About My Blog Site — Garfieldhug’s Blog

I started out simply writing about this and that and what ails me. Yes this blog site is about me and my nonsensical love for my inanimate furball Garfield. This blog site is also about me and the difficulties that I face health wise, challenges in work life and Lords that gave me a hard […]

via About My Blog Site — Garfieldhug’s Blog

london 3.5.20 sunday

this post is i think the most important post , to shout out to everyone why we write a blog, it is a reminder to everyone of us who writes and read blogs to always bear in mind; that way we will allow everyone  the freedom to write and say whatever they wish in their blogs without our taking things too personally or to be too judgemental. i will like if this post can be the header in every blog, to be read right at the beginning, and always there to remind us the reason why we blog. 

the currency exchange rate

the currency exchange rate

added 7march2022 200rubles=£1 1.1.23 89.24rubles=£1 21.3.23 94.25 robles=£1 12.7.23 117.51rubles=£1

added 8.3.22 unleaded petrol £1.70/litre london

addd 8.6.22 unleaded petrol £1.80/litre

sainsburys shopping

london 6.16pm 16.5C cloudy/rain monday 2023

8.27pm 16.4C

hope all is well witheveryone in wordpress land. lets hope we are all enjoying our lives , and do write about it, even though it might sound mundane , i always enjoy reading of it because i can feel the happy contentedness when i read of people enjoying their day without any drama . i am having the flat to myself. simon is working so wont be back till 11pm.

i went to the sainsburys thinking i might crave grilled chicken wings and hope to buy a pack. it is just delicious and i like the wing tips, which sainsburys keep in their chicken wings. tesco cuts it off, because i think most british people will think it is a waste of space, they dont like the bones in it, even though when it is grilled, those wing tips are just so crunchy i love them.

anyway, there was none to be had, the whole shelf that usually house the wing tips was empty and so was the one below it, housing the chicken legs.

but in the reduced shelf i saw a pack of fresh wild salmon, marked down from £10.50 ,740mg, to £6. well i immediately put it in my basket because it is a good bargain.

well i have wanted to eat salmon sashimi … and this will answer that crave. it has the skin attached, i like frying the skin, after removing the salmon portion which i use for sashimi. if u ahve never eaten fried salmon skin, you are missing a treat.

then i saw sainsburys stanford street yogurt . it is their economy brand. but this ones were 95p for 500mg, i saw in their website that they have this brand of yogurt for 35p… and as i searched further along i saw it. i brought it to the ones selling for 95p and could not see the difference. why such a big difference in price? then i saw it was strawberry yogurt, whilst the 35p ones were natural .

i prefer the natural ones. because they are not so sweet, and have the typically  yogurt sharp taste which i like. so it is exactly what i prefer. it makes me realise that i am glad my tastes do not follow the crowd.

there was a mother and her son further along and looking at the branded yogurts and i was tempted to tell them about this cheap yogurt. but when i heard her ask her son which he wants, he pointed to the top shelf where there were branded very small yogurt pots and said he wants those. so i did not say anything about the cheap yogurt  to them…

now it becomes clear why the strawberry yogurt is priced so much higher… it is sweeter that is why. possibly they are taxed more too because of the suger… the govt has   imposed a suger tax . though more than doubled suggest it is not the only reason.

at the self service tills, i was stopped from going further on the machine because it said they are going to check my purchases. so i had to call the lady in charge. the last time i was stopped, they scanned only one item, so i said will u do that… and she said she need to scan 3 items. i said oh that is changed from last time. and i jokingly said  i guess you all dont trust us anymore. i am glad they dont scan every item of the  whole shopping.

privately i thought it will still not catch the shop lifters, because they will know that and put their unscanned stuff right at the bottom of their shopping bags. i use their scanning device, where u scan and go, so u can put the shopping directly into your shopping bag, without using their shopping basket. i like it because it means there is no need to pack and repack each item from basket to till, and then from there to shopping bag. but u can see any shoplifter will make sure their unscanned products will be stuffed right deep at the bottom of the bag under all the other stuff. 

anyway the whole thing did not take up much time, whcih is good, because there was a long queue even though there were many tills. and if they were to be strict and scan every item it will really cause a jam . 

