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Questions for the seniors


lapal_fan

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33 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I honestly have no idea how people smoke these days.

If you're a 20 a day smoker these days it must cost you about £600 a month.

More likely to be in the 250-300 range which is still outrageous. All you non-smokers should be thankful to all the smokers in this country keeping the tax down on the things you do buy.

I smoke tobacco rollups and a 13 quid pouch probably makes around 50 rollups I would say so I get through about 26 quids worth a month which I can live with.

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I used to get the bus into Birmingham from Carters Lane in Woodgate for 45p as a junior ticket, and my first adult ticket was 90p.. I think bus tickets (singles) are £1.30 now? So it's gone up 40p in 16 years. 

My first pint of Carlsberg (or some shit larger) cost £1.90, but by the time I was 21(ish) it was regularly £2.20 for a pint, £2.50 for a Stella or "premium" larger.  I used to prefer Mild over larger when I first started drinking because larger was too fizzy :lol:  

Never smoked, but when I was 15 I worked in Kwik Save on the fag counter and a packet of 20 Richmond were about 3.50.  I always used to wonder why people didn't buy Superkings (longer fags) when they were longer and cheaper, even for the same brand! 

My first house, which was an ex-council, 3 bed semi cost £90,000 (2011/12) and it was a proper "doer-upper", no room wasn't completely redecorated and we even merged the kitchen/dining room.  Sold it 5/6 years later for £130,000.. which is more than what my parents paid for a much larger, much nicer 3 bed semi in a much, much nicer area in 2001.. I think it's now worth £350,000 (which has since been extended by my old man backwards and sideways). 

Petrol was 89p a litre when I passed my test when I was 18 or 19, so that would make it 2008/09.  It's now £1.29 for diesel at my local pump. 

I was on £3.20 an hour at Kwik Save (which was minimum wage for a 16 year old), and that went up to £4.10 when I worked at Wickes as an 18 year old.  "Excuse me, spotty young man who looks about 12, do you know which pipe connectors go with 40mm diameter copper piping dead end?" 

😐 "I can show you where there is some screws, does that help?" 

Edited by lapal_fan
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2 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

I used to get the bus into Birmingham from Carters Lane in Woodgate for 45p as a junior ticket, and my first adult ticket was 90p.. I think bus tickets (singles) are £1.30 now? So it's gone up 40p in 16 years.  

Yeah I remember it being 45p for my bus to school. And trying to get away with still paying 45p once you passed 16

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1 minute ago, Stevo985 said:

Yeah I remember it being 45p for my bus to school. And trying to get away with still paying 45p once you passed 16

Think it got to the point where I was about 19 and doing it... I remember renewing my bus pass for my college route as an under 16 ticket and one driver saying "It might be time to get an adult ticket soon bud" :lol:  

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I think when I first worked in a pub, the cheapest beer (which would have been "mild", where all the dregs ended up) was 13p a pint.

We had to add up the prices in our head in them days.  Big rounds was a right bugger.

Or so nurse tells me.

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14 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

I honestly have no idea how people smoke these days.

If you're a 20 a day smoker these days it must cost you about £600 a month.

It's not fun. I don't even smoke the expensive ones but mine are £10.15 for 20.

Usually get through 8 packs most weeks, more if going out.

If someone gave you 4 grand on Jan 1st every year and said set fire to it and breathe in all the fumes you would think that they were bonkers....

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2 minutes ago, LakotaDakota said:

It's not fun. I don't even smoke the expensive ones but mine are £10.15 for 20.

Usually get through 8 packs most weeks, more if going out.

If someone gave you 4 grand on Jan 1st every year and said set fire to it and breathe in all the fumes you would think that they were bonkers....

Yeah that’s crazy. £320 a month on fags. You could be leasing a very nice car for that money. 

(I’m not sure what maths I was using in my OP to come up with £600 a month 😂 I was going with £10 a day)

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I think gas/petrol in the US has  been cheaper than anywhere in Europe for a long time, but I remember as a kid my parents would pay $0.18 per gallon during "gas wars" around 1970.   I think in those days $1 was worth about 50p.  When I started driving in '77 I think we could fill a tank for $5 or less.

My first rock concert ticket cost $7.   A couple of years later paying $35 for a scalped Stones ticket felt like an incredibly irresponsible act.   That was 1/2 month's rent in college.

I remember paying $2 for a six-pack of cheap beer in high school.  When I went off to college, the bar on campus sold pints of Budweiser for $0.90, which was perfect because you just toss down a dollar bill and cover the beer and tip.

I need to stop now.  I'm feeling old.

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9 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

Yeah that’s crazy. £320 a month on fags. You could be leasing a very nice car for that money. 

(I’m not sure what maths I was using in my OP to come up with £600 a month 😂 I was going with £10 a day)

As said me and Mrs T started vaping almost 2 years ago (got up one morning and she couldn't breathe)  I have a cheap e thingy £27 not one with great clouds , stuck with tobacco flavour juice. I dont want to smoke a strawberry cheese cake thank you. We saved £3,400 first year. Now Mrs T works 2 days a week less. cost us about £5 each per week. 

