Non-stop Argos-ing

There are so many things to buy to fill the new house, so I have been shopping all day.  It can be very exhausting!

I did not know the details of the sale, and hence I did not fully utilize the discounts, I could have save another £25 quid!

Black Friday

Most people in the UK won't even know why it is called Black Friday.  It is an established sale date in the USA, the day after Thanksgiving.  The Christmas preparation does not officially start till after Thanksgiving.  And the sale day bring the book into black, ie profit, hence Black Friday.

What is the point?

Home Owner

The house purchase successfully concluded, I am now a home owner.  There are so much to be done!  Is it too early to regret about it?!

Bits for Little Rome

I got the full left foot rest assembly, it all fitted okay, I still need to test ride her properly before I give it an all okay.

Now I have a different foot peg left and right...

Sickie

When the morale is low or when you dislike work, it does not take much to feel unwell to carry out work.  When someone has little work ethics, it also happens.  It is sometimes hard to determine they are one or the other.

Feast India

Sarah finally took me to Feast India.  We went for Sunday lunch.  The selection in lunch menu is not particularly big, I saw less food than I expected.

I even had a plate of fried noodle.  I was watching him as he fry the vegetable and noodle, but I was a bit disappointed he did not know the basic vegetable-frying skill.  He keep adding more oil, rather than water.  Is that how Indian fry their vegetable?

I tried different things, and they were okay, they were all rather salty.  The ice-cream was advertised as homemade vanilla, but it was a bit disappointing.  I should have never had expectation on buffet ice-cream.

I was "stuffed to the gill" as Sarah called it.

It is okay, but it is not really that special.

Are You There Vodka, It's Francis

It has been stressful lately, I think I may just catch up with my old friend vodka...

Romanising Cantonese

Only after I have been teaching Sarah Cantonese, I learnt there are many ways to Romanising Cantonese.  And intuitively use the government style, as it is what we grew up with. 

Sarah has been putting words in her own letters.  We tried Jyutping and Yale, and Sarah finds Yale more intuitive.  Sarah is going to get a book for that.

Limitation on Coach

A while ago, I told a friend about coach travel in the USA.  I told her to avoid coach over 5 hours, both for the comfort and the possibility of weirdo.

This also applied in the UK.  I was on a coach for 4+ hours, and it was pushing my limit.

A Very Bad Day

I have not been sleeping well for the last two days.

I still have no completion date.  Then I got on the phone, the horrible vendor decided he can no longer complete in Nov, even though he said he could complete in Nov on Monday.  I was furious, I was visibly shaking.

I worked through lunch, as we were in training today.  Then the scissor lift ran out of battery.

I went to swim anyway, when I came out, little Rome was on her side.  I was crossed, same kids came to help me lift.  My foot peg has been snapped off and I could not use the gear.  I had to call RAC out.

I thought I would take little Rome to Gary, and he can weld it tomorrow, and she could run tomorrow.  But RAC wanted to charge a fortune to tow it over there, so I asked for it to tow to Harrogate instead.

Then I popped into the pool again, as the kids suggested, to ask for CCTV, then as it turned out, the lady reversed to my bike left her number, so I rang her.  As soon as she picked up the phone, she said, "I couldn't see the bike, neither could my two companion."  The bike was parked next to a street light!  With a silver cover! "Did you not see it when you walk to the car?"  "No".  I was not going to insist on a helmet, and I told her functionally, it should only be 1 thing, and it shouldn't be a fortune.

I have to reschedule my engagement in the pub.

RAC told me it would take 2 hours, so I was going to sit down to have some dinner, but as soon as I got to the pub, tow bed had arrived, so I walked back.

I checked over little Rome again once I got home, the crash bobbin took most of the hit.  There are scuffs on the tail fairing and the grab bar.  I won't be insisting on a fairing paint.

On the other hand, I will probably get the bit test ride little Rome to make sure there is nothing else outstanding before confirming the cost.

One very bad day.

Crackling Bread

We got some half-baked bread from the supermarket.  I got them out of the oven, and I could hear it crackling!  I am not exactly sure why the crust crackles.

Excuses for Losers

There are people who find excuses for failures are accomplice to the failure.  This really infuriates me.

Sunk Cost Effect Affected Judgment

Suck cost effect maybe closely related to us human have the loss-aversion tendencies.  Often this tendencies will lead to further loss, so it is important to remember sunk cost is sunk cost.

Lymelife

Lymelife is practically the same as American Beauty.  Dysfunctional suburbia family, involving a real estate agent, adultery, underage sex, and ultimately death by gun shot.  I liked neither.

Love Feist

I am patiently waiting for her next album, and I wish I could get hold of Monarch.