 

 

 

battersea food arcade

london 12.15pm 18.6C cloudy saturday 2023

i have just got back from the battersea power station food arcade after having cha siu rice there. they reopened the booking for the 50% discount , that is why i was able to book it for today.

they have made it like a restaurant. you are allotted a table and every table has a QR code which you use your smartphone to gain access to the menu… i did not have a smartphone, so they gave me a paper menu. and they will bring the food over. 

 

i ordered what i wanted, the char siu £15 using the paper menu . i said its a pity i could not see what else the other stalls are offering, so he said he will lend me an ipad, so i can get to see. and whilst my order was being prepared, i was able to look at what the other stalls are offering and see pictures that illustrate the dish. all of them have two types of dishes, small plates £9 and large plates£15/£17. the menu in all of them is quite limited i thought. just a few items . 

i was there a bit early, but they allowed me to go in. so i asked if i could walk around and see the place…its very luxuriously furnished, with comfortable padded sofas.  and met one of the waiters who said the place will be opened to everyone later in the week and no need to book. he pointed to the bao entrance,  told me i can order from bao, that bao are also connected to the arcade, even though they have their own entrance. they dont open until 12pm, he said, so if i wanted their food i have to come back after 12pm. there were two other stalls, not opened, he said they will open at 12. 

i did not try ordering any more than the dish i got, because it is too much food to eat at one sitting. so i could not try the others. the dish i got cha siu  over rice, was not really authentic cha siu, with that red charred outside that we associate with char siu. this one is nice enough, with a sweet marinade, but looks like it is just fried belly pork. it came with some chinese greens and a chilli oil. i dont think i want to pay the full price for it though. its a very limited menu, no noodle dishes,(that means no noodle soup or dry noodle) nor other meats , like roast pork or roast duck. they only got one big plate dish, the char siu. 

the bill came to £8.44….. £7.50 plus £0.94 service charge 12.5%=£8.44 (vat was included =£1.25) i suppose if it were really a food hall, there will be no waiter service and no service charge . i would have preferred that, where people just order at the stalls and just sit near by and the food brought to you… like in malaysia, or singapore… or if that is not done, you just pick it up yourself and bring to any table that is free. so no service charge payable .

also the place do not take cash, card only. i brought along my card, because they did warn us that it is card only.

i think on the whole i would just go to brixton, where the 3 uncles provide a wider choice , they got roast duck, roast pork and cha siu rice at about £10-£12. i am surprised i did not go there , but having tried this, i realise they are better value and more authentic. come to think of it, even any restaurant in china town will be good . 

what’s going on?

london 11.34am 18.2C sunny/cloudy friday 2023

i saw headline ‘rice price to rise further’, in the bangkok post appearing in my wordpress reader. i bought jasmine rice , mai tai, 5kg recently sold for £7 in my local sainsburys. 

but with my 20%discount and during their sale at £6 , i got them for less than £5. so i am stocked up.

but this news would suggest that in future we wont be able to get these prices. i used to buy basmati rice, but they have gone up in price. maybe because india has restricted export.

i was hoping that thai rice would offset those, and we can switch to buying thai rice instead. but looks like it wont be in the near future. ah well, prices will go up and down. though seldom going down to as low as previously.

i daresay bread prices will go up too, now that russia is resuming its blockade of grain shipment from ukraine, via the black sea. i dont buy bread so that wont affect me.  they can go overland but it is bound to be slow and expensive. it is surprising that ukraine can still have so much grain to sell, with all that war going on, but then, the war is on the cities and towns, and it involves bombardment, so the fields are not disrupted though i am surprised there are still farmers around to do the sowing and harvesting.

but then, even the bombing of cities seem to be rather select, only a few are getting it, because i see a lot of videos on twitter showing normal scenes of ukraine supermarkets all going about their business with well stocked shelves and clean , nicely arranged produce. and how come they are like that, isn’t there a war on?  how come they still have so much produce to sell.

i guess it is difficult to know what the real situation is just by watching twitter. you can crop off any parts of the scene that doesnot follow your narrative. 

