Flops' Friday mini blog
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Taffycat
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Sir Floppington, your experience at the self checkout made me laugh - but in an empathetic way. 
Those robotic tyrants are not only creeping into supermarkets around here, they've also taken-over in our local B&Q diy.
I might embrace technology in general... but oh how I dislike the self-checkout! They're just plain embarrassing. The ones in B&Q tend to bark orders at you - loudly! It's quite flummoxing. That grating female voice seems to become more and more insistant as it repetatively orders you to "Place goods on SCALE!" ....or words to that effect. Obviously, if you've never used one of these things before, they're not always terribly intuitive. What seem to be "obvious" touch-screen choices, are not always the "correct" ones.
It reminded me of a scene from an old "Carry-on" film. A member of staff hovers in the vicinity, wearing her best "Ah yes, I perceive this customer to be over-50, so expect them to be technologically challenged. However, I shall wait until the machine has shouted at them and sent them into a complete frazzle, before I step-in to offer my invaluable assistance" expression! Consequently, I will happily by-pass B&Q, in favour of Wickes - more expensive, but real people at the checkout desks.
Hmm.... perhaps we should get a thread going here, entitled "unusual things at the bottom of my bed" ... I can't see that anyone could really beat your coffin, rofl, it makes my exercise bike seem fairly tame!
Hope the Spitfire went down well
Those robotic tyrants are not only creeping into supermarkets around here, they've also taken-over in our local B&Q diy. I might embrace technology in general... but oh how I dislike the self-checkout! They're just plain embarrassing. The ones in B&Q tend to bark orders at you - loudly! It's quite flummoxing. That grating female voice seems to become more and more insistant as it repetatively orders you to "Place goods on SCALE!" ....or words to that effect. Obviously, if you've never used one of these things before, they're not always terribly intuitive. What seem to be "obvious" touch-screen choices, are not always the "correct" ones.
It reminded me of a scene from an old "Carry-on" film. A member of staff hovers in the vicinity, wearing her best "Ah yes, I perceive this customer to be over-50, so expect them to be technologically challenged. However, I shall wait until the machine has shouted at them and sent them into a complete frazzle, before I step-in to offer my invaluable assistance" expression! Consequently, I will happily by-pass B&Q, in favour of Wickes - more expensive, but real people at the checkout desks.
Hmm.... perhaps we should get a thread going here, entitled "unusual things at the bottom of my bed" ... I can't see that anyone could really beat your coffin, rofl, it makes my exercise bike seem fairly tame!
Hope the Spitfire went down well
crazylegs
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Ahh the good old self serve till, Makes me laugh as I see lots of people queing to serve themselves, who would have thought it 10 years ago, people queing to serve themselves, yes not queing to get served but to serve themselves...Think about it...You couldn't make it up!
The likes of Tesco, et al must all be p*ssing themselves with laughter!
We have them in the local WHSmith aswell now, no one uses them though.
Oh and sorry to have to inform you Mr Flopp's but that there Spitfire real ale is £1.09 all year round in my local Lidl's, I buy it all the time so your sainsburys be ripping you off if they say it half price at a quid..
I do find it strange how checkout staff always give you weird looks if you say anything remotely intelligent or funny in reaction to the till throwing a wobbly, I see you have the same problem in your supermarket too..
The likes of Tesco, et al must all be p*ssing themselves with laughter!
We have them in the local WHSmith aswell now, no one uses them though.
Oh and sorry to have to inform you Mr Flopp's but that there Spitfire real ale is £1.09 all year round in my local Lidl's, I buy it all the time so your sainsburys be ripping you off if they say it half price at a quid..
I do find it strange how checkout staff always give you weird looks if you say anything remotely intelligent or funny in reaction to the till throwing a wobbly, I see you have the same problem in your supermarket too..
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Well them self-checkouts certainly touched a nerve eh?
Spitfire only £1.09 in Lidls?
I feel cheated 
Over the last few days I've acquired some vinyl albums for one pound each, all of which play just fine though a couple are a bit scratchy, but no jumps or skips.
I have to say that these are albums I wouldn't have paid more than a quid for with the exceptions of the Family & Julie London albums, I'd have willingly paid more for those two. I'm not a huge classical music fan but I am curious and I think my favourite classical composer is Beethoven and it's good to get Deutsche Gramophon recordings at a cheap price. All those DG albums here are in pristine condition, btw. The Pastoral Symphony is a treat whereas the Music from Fantasia almost gives me a headache
I have bought other vinyl lately but all these were just one hundred pennies each:
They were all purchased from the local Hospice charity shop and the local Record & Tape Exchange shop.
