Splendid Isolation

Tag: Stupid people

Pay The Price

Food & Drink, Travels

Some Belgie chick went to London and was astonished to be charged through the nose for her breakfast.

A tourist has come under fire for complaining about paying £3.55 for two croissants and a bottle of water at a London supermarket.

Here’s why I have no sympathy.

1) Any time you visit a major city (pretty much anywhere, Tokyo, Zurich ahem), you’re probably going to pay more than you expect for stuff, and in London more so than most, especially when the currency exchange is factored in.  (In Murkin greenbacks, this amount would be $4.50 or so — typical for a quick breakfast in L.A. or NYfC, probably, but without the quality guarantee.)  Which leads to my next point:

2) It’s Marks & Spencer, FFS.  Chances are that said croissants are as good or better than she could get anywhere else in Europe, with the possible exception of Paris.  That’s why they’re more expensive than most places:  they go for quality over everything else, and you pay the premium accordingly..

3) Water?  With croissants?  Loath as I am to tell a Euro how to eat their food, the proper liquid to be consumed with croissants is coffee.  Okay, considering the locale, a cup of tea could be substituted, but water?  Ugh.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do;  and when in London, suck it up and pay, Margriet.

Every Minute

Fashion

…a fool is born, goes the saying.  And chances are that the first thing said fool will do is slap down $600 for a pair of… flip-flops?

I’m not kidding.

How the humble flip-flop became the shoe of the summer with unbelievable price tags to match

JHC.

I remember the wonderful little speech given by Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, in which she schools ingenue Anne Hathaway about the importance of the color “cerise” and how great minds in the fashion industry planned its future appeal, years before it became “fashionable”.  (Don’t bother looking it up;  it’s dark- or cherry pink.)

I thought the speech was a great example of how easily people can be fooled into thinking that something of little value or consequence actually matters.

As an Olde Phartte of many summers, I can recall many stupid fashions — platform shoes, wide psychedelic neckties, wide lapels on suits, etc. etc.

But I never ever dreamed that fucking flip-flops — which should all be burned on a giant bonfire (along with their wearers*) — would become the new overpriced trend.

When I see F1’s Lewis Hamilton wearing a pair of Laboutin flip-flops in the pits, then I’ll know how far we’ve fallen.

Time for gin?  I think so.

*Note:  No snide references to Australians, the worst offenders in this footwear folly.

Looking Guilty

Law and Order

Here’s one powdered wig that went askew:

A Mississippi attorney is accused of smuggling cell phones and drugs into prison.

Officials said Attorney Daniel Dale allegedly smuggled cell phones, cell phone chargers, drugs, and other items into the jail during what was believed to be meetings with clients.

He was arrested days after a video showed him allegedly giving a cell phone and a brown envelope to a client.

Dale was found with two cell phones, a digital scale, four vacuum-sealed packs of cigarettes, four vacuum-sealed packs of what is believed to be marijuana, two cellphone charger blocks, two cell phone chargers, and multiple cigar wraps.

And his mug shot:

As I replied to Reader Mike L. (who had sent the link to me, thankee squire):  “Fuck me, that mope could be accused of ANY crime and I’d believe it.”

Sometimes, ya just gotta shake yer head.

Speed Bump #5,406

Grammar Nazism

Once more into the breech, dear friends:

Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, is known for making hyperbolic predictions about the US economy – and this time he has a grim prognosis for the most populous state in the nation.

‘The problem is California is going broke,’ he wrote on X. ‘California will begin raising taxes and cutting subsidies to the poor, to prisons, environmental problems, and teachers unions. That means crime will spread as police will be cut.’

He believes even Americans who don’t live in the Golden State should care about its prospects because it’s a bell weather for the rest of the country.

‘Since California is a Bell Weather state and is going broke, which states will follow?’ he asked. 

I think he means “bellwether” and not “bell weather”, which is meaningless.

The article was otherwise quite informative, hence why the above atrocity was such a speed bump — I stopped reading it to write this post as I usually do in these circumstances.

Poxy illiterates.

Read more

Speed Bump #7,694

Grammar Nazism

Here we go again:

I don’t care about the story’s content or subject — on my interest scale, the hobbies of little fegelehs who jump into water rank somewhere below the sex lives of tarantulas — but FFS.

The knitting term is “PURL” and not “pearl”, you illiterate fucking scum of the earth.

There will come a time when I go over to Britishland and pay a visit to the offices of the Daily Mail, carrying my trusty cricket bat.  It will not be a pleasant site*.

 

*I know.  I just thought I’d pass it on.  Or you can take it as a pun.  Whatever.