 

is it good to retire early? what is so good about it?

london 12.15pm 20.1C sunny thursday 2023

london 6.48pm 21.8C cloudy wednesday 2023

london 12.22pm 20.5C cloudy tuesday 2023

i was browsing some youtube posts and saw a post by a retired couple, man and woman who are 43yrs old, talking of their retired life in penang and showing how they spend a typical day , hoping it would inspire others to do the same and  retire early. however, when u look at it, you realise they enjoy eating . this is because penang is a foodie paradise, and so they can show them eating at breakfast, then lunch, then dinner . then a really important part of their day is monitoring their retirement investments… as they rely on the dividends or interests for income to pay for their lifestyle .

i was thinking there must be more reasons than these for choosing to retire early at 40 yrs old. at 40 yrs old, you are still  young enough , even the possibility that u have not yet reach your peak….  and that give it another 10yrs, you will be at your most experienced and skill in whatever career you are in to go to the top of it . why give all that up unless it is for something really impossible to achieve as long as  u are tied to work.

and i cannot think of anything that you cannot do because u have to work…i mean you are physically tied to the hours you need to work and be there, that stops u from doing whatever you passionately want to do full time…

maybe , after looking at a tv program about people to give up everything to live in a remote island, or remote place and go back to nature , because that is what they want to do, maybe that is a good reason to give up work. but that is a rare thing to do.

what other reasons are there? can anyone think of other reasons, that would make sense to give up work to do something that working makes it impossible for you to do. ??

i can think of another reason to retire early, and that is u just dont like working,  the job you are doing is too difficult and so gives  u too much stress so that u are constantly in a state of anxiety .  and you cannot get any other work that pays well and is cushy to do. that is a good reason, and the only way out of it is to somehow acquire money enough to not need to work to make a living. how about winning a lottery lots of money, or inherit a large money from parents who have died. so it is not a case of retiring early, just getting lucky and acquire lots of money. so instead of saying retire early, just say make a lot of money , that is the goal. everything else will follow.

another reason might be you just dont like having to get up and go to work day in and day out from monday to friday, 9 -5 , and you have to do it because it is an obligation because of that work. you would love to be free to do what u like and never have to have any responsibilities or have people impose duties and obligations on you . now that is something i can give as a big reason for me not working. for me that is the most wonderful thing about being retired and not have to work for a living.

 

ah well, i htink if u give up working because u think you will have more time to do things that u like, you might be disappointed, because u will find there is nothing really that u cannot do and working or not working has nothing to do with you getting it. if u are working now and it is preventing you from doing something u want to do passionately, the trouble is allready with you, something in your own mind is preventing you from doing it…and giving up work is not going to make it doable.  

added 7.50am saturday 22.7.23 15C cloudy

i saw this article about a chinese guy starting  investing in the stocks and shares from 26yrs old, for 10 yrs , found a company that advises on investing, sold it and thus got the capital get passive income and nothave to work. so that is quite a good way to go. its a pity that schools dont teach us about it, and teach us how to invest in stocks and shares. or in property , or about financial instruments. it might be the best education we can get to equip us for life.

this and that

london 10am 17.5C sunny monday 2023

london 2.46pm 20.2C cloudy sunday 2023

i did not go to the manna shop yesterday for a 3rd time. i wonder if that is because i was recognised and was a bit shy of going again. or maybe i just felt it would be a bit boring to eat another burger , 3 days running.

i was craving eating my own food. i have a dish of chicken in black soya sauce sitting in my fridge , a left over from a meal and i was thinking i should finish it off, because what with free burger lunches for 2days, and eating simon’s cooking, it must have been in there for longer than that… so i ate it yesterday and it was surprisingly very tasty. perhaps i should not be surprised because i have known that leftover food that allows the flavours to mix tastes even better  after a few days than when eaten straight after cooking.  and cooked foods can last quite a long time in the fridge, and can be safe to eat . the cooking would kill all the germs, and as long as there is nothing done to it to reinfect it, the cool fridge will keep safe. if i cook too much and know i cant finish all of it, i would freeze a portion just to be on the safe side to eat another time.

simon was working yesterday and was able to get some real cheap ready to eat foods. like some japanese salmon rolls. they are just rice rolled around pieces of raw salmon. and some taste- the -difference sandwiches. i ate some of it last night when he got back with them, and then today , this morning i ate some more. its nice to eat them now and then, though i daresay i would get a bit bored with them if i have to eat them everyday. still , i wont eat them if they cost the full amount to buy because they are very expensive , but at these low prices because they are past their sell by dates, it is a nice change. and of course they are still very safe to eat even though technically today is gone past their sell by date.

