jono

3 hours ago, Wolfie said:

Growing up in the Peak District I used to be amused at the tourist pronuncialtions of villages such as:

Calver - should be pronounced Carver

Eyam - " "  Eeem

Edensor - " "  Enza

 

My antideluvian sat nav calls the A52 ... Brian Clow way 

I just think Stive it's about the rules of the game. Kicking a man when he's down sort of syndrome. 

Boxing is a tough game and about one man beating seven shades of whatever out of the other but there's still a ref and there is still a line you don't cross. 

I have a pet dislike of either side in politics claiming moral high ground. I suppose another way of putting it is what er sport you like its wrong to cheat. Payday loan companies are akin to the players that go down and then clutch their faces wanting the other guy to get sent off. They got the free kick but take more than their due in a contest. 

13 minutes ago, Animal is a Ram said:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/top-tory-funder-runs-high-cost-loans-company-8656356.html

Two of the bosses - Beecroft of Wonga, and Angest of Everyday Loans - are massive Tory donors.

The latter even provided Cameron with a £5m overdraft, at 3.5%.

Something something political elite

For me it has nothing to do with party politics. Or any individuals economic credo.  There are bad people who will try and curry favour from whoever is in power. The left and the right have each got their hangers on and sleeze balls who use different methods to gain influence

Payday loan companies are just fundamentally evil. Even if you are an economically right wing conservative. It's about common decency which has nothing to do with which wing of the political spectrum you are on economically

@Ewetube There always one 

This forum .. No I really mean it. I am conversing on a regular basis with folk from numerous different backgrounds and with political, social and sporting beliefs that aren't the same. Yet we all get on pretty damn well. There is a fantastic, fun, sometimes combative exchange of opinion but always in a brilliantly open self policed way. Yeah, we have our "mates" of like mind but it is great to come across a different view and have your own shifted just a few degrees because someone has made you think outside your own boundaries. 

Jeees I really am thinking of parting with some folding stuff as a gesture of support and become a plus or whatever it is.

owners / operators take a bow. 

29 minutes ago, Phoenix said:

Have you noticed the interest rates some of these loan sharks charge? Tiny blurred print at the bottom of the screen. Some of them are 5,000% or even 7,000%. Eye-watering.

I like a relatively free market, I often think we should carry more responsibility for our own decisions, choices or whatever but loan sharks are exactly what they are Sharks. They prey on the vulnerable. Loathsome companies. It is somewhat amusing in a black humour sort of way that the odious Oystons in Blackpool had Wonga as sponsors. Poisonous businesses run by morally bankrupt people. 

there is some more regulation now but we, as a society, need to keep the pressure up until they are outlawed. 

And widening the food theme ... REAL food .. It can be posh or simple, fancy or plain but when it's done right it is one of life's great joys ... Hot chips from whole spuds, ham off the bone in fresh bread with a dollop of mustard or pasta cooked al dente or porcini mushrooms in a good stew ... It isn't about money, snobbery or cheffyness .. It's about not going down the "reformed" processed e numbered synthetic flavour enhanced MSG. ... I love good food .. It makes me happy .. And it's cheap .. You can buy the most expensive free range egg with the yellowest yolk from the trendiest shop and it's still cheaper than a bag of crisps from the corner shop. We are so lucky 

7 hours ago, ramsbottom said:

The Sunday roast whipped up last night.  Aberdeen angus joint slow cooked for 8 hours, new potato crunchies, home made yorkshire, broccoli, baby carrots, stuffing balls & proper gravy.  Christ almighty it was good...

And the key element .. "Proper gravy" .. Meat juices, flour, maybe a dash of bisto powder .. Make proper roux then mixing in the stock water ( and a glug of red wine ) in bit by bit to the desired thickness.  ... Granules ! Never ! ... Proper gravy is an art form 

Then when you've had your Sunday dinner .. A slice of fresh bread with the remains of the gravy on top 

On 23 October 2016 at 20:28, EastHertsRam said:

Got the old wood burner on tonight, gives the living room a different feel altogether, that's cheered me up.

 

Nothing like a real fire in winter .. Some sort of primeavil security blanket. 

