chrisp65

Having a little clear out, tidy up and reorganise of the back room. Moving some old vinyl and came across some 'classics' including:

a signed copy of a Merton Parkas EP

an original copy of Ogden's Nut Gone Flake

and what I think is a fairly rare flexi single, in glowing transparent yellow, of Pop Art Poem c/w Boy About Town by The Jam.

ah, memories.

yes just watched toast

funny little cameo of Savoy chef right at the end

we've crumbled white chocolate into ours, plus half a swiss roll, it's in the freezer in an expensive John Lewis flexible container - might be wonderful, might be inedible

For the very 1st time I've made some home made ice cream tonight. Inspired by catching the end of a Nigel Slater prog over Xmas

the simplicity of the recipe and the fact that the Co-op were selling off double cream at a ridiculously low price earlier -

I've given it a bash & it's in the freezer.

ha!

doing the same tomorrow, we'll have to compare notes

turns out we've got cream with a date looming, strawberries going soft and a broken packet of meringues so tomorrow is turkey curry followed by home made ice cream

packaging on toys is becoming ridiculous.

my nipper had some tiddly little animal toys in a box (my littlest pet shop?), anyway, they were in a cardboard box with a plastic view panel. Within the box they were on a moulded plastic tray. Within the tray they were on a second sheet of plastic. They had been tied to the second piece of plastic with iddy biddy little strings. These strings were knotted, folded over and secured with the world's tiniest clear elastic bands. The whole lot was then covered in sellotape.

I'm with Mr M on this. At home at the moment I have approx 30 different malt's, so do like the stuff, but things like Grouse are a perfect drink for when the occasion fits. Things like Bells are rough and probably I would avoid, but there are some perfectly acceptable and drinkable blended

Yes, I agree.

Grouse is good. Bells is shite. All malts are better, but many of them aren't that much better that you'd pay the difference, if money is a factor in your life.

West coast malts are the tops. Islay especially. Though I can be tempted by a nice Speyside...

I think the world of whisky / whiskey is too broad to say malt is better or blend is better. For me, Bushmills is a classic example of this, give me their simple cheap blend any time over their over priced malts.

Jameson is another, their entry blend is way better than quite a few malts.

Somebody mentioned Lagavulin earlier. My mate thinks it's the best and is always preaching it's virtues. I personally think it tastes like bitumen and is horrid. But then I like Penderyn so what do I know.

Is that the Kenyan beer? If so, how is it?

yes, Kenyan lager.

Distinctly average to be honest, saw it on a shelf and thought I'd relive the old days. So I chilled it right down, put on flip flops and shorts, got a dose of the sh!ts and scattered insects all over the dining room.

Happy days.

Tusker !

not the best lager in the world, but reminiscing about my best ever holiday

only a couple tonight, just staying on tick over to be fully on form for the big day

No new snow here today.

Just as well, it's been truly exciting driving a rear wheel drive, automatic estate. Office car park was just packed snow and ice this morning with almost nobody in before me. Yahoo! Time for a little tail out fun, haven't had so many skids since I wore the same pants all week.

It is scripted, it is formulaic. But it can still be fun.

I did think the episode was quite slowly paced, I had the advantage of watching it on play back so was able to skip through the star in a car section and the christmas present twaddle etc..

I thought the Stig stuff was quite funny, especially the turn the target around and shoot him in the back variation. As far as telegraphing goes, I claim my prize for guessing Clarkson would have a bigger gun than the others. But then I also predicted someone would get out of their car and properly execute a target.

5 Live had one of the airport managers from Helsinki on a short while ago. She described how they manage to never shut despite having several feet of snow each & every year.

There in lies the issue, if it could be predicted then the maths suggests loss of income versus investment in stuff would be fairly simple.

Chances are, this could be the last snow for 5 years and every council in the land will be criticised for buying Thunderbird 7 and not using it.

Just discovered something called Radio Free Wales. Apparently it was pirate radio set up by plaid cymru in the 1950's to combat the fact they were banned from having party political broadcasts like the other parties. Used to operate on the BBC TV frequency and would be switched on just as the BBC announcer said good night. Transmitters had to be hidden in different locations and moved from place to place to avoid detection. Pre dates radio Caroline and all that.

I know this is a slightly niche market post, but hey, it caught my interest so I'm off to do some further reading.

A lot of people cannot afford to go unpaid

they wouldn't be?! :?

They'd either make it into work, work the time up, or take it as holiday (ie paid leave). Using the example from the previous page.

I've not heard talk of unpaid leave on here, and I would not be in favour of that at all.

EDIT: ooops - just read Si's post on previous page. That's not good.

Apart from Si's position, what if you had no holiday left (surely not an unlikely position in the middle of december if the holiday year was a calendar one)?

'Work the time up'? Would one be allowed to nett it off against any unpaid overtime already done?

my mate's wife has walked into work for the wonderful Tesco this morning. Car undriveable, no buses, so she walked in. On arriving at 8:10am for a shift that starts at 8:00am she was met at the door by someone with a clipboard that told her she will be docked 15 minutes pay.

Happy Christmas Tesco.

Brains Black

only just discovered it, early days, but might be even better than Brains Dark......