i have been reading some posts in my wordpress reader, it is about some cities trying to stop tourists from going to them. places like amsterdam,  even putting up adverts saying dont come. barcelona is another city that is overwhelmed by tourists. i wonder if they still feel the same way now that they had experienced that lockdown during covid and seen the numbers drop. or are they really in that special position where they can get rid of tourists.

there was another article saying brits are going to morocco, turkey (the lira to £ rate has dropped a lot making it even cheaper to go there. from 24lira in May2023 to 34lira now for £1.)  for all in priced holidays and avoiding europe because prices have gone up in europe. now that there is the added heat wave in europe, there is another reason to avoid europe. and i cant help thinking that if they dont want you there, perhaps it might be good to go elsewhere where u are more welcomed.

though perhaps i might take allthis reporting with a pinch of salt… because when u read it carefully u get them saying flights to europe are down 90% from 2019… that is not a lot , just down 10% which is nothing significant really. in fact prices have gone up in europe by a lot, and yet only 10% have been deterred from going.

i think europe will remain as popular and in demand as ever. i think it is safe to say that they should impose a tourist tax , it wont deter the tourists , and they might make a bit more money out of them. or if they think it too unwelcoming, they might just keep the tourist tax for the high peak summer season. i dont think the uk will need to do that. even living in london which is the one that tourists come to , i am not really bothered with the presence of tourists… they are not very intrusive . 

 

 

i went back to the manna shop for another go at their free burger today

london 4.12pm 19.8C cloudy saturday 2023

i did not think i would go back to get another go of their free burger, but i did go today.

this time i went early, arrived at the manna store at about 12.30pm, and the queue was short. i only have to wait till 1pm, when they started , and it was quite quick to arrive at the head of the queue. one of the servers recognised me and exclaimed you are back!. i did not realise i was so distinctive that she remembered me. haha. but anyway, you can come back, and i got another free burger. i enjoyed that burger, even though it was quite a small patty and only have pickles and a cheese in it. maybe that is the reason why i like it, the fact that the patty is about 250mg, instead of the usual size, like the one i got last time at another place when it was a double patty, and it triggered my gout.

that is why i like this, the smaller size means my gout wont be so readily triggered and i could eat it again another day… so close in time to each other without fear of getting gout.

mind you it costs normally £10, so you could say it is not such a bargain because a double patty would cost about the same. though prices keep going up so what cost a few months ago may have gone up allready. 

this time, after i ate i wandered around the place and saw it is much busier than yesterday. a lot more people about, and the coffee shops and eating places were full of customers and the whole atmosphere is more busy and uplifting. there is something about crowds and full shops that makes it more happy atmosphere. i think yesterday it was raining like all day, so the weather might have a big hand in it being less busy.

i stumbled across the food arcade, it was surprisngly just round the corner from the manna shop. it was open, and a server was greeting customers and ushering them into the area. i was surprised because i thought it was closed… from those people yesterday… the server told me they are open but for invited guest… i said the website is not accepting bookings, and she said that is because it is full. yet when i look inside, it was very empty looking… either it extended further in than can be seen or they are limiting the numbers so that only a selected few are allowed in. it is half priced foods after all, so quite a bargain to be able to get all those stall holders for half priced.

i did not book immediately when i first got the email, and when i reentered a day later, all the bookings were not working.  being on my own makes me a bit hesitant to book. it means i cannot really order a lot , to try them, because i just cannot eat them all. having a companion would make it easier to share them and can taste a lot more dishes. and then when i went friday and was told they have postponed their opening, i had thought they were not getting anyone booking it. but it seems from what i see today, that they have not told the reception staff about it. 

there was a cantonese street food roast meats stall listed amongst their stalls, and i had been tempted to eat them, as i do like those roast meats and char siu street food type offerings.

the food arcade tries to make it more upmarket than the normal food halls as this version is modeled on. the decor is up market, subdued lighting and plush seating. unlike the canteen type furniture and harsh lighting that u normally expect to find . i wonder if when the promotion period of 3days is over that they would throw it open to all and sundry without reservatons. or would they continue to ask that people book . looking inside it, from my viewpoint outside the tape where the server was checking people for their booking, i dont see any signs of the names of the stalls, nor any pictures above the counter to indicate what food they are selling… so all very discreet. this sounds like a new concept , a variation of the down market food halls. might work, because it is quite nice to be able to meet up with friends here and let them all be able to order whatever they like from all the stalls, and mix and match cuisines. that was also what u can theoretically do at the food halls, though the logistics of it usually means people just stick to the one they are sitting nearest too, or sit near where the stall whose food they want to it .

