Define Luxury vs. Waste
Phil
This came to mind as I switched on my gas heater downstairs,
before coming upstairs to check my e-mails.
"Luxury" I thought: to be able to descend the stairs later
on to replenish my Scotch in the warmth below. I then extinguished 2
unnecessary lights. This reminded me of a
departed mate who asked his family what was wrong with
the lounge room light. "Nothing" was the reply. "Then why is
it the only light not on"?
Is luxury relative? I enjoy and appreciate the luxury of
chance, in having been born and raised in very very lucky
country with lots to offer. Luxury to someone less fortunate
might arrive with the serendipity of a simple hot meal tossed their
way.
I believe that the greater the value placed upon a relative
or perceived luxury, the more it will be appreciated and the
less it will be wasted and taken for granted.
Why is it then that I think nothing of turning on a gas heater,
lights, computer and so forth? Things that would be absolute
luxuries to some others.
The most luxurious things that can be enjoyed by both rich
and poor is everything that lies in nature. Place both people in a
natural setting, without the mod-cons of human intervention. I'm sure
both will enjoy the luxury of sighting magic sunsets, clear streams,
fresh fruit and vegetables, a fresh (road) kill, joint effort in
building a fire and cooking.
What is your definition? Is it earned opulence and material
goods; the choice to not have to work; is it that you have more of the
same things in reserve than another; or is luxury a symbolism of
wastefullness?
Phil
Jerry
Sometimes it can be reassuring to them.
Personally I don't like ostentation
- but if a person chooses to drink Remy or Magno in their own domain -
then that is a matter of preferrence.
Self regarding activities
Drew
intellectual fount of my formative years, Monty Python, "Luxury."
FOUR YORKSHIREMAN SKETCH
========================
(Hawaiian music)
Man#1 (Michael Palin) Aye! Very fussable, eh? Very fussable bit,
that? eh?
Man#2 (Graham Chapman): Grand meal, that was, eh?
Others: Yes, wonderful, yes very good..
Man#2: Nothing like a good glass of Chateau le Shlasseler, eh,
Guissay?
Man#3 (Terry Jones): Oh, you're right there, Robidaier.
Man#4 (Eric Idle): Who'd 'ave thought, thirty year ago, we'd all be
sitting here drinking Chateau de Shlasseler, eh?
Man#1: Aye, in them days we was glad to have the price of a cup of
tea!
Man#2: Aye, a cup of cold tea!
Man#4: Without milk or sugar!
Man#3: Or tea!
Man#1: Aye, in a cracked cup and all!
Man#4: Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a
rolled-up newspaper!
Man#2: Aye, the best we could manage in those days was to suck on a
piece
of damp cloth!
Man#3: Aye, but we were happy in those days, though we were poor.
Man#1: Because we were poor! My old dad used to say to me: Money
doesn't buy you happiness!
Man#4: Aye, he was right, I was happier then and I had nothing. We
used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the
roof.
Man#2: House! You were lucky to live in a house! We had to all live
in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, half the floor
was missing, and were all huddled together in a corner for
fear of falling!
Man#3: You were lucky to have a room! We used to 'ave to live in a
corridor!
Man#1: Oh, we used to DREAM of living in a corridor. It would have
been a palace to us. We used to have to live in an old
water tank in a rubbish pit. We got woke up every morning
by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us!
House! Huh!
Man#4: Well, when I say house, it was only a hole in the ground
covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us!
Man#2: We were evicted from our hole in the ground. We had to go and
live in a lake!
Man#3: You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty
of us, living in a shoebox in the middle of the road!
Man#1: Cardboard box?
Man#3: Aye!
Man#1: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in
a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the
morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread,
go to work down at the mill, fourteen hours a day, week in,
week
out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home, our dad would
thrash us to sleep with his belt.
(slight pause)
Man#2: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock
in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of damp gravel,
work a twenty-hour day at the mill for tuppence a month, and
when
we got home, our dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken
bottle, if we were lucky!