Unspoken "sharing" of a milli second of life with your fellow human beings .. I was sitting in a queue of traffic a couple of summers back .. Failed traffic lights or something .. Watching the world go by as we crept forward inch by inch. Then walking on the pavement a pretty woman strolling along with a smile and suitably summer clothes. ....Just nice to see, in a none pervy but defo  masculine appreciation of the fairer sex sort of way .. Then looking in my mirror to see the bloke behind me had seen the same .. And eyes met with a grin of brotherly acknowledgment .. A kind of "I thought the same mate" 

I've been messing about with dream league football on my iPad. It's not too bad, it's no FIFA but it's a bit of a fun. My team is Derby City 

but oh heck .. In game purchase drive me mad.  It crashes a lot as well. Almost impossible to progress without coughing up money.

i wish we could get back to paying for a game and that's it. 

On 14 October 2016 at 17:17, LesterRam said:

Ebay

So i bought my daughter a phone from Ebay, now Ebay's rules and regulation continually test my patience but this one really took the biscuit, so i won an Auction for a mobile which wasn't a great price but i still paid instantly through Paypal, i noticed on the listing in "My Ebay" that the transaction was cancelled by the seller without a reason, the cnut had relisted the phone with a reserve about £80 above what i had paid, the short of the story was it is going to take 14 days to reclaim my money, so not only is Ebay/Paypal holding funds, i cannot leave this idiot any feedback.

Oh the people you meet on eBay 

i sold a car once .. Auction coming to an end in a day or so, some bids in close to reserve ...guy asking to come and view .. All looking rosy.

Then some plank rings and says he really wants the car, he's very local and will I put a buy it now price on. So I do .. Little bit above the reserve and he buys it. ... But he doesn't because he then rings and says can I hang on while he sells his car. I was fuming and said so but with a sigh of resignation suggested that I Would wait 7 days. .. He said I was being totally unreasonable ... Ummmm It's an auction mate .. But he didn't seem to quite understand that. 

6 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

when highly trained assassins cannot kill Tom Cruise in an alley from 10ft away with 20 shots! I think a novice marksman like myself would get my eye in after about 5!

 Mostyn ... Along the same lines ... A sleveless vest is infinitely more bullet proof than any Kevlar jacket, and curious when a spacecraft is under attack and on its last legs with failing life support and multiple hull breaches.... the articulate gravity NEVER fails 

I just don't get the economic model behind the survey companies that many of these are. Leaving out the scammers there is basically a lot of Data trawling to sell a data base to specific clients. I understand it but even with low cost country wages it still costs money to run a call centre on the scale they operate .. So what are companies willing to pay for data sets of this nature. And how many takers are there for switching a power supplier after talking to some telmarketing company. The commission for getting such a switch can't be that big can it ? 

1 hour ago, Gritters said:

I am getting cheesed off with people ringing me telling me I've got a problem with my Internet connection. 

I blew my top and said to the **** on the end of the phone do you think I'm stupid?

He replied yes sir very.

I got two more calls from them within an hour. These people need shutting down the problem is I don't think they are phoning from this country. They don't sound English anyway. 

It always strikes me as remarkable how many people in Mumbai are called Steven and Lucy. They have all also been to the same "business" school that teaches them to end every statement meant they make with the word "right ?" Thus inviting us to agree. I have tried to tell them that my head doesn't button up the back of if they have ever thought of going for a long walk on a short pier but something gets lost in translation. I once kept one waiting 15 minutes for "my IT manager" but when I said he'd fallen down stairs rushing for the call he  finally hung up. 

On 6 October 2016 at 10:55, Mostyn6 said:

nah, not having that, if you use it properly, it's no different to glancing in your interior mirror, or looking up at a road sign.

I don't really look at mine. I just listen to the instructions. Mind you "take the first exit to Brian Clow way" takes some getting used to. 

My favourite thing about the club little match day flags are all the polite reminders about leaving them behind for next time and then kids you see tucking their contraband away at the end of the match and thinking no one has seen em. Brilliant 

On 3 October 2016 at 18:49, Phoenix said:

Bull-speak. As a member of the National Trust I am invited to vote for 6 people from a list of 27 people I don't know. Each has written a little synopsis as to who they are, what the NT means to them and what they can offer.

I eliminated those who wrote bull-speak and was left with 7, which made thing easier. Here are a few samples.

