363 posts
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Post by tysilio2 on Feb 27, 2018 10:23:13 GMT
Well, today I did a very stupid thing. I got up at 4:15am to hike the Tongariro Crossing. Don’t ask me why - I have no idea, I wasn’t going to do it originally! It’s a 6-8 hour 19km hike up a mountain side, which really should have been enough to put me off, and then the guide rejigged everything so we could do it today as *the weather was too bad yesterday*, which should have been a red flag. It rained for about 5 out of the 6 hours, we ended up absolutely soaked through and freezing, I fell over 3 times on the downward section following ‘the devil’s staircase’ (and yes, it is that bad), and the cloud was so thick that we didn’t see the glorious views that make the hike famous. It was miserable. So now my legs, knees and bum all ache. And we have a full day again tomorrow with a 7:30 am start, including abseiling into a cave. Madness. ...and I thought washing my car was a bit over the top......
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2,003 posts
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Post by Marwood on Feb 27, 2018 13:59:44 GMT
After finally getting the code an hour after the 'presale' was supposed to open, and the code not being recognized at the first half a dozen attempts, have got tickets to see the Rolling Stones at the Olympic Stadium in May. A 'snip' at £100 including fees for standing, but I drew the line at paying £200 for a seat miles from the stage, ortons to go in the Golden Circle. Not expecting an amazing view of proceedings, but it has to be better than the view I had when I saw them in Hyde Park 5 years ago.
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1,564 posts
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Post by anita on Feb 27, 2018 15:35:37 GMT
I belong to one of these survey websites where they pay you to do surveys. I don't know if it's the snow but this afternoon I've completed 4 & not been paid for any of them. Really p****d off.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2018 18:02:00 GMT
Slightly disconcerting end to my day- couldn't drive into my road due to a huge accident. Counted 10 emergency vehicles going past me on my way, then directed to the supermarket carpark away from my house. Road still closed now, and overheard a passer by saying 3 people reported dead. All a bit unnerving literally on the doorstep, and makes you feel lucky.
Given all that it's not a grumble- but it is of course an evening where I was heading more or less straight out for the evening. And given the traffic knock-on theatre trip may be a bit of a scramble. But that's a minor quibble in the scheme of things.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2018 18:31:19 GMT
After finally getting the code an hour after the 'presale' was supposed to open, and the code not being recognized at the first half a dozen attempts, have got tickets to see the Rolling Stones at the Olympic Stadium in May. A 'snip' at £100 including fees for standing, but I drew the line at paying £200 for a seat miles from the stage, ortons to go in the Golden Circle. Not expecting an amazing view of proceedings, but it has to be better than the view I had when I saw them in Hyde Park 5 years ago. Hyde Park is just about the worst stadium-sized venue in the country. It's extremely flat, and as the neighbours are disagreeable nimbies, the music is about as loud as a dropped pencil on the floor. There's zero point in attending a show there unless you have an overpriced GC ticket.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2018 20:42:41 GMT
I just have a quick question that I hope people on this board may be able to help me with. I a,m trying to find a DVD copy of Porgy and Bess from 1959 and have found copies but from reviews and seeing clips the quality is not good. Does anyone know if any good quality versions exist or if because the film is so old and a bit obscure, they are not available.
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343 posts
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Post by sophizoey on Feb 27, 2018 23:56:11 GMT
Devastated because my friend has decided (without any input from me even though I've paid for everything) we're not going to London at the weekend because of the weather. This is my last chance to go until July and I just really needed a trip down there to see Wicked and cheer myself up.
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3,535 posts
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Post by showgirl on Feb 28, 2018 5:24:18 GMT
Devastated because my friend has decided (without any input from me even though I've paid for everything) we're not going to London at the weekend because of the weather. This is my last chance to go until July and I just really needed a trip down there to see Wicked and cheer myself up. That sounds really unfair, sophizoey, and the weather down south is supposed to be milder by the weekend anyway. Can you find someone else to join you, or go alone? Plus your friend should reimburse you for any costs already incurred on her behalf, and shouldn't expect you to be willing to make any more plans with her, let alone to pay upfront for them.
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2,003 posts
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Post by Marwood on Feb 28, 2018 10:07:38 GMT
After finally getting the code an hour after the 'presale' was supposed to open, and the code not being recognized at the first half a dozen attempts, have got tickets to see the Rolling Stones at the Olympic Stadium in May. A 'snip' at £100 including fees for standing, but I drew the line at paying £200 for a seat miles from the stage, ortons to go in the Golden Circle. Not expecting an amazing view of proceedings, but it has to be better than the view I had when I saw them in Hyde Park 5 years ago. Hyde Park is just about the worst stadium-sized venue in the country. It's extremely flat, and as the neighbours are disagreeable nimbies, the music is about as loud as a dropped pencil on the floor. There's zero point in attending a show there unless you have an overpriced GC ticket. The sound was actually pretty good when I saw the Stones there before, clear and loud, and I could see the whole stage, but the fact I didn't have one of the various gold/platinum/V.I.P. tickets on offer meant I was stood miles back from the stage looking at what (from a distance) looked like an ant playing a guitar. That combined with the total lack of organisation (there was supposed to be more than one stage but there were no signposts to show where they were and none of the stewards seemed to know where they might be either, and the queues to buy anything were ridiculous (queues of best part an hour to buy drinks - and any merchandise? fugett about it) meant I wasn't in a rush to see them play Hyde Park again, although I'm going to see The Cure there in July so I must be some sort of glutton for punishment.
