Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

neverdespairgirl

chewmylegoff wrote: »

I cant stand going travelling on my own. The only reason I go anywhere on my own is to see friends who have moved away.

LydiaJ wrote: »

I feel similarly about travelling with children but no other adult, which is why I haven't done any of it.

I love travelling on my own, it's a gloriously decedant feeling of being utterly free and responsible only for oneself, and having the absolute choice of where to go and what to do.

I agree with Lydia that travelling abroad with children as the only adult would be quite stressful, and I wouldn't fancy it either.

neverdespairgirl

michaels wrote: »

How did you find Val Thorens NDG? I find it too bleak in bad weather and the altitude can make sleeping a bit tricky and of course it is not the most picture postcard of resorts - I think the lower traditional resorts are better for January.

It was very snowy, so the outside world was a bit bleak. We had 3 days with good weather, one day when we couldn't ski at all (everything was shut) and two days where there was driving horizontal snow, which makes it a bit less fun, I think.

But there are advantages - there is a very large number of different pistes, so lots of blue ones for me and Isaac, and lots of red and blacks for OH to keep him busy and happy, too. The lifts are very efficicent and well-run, as is the whole resort, and the instructers are lovely.

But I don't have the experience you do of lots of different ones with which to compare it.

zagubov wrote: »

I stand by what I said earlier. Two decades ago, half of Europe was "out of bounds" to us travellers - a parallel world that gave us Bata shoes and "The Singing Ringing Tree" and about as easy to visit as the moon! :cool:

I went to Moscow for a fortnight in 1991-2 over New Year, with a school exchange, and the Moscow schoolgirls came to London to stay with us over Easter. So I was there when the USSR changed to Russia, which was exciting. I was coming up to 14, then, and loved Moscow.

When I went with my best mate (I've mentioned her before, mother of 2 year old Zoe, now) to Russia and Ukraine right at the end of the 1990s, getting visas to both was a major PITA.

GDB2222 wrote: »

Poirot would have a real problem with 'Some tea leaf broke in and stole the hi-fi". It comes down to the number of people with a motive.

I think you are right.

I've only worked on 3 murder cases, but in each one, the accused was a close relative - husband or father in all 3 cases.

PasturesNew

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I love travelling on my own, it's a gloriously decedant feeling of being utterly free and responsible only for oneself, and having the absolute choice of where to go and what to do.

To me, going anywhere is about having somebody to point out things with and, in the future, to say "remember when...."

Also, for me, it'd potentially be dangerous, staying in some dodgy back street hovel of a B&B and trying to work out where to go and how to get there. I doubt I could understand foreign public transport.... I'd be like those murder victims you read about that "strayed into a rough area".

neverdespairgirl

silvercar wrote: »

I have pale skin and burn and peel easily. OH is pale but catches the sun.

I have pale skin, burn easily, freckle a lot, and never tan at all. Isaac's the same. OH is quite fair-skinned with some freckles, but does tan a bit.

A very Happy (belated) New Year to all NP. We spent it at 8,500 feet up an Alp, drinking champagne and then crashing out before ski-ing the next day.

I don't like New Year as a festival, anyway.

neverdespairgirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

To me, going anywhere is about having somebody to point out things with and, in the future, to say "remember when...."

Also, for me, it'd potentially be dangerous, staying in some dodgy back street hovel of a B&B and trying to work out where to go and how to get there. I doubt I could understand foreign public transport.... I'd be like those murder victims you read about that "strayed into a rough area".

That's when it's nice to do both - so you can do the "remember the X?" thing, but also wallow in the fantastic things you did alone.

I'm sure I was far more reckless at the age of 18 to 21, racketing round eastern Europe on my own, than I am now. I did also travel quite a bit with my best mate, as while I was teaching near Krakow, she was teaching in Kutna Hora, a handy night train away from me.

neverdespairgirl

vivatifosi wrote: »

That's a time of day thing. Coffee for breakfast, coffee mid morning. Tea mid afternoon. Hot chocolate before bed. If I drink hot drinks that is. Quite often at home I'll just drink blackcurrant squash. I can't however function without the first thing in the morning caffeine fix.