i got to wandering around more today, because it was not raining, and saw there was another eating area near the railway arches… a roti king was there and it had a long queue outside it waiting for tables. and the other eating places were busy too. either today is a weekend, which means that busy times on saturday and sundays, or it was nice weather. but it was very good to see them so busy and full of people . it makes for a nice feeling. 

what boomers like

london 8am 17C cloudy friday 2023 heavy rain forecast

 i came across this reddit what do old people like that u dont understand why. the first one was news overload. keeping CNN on all the time. and i thought oh dear, that does describe me, though i just heed the online news sites. but i do know that there is at least one  old codger who would be at the library everytime i go there, reading the papers very religiously.

i think the rest of the list is not me. not yet anyway. haha. i did a recent one about what millenials like. so this one is what boomers like. 

vietnamese music, telling everyone their ailments,complaining in nextdoor (a local website that connects u to your neighbours) watching soap operas all day. hoarding fine china and silver cutlery, writing thank you notes,obsessed with weather, asking when you will get married or have kids, liking black liquorice, old lady perms, likes mediocre restaurants that give huge portions. 

perhaps they should also add, liking freebies… in my case free food by restaurants/cafes to promote their new opening, or new menu. in old people’s case, maybe liking  old people discounts on things, on food, or on events. but then, liking discounts or money off is something everyone would like, irregardless of age.  

update 4.51pm rain 19.8C

i went to get the free burger given out by Manna, to the first 250 customers today. it is the first day of their 3 day offer. they are opening a store inside the battersea power station. the one that is completely renovated into a huge shopping complex cum cinema cum food arcade. in fact before i got their email telling me of this, i got an email from the organisers of the battersea power station telling me that the food arcade is opening on saturday and inviting me to join in their 3 day half price promotion. but when i asked the desk where the arcade was, because i wanted to know how to get there , just in case i decided to book that 50% off discount. imagine my surprise when i was told it had been postponed and they will open next week. hmm, they did not send me an email to tell me of this new development. anyway about the manna offer, i got there at about 1pm, when they opened and was surprised at the long queue, stretching round the block, and was hoping i was still inside the 250 limit. there were staff of Manna hanging about and they seem to be supervising the queue, so i hope they are experienced in organising queues and will tell us if the number is over. well it was quite a long wait, but eventually we got there. the queue was made up of young and old. though there was a bunch of chinese people comprising old folks and middle aged ones and a child. we were given a free tote cloth bag, with their logo on it. the freebie is their smash burger, just consisting of cheese and pickles with a macdonald size beef burger. its very simple but quite nice. i saw on my way back, using the power station’s main exit , facing the river, that Manna have a van with their logo parked on the river side. so it looked like they started off as a mobile van pop up, and must be quite successful for them to decide making it more permanent with a store inside the building. it is certainly a good move for bad weather like today, where rain makes being inside with a roof over us and comfortable seating much more likeable than eating outside from a mobile van.

simon asked me just now if i want sausages and eggs for dinner… it is now 5pm. so i suppose it is dinner. and he served it to me just now. got baked beans and a egg, with 3 sausages and 2 bacon strips. the baked beans leavened the heaviness of the two meats. this meal is usually something we do for breakfast.

while waiting for my order to be cooked in the Manna restaurant ,  a chinese woman came by and i offered her a seat on my bench, and i told her there will be another 2days of this free food. she asked if i will come again , i said its a bit heavy to eat burger two days running so i might not do it. she said it is a long wait. i said if u come early and be at the head of the queue it is not long to wait. if i had not known of the postponement of the food arcade opening, i would come tomorrow and early to be at the head of the queue.  but not now .

i have never been to this new power station since it got done up. its quite well done really, the inside is a huge space which they ahve divided it into 3, and built 3 floors of retail space to fill it up, with escalators between floors. whilst still retaining the high ceilings, that seem to stretch extravagantly upwards . 