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On 08/04/2019 at 09:34, Robtaylor200 said:

Whats the cheapest price you remember paying for Petrol

I remember my Imp being off the road for three days while I changed a bent wishbone.

and petrol had gone up to 68p per gallon about 15p per litre. I could do Western Super mud from Cannock for less than a fiver 

75p? I dunno - would be 99 or 2000 I guess. 

I don't know what it is now - maybe 130p? 

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On 08/04/2019 at 10:12, Stevo985 said:

I still don't know how much food costs to be honest. My gf laughs at me because I have no idea what a pint of milk costs or a loaf of bread. I just buy what we need when we go to the supermarket.

That makes me sound like some rich snob. It's not like that. It's just that we usually buy pretty similar stuff, so I know roughly how much we pay in a weekly shop. If we get a week where it's suddenly £10 higher then I'll have a look at what we bought and what was expensive. I guess I notice the price of the shopping overall rather than the price of every item.

Same. No idea on price of a pint of milk or bread. My shopping costs what my shopping costs. Occasionally more due to 'one off' purchases as opposed to weekly staples. 

If I had to guess as a price of a pint of milk and loaf of bread i'd say - 75p and 85p respectively?

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This has been a revelation. People actually know what petrol costs per litre? That knowledge is of no use to me, as I have no clue how many litres there are in a tank. The only quantity I ever think of for petrol is the 'tankful', and how much that costs. And I have never selected a filling station based on price (or any other reason). I just use the first one I come to when the tank goes into the red. 

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1 minute ago, mjmooney said:

And I have never selected a filling station based on price (or any other reason). I just use the first one I come to when the tank goes into the red. 

Oh, same for me. People I know will drive miles to get slightly cheaper supermarket fuel. I just think what a false economy. 

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12 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

People actually know what petrol costs per litre?

to the tenth of a penny. currently, £133.9 at the closest garage, £128.9 at the Tesco and £130.9 at the Esso at the other end of the village. A New Cheapo EG garage is opening closer to my house soon, so I'm expecting a price war locally

That said I buy at the most expensive one as I prefer their coffee because when you only put a tenner or twenty in you really don't give a crap. It's all about the taste of the coffee for me

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46 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

This has been a revelation. People actually know what petrol costs per litre? That knowledge is of no use to me, as I have no clue how many litres there are in a tank. The only quantity I ever think of for petrol is the 'tankful', and how much that costs. And I have never selected a filling station based on price (or any other reason). I just use the first one I come to when the tank goes into the red. 

Two garages in view of each other on my commute. This evening I've filled the car as I'm off on a long run tomorrow.

Waitrose petrol station is due to close and taking the piss, tonight their fuel was £1.31 a litre. At the bottom of that hill, a Texaco garage is currently £1.22. So I've stuck about 30 litres in saving nearly £3.00 Had I waited until the morning and fuelled up on the motorway, that would have cost me another £6.00

When I'm paid expenses per mile, and doing that trip a couple of times a week I learn the prices. That's a big difference - I ain't driving the first 75 miles of every trip for someone else's profit.

 

Food and drink, I get to just put the receipt in, so price doesn't come in to it. Couldn't tell you how much a motorway coffee is.

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This is generally how I judge garages

Costa - depends if I need a piss and the garage has a bog. If so Costa bubbly dishwater becomes acceptable

Starbucks - This preferable to Costa (though there is one garage in Speke that has SB but no way I'm paying their freaking fuel prices when it's cheaper by 5p a litre half a mile away - double stop time)

Wild Bean Cafe - Screech, I find it hard to drive past one unless I still have the previous one, fortunately, they all seem to come with excellent toilet facilities too.

Odd generic brands I've never heard of - Am I nearly asleep? If its a purely medicinal coffee then I'll have it whilst holding my nose

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Just now, bickster said:

This is generally how I judge garages

Costa - depends if I need a piss and the garage has a bog. If so Costa bubbly dishwater becomes acceptable

Starbucks - This preferable to Costa (though there is one garage in Speke that has SB but no way I'm paying their freaking fuel prices when it's cheaper by 5p a litre half a mile away - double stop time)

Wild Bean Cafe - Screech, I find it hard to drive past one unless I still have the previous one, fortunately, they all seem to come with excellent toilet facilities too.

Odd generic brands I've never heard of - Am I nearly asleep? If its a purely medicinal coffee then I'll have it whilst holding my nose

I've got to the point where I know the crews in different places.

I'm ok with Costa, it's as insipid as SB is bitter or burnt. But Newbury services depends on who's serving I think the wrinkly old lady is some sort of slow motion milky blandness specialist.

The east european female team in Reading are fast and do a good coffee.

The kids in the SB drive thru outside Ross on Wye are quite good except the tattooed drama queen who thinks he's funny - he's not funny chatty, he's slow and gets the order wrong.

Tchibo self service machines are often weirdly good.

Gloucester Services is like the Waitrose of services, everything is top quality, no brands just their own stuff,  if you haven't been there, it's worth a trip as a destination - but take a good credit card. They sell dyno tape machines.

I'm actually very interesting at dinner parties.

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