Then came the mad cow scare and they all disappeared.
I bought darjeeling tea leaves, sainsburys own brand, for£1.25 for 125mg. No reductions, but the tea bags version were reduced. But i wanted tea leaves ( I dont buy tea bags anymore) and thought i shall see what the fuss is about these tea leaves from that area of india. At first when i brewed them i thought they were too weak, but i have since left them to seep and the tea got stronger and stronger, so i m quite pleased with them. They are not bitter, unlike the ordinary tea leaves frm sainsburys red label. And the leaves unfold into quite a bulky amount. And since i was using a tea pot with holes in it, it acted as a strainer so no need to use a separate strainer.
The teapot i used is one of those metal ones that u see in workmen's cafes, with a lid on a hinge. They are v useful, and is one of my favourite charity buys , only 50p too.
Been reading this book which i borrowed from the library called the red pyramid, by rick riordan. it is an adventure book, which i find i like to read nowadays. not for me the books about relationships. I get bored with that, but this kind of helter skelter mad cap rushing about fighting egyptian magicians and ancient gods is just perfect for an easy read.
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
google has translated my posts into chinese
london
Blogger which runs my blog has a stats page. And in there u can see which website has brought readers to your blog. One of them was this
I was surprised that it was a google page of my weblog in chinese.
Amazing what they can do these days. Not sure if the translation was a good one or not.
I have used yahoo babal, and sometimes the translation is hilarious, sometimes nonsensical.
Blogger which runs my blog has a stats page. And in there u can see which website has brought readers to your blog. One of them was this
I was surprised that it was a google page of my weblog in chinese.
Amazing what they can do these days. Not sure if the translation was a good one or not.
I have used yahoo babal, and sometimes the translation is hilarious, sometimes nonsensical.
Sunday, 14 November 2010
musings
london
You know most of us , if not all of us, see our lives from our own perspective. we notice other things in order to see how ,or if, it impinges on our lives and affect us.
for those who object to this saying 'no', that they read the papers and have friends and they take note of what is happening to them too because they are concerned for their friends; and not purely for selfish reasons of only finding out how it will affect them, I can only say that is because those people dont like to think of themselves as being selfish.
I think it is a false belief to think u r selfish just because u put yourself first.
but if u dont believe it wrong to be selfish and please yourself first before others, u will come to realise that we are interested in other things in the world only so we can see how they will affect us.
this is not surprising, as of course we all are most interested in our lives and anything else is only interesting to us when it impinges on us and affect our lives.
take for eg ... i was recently having a naked meet up in a person's flat in Elephant and Castle.(it is in south london near to waterloo.)
He rents it, but is buying another in croydon.
It is a small flat but has 2 good size bedrooms, large kitchen. quite nice actually which he says costs about £200,000 to buy, which surprised me because it is rare to get a 2bdroom for that price in london. but maybe the area is very council estate. He is renting for £1200 unfurnished. the landlord has put in new kitchen and wooden floors. (Typical buy to let decoration, laminate wooden floors are so much cheaper than carpets which can get dirty easily and look ghastly after some time). He has been there for 2yrs.
he is in the process of buying a large 2bdroom flat in croydon for slightly more. He says he wants the space.
Well, as i have said that we look at information from others only to see if they have new ideas for us to use in our lives or we look at their plans and realise we are not attracted to it. Well, in this case, the latter applies because i was not attracted to his plan.
i prefer to have a small flat in central london than a big one in croydon. He works in central london so will have to commute. At times like these when rail fares are predictably going to rise every year it is folly.
But people will lead their lives they want. Perhaps it might turn out great, or rather having made the decision he accepts it and makes the best of it, or he might regret it.
