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Post by bjd on Aug 9, 2024 7:03:03 GMT
Will you have a garden again, Bixa, or just a courtyard?
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Post by tod2 on Aug 9, 2024 9:15:57 GMT
Ah yes, loadshedding..... Has been the curse of South Africans for years under the corrupt ANC government. Reason our power goes off for hours at a time is because the power stations are old and constantly break down. Plus the fact the coal was stolen and shipped elsewhere in the world...Russia?... and replaced with believe it or not - rocks. These granite-like pieces of earth buggered the machinery in the power station. Hence no power sometimes for days. Lately we have had no electricity shortages...loadshedding, as the engineers that went to work in other countries were recalled to come and fix everything. Well that's what we were told.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 9, 2024 11:18:10 GMT
An alternative for some power cuts is the name "load reduction". It seems when the demand gets too high in some areas because of illegal connections they cut off the power to save damaging certain infrastructure like transformers. They say it is a preventative measure. A stitch in time saves nine sort of thing.
It was always part of my life in Zambia as well. We were lucky we shared a plot with the landlord and his generator supplied us with power (mostly) when the cuts came. He paid for the fuel and one particular month he showed me the bill for the fuel exceeded what we paid in rent, which wasn't cheap.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 9, 2024 17:39:11 GMT
Glad to know what those terms mean, as I've heard them, but never paid any attention. After the enormous outages on power grids in Texas, I found out that the greedy politicians there are every bit as rotten as their South African counterparts. Will you have a garden again, Bixa, or just a courtyard? Alas, Bjd, no garden. I'll have to make a report on the challenging area I'll try to turn into a patio(s). I was really taken by the place when I saw it, even though in many ways it's the opposite of everything I look for in a house. It remains to be seen if it will turn out to be a delightful change or a horrifying snap decision. Right now I'm working on reducing my plant collection.
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Post by lugg on Aug 10, 2024 18:51:52 GMT
Here is a video someone must have made at dawn, judging by the lovely light & by the absence of pedestrians and cars.
it looks like it will be a fascinating place to live Bixa . I hope that you will be really happy there and looking forward to your posts. I am sure you will create a lovely home and patio.
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Post by questaredux on Aug 11, 2024 1:04:45 GMT
While in Indonesia I grew familiar with "Load shedding". Lombok island was supposed to have 3 massive generators, but one "Blew up" on the ship carrying it to its new home. Since then the load has been carried by only running the two working generators over 3 days. Naturally if you are having a wedding or important occasion, appropriate currency inserted into one's monthly account paper will ensure the ice cream won't melt.
Oh...That city looks lovely. and the light and music suits it well.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 11, 2024 1:14:26 GMT
it looks like it will be a fascinating place to live Bixa . I hope that you will be really happy there and looking forward to your posts. I am sure you will create a lovely home and patio. Thank you so much, Lugg! That's exactly what I need to hear right now, as I sit surrounded by boxes & obsessing about all I still need to do. Thank you, kind Questa. The city is known for music & other culture and for "chipi-chipi". That is very fine not-quite-rain but more than mist. The electricity arrangement in Lombok Island sounds pretty frustrating in terms of counting on getting things done. I supposed that is the root of some of your Indonesian expressions about patience & going with the flow.
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Post by whatagain on Aug 18, 2024 8:20:09 GMT
We went on a ‘regate’ yesterday. A nautical race. We boarded the school ship and let the kids play with the sails and the rigging. However there was little wind but the sea was ‘ heavy ‘ (Houle in French). One got unwell and stayed flat, and the skipper got mildly seasick. So was I and when he went to shore with a zodiac (faster to write than inflatable dinghy) I accompanied him. But I had to wait a bit to board and was violently seasick. I skipped the afternoon session. Had 3 pastis instead. A very unpleasant sensation ( not the pastis, thé seasickness).
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Post by tod2 on Aug 18, 2024 9:57:18 GMT
The weather has been exceptional on the Isle of Wight. The sea has been flat as a pancake and I could see far in the distance a large regatta - (all on You Tube) That makes me wonder....Can one still get those sticky plasters you put behind your ears? When my son and his friend started turning green at the dinner table on board our first sea voyage, I put them on and in hours they were a lot better. Should have put them on before leaving harbour.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 18, 2024 15:12:36 GMT
Whatagain's post is an excellent depiction of seasickness as it really is. Cartoons and jokes about people throwing up over the side of the boat leave out the fact that seasickness is sickness all over your body and a really miserable feeling, easily comparable to the very worst flu you ever had.
