Opted in to Octopus’ Free Electricity session today to help the grid. Used an extra 12kWh!
Phil
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Interestingly talking about petrol/diesel prices the garage with the higher prices straddles a posh/poor area.
I went there to buy some things for tea and decided to pop into the Aldi half a mile away as our nearest one is being refurbished.
Filled a large basket and realised they had no manned tills open - I queried with a chap on self-service and he said none available so in a huff I said fine and put all the items back (I must be mellowing as I’d have just walked out a few years ago ).
As I got closer to home I realised our local Aldi had reopened so popped in and was quite surprised to find prices 20-30% cheaper eg Pak Choi £1.39 in the posher area, 99p locally and battered frozen cod fillets £4.29 inot £4.99. I’d assumed prices would be consistent, seems not.
Waitrose recently replaced 8-10 manned tills with 4 and a large self-service area as well as re-arranging locations of many foodstuffs. I use the manned checkouts on principle unless it’s for one or two items as they always require ‘assistance’ as do around 30% of other customers with one attendant bouncing around like a pinball (Sainsbury’ grrr!).
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A colleague at work, Guy, went on his honeymoon to some exotic location. Went out for his first ride on a jet ski. Hit by another jet ski. Dead. That was a bit of a shocker. He was a delightful man.
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Sorry to hear that.
Irrigating my sinuses with seawater after falling off (or was that water skiing) now seems incredibly tame.
Dunno what one can say really. Very sad.
I‘ve lost a couple of colleagues over the years, one out fly fishing**, and more recently - and well publicised in the local rags - while “whale watching” off Vancouver.
**following that, and being another fly fisher, my wife sent me out to buy a waistcoat with a built in auto-inflatable lifejacket (Hardy of Alnwick); thankfully I’ve never had to find out whether it actually works!
So many dangers out there on the open ocean. I used to scuba dive in my younger days - lost at least a couple of people I used to know through diving accidents. Always felt that being club trained in demanding UK waters, risk management was drummed into you.
The salt water in sinuses I always felt was very refreshing and is actually pretty good for you ! (when controlled).
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I guess you can go on holiday, hire a jet ski having never ridden one before and just get on with it. You may ride sensibly but that doesn’t protect you from clowns who ride dangerously. Since what happened to Guy, which was years ago now, I’ve always thought they are best avoided. They are really noisy and annoying anyway. I have RYA level 2 and apparently I can hire a big yacht and off I go. There seem to be few rules on the sea.
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I didn’t go out on my own, it was a guided tour which was important because there is a lot of traffic on the lagoon.
It’s a jungle out there 
Were they in a small boat, or kayaks, that got capsized?
RYA level 2 dinghy definitely wouldn’t be an acceptable qualification for bareboat yacht charter in Scotland , Croatia or Greece.
I believe as a general rule, a minimum of RYA Day Skipper practical and theory, a VHF operators’s licence and at least one competent member of crew would be required. Even then, the port authority or charter company may refuse the charter owing to lack of qualifications. You might be allowed to sail as part of a flotilla in non tidal waters where there were more experienced sailors supervising. On the other hand you could just buy a yacht and sail off into the sunset or force 9 storm in Scotland.
Sadly it may be possible to hire jet skis etc with fewer qualifications.
I don‘t have any qualifications for driving jetskis except that I sat beside or in the back seat behind my Dad in cars where I learnt from him how to steer with the wheel and the throttle, slow into the corners fast out. He was a very fine rally driver back in the day. Another great thing I learnt was defensive driving, which is why I didn’t mow anybody down with my jetski or jettison my wife from the pillion.
That’s better than a seawater enema 
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It was a “tourist” sized boat (say, 25-30 passengers & crew), from a company who ran “whale watching” trips.
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Wow, that’s a bit disturbing. My youngest daughter lives in Victoria, I hope she doesn’t go on whaling trips. I will definitely mention it to her. Did they get capsized by a whale?
While taking a walk with my wife… some of the views of Volunteer Park in Seattle, WA
Seattle Asian Art Museum
Black Sun by Isamu Noguchi
Thomas Burke Memorial
Volunteer Park Conservatory
Cactus House in Volunteer Park Conservatory
Puget Sound Dahila Association Garden at Vounteer Park
Yahoo… Life is Sweet!
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There’s a couple of lady horse riders that runs through.
We live in a lane off the high street village,
I was just coming out of my garage with my bike - ready for a ride. Then one of the passing horses made a massive bowel evacuation on the road.
The riders would usually follow a bridle way.
I said “excuse me, could you get off your high horse and clean up your Sh1t”
She found that hilarious. And then just sauntered off.
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I’m awaiting a Skeptical photo to be posted 
It’s certainly a slippery road hazard.
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Get it on your garden. Free compost!
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Got off the plane after 10,000 miles of back-to-back red-eye flights with a daytime stop in San Francisco in between. Took the airport bus in Munich and it let us out in a downpour 
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