In these days, house prices will fall, and it is the chance to get a central london flat cheap. and the best ones are ex council flats.
though i was at another place yesterday, this time for a gay naked birthday party and during our visit, one of the guests noticed a crack in the paint running across the ceiling and mentioned he had a leak from upstairs.
the host told us a sorry tale of a very selfish upstairs neighbour who is a council tenant. He mentioned how unreasonable she was ,(though part of the tale involved askng her to let in the plumber at 4am. I did not ask why that ungodly hour for which anyone would refuse entry ... so i guess i m only hearing one side of the story) and the usual tales of woe about children playing ball outside, and breaking his kitchen window, and littering the common hallway with their stuff. so i guess u can get trouble in ex council flats.
I noticed a milldewed corner in the living room... so the upstairs flat is leaking water down his flat. not a good sign.
People dont realise that the upstairs neighbour of a flat can really affect your property below.
I think this is because his place has a lot of council tenants, and it is because it is way out in the sticks, canning town E16, and so many of those flats are not sold off.
More central areas have a higher proportion of private flats.
I will have lots of chances of looking at other people's flats because i m going naked visiting. i seem to have got into a website that have people wanting to socialise naked...
the other one i was at on another day, was a very nice two storey ground floor flat. 2 bedrooms upstairs and a small garden downstairs. large kitchen and lounge and it is near lambeth north tube station. very nice and central locality.
well, i always assumed nakedness and heating for warmth go together, u would think that u have to put up the heating... but i have noticed it is not necessary. funny how i too thought that it is not possible to be naked and not heat the flat. But i have been getting naked and the secret is put a hot water bottle in the duvet and go under it. and a dressing gown handy nearby. haha.
so i was able to get naked when i get online in a website that is for male naturists only. I have been wishing for one like that for ages. this one i was surprised to find allows pictures with cocks erect. i am really pleased about that because the other sites are full of so called naturists who dont want others to see them naked... a contradiction if ever I see one. so i m hoping all the guys in this all male naturist website will be at ease about being naked, not bothered about erections and just be men for heaven's sake.
But then, everyone is learning to get rid of inhibitions and age old beliefs. so u will bound to get guys who are at the early stages of getting rid of inhibitions.
thus, u get gay sites and forums full of guys asking about coming out, or finding the only one lover for life, or is it better to be a top or a bottom. or saying i m straight acting. i find i m attracted to other gays who find all these questions not worth bothering with.haha. we have gone beyond them.
so the same case with naturists who still ask about them being embarrassed to get an erection...
I was told of this all male naturist site by someone i was chatting to online in another naturist website that is very restrictive... so it goes to show that strange places that u go to and find not to your liking , can yield good results by letting u find out other places that u will like.
well, all this activity is for something to enjoy while being happy to be alive.
I am sure i shall enjoy this for a bit, and then find other things to enjoy or enjoy them in conjunction with other bits.
Added. In all this giving of my opinion, i m conscious that all this is within the narrow confines of my own perspective.
and i m sure there is a lot that others will find to disagree with my view of life. and thank goodness it is not necessary that people agree with you for you to have a great life living it however you want.
I often wonder why in those self improvement books, or self motivation courses, they always say u want to get the approval of other people, and have your achievements recognised by others. I wonder why that is desired. And they always have ceremonies where people come up and are recognised or make speeches about what they wish to do and the audience would cheer and clap. maybe i am different, but to me it does not matter really if others disagree with what i want to do. all i want is that they dont obstruct me, and leave me be, whilst i go round asking whether anyone would like what i like and join me.
that surely must be how everyone should live their lives.
You know most of us , if not all of us, see our lives from our own perspective. we notice other things in order to see how ,or if, it impinges on our lives and affect us.
for those who object to this saying 'no', that they read the papers and have friends and they take note of what is happening to them too because they are concerned for their friends; and not purely for selfish reasons of only finding out how it will affect them, I can only say that is because those people dont like to think of themselves as being selfish.
I think it is a false belief to think u r selfish just because u put yourself first.
but if u dont believe it wrong to be selfish and please yourself first before others, u will come to realise that we are interested in other things in the world only so we can see how they will affect us.
this is not surprising, as of course we all are most interested in our lives and anything else is only interesting to us when it impinges on us and affect our lives.
take for eg ... i was recently having a naked meet up in a person's flat in Elephant and Castle.(it is in south london near to waterloo.)