Man#3: Well, of course, we 'ad it tough! We used to have to get up
out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and lick the
road clean
with our tongue. We 'ad two bits of cold gravel, and worked a
twenty-four hour day at the mill for six or seventy-four years,
and
when we got home, our dad would slash it to us with a bread
knife.
Man#4: Right. I had to get up at ten o'clock at night, half an hour
before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work
twenty-nine hours a day down at the mill and pay the mill owner
for
permission to come to work, and when we got home, our
mother and father would kill us and dance on our graves
singing Halleluja.
Man#1: Aye, and you try telling young people of today that. And
they won't believe you.
Man#4: Aye, they won't!
Norman
Phil has described a very evocative pastoral view of luxury and nature
but do the people of Siberia say, have a similar view of nature? Years
ago I read a short essay about four people I think enduring the harsh
conditions of the Gulag. One caught a rabbit (don't they get
everywhere) and saved it in the snow for Christmas dinner which was a
few days away. That dinner was one of the most memorable in their
lives, not for the rabbit alone but because of the felling of oneness
on that moment between all four of them. This is a much different face
of the same nature and brings us on seamlessly to relationships, which
like a sheet of glass are often tough on the outside but fragile on the
inside and probably the one thing most of us are profligate with. Once
the surface has been splintered it is bloody hard to put the whole
thing back together again. This is probably the thing which means the
most of all to us and at the same time the one thing we are most casual
with. It must say something about people.
Best.
Phil
What I find "obscene" is the advertising (usually very late at night or
in the wee hours .. when such as I, have a difficult time getting to
sleep) depicting the "hardship" faced by women with their broken nails,
dank hair, weight increase etc. etc. .. all answered with a sympathetic
ear and a remedy of nail strengthening conconctions, hair shampoo with
"body" and "feel right" healthy diets.
I could almost spew.
I feel guilty by association in even viewing such crap, when many of
our planet's children are born into sickness and poverty. The poor
little buggers are 2 steps behind before they are even given a chance.
I'm sure that their mothers don't give a rat's arse about their nails,
dank hair nor (under) weight. Yet our western materialistic world
sympathises with the frivolous woes of the modern age professional.
Should we indeed feel guilty about residing in luxury as a matter of
circumstance?
I know I talk the talk, by asking the question. I trust that I will
make a bloody difference somehow by altering some inequity before I
die. Then I will have served a purpose. Then I will have walked the
walk.
Phil
Phil
Thanks for your humorous rendition of Monty Python,
recited in detail. Very funny. It says a lot when you
think about it. It makes sense. Forever, there will be
someone worse off than ourselves.
I do not condone Socialism nor Communism. I am by
upbringing a Capitalist. However, I detest inequity of
fairness when a solution may be at hand.
I feel that my own lax attitude comes from the comfort
of residing in that very comfort zone. It takes effort to
extend yourself for the betterment of another. The process
of doing so though, can only make you a better person
through that experience of giving.
There is nothing wrong with the "feel good factor". That is
an indulgence deserved by those whom choose to give
to those in need, less well off than themselves.
If it makes you feel good, and your actions DO good,
then what's wrong with that?
My since departed brother used to humour me. He
reckoned that he had to clear the snow from his path
with a teaspoon, just to get to school. I was very young
at the time of his story.
Phil
Phil
Wasted relationships!
I think I get your drift. Not sure. Sharing the basics, as in cooking a
hunted rabbit, certainly bring people together. Sharing the
fruit/meat of the kill; someone builds the fire; another collects
the garnish, one organises the meal table; and everyone
thanks the bloke who gutted and skinned the rabbit.
My specialty! As long as I get to keep the skin to sell!
As for the persona described, that's how most people
portray themselves I think. Like layers of an onion.
I much prefer the opposite tract. Soft on the outside, with
an impervious shell within. Approachable by the pliable
outer surface, yet met with a barrier of protection of the
soul, else all is exposed of the weaknesses and truths
of a being.
