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

SingleSue

LJ - The Suffolk coast can be quite nice in the spring...but then I am rather biased. We also tend to do not too badly on the weather front either...last easter was spent basking in very high temps.

Re travelling, I have been to Prague for a long weekend, great fun although they do tend to have surprise rain showers that blast down for 10 minutes, floods everything and then the sun comes out again. My visit was not for the culteral or romantic reasons but to see speedway.

I have also been to Italy, stayed in a hotel in Desenzano in a gorgeous lake side room. We were there for a speedway GP (again) which was being held in Lonigo.

Also been to Copenhagen twice, once for a business trip (first class and business class airplane tickets...bliss!) and once for...yep you got it, a speedway GP. The time I went for speedway was an anxious time, I had flown into Aarhus as I was supposed to be staying at a Danish friend's house overnight and then we were going to travel by train on the day of the GP, to Copenhagen.

Unfortunately, she then couldn't do the GP as she had not been able to get out of some show she was doing, so she gave me the details of the hotel in Copenhagen and put me on the train. I arrived in Copenhagen at 5pm, got a taxi to the hotel as I didn't have a scoobie where anything was and time was of the essence (GP started in less than 2 hours), checked in, changed and straight back out to get a taxi to the stadium.

I was sat in the Danish VIP area of the stadium and at first it was a little awkward, all I could say in Danish was "Congratulations, happy birthday", Hello, thanks and goodbye....but they soon took to me when they saw my continual trips to get some beer, even if we couldn't converse so well.

After the GP, I tried to find a bus or a taxi going in the direction of the hotel and failed miserably...so I started to walk...and started to silently cry...and started to go into mini panic mode. I had no idea how to get back to the hotel, I couldn't speak the language and I was on my own. I didn't completely fall apart though, about two thirds of the way up the long street, I did something I tell my children never to do...I started talking to strangers. Doing this, I found a group of lost Danes who had never been to Copenhagen, so we all decided to be lost together and randomly walked.

We finally found a taxi willing to take our fare and I told him the hotel name, we got in, he pulled out, went round a corner and hey presto...there was the hotel. Got to be the shortest taxi trip of my life! In the end, I didn't see my hotel bedroom until around 4 in the morning as we decided to partake in the bars and restaurants on the same street to that of my hotel.

On the way home, I had to navigate my way around the train station, buy a ticket and actually get on the right train...by this time, I was picking up the language pretty quickly and even directed a Dane to the correct platform! Whilst on the (correct) train, I took to reading a Danish paper and understanding it too...and got mistaken for a Dane by a group of young Danes who wouldn't quite believe that I was British as I was quite happily reading a Danish paper, looking at a Danish rail timetable and didn't have the desperate look of someone not knowing which stops are before the one they need (I studied the timetable so I knew exactly how many stops before my one)...not quite sure how they could make the mistake as my coat had Team GB on it, my rucksack had a British flag attached to it and I was wearing a Team GB t Shirt.

So I went away speaking only a few words of Danish and within 24 hours of arriving, I could read a paper, understand a timetable and could converse with other travellers...amazing what you can do when there is no alternative isn't it.

On my other travels, I have also been to France numerous times, the same with Belgium and my nan took me to Spain as a 14 year old. I have also been to Amsterdam with the school.

But that is pretty much it....I would love to go to Poland, it was on the books when me and hubby split (another speedway trip)...now I will have to wait until the boys are older.

As for solo travel with children, I took the boys to Disneyland Paris on my own shortly after me and hubby split when I had a payout from some shares I had. It was easier than I thought it would be and at times, easier than it would have been with hubby present (he and youngest did not get on). The only pain was the luggage, I was not built to try to haul one of the luggage carriers around, the blooming thing wouldn't move! Eldest got it to move but in the process, all the bags fell off......

chewmylegoff

Masomnia wrote: »

One for Gen and other cricketing fans.

Probably the best catch I've ever seen.

Certainly spectacular - seem to be a lot of catches a bit like this these days.

For me personally, very difficult slip catches with the ball coming at 90 mph are more impressive than this.

neverdespairgirl

zagubov wrote: »

Many other countries have more sensible ways of organising their economies/societies than the UK has IMHO.

But a lot of others are infinitely worse. There is an awful lot about this country which is fantastic, too, and we shouldn't forget that IMHO.

Pobby wrote: »

Even the Royals go around on bikes. Imagine Phil the Greek doing that and shouting strange things at anyone that was ethnic.

The poor lad is in his 90s - I reckon we can excuse him the cycling, don't you?

