Tim Hortons Lunch

I had some "lunch" from Tim Hortons.  They are really not endearing themselves to me.  It is more expensive and not better...

London Daytrip

I had a day trip in London for work.  They shortened the train on the way down, so I stood the whole way, that wasn't good.  So exhausting, physically and mentally...

Real Panic

Real panic is when you lost your car key in the cinema...  It fell out of my trouser pocket, maybe I need to wear everything on a lanyard...

Disassembling Blender

I got my blender from freecycle, and I had it for nearly 10 years!  I only just worked out how to take it apart further!  Gave it a proper clean!

Warranty Replacement Coat

I got a new coat a few weeks ago, and some of the stitches are already loose.  It was lucky that I kept the receipt.  After talking to the customer service, I took the coat back.  Except the replacement I got actually had some factory error!  Another dud, not structural per se, just a bit of an eye sore.  I will give it a good breaking in the rest of the month, and I don't be shy in taking it back.

Power Ups

I got an email for free electricity, but noone else did.  I made the most out of it, baking, electric heating.  They better pay up....

Newcastle Metro

The Metro day ticket is a real bargain, I took 4 metro journey plus a ferry ride, all for less than £6.   When public transport works!

Missed Sewing

Just when I had all the loose ends sewn, I opened the drawer and saw my mismatched coloured trouser legs stitching...  They have to stay this way for another year...

FX Volatility

The tariff threats and central bank interest rate movements are really upsetting the foreign exchange market, OR it is the best time to make some bets!

Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans

The last time I got chocolate covered coffee beans, they were from a market for Christmas stocking fillers.  I finally came across them in a more reasonable location, Grape Tree, and they are quite nice and addictive!

Digital Cameras

After much convincing, Sarah finally threw out two very old digital cameras.  It is a shame, but if they have not been used for the last 10 years, I don't think they will be used ever.  Their accessories is equally outdated, the SD card with 240MB capacity and a tiny pouch are absolutely no use for anyone...

Cinema Recliners

We went to a cinema, and the standard seats now come with a motorised recliner!  It was fine watching the moving lying down, cannot complain.

Toy Vacuum

I bought a cordless stick vacuum.  Haylie and Sara were not sure it would last.  Eighteen months later, it had died.  I think it is the motor, but I cannot disassemble it to have a look, nevermind...

Whilst researching for the new one, there is a very cheap Dyson in Argos, if you read the details, it is literally a toy...

Ludicrous

I only started watching Pokémon.  It is absolutely more ludicrous than Dragonballs.

And we watched Detective Chinatown 1900, it was as ludicrous as we expected it to be.

City Centre Freebie II

Leeds Community Energy had an event on.  I went to have a look, but I didn't stay for the curly sandwich.  Catered event is often a food waste central, so I left before I have to witness the faux pas.

City Centre Freebie

This morning, I got a shot of juice.  To be exact, I was not anywhere near the stall, but since they were giving out the juice, I revered towards them and got one.  I actually won't drink stuff like this, but I know who would be the perfect prefect tester!

Banana Eating Instruction

I went to a health and wellness thing, they are now suggesting banana to be eaten in the evening, or only if you are in a process of a strenuous activities, ie not at breakfast, as it is high sugar, which will result in a sugar crash if you don't immediately burn it up.  You can see, even tennis player only eat a bite at a time.

Discount Con

So there was this restaurant, posted how January discount is available, not only within their menu, also in the nearby shop.  So I enquired about it when we sat down, apparently those were out of date, and there is no discount/deals.  What a con.  And adding insult to injury, they weren't that good either.

Curry Brunch Buffet

Our local Aagrah started going brunch buffet since end of November.  They had put on different discounts to get it going, the latest discount is 40% off, so we took advantage of it.

I had some breakfast, then had some lunch.  I think we probably break even on the cost.  It was going to be hard for me when most of the curry are lamb containing...  It would be nice if we know there would be change of curries if we were to go some other time. 

Sew Away

Whilst I had the sewing machine, I made the bike carrier, I found more and more sewing to be done.  We joined the curtains, fixed all the weird buckle straps, old pencil case, etc.  Hopefully I am sorted for the next few years.

Singer Sewing Machine

I borrowed a sewing machine for my little project.  It is a Singer, and I feel like I know it better than other brands.  I look at the manual, it listed out how to the stitching functions, some of them have very weird names: fagot, rampart, sand castle...

Meatless Supermarkets

The range of meats are disappearing quick in smaller supermarket, possibly because of the shoplifters.  Maybe I need to go to my local butcher afterall...

Currency Hedging

I don't normally pay too much attention on the currency market, until I have some upcoming trips I needed to plan for, suddenly I start hedging my currency.  I previously had concluded that there is no point to hedge the bet, as I don't have a crystal ball, on the other hand, one can easily get sucked into this easy betting...