Do tell more Norman,
Phil
Jerry
Feeding retrovirals to Africans with HIV does no good - they are
suicide bombers
- feeding 'refugee camps' is also pretty pointless - it is breeding
dependancy
Feeling guilty about remote things is also pointless
- sorting out minor problems in your own backyard is probably useful
You have no idea about the insecurities of women, nor have I
- obviously the advertisers do have a 'grip'
Watch a different channel - or listen to the radio
@Norman
Shattered glass is peculiar
- it is normally, in my experience, evidence of long time deviance
- and as such almost welcome, since at last one knows what has been
going on.
It is like realizing who the cuckoo is, especially unpleasant if (like
me) you like the bird.
Norman
are not unique; it's a case of you always hurt the ones you love and
familiarity breeds contempt. You put the people around that you get on
with best, then when thing go wrong from time to time you tend to have
the luxury of taking your frustrations out on those around you and
expect them still be there for you at the same time. Either that or you
kick the dog. I know that sometimes when I am expected to shift my
ground in order to make some situation better, I tend to plant me feet
and get the nukes out first. Then when it all goes oblong you are left
to decide if you won the battle and lost the war and how you pick up
the bits or don't. One thing that I do know in all situations is that
things either get better or worse but they never stay the same. Then
you have to do a personal audit to decide if what was gained was worth
what was lost. It really is a judgement call to decide if the luxury of
going for the throat to prove the rightness of your argument was worth
the waste of future mistrust. As for skins of an onion and the location
of the hard and soft bits, it tends to be a bit more complex because
people can move the hard bits up and down through the layers. Sometimes
unpredictability is what makes people interesting.;-)
Btw, the rabbit was probably a red hearing!
Best.
Norman
suspect. We are getting into personal areas now but I feel it is
necessary to clear up the misconception.
Both Chris and me have former lives and she has two grown up daughters
from a former arrangement. The fact that we are in Belgium at all is
because she wanted to be with her grandchildren. One of the daughters
in particular is a real mixed bag; whilst very good and kind hearted in
some ways is also very calculating in the way she often takes advantage
of her mother. I do what I can to protect Chris especially since she
had a serious back operation earlier this year. I am experienced
enough to see these moves being played out but when I get Chris to look
in the right direction she will instinctively protect her clutch,
particularly so she will not be disadvantaged with her grandchildren.
I can assure you that impropriety is not the problem and no offence at
all taken about jumping to the obvious conclusion.
Best
Drew
particularly the 'because you're worth it'. I do appreciate good
films but unfortunately this often means one is subjected to adverts
unless it is on Auntie Beeb. I do however have an extremely effective
ad filter so they don't bother me too much apart from inserting a
hiatus in the film mood. Watched 'Monster's Ball' tonight and not
a single ad registered.
I am however slightly atypical, as too are all contributors to this
forum. Did cynicism precede rejection of those trying to control our
brains, or was it the other way around? Perhaps both are simply a
consequence of objective education.
The original thread's issue was basically do we take things for
granted. Difficult not to. Not every time that I turn on a tap do I
bless the luxury of fresh running water, but I do at least a couple of
times a week. Just yesterday I was blethering with an engineering
friend, half my age, and to his eternal credit he was never
'bought' by the system. Not for him the £100 trainers, designer
labels or the latest mobile. I was saying to him that when I was a
student it was a bit unusual for a flat to have a phone. Even had an
outside bog (dunny) at the end of the communal corridor in one bed-sit
I stayed in in Paisley. No bath either. And you try telling young
people of today that -- hence the Monty Python extract.
I don't think one should actually feel guilty about all the benefits
and luxuries which we enjoy, just so long as one doesn't take them
for granted and try not to be profligate. It is after all only a
passing phase because it is simply unsustainable. Our infestation of
Earth is raping the planet. At present, economic growth is considered a
positive thing, except by an educated fringe. There will come a time
when white goods will last for fifty years and become heirlooms.