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578 posts
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Post by michalnowicki on Feb 28, 2018 10:11:40 GMT
My day just got a little bit better, because I managed to get tickets to see Kylie in Glasgow in September. Need to find a pair of hot pants now!
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1,564 posts
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Post by anita on Feb 28, 2018 10:35:43 GMT
I belong to one of these survey websites where they pay you to do surveys. I don't know if it's the snow but this afternoon I've completed 4 & not been paid for any of them. Really p****d off. Funny, I belong to two as well, and had a slew of surveys in, too. I get really annoyed when you answer a load and then it goes "sorry, quota full" on you. If you are on ValuedOps, I've had a row with them several times now about wasted time. The result is that if you are refused after about 9 clicks of data, you can usually complain and get paid even though you don't complete the survey. That's what I do now. Did clock up 3 today, though, paying ones. Yes it was them. They have paid me now & apologised that there was a problem yesterday. They seem to think we like doing them. - I don't . Just need the money!
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578 posts
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Post by michalnowicki on Feb 28, 2018 10:51:44 GMT
That sounds cool! Can you post links to the websites you're using Monkey?
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1,564 posts
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Post by anita on Feb 28, 2018 10:59:06 GMT
^Me too, anita . Being fair, I do clock up about £100 worth of Amazon credit a year, so it isn't all bad. Do you ever get the ones where they send you free food? I did one last year that was totally delicious - £5 to sit around eating snacks (and they sent enough to last for a week). Had 3 bags of popcorn once & washing up liquid. Also some drinks [ not alchohol unfortunately] from Tesco. I too claim lots of Amazon credit. This morning since it was sorted was able to claim the last bit of payment to allow me the ALW autobiography & box cd set for free. [ Also the book was extra cheap as I ordered it ages ago.]
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1,564 posts
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Post by anita on Feb 28, 2018 11:05:26 GMT
Yep, that was the one - toffee, chocolate and peanut flavours. Giant 200g bags, I got. Did you ever get the biscuit one where they sent about 20 and only wanted you to try about 3? Yes I got big bags too. Didn't get biscuits though.
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343 posts
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Post by sophizoey on Feb 28, 2018 12:38:54 GMT
Devastated because my friend has decided (without any input from me even though I've paid for everything) we're not going to London at the weekend because of the weather. This is my last chance to go until July and I just really needed a trip down there to see Wicked and cheer myself up. That sounds really unfair, sophizoey, and the weather down south is supposed to be milder by the weekend anyway. Can you find someone else to join you, or go alone? Plus your friend should reimburse you for any costs already incurred on her behalf, and shouldn't expect you to be willing to make any more plans with her, let alone to pay upfront for them. I've talked her into risking it. Unless it gets worse or our coach gets cancelled we're going to go. Just don't know if we'll get dayseats for Wicked what with delays and all.
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5,121 posts
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 28, 2018 13:13:08 GMT
I was going to go to Ikea tonight for meatballs, but it's closed early due to 'adverse weather conditions'. They need to start thinking like Swedes!!
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651 posts
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Post by ptwest on Feb 28, 2018 13:29:02 GMT
Snow day for me - managing to catch up on a lot of paperwork, as well as booking to see Kylie in Leeds!!!
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5,121 posts
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 28, 2018 13:47:00 GMT
Ocado van just demolished a lamp post in the street outside. No delivery for Tibidabo then. Every cloud has a silver lining.
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578 posts
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Post by michalnowicki on Feb 28, 2018 14:42:40 GMT
Due to red weather warning for the central belt I've sent myself home.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2018 17:19:48 GMT
Not good... thanks to the snow.
Had tickets for Girl from the North Country this afternoon. Had had them for ages and was really looking forward to it. Was meeting the friend I was going with for lunch, after spending the morning in the National Gallery.
Woke this morning to see a load of snow had fallen overnight. Cleared the car first thing. Checked the forecasts over and over again. Checked the trains were running. Over and over again. And went into central London where I got a shock because it seemed that the snow had been far worse there than where I live. Roads heavy with it. Cars piling up and having trouble stopping. Pavements sludgy and very slippery.
