Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

I do hope they're sustainably grown eco eggs from organic fowls with a pedigree going back to ancient times, hand gathered when the sun's energy peaks just before dawn ......
!"

PasturesNew wrote: »

Made from hand-mined ancient Inca gold, stored in a "Third Eye Pyramid" for no less than 60 days, which the ancients decreed was a magical number for long life, prosperity and happiness.

The gold is then hand spun and hand woven by virgins, with large almond shaped eyes ... sitting barefoot alongside a mountain stream, where they live their lives praying to ancient gods.

Pastures! You've gone all lyrical! :j

Who'd have thought that eggs would bring out your hidden poetessness!

Pyxis

vivatifosi wrote: »

A big problem with Art Deco is that we fell out of love with it before it was valued, so it got bulldozed to make room for something else before being listed. That was due to be the fate of the Odyssey for many years, saving it was not straightforward.

I so agree. And yet, you've only got to look at virtually every established suburban shopping area, and look up above the crass modern shop fronts to the roof line, to see the stepped features so typical of it.

It's not just demolition, though.

Another problem is that a lot of original Art Deco buildings, particularly blocks of flats, have been ruined externally by new plastic windows. The original window designs, especially the ones with the curved sides, were so typical of the era, yet have been replaced with cheaper cobbled-in, angular plastic ones.

You can often still see the originals in the windows that light the central stairwells and common parts.

Again, the 'fast' horizontal lines of a lot of public buildings have been chopped up by the installation of porticos and other features, which destroy the original streamlined design.

silvercar

Doozergirl wrote: »

Birmingham has bars.

It has the compulsory Weatherspoons which is about all you need to know when flying with a group. It has a Champagne bar and an All Bar One when you're travelling as a couple

All airports blur into one for me but it's decent enough to kill time in with several shops as well as a defent sized duty free thingy. There's also a tiny little duty free shop after you get off the plane which is good for cheaper champagne for taking home.

I was going to post something very different, until I read this:

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's a different world out there to mine!

and came down to earth with a bump!

You could say that airports are just sheds for holding people until they board metal tubes; that are themselves merely a way of transporting people from A to B.

Or you could enjoy the experience as part of your holiday.

Dining/ Shopping/ Relaxing all part of the holiday IMHO.

Pyxis

silvercar wrote: »

I was going to post something very different, until I read this:



and came down to earth with a bump!

You could say that airports are just sheds for holding people until they board metal tubes; that are themselves merely a way of transporting people from A to B.

Or you could enjoy the experience as part of your holiday.

Dining/ Shopping/ Relaxing all part of the holiday IMHO.

Especially if your ticket allows you to use one of the lounges!


One thing that really, really annoys me about airport departure halls, is the fact that the seats hardly ever face the flight information boards.
Given that announcements re. 'flights now boarding' etc, are hardly ever made, I don't understand this. Even at Heathrow Terminal 5, which is very new, the seats weren't facing the boards!

Given that I am usually travelling alone, it's not always easy to leave your seat to check a board, especially as you can't leave your bag unattended, and if you take your bag with you, you risk losing your seat at busy times.

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

Today I am having a bit of a clear out/sort out because I usually live with "everything I MIGHT want/need" scattered around me on the floor/against the wall

When I opened the understairs cupboard, I did see the printer in the box that's not worked/been used for at least 7 years and think "you won't buy more cartridges for that as you really don't believe it'll actually work after all this time" - and I think I should take it to the tip.

There's also a monitor in there, in the box - it stopped working 7 years ago and so I popped it in its box and bought a new one, thinking "one day I'll get that out and give it a really good go at seeing if it does actually work or not". That should go to the tip.
.

I had a loft full of stuff like that - moving house was a great incentive to actually get rid of it instead of putting stuff up there and "forgetting" it :rotfl:

Of course, if you have a really good sort out - you might find your screwdriver

michaels

vivatifosi wrote: »

Try a matinee michaels. The top price for tickets in the circle is £5, so very competitive.