Vehicles too. All one can do is attempt to live under future
imperatives, just like clear thinkers two hundred years ago eschewed
the then respectable slavery. For my own part, I have a twenty+ year
old TV, microwave, radio, motorbike etc. They all work just fine and I
don't give a damn that they are not the latest thing. Most of my
girlfriends are pretty second hand too. Admittedly it does get a bit
daft though, having spent most of the day fixing a computer monitor
with a *really* annoying intermittent fault. I knew it was just a bad
solder joint but could I find it! Now if all electronic equipment was
built with double sided 'through plated' printed circuits, they'd
tend to last a hell of a lot longer. Cost a little bit more of course
but perhaps then punters would think twice before heaving them simply
because of the insidious 'must have' ads. There will come a time,
has to come a time, otherwise mad Max will come to your neighbourhood,
rather than just New Orleans.
Best
PS The Halle Berry sex scene was pretty, um, arousing. She got an
Oscar.
Jerry
I honestly did not infer any such problems
- I had had a bit to drink and released some bitterness about something
that happened to me where I suddenly realized that a lass I knew well,
liked and trusted was playing some peculiar and poisonous games behind
my back.
Finally I put together the jigsaw puzzle and realized what had been
going on.
Norman
We all get one on us from time to time; there is nothing wrong with
that, it is part of life. The obvious thing to say is close the door
behind you and don't look back but life isn't like that either.
Sometimes we let our cynicism slip and look where it gets us.
Ach relationships! You can't be doing with them and you can't be
doing without them.
Life eh.
Best.
Jerry
Or perhaps an idealist is an immature realist
'lurve' is ephemeral - but 'liking' essential
Norman
The only thing I know about reality is that it is for people who
can't cope with drugs. Being in love is ephemeral, love itself is
like a piano, sometimes it is grand and other times it upright against
a wall. Spot on with liking though, fancying is even better.
Drew,
A new variation of the guy laughing the girl into bed is the ad men
laughing Mrs Housewife into the shops. It was Phil's compatriot,
Clive James who first brought this to everyone's attention but others
were not slow to jump on the bandwagon by making half hour shows of
comical commercials .I have always thought that when recording a film
with super video it would have been a relatively simple thing to enable
a pin in the scart cable link to pause the video during the
commercials. It is probably the power of commerce which prevents it.
If you want to try and rationalise your lifestyle Phil you could try
telling yourself that you work harder for what you have than a refugee
living in a camp and given the choice would the refugee really want to
swap places with you. As Jerry says dependency breeds dependency and
non workers become unemployable. If it would be politically incorrect
to just stop aid supplies, then free food and preventative sex should
be different sides of the same coin. Get pregnant and the food supply
dries up. Hard I know but do you know a better incentive.
White goods used to last fifty years when engineers designed them, then
engineers got accountants sitting on their shoulder like Long John
Silver's parrot and we all know the outcome, plastic gear wheels in
timer switches to go over old ground. I used to think a good kitchen
appliance was one you couldn't move by yourself, maybe it will all go
full circle. The likes of MS etc doesn't help, bringing out their new
must have every eighteen months or so. Btw, did you manage to get the
black or the white iPod Nanno?
I heard that after leaking underground pipes, leaving the tap running
whilst brushing your teeth is the top water squanderer there is, so I
am doing my bit for the planet by leaving it off, when I remember of
course.
The trouble with cars is that nobody will sell you the basic box on
four wheels, entry comes in at the GL level.
So you know Second hand Rose too, I think this is the point where me
and Jerry came in.
I know I shouldn't ask but what was Halle Berry doing with the Oscar
in that arousing sex scene?
Best.
Drew
Usually puts me in a mind to throw a little libation down the neck too.
Ach relationships, indeed. Sex is all very well -- but you can't beat
the real thing.