GDB2222 wrote: »

I think that it is more complicated than simply courage. The people I have seen interviewed on television about this seemed to be motivated mainly by fear, fear that their dying days might be very distressing, fear that they might be in great pain, and fear that their relatives might have to take action on their behalf that would land the relatives in prison.

I think it can be a positive decision, though. I know someone who died there, and it wasn't about fear, it was a decision that enough was enough, I think.

Did you see the Terry Pratchett programme? There was an impressive (very posh alert) couple on it, and the husband didn't seem fearful, to me.

PasturesNew

Doozergirl wrote: »

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

If I woke up tomorrow and all new money had ceased to exist and the fairies had switched our currency for old money in the night .... I'd be 100% comfortable from the start.

12 pennies [d] make 1 shilling
2 sixpences [6d] make 1 shilling
4 thruppences [3d] make 1 shilling (5p)
20 shillings make £1.
1 florin = 2 shillings (10p)
1 crown = 5 shillings (25p)
Half a crown = 2/6d (12.5p)

It was written like this: 6/6d = six shillings and sixpence = 32.5p

1 shilling is 5p, as 12 old pennies had to go into 10 new pennies, there were some duplicates - e.g. 9d and 10d both became 4p. 3d and 4d were both 2p too. These 9/10 and 3/4 combinations were constant along the chart. So 1 shilling and 9d = 9p, as were 1 shilling and 10d.

There's probably an online calculator where you key in the LSD and it turns it into New Money.

silvercar

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

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

I like cherry + cinnamon, also honey, vanilla + camomile.

PasturesNew

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

.. or look at your postings here on the NP thread to remind you (-:

Blimey - that'd have to be a very very serious arrest/case to have the hours trying to do that.

If I had more time now I'd see .... in the meantime, I have to go out, but here is ....

NP Challenge

By midnight tonight ..... I want you to come up with a good story and alibi (evidence if possible) of where you were between 7pm and 9pm on Wednesday 9th January 2008.



Let's see how many secret murderers we're harbouring here..... those without an alibi!

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

If I woke up tomorrow and all new money had ceased to exist and the fairies had switched our currency for old money in the night .... I'd be 100% comfortable from the start.

12 pennies [d] make 1 shilling
2 sixpences [6d] make 1 shilling
4 thruppences [3d] make 1 shilling (5p)
20 shillings make £1.
1 florin = 2 shillings (10p)
1 crown = 5 shillings (25p)
Half a crown = 2/6d (12.5p)

It was written like this: 6/6d = six shillings and sixpence = 32.5p

1 shilling is 5p, as 12 old pennies had to go into 10 new pennies, there were some duplicates - e.g. 9d and 10d both became 4p. 3d and 4d were both 2p too. These 9/10 and 3/4 combinations were constant along the chart. So 1 shilling and 9d = 9p, as were 1 shilling and 10d.

There's probably an online calculator where you key in the LSD and it turns it into New Money.

MIL still has a cheque book in £sd!

As far as petrol prices go, it is all stupidly expensive, better not to know what it means per gallon and just plump for the cheapest.

lostinrates

vivatifosi wrote: »

Here's a question for you lir. Is there a way of making it more about visiting DH and less about going to Milan? In other words, could you make your trip long enough to have some down time, recovering in his flat and pottering about, rather than feeling compelled to get up and about seeing things? Sometimes these issues are about find the formula that make going there work for you. That involves you being realistic about what you can and can't achieve without knackering yourself, and DH realising this and not trying to rush you from a to b to c because he's so thrilled to have you there.

You are so kind and helpful.:) Dh will still, I think be London based, just going over for another hearing in our case. So it will be a fast trip. I am having to kick my self up the back end a lot ATM. This year I put on more writ and that is certainly compounding stuff, but I,m shattered a lot of the time and getting less mobile.

I'm thinking about doing an aquafit class, so that it's doing stuff but not putting too much pressure on back and legs. Not sure how I feel about swimming costumes ATM, pathetic but true:o

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

Blimey - that'd have to be a very very serious arrest/case to have the hours trying to do that.

If I had more time now I'd see .... in the meantime, I have to go out, but here is ....

NP Challenge

By midnight tonight ..... I want you to come up with a good story and alibi (evidence if possible) of where you were between 7pm and 9pm on Wednesday 9th January 2008.



Let's see how many secret murderers we're harbouring here..... those without an alibi!

My defence - you have no body, so no evidence of murder, so I'm not quilty of a murder that may not have been committed.

silvercar

I always shop in Tesco. Sainsbury's have just sent vouchers that Tesco no longer accept.

12p off fuel with a £60 shop and then the next week £12 off a £60 spend.

Sainsburys is 7 miles away - is it worth making the journey?