He rents it, but is buying another in croydon.
It is a small flat but has 2 good size bedrooms, large kitchen. quite nice actually which he says costs about £200,000 to buy, which surprised me because it is rare to get a 2bdroom for that price in london. but maybe the area is very council estate. He is renting for £1200 unfurnished. the landlord has put in new kitchen and wooden floors. (Typical buy to let decoration, laminate wooden floors are so much cheaper than carpets which can get dirty easily and look ghastly after some time). He has been there for 2yrs.
he is in the process of buying a large 2bdroom flat in croydon for slightly more. He says he wants the space.
Well, as i have said that we look at information from others only to see if they have new ideas for us to use in our lives or we look at their plans and realise we are not attracted to it. Well, in this case, the latter applies because i was not attracted to his plan.
i prefer to have a small flat in central london than a big one in croydon. He works in central london so will have to commute. At times like these when rail fares are predictably going to rise every year it is folly.
But people will lead their lives they want. Perhaps it might turn out great, or rather having made the decision he accepts it and makes the best of it, or he might regret it.
In these days, house prices will fall, and it is the chance to get a central london flat cheap. and the best ones are ex council flats.
though i was at another place yesterday, this time for a gay naked birthday party and during our visit, one of the guests noticed a crack in the paint running across the ceiling and mentioned he had a leak from upstairs.
the host told us a sorry tale of a very selfish upstairs neighbour who is a council tenant. He mentioned how unreasonable she was ,(though part of the tale involved askng her to let in the plumber at 4am. I did not ask why that ungodly hour for which anyone would refuse entry ... so i guess i m only hearing one side of the story) and the usual tales of woe about children playing ball outside, and breaking his kitchen window, and littering the common hallway with their stuff. so i guess u can get trouble in ex council flats.
I noticed a milldewed corner in the living room... so the upstairs flat is leaking water down his flat. not a good sign.
People dont realise that the upstairs neighbour of a flat can really affect your property below.
I think this is because his place has a lot of council tenants, and it is because it is way out in the sticks, canning town E16, and so many of those flats are not sold off.
More central areas have a higher proportion of private flats.
I will have lots of chances of looking at other people's flats because i m going naked visiting. i seem to have got into a website that have people wanting to socialise naked...
the other one i was at on another day, was a very nice two storey ground floor flat. 2 bedrooms upstairs and a small garden downstairs. large kitchen and lounge and it is near lambeth north tube station. very nice and central locality.
well, i always assumed nakedness and heating for warmth go together, u would think that u have to put up the heating... but i have noticed it is not necessary. funny how i too thought that it is not possible to be naked and not heat the flat. But i have been getting naked and the secret is put a hot water bottle in the duvet and go under it. and a dressing gown handy nearby. haha.
so i was able to get naked when i get online in a website that is for male naturists only. I have been wishing for one like that for ages. this one i was surprised to find allows pictures with cocks erect. i am really pleased about that because the other sites are full of so called naturists who dont want others to see them naked... a contradiction if ever I see one. so i m hoping all the guys in this all male naturist website will be at ease about being naked, not bothered about erections and just be men for heaven's sake.
But then, everyone is learning to get rid of inhibitions and age old beliefs. so u will bound to get guys who are at the early stages of getting rid of inhibitions.
thus, u get gay sites and forums full of guys asking about coming out, or finding the only one lover for life, or is it better to be a top or a bottom. or saying i m straight acting. i find i m attracted to other gays who find all these questions not worth bothering with.haha. we have gone beyond them.
so the same case with naturists who still ask about them being embarrassed to get an erection...
I was told of this all male naturist site by someone i was chatting to online in another naturist website that is very restrictive... so it goes to show that strange places that u go to and find not to your liking , can yield good results by letting u find out other places that u will like.
well, all this activity is for something to enjoy while being happy to be alive.