Went into the gallery in full sunshine. So I was completely shocked when I came out and saw a snowstorm over Trafalgar Square. Spectacular and magical, with Nelson's Column barely visible, but not what I was expecting and I felt a bit worried because it didn't seem to be stopping. I walked and slipped to meet my friend who was, like me, taken aback at what was going on outside. Blizzard conditions. Then easing. Bright clear skies. Until it started again...
We thought hard and decided to abort the theatre visit, thinking if we smiled nicely at Mr or Mrs Box Office, explaining that we had bought our tickets months back, had been really looking forward to seeing it, but we were anxious now about the problems we might encounter getting trains back home after the show, so could we exchange them for any one of several dates, we thought they'd understand. And be only too willing to help. We didn't want a refund. Just another day...
But no. A flat no. No exchanges for today. "Hundreds" of people had been emailing in with concerns apparently but it had been decided by the Powers That Be that we must all lose our money. (They had been exchanging if you gave them notice apparently... they could exchange tomorrow's tickets or Fridays but not today's. No. No more exchanges today.)
I did some grovelling, saying we'd made the effort to get there. Look, here I was standing in the theatre foyer two hours before the show. But the snow's arrived from nowhere, unforeseen according to all the weather forecasts I'd checked. Then I did the stroppy bit. And that didn't work either.
So I came home, looking first at clear skies from the window of the train, then in the next second a full blown snowstorm. Car piled high with snow in the station car-park...
F***ing snow!
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Post by basi1faw1ty on Feb 28, 2018 18:43:44 GMT
A guy collapsed on my bus home. I didn't see it happen, just heard this massive THUMP. He apparently slipped on the wet floor. Ambulance came. Another passenger and the driver were proping him up so he didn't fall back down. He was conscious, but he was refusing to get up off the floor from his sitting position. The ambulance lady was getting very impatient with him. He was clearly under the influence of something, drink, drugs, whatever. Took 10 minutes to haul him off.
I was going to post something boring about the snow etc but as I was typing it out on my phone, the above happened. Heh.
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3,535 posts
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Post by showgirl on Feb 28, 2018 20:46:30 GMT
This was really not the week to have planned 3 separate days out at the theatre - and to think I nobly went without even one trip last week - least of all one involving a train journey to Southampton and back.
But for today it was that I'd booked a really expensive ticket for the matinee of Howard Brenton's new play, The Shadow Factory, and at the brand new Nuffield City Theatre in Southampton, so as well as the appeal of seeing a play for which I'd read good reviews, there was the extra attraction in seeing a venue new not just to me but the whole theatre-going community. And having checked with the theatre, I knew they had no expectation of cancelling this performance or any other; there was no other time I could go and if I simply abandoned the trip, I'd lose out on the cost and the experience.
So having lived to tell the tale I feel quite intrepid (what an indictment of public transport in a first world country in the 21st century) and will draw a veil over the horrors of the journey, but the new theatre is an interesting and obviously flexible space (there's a studio, too, and another theatre on the university campus); rather basic in the auditorium itself but the public areas are light and bright and the cafe was heaving (with other seniors, it being a matinee) when I arrived, so no chance of trying out the menu but next time...
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4,136 posts
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Post by kathryn on Feb 28, 2018 20:56:31 GMT
Stay safe everyone!
We’ve awoken to glorious sunshine this morning - shame it is not expected to last! Our kayaking trip this afternoon has already been cancelled due to adverse weather. But at least it’s not snow!
Yesterday was wonderful - Hobbiton in the morning then we went caving in ‘The Lost World’ (actual name of the cave) in the afternoon. Awesome experience in the literal sense of the word. Did my first abseil ever - 100m straight down into the cave! Quite possibly the highlight of the trip.
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2,302 posts
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 28, 2018 23:08:55 GMT
Ocado van just demolished a lamp post in the street outside. No delivery for Tibidabo then. Every cloud has a silver lining. Nope. But not to worry, we've still got plenty of sugar and toilet rolls thanks to my grandma's little shopping trips in 1974...
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2,302 posts
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 28, 2018 23:45:48 GMT
caught up on a tube train with half a country of football morons. Sorry to quote myself. Mini Tibs was travelling around London tonight and knew there was a match at Wembley finishing at 9.30. Having to pass through there she set off in plenty of time to avoid stadium kick-out. But, well, it's snowing and points are freezing as it's the wrong kind of snow (actually, until someone invents warm snow then it's always the wrong kind as far as I'm concerned) and things didn't quite go to plan. She was on a delayed train that would now be passing through Wembley, perfectly timed to collide with the feral fartheads. As the train approaches she braces herself, heeds her father's warnings about what these barbarous beings do when they need to relieve themselves, thus ensuring all her pockets and bags are tightly fastened, covers her face with her hair and gets out her emergency copy of Michael Ball's autobiography which is guaranteed to ward off even the most untamed. All ready ..... *Bing Bong* We would like to inform customers that this train is now semi fast and will not be stopping at Wembley!Aw. I hope they're not still there. All cold. 👯😂👯
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