most of the shops are high end shops, selling expensive goods .you know they are expensive because there are no price tags… just a notice saying some items may be reduced 50%… 

apple the computer guys got a huge showcase store in there and it got loads of young people who seem to know what they are doing… and knowing they have their headquarters offices in the power station too makes u realise they have a interest in making it a successful commercial venture.  now not sure if they will need that much space, seeing office staff is more work from home . i think they were planning on office workers filling up the customers .

i was hoping their food arcade will be a draw for people to come here and kick start a bustling chinese cuisine hub to attract the hongkongers escaping to uk. in my imagination i was hoping that those refugees will set up their hawker stalls here in uk, haha. and we can all enjoy cantonese street food in london. they will make london the new hongkong… well, just day dreams really. for one thing, stereotyping them all as hawkers is just silly. they are more likely to be professionals and high income earners. the other extreme is to think of them as all millionaires. 

just cooking and eating what i cook, and reading the news from the united States.

london 8.47pm 18.4C cloudy thursday 2023

it is a blessedly lovely cloudy (storm clouds threatening rain, and it did rain briefly) day, so cool and such a contrast to europe, which is now experiencing a real hot heat wave, in the 40s. life threatening too, one workman died in spain. everyone living for the air conditioned room; though u will still find a lot of mad tourists sitting outside near naked in the full blast of the sun.

it is times like this which makes me real glad uk has the gulf stream protecting it against these hot air from the sahara.

i went out for a bit, just went to the library to read the paper. the library only got the times newspaper available, (dont know what happened to the other papers, either someone else is reading it, or the library is not buying them, or someone had stolen them haha.

and to return a library book which i could not finish because i just could not get into it. it is rick riordan’s latest book, about a demi god son of hades. i dont know whether he has lost his touch, or i have changed .

anyway, i came back and slept and then when i woke up, i felt so refreshed that i thought i shall go to the sainsburys and do some grocery shopping. i had not bought anything from them for quite a while. so i got chicken legs 1kg, and a small pork shoulder to freeze  when i got back. and found in my freezer that simon had bought lots of chicken thighs , all reduced when he was working his weekend shift with the local supermarket near us. but fortunately there was still room in our freezer for what i bought.

the good thing about freezing these meats is that they can keep quite a long time, so there is no rush to eat them. these meats will last a long time because i bulk them out with rice, or vegetables. i use them to flavour the other items. in fact i would say my main pleasure these days is what i cook for myself to eat. its just lovely.

and the other pleasure is reading the news, not so much from newspapers but from the news outlets that i subscribe to (they are all free to join) mainly from the United States. they are the right wing press that are published online. not the mainstream press what they call MSM. (mainstream media i think it stands for. they are very left wing). from this i think u can gather that i am rather inclined to the right wing views. and i like to read the news from usa, rather than from the united kingdom. the uk news is not very interesting. 

my broadband invoice

london 1pm 21.3C cloudy wednesday 2023

i know my broadband cost is £23 a month. and it is  all fibre with community fibre supposed to give me 500mbps… but actually i get downloads of 230mbps, and uploads of 400 mbps. now i got an invoice that tells me what the details are 

Description Qty Unit Cost Cost
500 Mbps Fibre Broadband. 12-07-2023 to 11-08-2023 1 £31.25 £31.25
Broadband (Discount). 12-07-2023 to 11-08-2023 1 -£12.08 -£12.08
Total £19.17

Your Invoice is £23.00
Service charges £19.17
Total before VAT £19.17
VAT on £19.17 @ 20% £3.83
Your invoice total £23.00

so it actually costs £31.25 a month. i got a discount that is why i pay cheaper. well, this contract is for 2yrs, so hope i get the discount lasts for 2yrs. i have not noticed the increased speed of downloads. (correction. i do notice there is a big difference with the daily express website, before  i get a lot of circling wheelies as things get downloaded… now no more of that. )

maybe it only comes in useful if a lot of people get online at once. in my flat there is only two of us. i think it is the number of devices that are connected and switched on. not so much the number of people. we only have two devices on. though i suppose if we watch tv, than that is another device added on. anyway i am glad it is £23 a month. 