• The dichotomy of protecting rural landscapes.
• I can deliniante responses and explain opportunities provided by technology and people to create the dialogues required to find solutions. (etc)
• Bringing an evidence-based approach to developing strategy and plans
• I was responsible for assessing, quantifying, planning and effecting strategies so as to grow and embellish, positively, corporate entities.(Christ!)
• Think outside the boundaries
• 18 years of coal-face experience (this one's a woman),,,,grass-roots employees
• ...has fired my enthusiasm for continuing my involvement in governance volunteering
• Participated in inalienability proposals -blah blah governance volunteering -blah blah governance volunteering
• Business governance and efficiency - stategic needs - core priorities of conservation and visitor experience
• A practical grass-roots understanding of good and bad volunteering propositions
• Championing and lionizing people
• Governance, stategy and policy, honed over many years
• Achieve its strategic vision as a charity

Oh Phoenix .. That is brilliant ... I've got a filthy cold atm and that got me spluttering my tea everywhere. Hilarious. 

what is it about business cliches ! We just have to have them. It changes with each generation but the last 10-15 years have been epic. Makes me think of  Dickensian Clerk speak. "I remain sir your most obedient servant" and "we thank your for your esteemed enquiry and hope to be favoured with your valued instructions"  

Anthropoid .. Brilliant, harrowing and beautifully shot, very atmospheric. Fine acting too. The bitter sweet, ugly, brutal and almost perversely noble face of war. 

On 24 September 2016 at 09:43, Tony Le Mesmer said:

Haha made me laugh this Paul and I fly very very infrequently.

The bit I can most relate to is the kids kicking the back of your seat. I get this all the time in the cinema and it winds me up no end.

I make a point of telling my kid to not kick the seat in front of her but then think why bother. Every frigger else is letting their kids do it without a care in the world so why should I be the odd one out.

This reminded my of my first long haul flight to the Far East a few years ago. With wife (who's been round the globe a zillion times and knows the ropes ) got ourselves aisle seats each but next to each other. Then as we sit down a poor girl was really fretting cos she wasnt next to her friend. She look genuinely quite distressed, so mr nice guy here says ok I'll swap and just moved back and across one row. Ha ha she was a clever madam .. Sitting next to her ( now me ) and just comming back from stowing his overhead luggage, (oh I am such a soft mug  ) 6"-6" character from Sesame Street .. Sweaty, huge couldn't sit still his  2 kids right behind me with ineffectual wife bouncing or crying, kicking seat backs.... 10 hours of this .. No wonder the damsel looked happy when I'd offered to swap. Never again ! 

Oh it's just game, I am not that bothered, the world is going round, the sun will still rise. All will be well

b*gg*r cra* ars*holes .. (Sounds of crockery being thrown etc etc )

On 21 September 2016 at 18:43, Tony Le Mesmer said:

Not that old yet............

It's the ones on the top of your ears .. When they come you KNOW it's down hill 

22 minutes ago, WhiteHorseRam said:

All that cussing will get you into trouble with the Admin and Moderators. I think from on everyone has to write 'sausage' instead of the actual swear word.

And while we are on that topic ... I like swear words but I loath misuse and overuse of swear words. 

if you hit your thumb with a hammer then an expletive is perfectly acceptable. At a distance in a stadium, away from kids  flinging an insult a a player isn't the end of the world either. But peppering every other word in a scentence with the F word is just crude and pointless. Using what should be powerful words for minor gripes is pretty pathetic too. (IMO of course )

1 hour ago, Tony Le Mesmer said:

I've had this many times and rarely is it young folk that don't say thanks or show consideration.

You are right there Tony .. It's the grumpy vacant older ones. 

In fact I'd go as far to say that a lot of the current teens/early 20's are amazingly cheerful given the state of world ! ( except the plonkers who walk down the street glued to a screen and have no idea how to interact with their fellow human beings )!

51 minutes ago, ramsbottom said:

Ignorant wankshafts that don't put the Next Customer wedge on the belt once they've loaded up their shopping!  Even worse if they watch you do it then don't thank you for it...  CU***!!!

and I bet they are young, have tattoos and can't read a map. The youth of today .. disgraceful not even knowing basic supermarket etiquette ! .. what do they teach in schools today tsk tsk.  Of course I blame the ( enter per gripe group here )