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Post by whatagain on Aug 26, 2024 6:06:35 GMT
I am going to the funeral of the twin sister of my mother in law. Pancreatic cancer. Gone in a matter of weeks. I liked her, a real nice lady. I love her son. She will be cremated at the same place as her daughter (died at 51, also a nice lady)
I hate cremations. And no priest. I hate ceremony without a priest. It is ´ glauque ‘ ( glaucous ?).
And I will be driving with the mother in law who is in denial.
Not a pleasant day ahead of me. And I cannot cry anymore. I will stay with dry eyes hoping nobody noticed or cares. I have not been able to cry at my own mother funeral.
I cried full buckets when Robin passed away and it seems the door to the tears has been stuck ever since.
Life can be a bitch.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 26, 2024 6:50:02 GMT
I didn't cry when either of my parents died. I cried plenty when my grandmother died but only when I was alone.
Bon courage for your difficult day.
Both of my parents were cremated with no ceremony at all. Nobody was there for the event. I could have gone to see my mother's cremation, but I didn't see the point. She was gone, and I would have been the only person there anyway. When there are family and friends I'm sure it is quite different. I just went and collected their urns a few days later.
I did attend a cremation once, the mother of a friend. It was a secular ceremony. Most people did not stay to see the coffin put in the oven, but since I had never seen it before, I did. It was awful.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 26, 2024 7:12:52 GMT
I am so sorry, Whatagain. Of course it will be a difficult day, but maybe you can be some comfort to your mother-in-law. Your wife must be so sad to lose her aunt.
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Post by whatagain on Aug 26, 2024 7:19:03 GMT
Thanks both. Yes my wife spent a lot of time with her cousins and aunt and uncle. They were the closest thing to her as brother and sisters.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 26, 2024 7:42:48 GMT
My mom told us "No Funeral in the church - Just have the minister /Priest say prayers when they lay my ashes in the earth. So that's what we did. simple and little fuss. She had kept my fathers ashes so we mixed them together. I'm sure they would be happy like that. Thinking of you today Whatagain.
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Post by whatagain on Aug 27, 2024 6:18:43 GMT
Thanks Tod. It was an entirely family business. All remaining children, 6 out of 9 great children. My wife and 2 out of our children. My mil. Her husband. 92. Brain dead. Didn’t realise anything. 15 long minutes at the crematorium. Coffee and sandwiches after.
And a good laugh when crematorium called we had to come back and pay 890 euros cash in order to get the cinders. Idiots.
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Post by mich64 on Aug 27, 2024 19:21:10 GMT
Very sorry for your family's loss whatagain.
I have never heard of attending the crematorium here. We contact the crematorium to find out if the remains are ready to retrieve and then at the time of choice of the family, sometimes, the urn is taken to a church or funeral home for a service. Some people hold on to the remains until more family and friends can attend a private celebration of life at a hall, restaurant or as we will be doing soon, at the lakeside. Or a service at the grave site where the urn is placed into a grave, as we did for my sister recently. We find since COVID people are less likely to hold church services which has caused some creative and inventive ways to honor their loved ones.
Some people are choosing to prepay for their cremation/funeral home services, so it is less hectic on family members once they pass. My father-in-law had paid for his cremation, it was helpful that his sons just had to call the funeral home, and everything was taken care of.
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Post by whatagain on Aug 28, 2024 5:52:31 GMT
Indeed it would have been easier but crematorium didn’t inform. We ended up asking for the invoice to be sent by WhatsApp and it was paid by instant wiring.
The crematorium is often used as the place to say a few words and to remember the deceased over here.
We were allowed in a nice room actually where they played music chosen by the family. The flowers were arranged around the casket and we were given petals of roses to drop on it.
The first time I went into a crematorium we actually saw the casket go into the flames but it was more civilised.
I really prefer a priest and a mass or a benediction. These guys have 2000 years of experience they know their trade.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 31, 2024 12:08:06 GMT
Just as I was leaving for the supermarket this morning, we had our first Afghan gang battle about 50 metres from my building. According to the official news reports, a fight broke out in front of one of the telephone shops with about 40 Afghans watching. Some of them went to get their knives and machetes and then the real fun started. Four people were stabbed, one seriously. This is all about territorial wars for contraband cigarettes.
Fatima, the old Tunisian woman who spends most of the day and some of the night on the bench in front of my building, had her own version. "Five people were killed!" she said. Her reality is often a little bit different from the rest of the world.
Two people were arrested and one knife was seized by the police. My street was closed for about 3 hours but now it is open again.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 31, 2024 14:37:29 GMT
Had you already left your building, or were you still inside?