3 x Joan Armatrading albums I didn't have, the live one (Steppin' Out) isn't much cop but Walk Under Ladders is great
Deutsche Gramophon x 3:
I bought this just because of the cover, I'd never seen it before and it is weird. The disk itself looked knackered but surprisingly played ok. I already have the original UK pressing but I had to have that cover. From some of the writing I think it's of Swedish origin.
Four tunes from Fantasia including Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D Minor - lottsa bass. Decca Label, Reader's Digest issue; Steve Miller - The Joker; The Carpenters - The Singles 1969 - 1973
Best Of Julie London; Family's Music In A Doll's House (was lucky to get this for £1); Best Of The Everly Brothers
The original Seekers in glorious mono; The New Riders Of The Purple Sage - Panama Red; Sisters Of Mercy - Floodland
Stranglers - No More Heroes; Squeeze - Cosi Fanni Tutti Fruitti (A bit crap I have to say, probably why it's in immaculate condition - never played); and Steve earle's Copperhead Road
When I get my £1 LP's home this lot comes out - fluid, cleaner and cloth to clean vinyl, sellotape for inner paper sleeves and glue to repair cardboard outer sleeves
Spitfire only £1.09 in Lidls?
I feel cheated Over the last few days I've acquired some vinyl albums for one pound each, all of which play just fine though a couple are a bit scratchy, but no jumps or skips.
I have to say that these are albums I wouldn't have paid more than a quid for with the exceptions of the Family & Julie London albums, I'd have willingly paid more for those two. I'm not a huge classical music fan but I am curious and I think my favourite classical composer is Beethoven and it's good to get Deutsche Gramophon recordings at a cheap price. All those DG albums here are in pristine condition, btw. The Pastoral Symphony is a treat whereas the Music from Fantasia almost gives me a headache
I have bought other vinyl lately but all these were just one hundred pennies each:
They were all purchased from the local Hospice charity shop and the local Record & Tape Exchange shop.
3 x Joan Armatrading albums I didn't have, the live one (Steppin' Out) isn't much cop but Walk Under Ladders is great
Deutsche Gramophon x 3:
I bought this just because of the cover, I'd never seen it before and it is weird. The disk itself looked knackered but surprisingly played ok. I already have the original UK pressing but I had to have that cover. From some of the writing I think it's of Swedish origin.
Four tunes from Fantasia including Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D Minor - lottsa bass. Decca Label, Reader's Digest issue; Steve Miller - The Joker; The Carpenters - The Singles 1969 - 1973
Best Of Julie London; Family's Music In A Doll's House (was lucky to get this for £1); Best Of The Everly Brothers
The original Seekers in glorious mono; The New Riders Of The Purple Sage - Panama Red; Sisters Of Mercy - Floodland
Stranglers - No More Heroes; Squeeze - Cosi Fanni Tutti Fruitti (A bit crap I have to say, probably why it's in immaculate condition - never played); and Steve earle's Copperhead Road
When I get my £1 LP's home this lot comes out - fluid, cleaner and cloth to clean vinyl, sellotape for inner paper sleeves and glue to repair cardboard outer sleeves
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Aye, it's odd isn't it?
Tonight is Halloween 2012.
Tonight is also the first time in my life I think I've really got off on classical music.
I've always been aware of it but it's never moved me in the same way as, say, Pink Floyd do.
But tonight, although I realise these are populist titles, I thoroughly enjoyed Vivaldi's The 4 Seasons and I have to say Beethoven's 9th is da biz
I'm either
a) Getting old and farty
b) Losing my mind
c) Becoming a snob
d) Finally opening a locked door and embracing a hitherto ignored genre to almost totally apreciate it.
The hell with the last night of the Proms, hello clasical music with love & affection (notice the sly Joan Armatrading reference there?)
Tonight is Halloween 2012.
Tonight is also the first time in my life I think I've really got off on classical music.
I've always been aware of it but it's never moved me in the same way as, say, Pink Floyd do.
But tonight, although I realise these are populist titles, I thoroughly enjoyed Vivaldi's The 4 Seasons and I have to say Beethoven's 9th is da biz
I'm either
a) Getting old and farty
b) Losing my mind
c) Becoming a snob
d) Finally opening a locked door and embracing a hitherto ignored genre to almost totally apreciate it.
The hell with the last night of the Proms, hello clasical music with love & affection (notice the sly Joan Armatrading reference there?)
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a) and c) come to mind flops, But more likely d) I would agree with you some classical music is for the purists, above my head and boring but than can be said about most genre of music. The main thing is to enjoy what you enjoy and never close your mind to any genre of music.until you have heard some.