Bicycle Brakes

If anything I remember from Leeds Bike Mill's workshop is that brakes should come on fairly quickly and get to fully shut position more than 1" from the end.  So I tightened all Rach's bikes' brake cables, that will do for now.

Thermal Imaging

I finally got hold of Eco-Friendly Garforth's thermal imaging camera.  Nothing abnormal in my house.  There are a few usual suspects, edge of the building, rim around loft hatch, dot and dab of the plasterboards, but, "there isn't much I can do"...

Mackerel

 

Mackerel has been the top fish in the UK for a long time.  Why aren't they going down in price?  Cod is much further down the list.  Maybe I should ask for haddock next times.

Go Ape Adventure

We normally go Go Ape challenge.  Tom was wanting to go on Go Ape challenge, but I convinced them to put him on Go Ape Adventure plus instead, and lucky they did.

At the same time, they put Alex on the Go Ape Adventure, which I also joined with a Moneysupermarket voucher, and lucky I did.  Alex did well on the course, but he is just a little small to reach the rope for the karabiner, especially in transition, so it was good that there were one of us in front of him and Rach behind.

The Adventure plus looked a lot of fun, but it was suitably challenging and suitably long for Tom, I think it is just perfect for him.  I think another few years before I think he is ready for Challenge.

Gym Resumes

I renewed the gym member with the new year's offer, just before the cold snap.  I haven't been back until now.  It is getting even harder to get into classes...

Holiday Planning

We usually do holiday planning in January.  The other year, we slightly regretted it because there were better deals to Isle of Man.

Anywho, Trip.com is quickly gaining ground on booking.com!  I heard Queenie and Haylie using Trip.com before, and now I am also using them.

Inheritance Tax III - IHT403

Anyone who has asset over the inheritance threshold should start filling out the IHT403 form.

Life is just one big admin job...

McDonald Wrap

After some weird breakfast, I had some weird lunch from McDonald.  I never believe they should ever sell wraps, this is extra weird, "katsu chicken wrap".  So very English.

Shoe Repair

We had a collective moan about modern rubber shoes, how quickly they fall apart.  I have just retired two pairs of old shoes into gardening department.  Maybe I need to start buying shoes that are of traditional construction, aka repairable.  On the other hand, the cobbler said if you like the upper, they could glue on the new sole, even if they are not traditional construction.  Maybe I should ask about the ones I like before I have to dispose them...

Cooking Temperature

After convincing Rach to roast the joint to medium, she aimed to do so.  When I carved it up, it was carve-able, unlike some other time.  It even has a bit of pink in the middle, much like medium well.  But by the time we serve, all the pink has also been cooked out in its residual heat.  Always aim lower...

New Bromtpon

After much encouragement, Haylie bought a used Brompton.  It does look neat. A good little bike, much better than other electric alternatives.

London Town

I went to London for a work do and stayed at my friend's to hang out.  It is fun in small doses... Detox to follow.

De-icing

We already shoveled the snow when they were soft. It still took a long time to defrost Sarah's car.

I am do grateful with my heated windscreens!

Bitter Cold

We haven't had some proper cold days for a few years.  It has been very cold indeed.  I think that is more bitter is having to turn the heating on the keep the house warm!

Snow Boots II

The snow boots are back in service!  They are much superior to the welly bobs in snow and icy condition...

Wool Coat

I have searched far and wide and concluded the range and availability of a long wool coat is fast diminishing.  Everything is polyester...

Snowy Sunday Yellow Label

We had some hard frosts in November and this is the first proper snow.  So much so, many events were cancelled.  All I can think of was the potential yellow label haul.  We went in the afternoon to see if my hunch was right.  It wasn't quite a big haul as I would like, but we did get a couple things we like.

Holme Moss in Snow

We know the cold snap was coming, so Sarah was worrying about us meeting up with friends in Holmfirth.  I gave them a heads up not to take Holme Moss, but they just followed the SatNav anyway, it resulted a very scenic drive for them, not recommended...

January Sale

We braved the Springs for January Sale.  There weren't any big price slashes, but we did find a few things we needed.  It was a good shopping trip.

Solar Rechargeable Devices

I had a look at one of my neighbour's solar rechargeable cat scarer.  The batteries were little 600mAh and they were down to 0.1V.  I swapped with some of mine, it worked a little but not a lot.

I recharged their little batteries and swapped it back.. The solar panel does seem to work, but it is recharging in a very low voltage...  No wonder the those batteries die in winter...

2024 Solar Review

Not a bad year consider the summer were less Sunny than previous year.

 

New Year Gif

Who says standing SMS is boring, when it comes with a full screen animation when you send Happy New Year!