Grumble Thread

[vinteuil]

He writes less as an orthodox Christian, more as a visionary. I doubt whether he actually believed the legends himself.

... so he wd join Old Grumpy and me in chorusing 'No!' to the first four questions

[Nick Armstrong]

I'm gutted to read that, Nick.

[Old Grumpy]

Ludicrous overuse of “devastating / devastated” to denote emotional upset.

That’s the grumble today.

Awesome grumble!

[LMcD]

If proposed ('subject to consultation') changes to our local refuse collection service go ahead, our blue bins (recyclables) will be emptied every 3 weeks, and there may be a separate bin for food waste, which used go in with the garden waste until we were told to bag it and put it in the grey bin. Sounds like another triumph for the Department For Not Leaving Well Alone.

[vinteuil]

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... it is weird that local authorities have come up with such different responses to the challenge of waste, with no apparent co-ordination. You see it starkly here in London, where one side of the street may be in a different borough from the opposite side, and the number, colours, sizes of bins, collection arrangements &c are radically different

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[vinteuil]

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... waitrose no longer stock Henri Bardouin pastis.

The only mainstream pastis that is worth drinking.

And waitrose were the only shops that had it.

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[Old Grumpy]

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... waitrose no longer stock Henri Bardouin pastis.

The only mainstream pastis that is worth drinking.

And waitrose were the only shops that had it.

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Austerity, mate!

[french frank]

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... waitrose no longer stock Henri Bardouin pastis.

The only mainstream pastis that is worth drinking.

And waitrose were the only shops that had it.

.

Looks as if you can get it online from various places. Order a few.

[vinteuil]

Looks as if you can get it online from various places. Order a few.

... think it'll be more fun to get more when next in France.

Look, I know it is a caricature of "a first world problem". But that's where we live, these are the grumbles we have...

[french frank]

... think it'll be more fun to get more when next in France.

Look, I know it is a caricature of "a first world problem". But that's where we live, these are the grumbles we have...

100% d'accord. Didn't know if you're limited as to how many bottles you can bring back, thass'all. But 3 or 4 should be quite doable

[Serial_Apologist]

There is talk this morning of removing the 25% discount on council tax for single occupants. I see this as the second (or is it third?) attack on those of us in no position to exercise power to prevent attacks on our standard of living.

If Reeves and her dastardly comrades get away with this, next could well be free public transport, free prescriptions, other discounts on offers and schemes, etc., the tenuous things our forbears bravely fought for. I may be property rich but penny poor, given as I believe that I will need my savings to pay for care when the inevitable time comes as surely it will: please don't tell me I can solve these problems by taking on a tenant, when, had I the room, this would entail major unaffordable interior alterations to bring the flat up to whatever existing or new requirements would be demanded, leaving aside the issue of whom to trust in an increasingly untrustworthy world.

The old truism applies while we live under this in so many other ways wasteful unequal system, namely that unchallenged, unresisted attacks on those with the least to give will rather than those who already have more than they can spend will be followed up by further attacks and erosions.

[kernelbogey]

Must admit I'm tempted to answer (and sometimes do sotto voce) a resounding No! to the four questions posed in the first verse of Jerusalem.

And William Empson had fun deconstructing verse three: the gist was, once you've been handed the bow, the arrows and the spear, how are you going to drive the chariot?

[smittims]

Surely the whole first verse of 'Jerusalem' is intended as one rhetorical question to which the answer is indeed 'no; therefore we must build it ourselves.' which is why it became an anthem for socialism .

[vinteuil]

And William Empson had fun deconstructing verse three: the gist was, once you've been handed the bow, the arrows and the spear, how are you going to drive the chariot?

... o, we will have staff to do that for us.

«Vivre ? les serviteurs feront cela pour nous... »

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[vinteuil]

And William Empson had fun deconstructing verse three: the gist was, once you've been handed the bow, the arrows and the spear, how are you going to drive the chariot?

... have to say I don't think a "chariot of fire" sounds particularly comfy - and the tensile strength of "burning gold" is not really what you're looking for in a bow

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