Re those damned ads spoiling the mood of films, it's basically the
hiatus itself which upsets me. Bit like coitus interruptus when parents
decide to pay a visit. Interesting that ads aren't inserted into
football matches regardless that football fans would be particularly
receptive to suggestion (if you will excuse me the implication of
elitism). Formula 1 however is thoroughly punctuated with the dross
which really upsets the excitement -- oops, actually it's turned
about as thrilling as golf. So whilst it would be possible to do some
clever stuff with the SCART lead you're still left twiddling thumbs.
But, the new media centre digital thingies have a pause function which
allows you to pick up from where you left off by recording as it goes.
So if you start it off and immediately go to pause for fifteen minutes
you can then do a fast forward on the "I'm loving it" type bits.
Could of course just record and watch later but there is something
appealing to me to be forced to watch a film live. Doesn't convey the
same forced immediacy when recorded. Kinda like sunsets, you have to be
there at the time.
I too have always turned off the water when brushing teeth, and this is
in the land of not insignificant water availability. Yes of course
it's just a drop in the ocean (urgh) but it's a case of mindset. As
we say, 'every mickle macks a muckle'. One slight flaw in my
distaste for mass consumerism, whilst at the same thing doing my bit
for the planet by recovering other people's scaff, is that the
technology which is my plaything is only there in the first place
because of the mindless consumerism culture. Were it not for profligacy
we'd be building radios with valves. Back it off just slightly and
we'd still be thinking that 180K, 10 inch floppies are pretty cool.
Since you ask what Ms Berry was doing with Oscar I have to correct you
that it was with Billy Bob Thornton that she convincingly jumped bones
with. Good filum, can recommend. Oscar came later, so to speak.
Incredibly she was the first black wumin to win the 'best actress'
award, though I think the definition of black is a little suspect. Must
be an American thang.
Best
Norman
Have often thought that the only thing wrong with being a millionaire
is that it just wouldn't feel right scavenging other peoples skips.
Part of the pleasure of life would just be taken away.
I have never really thought of Ms Berry being black, never not thought
of it either, is it relevant? At least she didn't have the indignity
of being an honoury white. Funny that you never hear of who was the
first left handed woman to win an Oscar.
Best.
Jerry
I suspect that the lack of adverts in football matches is because of a
deal with the broadcasters
- advertising slots would devalue the adverts plastered round the
stadium
Not being remotely interested in football, I had never noticed that
phenomenon.
Your points about old white goods lasting fifty years has got me
thinking about antique boilers, refrigerators and washing machines
- not to mention Victorian Engineering
@Phil
You do not need to feel guilty because you are better off than many
denisons of 'underdeveloped' nations.
I've been to Ghana and the Sudan, and both are better than most, but
they are just ... pathetic.
They are idle, have a 'cargo cult' mentality and are thoroughly
corrupt. The exceptions stand out a mile.
I've met a few people who I thoroughly admired.
- a very few.
Mostly the famines have been brought on themselves, for example it is a
little known fact that Darfour's problems were caused by the local
males getting arms from the South and launching a terrorist war against
the central government and the co-existing Arabs.
When you hit someone, you expect to get hit back, not 'go crying to
mummy'.
People in the Aid Business produce tear jerking advertisements and
press releases, but they are just using the situation to build a stage
for themselves.
I suggest that you reserve your sympathy for deserving cases far closer
to home, preferably avoiding intermediaries.
Curious thing, water, when I was about 15 I did a school exchange to
Freiburg (it was a rites of passage thing at our school, but eventually
was terminated because the UK kids got drunk for six weeks in Germany
and the German kids shoplifted like vultures in the UK).
Anyway the father of the family that I was staying with caught me
brushing my teeth with the tap running, and explained the price of
water per cubic metre. I was astonished.
In my patch about once a year we have a major mains leak, the roads get
flooded, and I'll bet that more water is lost than the entire town uses
on brushing their teeth.
My take is that the situation is being manipulated so that they can
force metering.
@Norman
You are spot on, liking and fancying is a darn sight better than a
short lived testosterone induced infatuation
- I've also found that a high innate IQ in a lass is a major turn on.
Also diverse interests.