Cinema for us is either free tickets or may be once or twice a year the kids movies for £1 holiday AM shows. £40 plus quid for us is a big spend.

silvercar wrote: »

I was going to post something very different, until I read this:



and came down to earth with a bump!

You could say that airports are just sheds for holding people until they board metal tubes; that are themselves merely a way of transporting people from A to B.

Or you could enjoy the experience as part of your holiday.

Dining/ Shopping/ Relaxing all part of the holiday IMHO.

You'll be surprised to hear I am with PN on this. You don't get all excited before getting on a bus or commuting to work on a train and flying is similar but less pleasant plus you then get forced to wait for ages in an overpriced retail environment when you are already spending lots so want to avoid extra expense and anything you buy you will have to lug around with you to whereever you are going and back. In what way does travel and shopping make sense combined?

silvercar

michaels wrote: »

You'll be surprised to hear I am with PN on this. You don't get all excited before getting on a bus or commuting to work on a train and flying is similar but less pleasant plus you then get forced to wait for ages in an overpriced retail environment when you are already spending lots so want to avoid extra expense and anything you buy you will have to lug around with you to whereever you are going and back. In what way does travel and shopping make sense combined?

You are not looking at it with the right mentality. Your commute to work is a necessary boredom because it is routine. You can make the flight part of the holiday experience.

To answer your last point first, OH has bought camera equipment, ipods and headphones at the airport - all intended for use on holiday, so no lugging around. I have been bought small items that take up very little room

Of course, having lounge access avoids the need to wait around in the the overpriced retail environment. Even michaels could manage to eat and drink enough to more than pay for the lounge access.

SingleSue

michaels wrote: »

Cinema for us is either free tickets or may be once or twice a year the kids movies for £1 holiday AM shows. £40 plus quid for us is a big spend.


You'll be surprised to hear I am with PN on this. You don't get all excited before getting on a bus or commuting to work on a train and flying is similar but less pleasant plus you then get forced to wait for ages in an overpriced retail environment when you are already spending lots so want to avoid extra expense and anything you buy you will have to lug around with you to whereever you are going and back. In what way does travel and shopping make sense combined?

BIB - When you have a wheelchair and chronic fatigue....

I'm a weird one, I get excited going on the train, even if that is only the little local one for shopping in Ipswich. Buses, I just have panic attacks.

I've also done a few business trips which required a plane...I was like a child in a sweet shop :rotfl:

vivatifosi

silvercar wrote: »

Of course, having lounge access avoids the need to wait around in the the overpriced retail environment. Even michaels could manage to eat and drink enough to more than pay for the lounge access.

Would you happen to know silver, what the Aspire lounge is like at T5? We travel well and cheaply, but quite reasonably that doesn't include lounge access.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

I know nothing of airports, or holidays. Neither have ever been part of my life... can't say lifestyle as having nowt isn't a style

Ooh! Pastures! I would just love to take you abroad somewhere, and watch all your reactions to things, starting with the airport! :j :j
I can see a Bill Bryson-type book in there somewhere! 'Experiences of a Holiday-Abroad Virgin', or something more tasteful!
Seriously, though, it would be an extremely interesting thing to do.

(I rather suspect you'd fall in love with the experience, and then there'd be no stopping you! )

silvercar wrote: »

You are not looking at it with the right mentality. Your commute to work is a necessary boredom because it is routine. You can make the flight part of the holiday experience.

To answer your last point first, OH has bought camera equipment, ipods and headphones at the airport - all intended for use on holiday, so no lugging around. I have been bought small items that take up very little room

Of course, having lounge access avoids the need to wait around in the the overpriced retail environment. Even michaels could manage to eat and drink enough to more than pay for the lounge access.

If I do have lounge access, I make sure I'm there really early, to take full advantage of all the facilities and 'free' food etc. And get a comfy armchair in front of a flight info board!
And of course the wifi is free and you don't have to open an account and input your whole life history in order to get it.
The only thing is that the return airports very often don't have a lounge, which I feel means you get short-changed.