If you live in the UK and have a Stonegate owned pub near you, it may be that at busy times.the price of your drink goes up. That, in essence, is dynamic pricing. Now we are used to holidays costing more.in the school holidays so it’s not the first time this tactic has been used. Hurrah for the quiet pint eh?
Tag: rant
Holiday Adverts
My current vice is watching YouTube travel videos. (Maybe I’ll start a channel one day) . In that I don’t pay for the Tube I get ads between and during the videos. Currently, it bring dummer (allegedly) in.the uk, these are largely holiday ads. Many of these are for branded packages to sunny climes. Every fibre of my screams ‘noooooo’ when I see these. I love a bit of luxury, but I’m not averse to a hostel either what I loathe with a passion is tourist hotels. Now I know that when travelling for pleasure you cannot escape the fact that everyone is a tourist. Do not fool yourselves ‘digital nomads’ you’re just tourists with a computer.
What sparked my rant today is an ad for a Hard Rock Hotel. Now, I have an extensive collection of Hard Rock pins, and I’ve spent many a happy hour feeding my face in the cafes as I grew up. I tend to avoid them now. (Please contact me if you want to buy any Hard Rock pins) in preference for local small businesses. Locally run cafes tend to offer better food. I’m no angel. I use air bnbs. On the whole, we tend to look for homes that people actually live in and rent when they’re not there. That’s as it was intended before it was corrupted as a business taking a lot of viable small homes out of the housing market. I rarely use hotels. I stay with friends and they stay with us. Tourist central with the noise and pools and buffet breakfast queue… if you’ve read the Australia posts, you’ll know that was the most disappointing aspect of our visit to Yalara.
Don’t get me wrong I’m lucky enough to not be taking kids with me (I love my nieces, and we’re meeting them and their parents abroad at some point this year) we can pick and choose. We can go during term time, not in peak periods. It can be much quieter when we travel. If I had tips for anyone, these are they. Do not travel to major tourist traps. There are many underrated places on this planet. Walk where you can. Take public transport where possible. (I know that is not possible in the USA, for example). Drunk and shouting by or in the pool daytime or 3am it’s not a good look on anyone. Respect people, and generally, you’ll find they help you, and you’ll find hidden gems and have wonderful experiences that the herd miss.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a train journey to Matchu Pitchu to watch….
Summer’s almost gone
Apart from being an excellent Doors song, it is true as we approach the longest day already (unless you are Aussie chums). Its been a bit on the warm side for the UK i.e. over 30 degrees. Occasional thunder storms have definitely not helped l, in our area at least. I did note that we may actually be growing mashes potatoes. This has proved not to be true as we had a great crop from one of the tubs earlier this week.
This year we moved things around in the beds to see if they might grow better. On the whole.it seems the brassica may be better where they were and the potatoes like being in tubs not the purpose built boxes. The blackcurrant looks like it will crop despite only being put in late Feb. No gooseberries this year though.
Then came the thunderstorms. It’s not so fierce as predicted.
I did get a bit soggy earlier as I drifted between buildings at the local university where I’d gone to use the WiFi in the library for a PhD meeting online. The storms seem to have devastated our home WiFi. Not sure really but it’s been slow to none existent. Good meeting BTW. Its about now that I begin to think what has happened since I were young and how little we now seem able to do without the damn www. In fairness I’m a reader, as our local charity shops and library can attest so it wasn’t too bad but all the doctoral work is stored in the ‘cloud’ as they say. I do have backup copies, but infuriating all the same. I implore you all to save local copies of your documents. Indeed a pencil and paper seldom fail even if you run out of paper or break your pencil.
Which takes me back to the garden. My non digital starting place and a note to self that it’s impossible to rely on technology all the time and important to have some skills that don’t involve electrical devices. I’m going outside now to play my tongue drum.
Retired not bored
I took early retirement because my dad didn’t. Its cost him a lot in terms of his health in the years since. He was the first to celebrate my decision. Other people however seem to have taken retirement to mean ‘has nothing to do all day so can be at my beck and call’. Prepare for a rant.
I love my wife. Last week we had a bit of a situation. I’d planned a day to zoom off to the art gallery and have lunch at my club, put in some work on my PhD, various household tasks, as you do. Then the text message landed ‘Can you just go and get me some vape liquid?’ This was Monday. We had been at home all weekend (there’s a story about a broken boiler and useless trades for another day) and the vape shop had been open the whole time. So I messaged to say I would go but now this had thrown off my plans. Follows a gushing apology and retraction. Now the difficult conversation that if you want people to treat you a certain way e.g. not disturb you when busy or undertaking difficult tasks (referring to a work incident for my wife the previous week) maybe model it.
I accept that you may now be judging me. Bear with. The wife in question has ADHD. (This is my only wife please don’t get excited). It has taken years to get into the system to get a sniff or a diagnosis and we are not there yet, though hopefully in the final stages. The incident was a piece of work with a deadline and a manager who kept sending through irritating little tasks that could wait. If you know ADHD at all you will understand that any distraction is the total destruction of concentration and takes some time to recover from. There are strategies in place. Noise cancelling headphones. Closed door to signal ‘Do Not Disturb’ and at home these work well but in a connected world every ping is a disturbance. Apparently shutting the notifications off for an hour or two is not an option. My phone has all notifications switched off and if you need me urgently you’d better ring me. Point being that a difficult conversation about boundaries and use of time ensued at work.
At home we have a calendar and a daily conversation about planned activities. It’s polite and helps things to run smoothly. I’m currently refusing to use any online schedules. Had enough of them at work and a paper diary is just so much cooler. (I use one from Paper Republic with refills. They are not paying me to mention them.) I’d said what my plans were, in particular I had a PhD deadline and needed to concentrate. Sadly my way of ensuring things get done is to do them while I’m thinking about them. I do have a ‘to do’ list in my carefully constructed (cough) Bullet Journal and I’m usually pretty good at remembering things but not that day. So I reorganised my day to do household in the morning, postpone the gallery as the exhibition is on for another week, and write in the afternoon. It was Ok I achieved the main tasks. Good stuff.
Fade to Friday afternoon. I’m sitting in my club. Waiting. I have a private tutoring arrangement with a young member there and he was late. Again. I waited 30 minutes and left. I have no idea what’s going on in his head. Last week his reason was he had the books to do for his business and cancelled last minute.. The week before no idea what happened but he was distracted throughout cutting the session short to go meet a paying client. I have a strategy I’m going to try for that one. It costs me time, energy and money to be there and he seems to have no respect for that. We have another appointment tomorrow. We shall see.
My point in all this? I’m retired from full time work. I chose to do that so I could better control my time and put my focus on the things I want to do. Things that give me joy. Even housework is not taxing when you can plan to do it at your own pace not rush through it on your day off. I’ve managed to get up, make the bed, make breakfast and write this even before starting my planned activities. Its not yet lunchtime… and so what if it was, I’m retired, not bored, not un busy. I’m off out now.
NOTE: The tradesperson fixed the boiler on day 6 without heating in approx. 15 minutes. He was from a different company.
ffiftypluses 