Taffycat
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You've got some cool vinyl bargains there Sir Flopps. It's quite exciting to discover that one enjoys a whole new genre of music at any point in life. It happened to me a couple of decades ago, when I discovered that certain classical pieces could send tingles along my spine.
My theory fwiw, is that it's human to become conditioned, by our parents, peers, friends, etc. Quick example: when I was growing up, my mother used to tell me that I wouldn't like curry. Why not? The answer was because she didn't like it - or thought she didn't. In fact, she had never sampled any, but casting an eye into the fragrant pan which my curry-loving father would occasionally concoct, her lips would be set firm, head shaken, and she would mutter darkly that it would probably make me ill. (Of course, at some point in my teens, I DID throw caution to the winds and tried it... I've regularly cooked and eaten curry ever since!) Lol
I guess something similar happens with music. Whilst I, like everyone else in my class at school was enjoying and raving over pop-groups of the day, one particular girl raved about classical music. Was she merely trying to stand out from the crowd? Did she want to be noticed by the sarcastic old bat who taught music...? Probably not. I think she genuinely enjoyed the music for its own sake, but at the time it made her seem a tad more "highbrow" than the rest of us.
Your category (d) "Finally opening a locked door and embracing a hitherto ignored genre to almost totally apreciate it." is the option I'd tick. As for "popularist titles" imho they shouldn't be eschewed simply because they are relatively easy to enjoy and appreciate.
Do you remember when Radio "Classic FM" first hit the airwaves? Jeepers, so much criticism from the purist Radio 3 listeners. But what is wrong with having a station which plays the "popular" classics? It's a pretty good way of finding out what you like/dislike, and can lead to a bit more musical exploration.
In our CD cabinets Muse and Queen rub shoulders with Mozart and JS Bach, Billy Joel and The Stranglers, share a shelf with a Bizet opera ("The Pearl Fishers" - a version sung in English, btw, so easier to follow the plot!)
Snap! I so agree with Becky, in fact, I'm eagerly awaiting delivery of "Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites" which I ordered recently.
Life without music would be, well, pretty hard to imagine.
My theory fwiw, is that it's human to become conditioned, by our parents, peers, friends, etc. Quick example: when I was growing up, my mother used to tell me that I wouldn't like curry. Why not? The answer was because she didn't like it - or thought she didn't. In fact, she had never sampled any, but casting an eye into the fragrant pan which my curry-loving father would occasionally concoct, her lips would be set firm, head shaken, and she would mutter darkly that it would probably make me ill. (Of course, at some point in my teens, I DID throw caution to the winds and tried it... I've regularly cooked and eaten curry ever since!) Lol
I guess something similar happens with music. Whilst I, like everyone else in my class at school was enjoying and raving over pop-groups of the day, one particular girl raved about classical music. Was she merely trying to stand out from the crowd? Did she want to be noticed by the sarcastic old bat who taught music...? Probably not. I think she genuinely enjoyed the music for its own sake, but at the time it made her seem a tad more "highbrow" than the rest of us.
Your category (d) "Finally opening a locked door and embracing a hitherto ignored genre to almost totally apreciate it." is the option I'd tick. As for "popularist titles" imho they shouldn't be eschewed simply because they are relatively easy to enjoy and appreciate.
Do you remember when Radio "Classic FM" first hit the airwaves? Jeepers, so much criticism from the purist Radio 3 listeners. But what is wrong with having a station which plays the "popular" classics? It's a pretty good way of finding out what you like/dislike, and can lead to a bit more musical exploration.
In our CD cabinets Muse and Queen rub shoulders with Mozart and JS Bach, Billy Joel and The Stranglers, share a shelf with a Bizet opera ("The Pearl Fishers" - a version sung in English, btw, so easier to follow the plot!)
Snap! I so agree with Becky, in fact, I'm eagerly awaiting delivery of "Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites" which I ordered recently.
Life without music would be, well, pretty hard to imagine.
nivrip
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Exactly the same here, although I do not like opera, despite having tried several times.
No rights and wrongs in music, you simply like what you like.
I like Gershwin, Cole Porter, Sinatra, Glenn Miller, Fats Domino, Presley, Sam Cooke, Beatles,Stones and most other 60s stuff. I have concocted my own CD of classical tracks which I really enjoy.
The more modern Pop stuff "all sounds the same" - exactly what my parents said to me about our teenage music. I guess we all do turn into our parents.
P.S. That ABBA cover is something special.
But who is the fifth person on it?
Urmas
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Nope. He is "Stikkan" Anderson, the producer... and quite a bit more — read HERE.