Tea at all times of day and night for me - mostly Lady Grey, Earl Grey if pushed. I also like camomile and spiced apple.

vivatifosi

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I went to Moscow for a fortnight in 1991-2 over New Year, with a school exchange, and the Moscow schoolgirls came to London to stay with us over Easter. So I was there when the USSR changed to Russia, which was exciting. I was coming up to 14, then, and loved Moscow.

Out of interest NDG, did you stay in touch? I wonder how they feel their country has changed over those 20 years. I would imagine it would have been quite amazing to have lived through it, though not something I would have wanted to do as I enjoy living in a prosperous democracy and often take it for granted.

neverdespairgirl

Doozergirl wrote: »

While we're talking about petrol and diesel prices, is anyone feeling clever and helpful? I don't understand old money

LSD - L = Pounds, S = Shillings, D = Pence

There were 12 pennies to a shilling, and 20 shillings to a pound, and therefore 240 pennies to a pound.

http://www.webhistoryofengland.com/?p=260 - this also includes the nicknames such as "tanner" for sixpence.

vivatifosi

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I lived near Krakow for a year after I left school, teaching English, and spent time in most of the main Polish cities - Warsaw, Lublin, Wroclaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Zamosc and a few others, and a fair few in nearby countries - Prague, Bratislava, Kutna Hora, a few other Czech and Slovak places, Budapest, lots of places in Romania and Bulgaria, the Baltic capitals (Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn) and about 10 different Russian towns, in another summer, and Lvov and Kiev.

I'd recommend any of the Polish cities except Warsaw, which I didn't like much, and the lakes near the border with Lithuania are spectacular. Prague, Kutna Hora and Bratislava are all wonderful, and I love both Moscow and St. Petersburg in completely different ways.

Budapest is OK, but I'd prefer to be somewhere else. Bucharest is a bit of a Communist-dictator-dump, but Brasov, and the painted monasteries, are wonderful. Sofia's OK, Buglaria as a whole is fantastic. Tallinn and Vilnius appealed to me far more than Riga, which is a bti smug.

Kiev felt lethal.

So many cities on my to do list... Note to self, pump NDG for info when I finally get a plane ticket;).

neverdespairgirl

Davesnave wrote: »

It was bucketing down, but this pair, who weren't youngsters, headed off as though it was a warm spring afternoon. They had at least two miles to do across sodden fields to reach the nearest pub. I hope they made it before nightfall.

My parents do that in a determined fashion over the Christmas / New year break. They take both collies and head off for a 12 - 16 mile walk, planned around a pub lunch.

My siblings and I go only if the weather's nice, otherwise we stay at home.

LydiaJ wrote: »

That's interesting. I've never done that. I hate TV on in the background. Either it beguiles me into watching stuff I don't actually want to waste my time on, or it annoys me. I prefer either to watch the thing or turn it off.

I agree, I hate TVs and background. It distracts you from what you are actually doing / thinking about.

chewmylegoff wrote: »

In a previous incarnation a number of years ago I was a criminal investigator. I found it mind boggling the rubbish lies that people would come out with in interview and in court. I used to go into interviews thinking that the evidence was so strong that they could only no comment or admit to everything and coming out in depressed disbelief at the nonsense answers I sat through. "I don't remember, I wasn't there, it was a long time ago" being the most common answers of course.

I've prosecuted some cases like that, where the evidence appears so strong you are worried that you must be missing something, because if it was as it appeared to you, there could only be a guilty plea!

PasturesNew wrote: »

As an innocent, I've always wondered how one would prove one were innocent. e.g. where was I last Thursday? .... I have absolutely no idea. How on earth do people remember what they were doing/when/where????

First thing I'd do is ring up Chambers and find out what was in my diary for that day - once I knew I'd done X case at Y court, it would be easy to remember the rest of the day, I reckon?

You could use weather / TV listings / radio etc as a clue, or look at your postings here on the NP thread to remind you (-: