Saturday 19 April 2014

The silly seasons begins, new TV remote and the price of booze



19 April

Saturday morning again; however, I won't be going out today because I have far too much to do. Editing Shipshape as well as actually getting some more new writing done are the priority jobs. I could really do with going in to town actually but it's not at the top of the list. Last November we bought a new TV/DVD, and a brilliant set it is too - apart from the remote control, which really is crap. Quite often we need to remove the batteries and swap them around to get it work, and some time we have to do it a second time to get it working. So yesterday I waited until I could drive through town to Maplins and bought one of those all-in-one remotes. Didn't do any good cos the TV set number is not on the magic list. so it needs to go back. It will have to wait until 4pm on Tuesday now.

It seems that the fire season has started locally. A house in Dorktown has burned with a mother and son being rescued by fire fighters. A bungalow has been attacked by arsonists. Again. no-one was hurt even though a disabled man lived in it, but he managed to get out by himself. Thirdly a three ton stack of hay caught fire in the Leamington area of Warwickshire. I bet the fire service is hoping that it's not the start of busy spring/summer period for them. Like many other areas of the country, the county council has reduce fire cover throughout the county. Let's hope that the fears expressed by the service about the amount of cuts putting lives at risk actually doesn't prove to be correct.

Students are supposed to be hard-up cash-wise. Are they really? Well, Thursday's Tonight programme seemed to show that they are not quite so hard up. It followed four students on a night out on the town where they made a note of how much they drank. One of them drank 48 units of alcohol on that one night. Yes, I know and agree; just how much is 48 units? Well, I have an unopened 700ml bottle of malt whiskey beside me and according to the label, it contains 28 units of alcohol. So that guy had drunk around a bottle and a half of malt whiskey or other spirit.

Now, I was a very heavy drinker a long time ago, but I never drank that much in one night. Actually, I couldn't afford it. So here's my point really; how can these so-called hard-up students afford to drink to such extremes? And the answer has to lead back to the cost of drink in the first place. These students were pre-loading before going out; that is, they were fairly well on the way to be getting plastered before they actually hit the pubs and clubs. Bottles of booze is so cheap these days and so readily available it's no surprise that so many youngsters are having drink related health problems. The drinks industry keep saying to drink responsibly, but what does that actually mean? And just how effective is it when pubs and clubs are selling the stuff for a £1 a shot?

Some say a minimum price per unit should be introduced, OK, fine ... see this real ale sign ... 

Well, I had two pints of it on my way home from town yesterday afternoon. A pint is supposed to be two units; so I had four units yesterday, which is the maximum recommended count for adult males. Those two pints cost me £6.60. Using my trusty calculator the minimum unit cost would need to set at over £1.65 for me to even think of not buying it. Add in the actual current cost of the pint as it is, it would make each pint £4.95.  I can't see happening, can you?

Our weekly look at historical event for Saturdays takes us back to one of my favourite periods of history, the English Reformation. In particular from 1491 to 1603. It was on the day in 1587 that one of Lizzy 1s favourites sailed into the Spanish harbour of Cadiz and sank the Spanish fleet.

For today's photo I offer a real taste of spring that I shot just out our back door ...

                

Another funny from the Sage ...

Husband and wife had a bitter quarrel on the day of their 40th wedding anniversary!
The husband yells, 'When you die, I'm getting you a headstone that reads, 'Here Lies My Wife -- Cold As Ever'!' 
'Yeah?' she replies. 'When you die, I'm getting you a headstone that reads, 'Here Lies My Husband -- Stiff At Last'!'

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