I am sure i shall enjoy this for a bit, and then find other things to enjoy or enjoy them in conjunction with other bits.
Added. In all this giving of my opinion, i m conscious that all this is within the narrow confines of my own perspective.
and i m sure there is a lot that others will find to disagree with my view of life. and thank goodness it is not necessary that people agree with you for you to have a great life living it however you want.
I often wonder why in those self improvement books, or self motivation courses, they always say u want to get the approval of other people, and have your achievements recognised by others. I wonder why that is desired. And they always have ceremonies where people come up and are recognised or make speeches about what they wish to do and the audience would cheer and clap. maybe i am different, but to me it does not matter really if others disagree with what i want to do. all i want is that they dont obstruct me, and leave me be, whilst i go round asking whether anyone would like what i like and join me.
that surely must be how everyone should live their lives.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
trouble and strife around where i live, but i never see any of it.
london
I always believe that if your soul wants it, u will have trouble , if it does not, trouble could be just round the corner and u will never notice it.
Take for eg today.
i saw long traffic jams in my estate, the small roads clogged with cars, and trucks. the main vauxhall bridge road was a horror the queue stretching from the river up to victoria and beyond.
Then i read in the papers that students were demonstrating at millbank towers, just down the road from where i live.
and the tv news shows them wrecking the place.
Ah so that was why all the jams.
I saw some students coming out of a pub. and that was all the trouble i saw.hahaha.
Helicopters stuttering up in the sky too.
But all is peace and quiet all around me. And that is what my soul and i want. I strongly believe my soul can push all those drama things from me. I dont want to even see it.
I know a lot of bloggers would be there now with their cameras to record and write and make hay filling their blog with the latest reporting.
Not me.
I always believe that if your soul wants it, u will have trouble , if it does not, trouble could be just round the corner and u will never notice it.
Take for eg today.
i saw long traffic jams in my estate, the small roads clogged with cars, and trucks. the main vauxhall bridge road was a horror the queue stretching from the river up to victoria and beyond.
Then i read in the papers that students were demonstrating at millbank towers, just down the road from where i live.
and the tv news shows them wrecking the place.
Ah so that was why all the jams.
I saw some students coming out of a pub. and that was all the trouble i saw.hahaha.
Helicopters stuttering up in the sky too.
But all is peace and quiet all around me. And that is what my soul and i want. I strongly believe my soul can push all those drama things from me. I dont want to even see it.
I know a lot of bloggers would be there now with their cameras to record and write and make hay filling their blog with the latest reporting.
Not me.
It's bad luck for those starting their university education now. The banks were bailed out by the govt and now the students are paying for it, along with everyone else.
personally, i think the universities too were overselling themselves. the standards have dropped to let as many as possible to graduate. I think it is not worth going for any degree other than a professional degree. Though even that is risky. Doctors can also be out of work.
Maybe only plumbers, gas men, electricians will be guaranteed to be in work.
Monday, 8 November 2010
too happy to be arsed
london
Today I read this article by lucy kellaway in the financial times.
She cited a teenager she knows who is so lazy because he is perfectly happy with his situation and so could not be arsed to do anything. he says why bother to go to a lot of trouble getting to A, when it is just as nice and so much easier to get to B which may be second best but just as good.
U can click on the link above if u like, but not sure if u can read it. i can even though i am not subscribed, so maybe u can too inspite of their paywall.
Lucy calls it the EHS sydrome, the Excess Happiness Syndrome.
I am not sure the teenager is a good example.
others might just call it the lazy boy syndrome. haha.
I know myself that if u are happy, u dont really want to burst your guts doing things. If you are happy it is a sure fact that u are quite content with what u got.
That must be the biggest disincentive to do anything.
and lucy is quite right there... she asked 'if life is so thoroughly agreeable as it is, why should anyone lift a finger to change it?'
So she suggests that in job interviews u should allow ur insecurities to show. and employers to search out those who are insecure and dissatisfied with themselves rather than hire those who are happy.