The cover art is by Hans Arnold. More of his work:
The cover art is by Hans Arnold. More of his work:
Abarbarian
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floppybootstomp;14171941 I have to say Beethoven's 9th is da biz :) [/QUOTE said:I've loved that ever since I saw a bootleg of Clockwork Orange in the early seventies.
One of the perils of living in London
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About the Abba cover art...
Aye, I'd guessed that was Stig Anderson, he was something of a Svengali figure to the band, he very much shaped them.
I was going to do a search for the cover art and found This
Abarb: Me a snob? Only for liking classical music, lol
Methinks your view of us Southern Jessies is a stereotyped Northerners view. I once had to go to Manchester for a few days to do some work, had to X-Ray some gas odourant storage tanks on a huge sprawling British Gas site just outside the town centre.
Talking to the supervisor on site we discussed politics and this northern git was very surprised to find that not all folks residing south of Watford were stuck up toffee nosed Tory-Voting so-and-so's (his words) so that was a lesson for him.
That British Gas site, btw, was the last site to be built to handle the old type of gas before natural gas came online. It covered a couple of square miles and was completed at a cost of many millions of pounds just as Natural Gas took over from the old stuff and was thus made redundant the day it was opened.
And we wonder why our gas bill is so high
Twas built in Manchester, probably a Manc's idea, the pillock
Sorry, but you asked for it...
So, when I went they were using the redundant storage tanks for chemical storage, I was there wiv me trusty isotope to make sure they were safe.
Aye, I'd guessed that was Stig Anderson, he was something of a Svengali figure to the band, he very much shaped them.
I was going to do a search for the cover art and found This
Abarb: Me a snob? Only for liking classical music, lol
Methinks your view of us Southern Jessies is a stereotyped Northerners view. I once had to go to Manchester for a few days to do some work, had to X-Ray some gas odourant storage tanks on a huge sprawling British Gas site just outside the town centre.
Talking to the supervisor on site we discussed politics and this northern git was very surprised to find that not all folks residing south of Watford were stuck up toffee nosed Tory-Voting so-and-so's (his words) so that was a lesson for him.
That British Gas site, btw, was the last site to be built to handle the old type of gas before natural gas came online. It covered a couple of square miles and was completed at a cost of many millions of pounds just as Natural Gas took over from the old stuff and was thus made redundant the day it was opened.
And we wonder why our gas bill is so high
Twas built in Manchester, probably a Manc's idea, the pillock
Sorry, but you asked for it...
So, when I went they were using the redundant storage tanks for chemical storage, I was there wiv me trusty isotope to make sure they were safe.
Becky
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Snap! I so agree with Becky, in fact, I'm eagerly awaiting delivery of "Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites" which I ordered recently.
Life without music would be, well, pretty hard to imagine.
Thoroughly agree with you TC!
One of the perils of living in London
Is this a North v South grudge?
Nothing wrong with living in the capital city of the UK?
I know where i can get a decent pint nearly 24/7
A decent meal 24/7
Transport home 24/7
We dont fry everything in batter, own pigeons/whippets or still run on coal!
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I had a look through my collection TC and found I did have a copy of the Grieg Peer Gynt Suites so have also ordered a copy also [FONT="]"Grieg: Norwegian Dances, Op. 35 / Symphonic Dances, Op. 64 / Lyric Suite, Op. 54"[/FONT][FONT="] from Amazon (other online retailers are available) They were part of my collection which I lost a couple of months ago when my C drive decided to go on strike. No probs now have backed up music and pictures on two external dives now. I am still missing about 60 gigs of music unfortunately lost when drive went kaput.
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nivrip
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Ha! He got you there Mr Feckit
Pint of draught Guinness at all my locals costs between £2.80 (Weatherspoons, so I'm told, though I've never been in a Weatherspoons pub in all my life) to £3.30. The higher price is the norm.
And is the main reason I don't socialise so much any more. Supposing I knocked back 4 pints at the pub just five days a week - that's £66 a week
Four cans of Guinness @ £1 each five nights a week = £20. No contest really.
Were I to drink draught bitter (which I like a lot) and finally submit to going to the wino's delight that is known as Weatherspoons, socialising over a few pints would be considerably cheaper.
I have drunk in York, Whitby, Leeds, Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Carlisle, Paisley, Dundee, Glasgow, Newcastle and Stoke, to name a few. Considerably better value oop north, even if all the locals are cavemen
I have given the prices of Guinness locally but should I choose to drink in Covent Garden or the West End.... well.... And, actually, it's possible to drink completely 24/7 in London, just go to the market pubs, like Billingsgate and the New Covent garden. Not the same atmosphere of the old markets but you can still get a pint there at 08:00 hours should you so wish.
At a price, of course