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 31, 2024 14:54:14 GMT
I was leaving in the other direction just after a bunch of police cars had gone wailing up the street. As I was heading for the bus stop, a group of four running policemen nearly ran me down. They were smiling with excitement.
The bus quickly spirited me away, but unfortunately on the way back, the bus unceremoniously dumped me and everybody else quite a distance from my destination and I had to lug quite a bunch of groceries home. Luckily the street was open for pedestrians at least as far as my building which is why Fatima was able to supply me with fake news. She lives farther up the street so she couldn't have gone home anyway.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 31, 2024 15:54:14 GMT
That was a near-miss & got you out of danger. Still, you could have gotten us some good tabloid shots from your window had you delayed leaving home for just a few more minutes.
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Post by tod2 on Sept 2, 2024 14:43:24 GMT
This account of a gang fight near your supermarket quite surprises me Kerouac. I would never have imagined anything as violent like that happening on a Paris street. It resonates with the type of African law here. The way to get the upper hand is to annihilate your opposition. The only time you would have been in danger would be if you were in the wrong place at the right time, but you weren't luckily enough.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 2, 2024 15:25:03 GMT
Well, Parisians generally don't engage in this sort of activity, but these are "new" Parisians recently arrived from Afghanistan. They will take a bit of time to adapt to French society. In the end I read that there were six arrests, and I have not seen very many contraband cigarette vendors in the last two days. And there has not been a very big (uniformed) police presence either. Just for the record, they sell their contraband (illegally imported) cigarettes or the counterfeit ones (mostly made in Belgium and Germany) for 5 euros whereas the official price is now 12.50€. I had to look it up, not being a consumer.
I updated Fatima on the news, and she seemed a bit disappointed. I think she was quite excited by the report of 5 deaths. She showed me the hiding area for cigarette and drugs next to her bench -- the base of a lightpole with a little trapdoor for wiring that can be opened with a special utility key. I told her that I knew the places next to the metro entrance under the base of a colonne Morris (called 'kiosk' by English speakers) with the theatre ads on it, and also some little trapdoors in the pavement for minor water mains and such. Just goes to show that these guys are not very discreet. If we know where they are hiding their extra stock, the police certainly know all of these places, too. I would imagine that besides just the territorial dispute, various gangs also steal each other's stuff.
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Post by whatagain on Sept 3, 2024 12:54:57 GMT
I like Barbes for the contraband. It is very funny to see them trying their cigarettes often with cops a few meters away. Personally being non smoker I cannot care less. It is for me like the theft of art. Somebody steels a Picasso worth 340 millions and replaces it with a copy that goes unnoticed for 7 years… I don’t care.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 3, 2024 13:03:28 GMT
What worries the authorities are the counterfeit cigarettes more than the contraband ones. The counterfeit ones often contain chemicals and substances worse than tobacco in them since there is no control over the fabrication.
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Post by tod2 on Sept 3, 2024 13:06:26 GMT
I like Barbes for the contraband. That is the metro stop where I first encountered young Asian/Indian? men approaching us and saying something we could not understand. Only when the one guy showed a pack of cigarettes did we twig he wanted us as customers.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 3, 2024 13:09:02 GMT
Now the contraband is everywhere in the north of Paris (probably parts of the south, too).
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Post by tod2 on Sept 3, 2024 13:17:06 GMT
If there was No demand.... then would be No supply. Same with drugs I guess. Humans are just so backward when it comes to preserving a brain. They make life miserable for themselves then try to patch it up worse than ever.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Sept 6, 2024 17:06:55 GMT
1. We changed our broadband provider in March. The service was better and they let us keep our landline number, although the phone too is piggy backed onto our fibre connection. We need a house phone. The hospital. doctor's surgery, the bank etc all contact us via the house phone. Anyway...the company (Gigabit) has gone bust and we have been handed over to another company. They 'accidentally' cut off our land line and are now saying that it will cost us 'x' amount to reconnect us AND that they'll have to charge us 3x what Gigabit was charging us for the phone! Jeffrey is 'in negotiations'. I'm furious.
2. Brushing my hair this morning I thought that it seemed quite long...searched my diary and realised that I'd failed to book my next hair appointment the last time I went, I usually go every 8 -9 weeks. Sooooo I went online. I had to jump through hoops to sign in then when I tried to book I saw that they will only accept a booking if you pay upfront online! Of course I can't pay online atm because the bank can't ring me to confirm the payment (security). Bummer...Luckily I manage to book with my iphone where they recognised me as a trusted customer so am not required to make a deposit. This time there will be 11 weeks between haircuts! So not ALL bad....
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