Fresh Biscuits

McVities is probably one of the best things coming out of Britian.  I saw a new flavour, I was curious, so I bought it.  They are so lovely, fresh and crispy.  Winter is coming, roll on the biscuits!

Napping and Snacking

The two ways to combat exhaustion and hunger.  I must nap and snack more.

Minimalist Human Interaction

As an all around minimalist, I minimalise many things in life.  I must also minimalise human interaction, the source of stress.

Exhaustion and Hunger

Exhaustion and hunger together is damaging.  So I need to remember to eliminate one of those at any given one time.  Do not work overtime when on diet, or work hard and keep up the feeding.

Tour of Scotland

Yan came up with an idea to hire a coach tour on Christmas day.  I very much doubt anything will be open at all but the alternative is sitting home all day, which was my initial intension.

So I narrowed it to three small trips, as the tour operator said, there is limited day light this time of the year.  Option one is northwest bound passing Loch Lomond.  I have been to Loch Lomond in early Spring, bad idea.  Option two is northeast bound, going to St Andrews and Fife via Forth Bridge.  They are bigger names in Scotland, so there are plenty of opportunity to go.  Option three border towns, somewhere we have not heard of and probably won't go or can't go without a car.

I think I have convinced Yan about the border towns.  Hedy doesn't want to have to think.  Let see where we end up going.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift was on Chatty Man, and I looked her up.

Modern songs are just not for me...

Washing Rice

The modern rice processing plants are much cleaner, some say we don't need to wash rice anymore.  Some said we are washing off the remaining nutrients in the rice.

Apparently rice is good at retaining the naturally occurring arsenic in the soil and the water.  So, we have got to wash them afterall.

It is another reason to eat polished white rice!

Comedy Shuffled

After Craig and Chelsea, Stephen Colbert is also moving on from the Colbert Report.  So many personnel changes this year.

Baldy Tyre

There is illegal, there is dangerous.  I have not seen tyre so balded on the road before.

Thr British are born to be miserable

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/the-british-are-born-to-be-miserable-new-research-finds-9827442.html

Sarah's first question was, "How about the Chinese?"
I am pretty sure Chinese are also quite miserable.

My first question was, "Where can I see the paper?"

These days, researches like this is headline-grabbing, but something without an ounce of truth.

Waitrose Experience - Waitrose Questions

Often when you go to a supermarket and some product is out of stock, you just get the a substitute.  A lot of time I will ask the staff, they could say they won't restock till tomorrow or they might check at the store.

We expect nothing less from Waitrose staff, I expected them to check.  And of course, only the Waitrose style questions come out.

"Do you have any frozen oven-ready croissant?"
"Where are your falafels selections?"

The whole idea to shop at this shop is its experience, it is fun.

Leicester Market

Leeds Market is just much better than Leicester Market.  This time, I am not even comparing Leicester Market to any markets, they are worse than supermarkets.

Why would I buy produce from the market, when the supermarket ones are nicer and cheaper?  In the market, it was 88p/kg onion and carrots, and even Waitrose was doing 80p/kg.  And also, we never actually see the scales on the veg stall, they could easily given us less.

Either the stall holders are making a huge margin or as far as I am concern, they bought a bulk from the supermarket, and sell us the ugly ones.

Other than eggs, I have yet to find something 'must buy' from the Leicester Market.

Taste of China

Taste of China is meant to be a Hong Kong style diner, it even says it on the window.  The menu is quite Hong Kong style, but I have been recently, the food is definitely not cooked the say it is at home.  I ordered a beef fried rice, it should have been beef mince, but it came out with undercooked sliced beef instead, and it was wet!  Of course, it came with a few peas, the English touch.  The waitress and chef all speaks mandarins.

The new influx of customers and staff are all from China, and this has happened to many restaurant in Leeds too.  I must need to choose carefully from the menu, choose something that they cannot screw up.

Heavenly Desserts

Heavenly Dessert is near where Sarah lives.  When it opens, Sarah worries about its competition with her beloved Madisons.

There is often a queue outside and since we went early, we were seated right the way.

Most of the patrons are Asians, and some Caribbean-descent British, there are very few White British or Oriental customers.  The staff are a little rude, and the different patrons were looking at us.

Everything was expensive on the menu.  In hindsight, why would a slice of cheesecake with a scoop of icecream be £5.6?  In hindsight, I could probably get that from the Old Horse for £3.5.

The icecream is at best on par with Madisons.  And of course, it is more expensive than Madisons.  Gelato Village is still the best yet.

In short, I am not going there again.

Egg Man

We went to Leicester Market today, and I was looking for the egg man.  The egg man was not there, so I had to get my eggs in the indoor market.  Compare to egg man's eggs, these are much smaller.

I miss the egg man!