i went to another freebie , this time with kerb, a street food company that help people set up food stalls . this one is a vegan day… and we were given free vouchers for free food . there were only 5 stalls where we can chose to get our food. some stalls were unable to provide the food because the electricity was out. but those with gas stoves were able to operate and i got a malaysian curry over rice from one of these. my friend steve says in other days  they would have meat in the dish… but this being a vegan day, it is only vegetables. the curry could be spicier, and have more coconut milk in it. i dont know how much they charge if i have to pay…but the average prices are about £8; but on the way back i compared it to the japanese shop near the station, and there i can get 5 sushi , of salmon , and prawns, for about £5.50… which i thought was a better bargain. and a set of sushi, nigiri was about £9. cappuccino in the costa , pret nearby is £3.30. perhaps it is early, it is about 12pm, and the street was very quiet, but i can see it is getting busier, with people walking about… the offices are letting their workers off for lunch i think and the place is getting more people .

i wonder how people can afford about £10 for lunch everyday for 5 working days a week. it means £200 a month just for lunch money. and that is not counting coffee. surely that is not right…i mean it sounds like a lot of money for lunch.  no wonder so many want to work from home. all these businesses catering to the office workers lunch time must be affected if there is a reduced number of office workers coming in to town for work. they might not be making enough profits to make it worthwhile to continue .

and with tescos eating into their business by  doing meal deals of   £3.40 for sandwich, snack and drink…it is good value.  but i think it can be even cheaper if u makeit yourself. if u look at what they fill their sandwich with, it might give u ideas of how u can do the same and pack your own lunch. and u get much more to eat too and cheaper . and if u make your own coffee, u can really save more not needing to buy a coffee. but i am not a commuter so maybe my views are not relevant.

i read that there are 10% vegetarians in uk on the whole. so why is there so much catering to them here? perhaps it is just me, i mean today kerb is doing a vegan day… but i also found a chicken wing festival being advertised. so it is just people trying to do business, finding a niche  and drumming up customers. 

added 9.26am thursday 13.7.23

saw this article about what millenials buy or not buying. they buy more of mobile phones, computers, college education, organic foods, vegan foods, online courses, soap bottles , rents for city apartments, audio books, non dairy milk, on experiences. takeout coffee. millenials are age 17-37yrs old. 43-29yrs. i was fooled into thinking the name means they were born around 2000. it is not so. they are older .

2022 Generation Names Explained

• The Greatest Generation – born 1901-1924.
• The Silent Generation – born 1925-1945.
• The Baby Boomer Generation – born 1946-1964. 77-59yrs
• Generation X – born 1965-1979. 58-44yrs
• Millennials – born 1980-1994. 43-29yrs
• Generation Z – born 1995-2012. 28-11yrs In 2022 “40% of Gen Z Identify as LGBTQ.”
• Gen Alpha – born 2013 – 2025. 10-0

a film adaptation of isaac asimov, foundation

london 7.50pm tuesday 2023 19.5C cloudy

i saw this article , saying they have done a first series of foundation, by isaac asimov. the first 3 books were excellent, and i love it. but it seems asimov had added 4 more, and collected his I,robot books to add to it. that it continued to more books. 

now the film people are doing the 2nd series of the 8 they intend for the whole thing.  i doubt i shall bother to see it, if the trailer of the first series is any indication of what to expect. i have never liked these film adaptations, because they dont capture the real essence of the stories. and it is difficult to catch it in a film, to visually represent it. it is trying to depict the imagination in the flesh. how to do it, it is impossible.

the new adapation of dune, by frank herbert is a case in point. even the first adapation did not attract me , i know it is my fault, because i like the novels so much my imagination had allready done my own version of it, and i just cannot accept any other version. but anyway these films are going to be shown on apple tv, and since i dont subscribe , i shall have to wait a long time for them to get shown on free tv.

as it is , i have never seen the film version of game of thrones, because they are never shown on free tv. i have a feeling that if they finally get shown, i would have lost the desire to see them. in the old days, i would be excited at a new film adaptation of a classic novel. but maybe i am old, i assume it wont be as good as the novel and i will always be disappointed. not to mention my own memory of the story will be tarnished by the director’s film version and by the actors in it.

now what if the film is a original…  like the first version of a new film, lets say the raiders of the lost ark. it was exciting and thrilling , then they make a follow up and it lost its tarnish a bit, and then they keep going making another and another.

i am watching now another of those series, the mummy returns. it is another one of those franchise. 

ah well, it is harder to come up with an original hit, so it is understandable that everyone would take a hit and try to make sequels in the hope of continueing it. it is like making films into franchise.

but we are living here and today. so what is the reality today? its quite mundane really.