High hopes, busted and beer taxes

17 December 2012

Yesterday I set out with such high hopes.  I stopped at PC World in Coventry to have a look at some desktop PCs I had a fancy for once again.  That idea didn't work out at all - for two reasons.  Firstly I've found out I'm not the only one to have the same problem with my lappy so I'm going to carry on with it; secondly, it put way behind on my plans for yesterday.  The plan was to head for London and go round the British Museum.  By the time I had driven down and stopped for coffee at Toddington I was well off schedule.  So I looked at the map and decided to go to Watford instead ... and even bigger mistake!

From Toddington to Watford seemed to take hours but it was about one hour, still a long time considering the distance.  Next problem was with my scooter.  I got it out of car and put the base together but the handle bars wouldn't lift.  They are on a pneumatic or hydraulic pump thing, but what it wouldn't work at all.  So I had to try to walk around Watford.  By that time I was ready for pint, but guess what?  Watford only has two pubs in the town centre, The One Bell and a Whetherspoons pub that so busy I couldn't get near the bar.  I ended up going into a bar and paying £3.90 for a pint of San Miguel - day light robbery!!!

Top and bottom of it was that I wasn't impressed with what little I saw of Watford.  But you know what?  I would have been even more disappointed if I had got into London and found the same problem with my scooter!  That now means I have to find the paperwork for the supplier and call them to get an engineer to come and sort it out.  The things is though, if this is going to happen on a regular basis then the scooter is no good to me or anyone else really.  They have to be reliable otherwise they are of no use at all.

The county council have taken the decision to switch off street lighting throughout the county between 12.30 and 5.30am.  It's all to do with trying to save money.  However, it might be better if the sorted out the problem there is where street lights are on all day and off all night.  We had one out the back here in our block.  I say 'had one' because now it's out by day and night!  Anyway, according to today's News they are, "Witched-on to Switch-off," - whatever that means!  One of the major concerns all over the country where this has been looked at is the opportunity that darkened streets will give the burglars of the various areas concerned.  One councillor is saying that none of it was 'set in stone', which means in reality that if there is a problem they back out of it without losing face. 

Another Dorktown pub looks to be lost.  The Punch Bowel on Tuttle Hill has been closed for some time and a mystery buyer has stepped in and bought it before it went to auction.  That is one pub I can't remember going into, but if we lose that one too then it will be great shame.  But there again, pubs are there not only to serve drinks but to make a profit for their owners/landlords.  If they don't then they get turned in flats!  All over the county a lot of pubs outside of town centres are closing because of loss of trade.  So where is the trade going?   

A good proportion of it is going to supermarkets where drink offers are far cheaper than in pubs.  Just look at yesterday - £3.90 for a pint of lager!  A lot the drink price here in the UK is tax, and it's so high that it is killing the pub trade.  How can a publican compete when you can buy around 12 pints of beer for £20 in Asda or Tesco?  They can't and so the pubs are closing.

And speaking of pubs and beer ... 

here's a very nice pint of Youngs for all to enjoy ;-)))

The Sage has spoken of the death of a bird ...
 

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The Parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.  Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious And laced with profanity.  John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently  saying only polite words, playing soft music
and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.
Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot.
The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude.  John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer.  For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a
minute.
Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer.  The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behaviour."
John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.  As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird
spoke-up, very softly, "May I ask what the turkey did ?"