I think there is a lot of sense in what she says.
I think she might have been inspired by the reference article she cited. An article in the harvard review by rosabeth kantor who asked whether mark zuckerberg who founded facebook was not a chap who cannot make friends easily and whether feelings of deprivation drives entrepreneurs.
facebook can only be invented by someone who cannot make friends easily and is filled with people who like to make friends but dont want to meet them. (Too harsh? haha. they are like lady grantham in the tv series downton abbey just ended, who said 'i have lots of friends i dont like'. haha.
btw the last episode of downton abbey was a real cracker. Fast paced because they have a lot of loose ends to tie up, unlike the ones before which drag out each bits. Each vignette ending in a surprise and cliff hanger.
I think the answer is obviously yes.
You dont need to look far.
For me i just look at those asian entrepreneurs, not the present day ones, but the olden days where a chinese towkay lands in malaysia, penniless, and finds a dynasty and he still eats salt fish and rice and lives like a beggar.
I think there is a degree of hoarding for money too in all this. The desire just to see money pile up. So none of them decide that is enough and hand the business over to someone else and walk away.
Those who read this might just say it is sour grapes. Poor people who cannot hope to be rich may console themselves that it is because they are happy that is why they are poor. Sadly this is one of those very common situations when if A=B, it is not necessary that B=A.
if you are rich you are a sad , insecure git. it does not follow that if u are a sad , insecure git you are rich. haha.
it just goes to show that maths(or logical deductions) cannot explain life situations. haha.
Today I read this article by lucy kellaway in the financial times.
She cited a teenager she knows who is so lazy because he is perfectly happy with his situation and so could not be arsed to do anything. he says why bother to go to a lot of trouble getting to A, when it is just as nice and so much easier to get to B which may be second best but just as good.
U can click on the link above if u like, but not sure if u can read it. i can even though i am not subscribed, so maybe u can too inspite of their paywall.
Lucy calls it the EHS sydrome, the Excess Happiness Syndrome.
I am not sure the teenager is a good example.
others might just call it the lazy boy syndrome. haha.
I know myself that if u are happy, u dont really want to burst your guts doing things. If you are happy it is a sure fact that u are quite content with what u got.
That must be the biggest disincentive to do anything.
and lucy is quite right there... she asked 'if life is so thoroughly agreeable as it is, why should anyone lift a finger to change it?'
So she suggests that in job interviews u should allow ur insecurities to show. and employers to search out those who are insecure and dissatisfied with themselves rather than hire those who are happy.
I think there is a lot of sense in what she says.
I think she might have been inspired by the reference article she cited. An article in the harvard review by rosabeth kantor who asked whether mark zuckerberg who founded facebook was not a chap who cannot make friends easily and whether feelings of deprivation drives entrepreneurs.
facebook can only be invented by someone who cannot make friends easily and is filled with people who like to make friends but dont want to meet them. (Too harsh? haha. they are like lady grantham in the tv series downton abbey just ended, who said 'i have lots of friends i dont like'. haha.
btw the last episode of downton abbey was a real cracker. Fast paced because they have a lot of loose ends to tie up, unlike the ones before which drag out each bits. Each vignette ending in a surprise and cliff hanger.
I think the answer is obviously yes.
You dont need to look far.
For me i just look at those asian entrepreneurs, not the present day ones, but the olden days where a chinese towkay lands in malaysia, penniless, and finds a dynasty and he still eats salt fish and rice and lives like a beggar.
I think there is a degree of hoarding for money too in all this. The desire just to see money pile up. So none of them decide that is enough and hand the business over to someone else and walk away.
Those who read this might just say it is sour grapes. Poor people who cannot hope to be rich may console themselves that it is because they are happy that is why they are poor. Sadly this is one of those very common situations when if A=B, it is not necessary that B=A.
if you are rich you are a sad , insecure git. it does not follow that if u are a sad , insecure git you are rich. haha.
it just goes to show that maths(or logical deductions) cannot explain life situations. haha.
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