But Coulsen has undoubtedly not been found "innocent".

under English law he is innocent until proven guilty , so he may not have been "found" innocent as to all extents and purposes he always was

that's a little bit cheeky there to complain about people having an agenda and then slipping in the Coulsen found innocent thing

if you have good news, post it up, I know 4 people who've been laid off this week, we could do with some good news

In fairness to the tories, they didn't have their photo's taken signing individual personal pledges not to do something .....then go and do it. That's why the heat is off cameron & hague et al.

Strangely, one bi election is having to be re run due to a charge of telling fibs in canvassing literature that may have influenced people to vote Labour. I know there is a 'coalition' defence here, but frankly, they lied got into power and pissed on people.

Perversley, I actually think this whole thing is at least making people look into the whole uni thing, the need for it, the desired outcomes, it's value to the individual and society.

Fair play to the 21

Anyhow common sense has prevailed , the bill has passed and we can move on to other areas of reform and the students can back to doing whatever next weeks student fad is

What a disgusting attitude Tony.

why .. just cause I happen to think that students should pay their own way ..

Yes I know people are going to trott out the line about the poor students and so on but no one has to sit down tomorrow and write a cheque for £9k to go to university , so in that regard it isn't penalising anyone

yes students do benefit the country , but the students themselves also benefit and £7 a month in extra tax or whatever it is , really is a small price to pay in the long run ... unless you think every student goes to uni to leave and go and do voluntary work in the Sudan ? and if they do then they wont have to pay the bloody loan thingy back anyway ..

So no it isn't a disgusting attitude , what is disgusting is the wanton vandalism and destruction that "some" of the protesters have caused imo

but why should students pay their own way?

surely the right to a free education is an over riding priviledge of growing up in Britain. If some kid wants to spend a few years doing media studies, analysing star wars or writing a thesis on coronation street why should they pay? Surely it's better that I pay via my taxes?

perhaps, when I am benevolent dictator we can sort this by having a selective fee system. Working to be a doctor / nurse / engineer etc? Here have a subsidy. Hoping to study modern ceramics / dance / drama? Sorry love, you'll be paying.

Cash in an envelope? No, never, couldn't.

Worked overseas briefly and it was clearly an unspoken but fairly regular occurence. I just couldn't bring myself to jump in and join in as it were.

Taking Clients to watch the Ryder Cup for a few days? Taking Clients to sit in the nice seats at Villa? Gifting someone a contract on the understanding they gift us a job soon? Shall we say I've seen it happen!

it always amazes me, they select an item, take it to the till, the till jockey announces the price........

....oh!.....right!......£5.99......erm.....right I'll just look for my money, in my purse, in my bag.

"Oh can I pay by card"

"oh here it is"

"oops wrong way round"

"Pin?"

"I've got it here somewhere, that's it (reads PIN out loud whilst typing it in)"

It is amazing that people are surprised that they need to pay once they get to a checkout.

oh hang on, I think I've got the right change, no, yes, give me the ten back and I'll give you.......hmmmm, hang on, yes, no I've got a 2p if that helps? Actually can I have cash back?

it always amazes me, they select an item, take it to the till, the till jockey announces the price........

....oh!.....right!......£5.99......erm.....right I'll just look for my money, in my purse, in my bag.

I'm guessing the quote on the Palin picture should be dated 1935.

This would tie it in with the age of fascism and bring the quote within the life and times of the guy who supposedly said it.

Oona fecking King - the people have rejected her twice and so the party machine puts her into a position of power anyway.

spot on

Labour 'yes person' unable to win gets in anyway

Plaid's Daf Wigley is a nice guy from what I've seen of him. Supporter of his local footy club (Caernarfon) he made a point of looking after us when my local team went bust and we had to all chip in for boot money and a bus to get a stand in pub team to complete our fixtures, including a trip to Caernarfon.

Even laid on food and drink for the Barry supporters that made the trip AND put the local boy's straight that made the classic gog error of presuming nobody in our party would be able to speak or understand Welsh.

love it

1) the joy of all that vicarious excitement from the nippers

2) construction sites close down and the phone stops ringing

3) 3 day champagne haze (my treat to myself, 6 bottles of varying quality already in stock)

4) Boxing day morning on the beach, regardless of weather

5) me cooking the mother of all rolling feasts all day long for the family

On the Woolas thing, it's quite a bizarre response.

I do understand the 'defend one's brother' idea but I think they fail to defend the interests of the electorate and that should be of more import, surely?

Some of them have learnt nothing, they still think it's more important to close ranks and stand by a convicted election cheat and liar as he's 'one of them'. It beggars belief they cannot see that they've almost all been caught with their hands in the till, they are almost universally capable of going back on election pledges, then one has been caught lying yet they are concerned the judiciary can over rule a fraudulently achieved election result! FFS!

When will we have 'none of the above' on the voting slips?

I just don't see how it's going to work in real life.

If the french surrender on the same week they are in charge of the aircraft carrier what do we do the next week?

Ask for it back?

Varies, with three desks, one in Redditch, one in Cardiff and one in London.

3 overnights this week, 2 in London, 1 in deepest darkest Kent.

Knackered, and it's Tuesday.