@Drew
I far prefer recording films, it allows me to skip back and check
things out, one often spots something curious but is not entirely sure.
Also one can fast forward through the ads, although I sometimes play
them backwards just for fun.
Drew
much, I feel, in the difference between our basic characters which
could be gleaned from this. Buggered if I know what though. Really has
got me thinking.
Curious about the German kids shoplifting. Any social comments to make
on this?
Completely agree with the IQ thing, 'quirky' also attracts. Skill
in general too, like my fav singer at the moment, K T Tunstall. Not a
hound or drop dead, however when she sings I get oh so horny and want
to have her babies.
Can you possibly be less interested in football than I?
Thing which pisses me off about Victorian goods still in use versus
modern day goods is that the new stuff usually works a lot better and
we do have the ability to make it last for just as long. But it
doesn't! Bought a Tefal kettle which worked great, excellent
ergonomics, lasted less than three years. Bought another, same story.
Cost thirty quid so I complained. Got the usual banal PR s***.
There's a thing though, why are electric kettles found in every
British kitchen but are rare in the rest of the world?
@Norman. I guarantee when I become a millionaire I shall still rake
around in skips. I just enjoy mastery over technology, whether it be
old video recorders or bits of wood which bent to the will of my
hewing. And there is of course a healthy history of the eccentric
millionaire.
Not important to me if Ms Berry is black, white or green. Apparently
colour (or color) does have certain significance in less enlightened
corners of the world. Apparently too, left-handedness hasn't been a
major source of social deprivation except perhaps in S. Ireland where
until recently God was really keen for sinisters to suffer for their
deviance.
Best
Jerry
I think you might have a point about our different preferred film
viewing modes
- can't think what it is though !
The German kids came from a relatively affluent background, and an
affluent city - Freiburg
Yet each year they embarked on an orgy of shoplifting.
I can only assume that it was the change of environment that was
responsible for their deviant behaviour.
We would get drunk in Freiburg, but that is perfectly normal behaviour.
A tribute to German beer.
I have a feeling that some things are getting better, for example cars
used to be rust buckets after a few years and televisions VCRs etc
often last a very long time.
Nowadays I simply buy Bosch white goods, not very patriotic, but their
stuff tends to last.
My Philips kettle has about 10 years on the clock.
It is possible that the British kettle is a function of our liking for
tea and instant coffee.
In the US and on the continent they nearly always have an electric
coffee maker, so they don't really need a kettle.
I'll bet one could sell them though.
Hmm also historically continental wiring was a bit less robust than UK
specs, we go in for electric stoves so a kettle is a minor extra load
on the power circuit.
Left handed people certainly tend to be .. different
I've heard that forcing a left handed kid to write with their right
hand can have some nasty side effects.
- it might be a myth, but I rather doubt it
Norman
a passing interest in the celluloid industry. There are a small number
of films I do like to see over and most of these I have on tape or DVD.
There are one or two I have seen in the past that I just can't get
hold of anymore. Maybe one day I should try to come to terms with eBay.
Our old friend Peter moved from Ireland to Hamburg, maybe he was left
handed. If he was a left footer too he certainly had an affliction.
When I become an eccentric millionaire I shall build a folly out of
things I have found in skips. Then people can say "Norman the
idiosyncratic did that".
Just had a look around our kitchen appliances; there is a jug kettle
(no corresponding tea pot); two coffee machines, one a regular filter
paper thing which on average have about a nine month lifetime, and a
Senseo machine which forces hot water through coffee bags and turned up
when Chris's daughter moved in. The regular toaster has been demoted
in favour of a toastie maker and a combi micro completes the electrical
appliances.
Drew, I never heard of K.T. Tunstall before but downloaded a few 30
second sound clips from her web site and I can see what you mean.
The one that is doing it for me at the moment is Kari Bremnes, a
Norwegian singer that has brought 14 albums out over 25 years but only
two in English so probably not so well known for that reason. And what
a looker too, I shall not put up too much of a struggle if she wants to
do reproductive abuse on me.
