A similar tale to Australia's, where supermarkets were once only allowed to open 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday and until noon on Saturdays. Small shop owners made a decent living by staying open after those hours plus on Sundays. Then along came Thursday late night trading for supermarkets, closely followed by all day Saturday, and then Sunday trading. The final nail in the coffin for small shops was 24 hour hour trading for supermarkets. The odd thing now is that many people are angry that the small shops have disappeared and they have to traipse into supermarkets which aren't always conveniently located.
Morning all. Wet and miserable. It is so dark outside that the outside light comes on as I go out of the back door. My new next door neighbour has fitted a solar panel fuelled light to his carport just beyond my barn, that will illuminate his entrance. I have the impression that he may not get much joy from it if it stays like this for the rest of the day. Enjoy the day whatever the weather.
Sunny frosty day here... with a dusting of snow.... had a good walk around Fountains Abbey..... but very muddy
Negative numbers and snow up here all day, with a yellow wind warning. Like my dog, I didn't venture out at all.
Day 10 of foot up. Bed ridden. Only just starting to go loco, diazampan needed. Didn't want to lay that catd, but have had to.
Morning all. A bright blue sky, but also a frost, so really rather chilly, or crisp if that seems a better description. The supermarkets at the start of the coronavirus outbreak asked customers to pay with credit or debit cards rather than cash wherever possible, and it was taken up. Instead of people searching at length for a final cent that is hiding down the bottom of a purse, they are now looking for the piece of paper they wrote their pin number on. Contactless transactions are used everywhere, until the technology fails as it did in the supermarket yesterday. Of course people no longer bother with actual money, so back two stages in life to the cheque book. Cheque printers are still at the checkout in the supermarkets, together with a pen if you ask for it. The next stage back will be quill pens and a bottle of ink. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Fog and frost makes for an ideal reason to stay indoors and keep warm. Often the sun will come through and burn the fog off, and set the frost dripping from the branches, but not this morning. Our neighbours across the road have just had their third delivery of heating oil for this winter. If I see Bernard he will signify that he is thinking about cutting his throat at the cost of it. Looking mournful he will tell you he will soon be eating grass. The amount of food they have in their multitude of freezers makes that unlikely. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. A stiff breeze and sunshine with showers. Not much of an outside day, so will go and do the weekly shop. Quite a storm about Macron using some industrial language when talking about anti-vaxers. It is one of those words that can be translated into English in several different ways. Still it appears to have done his poll ratings no harm as he was attacking the minority that receive little sympathy from the people I speak to. Have a good day not matter what you will do.
Morning all. A glimmer of sunshine, but basically overcast, if warmer. My daughter is unpacking a store of branches that she inherited when they bought the house here. The wood was for the communal bread oven that forms part of the house. There is a huge quantity of it, and I have taken a bit for my wood burner. It is at least forty years old, and probably much older than that, so it is really hard and almost like burning coal. It was a winter job for the farmers, cutting and laying the hedges, so there must have been some cold people to collect such a huge amount. Have a good one everyone.
Morning all. 8°C, sunshine and showers, so typical winter weather for these parts. Must admit to getting a bit confused about how to spend the extra 1 minute of daylight that is a regular feature on the weather forecast. So far I have not noticed the difference, but suspect it happens in the morning before I am awake. Have a good day whatever you will do.
Signs of ageing... just a six mile walk today... . but managed to fit in 6 cafes and take almost seven hours over it!!