You already know I like songs about life with strong lyrics. Here is a
sad one from her Norwegian Mood CD that I like; it is called "Day".
DAY
Day is a veil that you can't pull aside like a curtain
sewn from black cloth - a cloth that no one can see.
No - one can take it away and you know this for certain.
No - one can help you, you might as well let the cloth be.
You are no longer able to see; you no longer have foresight.
And you can't part the curtain, there's no way to know what's in
store.
You are stranded in time, a ghost that is lost in the twilight,
And the curtain is woven from the memories of time gone before.
Day is blank paper, but paper you never can write on,
Unlike the letters I hold that you sent to me.
But the words you've written are buried speaking to no - one,
And words that have lost all their soul should never be.
You knew from the first touch that this was a pathway to danger,
You didn't take time to close all the doors and the gate.
Feelings can bring you so near and then leave you a stranger,
And things are not what they appear but you find out too late.
Day is the thief that you don't have the courage to track down,
Who forces himself into all of the rooms of your home.
He comes to your garden, your secrets - he's quiet! Makes no sound.
He steals all the answers and leaves all the questions alone.
And you know there'll be days, just like the ones that you once knew.
And you know that love is really a question of thirst.
And you know that one day there will be a new power within you.
But you dread all the days in between that will seek you out first.
Best.
Drew
essential. I accept that Johnny Foreigner has different ways of doing
things but surely they would find virtually instant boiling water very
useful. Do other people not use hot water bottles, are we unique in
giving our boiled veges a head start -- actually come to think of it,
boiled veg is a British thing. Maybe they just got so pissed off with
them blowing up after six months. So shunning the vastly overpriced
Tefal, today I bought a cheap though superbly ergonomically designed
replacement. As for white goods, I just fix them. Tools (power) in
general I now just buy cheapies because they last as long as Bosch etc.
Only thing is that first I take them to bits and partly re-engineer
them to make them accurate and work properly. It would appear that
little Chinese girls on slave labour production lines get their own
back by not tightening screws up sufficiently.
You're right about forcing south paws not to be. It upsets the brain.
Often it is casually thought that the dominant hand is the better, but
that's not true. The two hands complement each other -- say you are
using scissors the wrong way round you find that the 'dominant'
hand is equally not so good in it's unnatural job of holding
materials.
Funny this thing about films Norman. I get absorbed by a good flick,
music too, but Jerry isn't big on music. Vive la difference. But K T
is indeed super, comes from St Andrews of all places. Only slight
criticism is that I feel the best is yet to come and her album is
basically a compilation of four minute pop songs. Damn good pop songs
but I'd like to see some Joni Mitchell type epics. Most of my fav
songs are epics. As for Kari Bremnes, don't think I have ever heard
her but I might slip a note to Whispering Bob. Tried to find an easy
download but got confused. Any advice? She was born in Svolvær,
Lofoten. Been there on my bike in 1990. I see she's got an album
called "Norwegian Mood" -- very good :-) And I think I will appreciate
her powerful lyrics in song.
Best
Norman
You can find Kari Bremnes at:
http://www.hrmusic.com/artists/kbrart.html
Scroll down past the discography to the album covers below and the
titles with a little oval symbol by the side are two minute download
clips.
As you realise Norwegian Moods and You'd Have to be Here are the
English ones. In the Lover From Berlin clip she sounds a bit scratchy
because she is pretending to be an old woman in a bar taking on about
her war-time lover.
Hope you like it.
Best
Drew
and I'll put in a good word for you at the same time if any of my
'contacts' know her.
Just discovered that one of the world's greatest guitarists lives in
Girvan, Preston Reed. I knew he was about here somewhere but jeez, a
living legend in a wee flat in Girvan's main street. My brother has
volunteered me to him to fix out any electronic (and guitar) problems
he may have. Drool.
http://www.broadjam.com/artists/artist_home.asp?artistID=21966
If you download the mp3s, this is *only* one guitar being played. For
aficionados of the instrument..
Best