GRIPES

[Jerry_Atrick]

Don't buy it... simples..

[red750]

I don't. There was one on the table at the Men's Shed.

[old man emu]

It is exactly the same with the NSW Sunday Herald and Sunday Telegraph. If it wasn't for the Harvey Normal ads, the papers would go broke.

[onetrack]

I stopped purchasing newspapers over 20 years ago, because there was little value in them, back then. It has only gotten worse, a race to the bottom for the publication containing the most puerile, slanted, and outright incorrect "news".

If wasn't for "entertainment" news, such as whatever any particular "movie star" or "influencer" is doing today, the papers would be down to 3 pages.

 

 

Edited July 10 by onetrack

[facthunter]

You DON'T HAVE to buy it. It and the TerrorGraph are two of the worst Papers in the Country, Save trees at the same time as you save money.  Gerry Harvey trading as "hardly normal "spends a lot on advertising which MUST add to the Price and HE doesn't pay any dividends to his shareholders either. Donates to the Libs and kept 11 mill of the gov't money during Covid when he lost nothing as he stayed OPEN. Nev

Edited July 10 by facthunter

[red750]

Back to the identity self video requested by Facebook, one of the heads of Meta is in town to discuss the legal requirements to keep younger people off the site, and he said they will be using these videos to check that underage kids cannot cheat to open an account. 

[red750]

Talk about a rip-off.

 

I needed about $15 in cash. I didn't have a lot of time, and the bank ATM was upstairs at the other end of the mall, so I thought I'd go to a private "all cards welcome" machine on the same floor, just around the corner. Put in my request:

Withdrawal

Amount  $20  (that's the smallest denomination at ATM's)

From  Savings account

 

Message:  "Before we proceed, this machine charges a $3.20 fee in addition to any bank fees. Do you wish to proceed?"   $3.20 for a $20 withdrawal????

 

Cancell transaction. Went to Woolies and bought a packet of Uncle Toby's so I could withdraw from the checkout. I was out of cereal anyway. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Indeed a rip off.. a little over 15% to withdraw your money. 

 

These are private operators who pay network fees, cash carrying charges and the like.. thought they would have all gone bust by now..

 

Can't you get your money fee free from any bank's ATM regardless of who you bank with?

Edited July 29 by Jerry_Atrick

[facthunter]

That's one of the best Places to get ripped off.. FREE Range Eggs is deceptive too. You have to Pay for them. Nev

[Marty_d]

Not if you live home on the range.

 

Bloody chooks - 2 of ours had chicks, first lot of 9 are grown up, but because it's winter the buggers aren't laying yet. (Apart from the 3 roosters, who are laying their mother, sisters and aunts on a regular basis - true Tassie chooks!)

Mind you the neighbour is taking those roosters this weekend, so they'll be casserole by Monday.

[rgmwa]

The roosters didn't have a much else going for them.

[nomadpete]

10 hours ago, rgmwa said:

The roosters didn't have a much else going for them.

To be fair, roosters are quite nice....

 

Its all in the sauce.

[red750]

I was heading out to my podiatrist appointment this morning and as I walked past the mailbox on the way to the car, I glanced in to see if there was anything there. I saw an envelope, so pulled it out. I was staggered to find it was a formal looking enveloped with a typed address, but it was addressed to my late wife, who died in March 2022. I opened it and it was from an American based travel firm offering trips to Europe and Ireland. The address on the  reply envelope was a PO Box at Glen Waverley, but their website has no Australian contact details such as address or phone number. I wanted to have a go at them and ask where they got my wifes details.

 

[onetrack]

You can buy lists of mailing addresses from list brokers for direct marketing purposes. It's legal, but some of the addresses can be out of date, or the person is recently deceased. A lot of these companies only update their lists every few years.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Gripe of the week...

 

I went to Waitrose to get my go to summer red - Yering Station Pinot Noir. It is certanly quaffable - and then some. 

 

Problem is, Waitrose no longer stock it.. and have replaced it and a few other decent Aussie wines with crap - Yellow Tail shite, that makes Jacob's Creek look like a very decent wine. Bagoonies, I say... Although, my partner has the taste for Yellow Tail's jammy roo, which is admittedly lower in alcohol these days (12.5%) Shriaz, I think, but it does taste like jam.. and too sweet and sickly for me. 

 

There was a Koonunga Hill Shiraz, at about £13-ish; and a couple of other decent Aussie reds but over-priced for the UK market, anyway. So, I thought, I haven't had a Fluerie for many years - a French medium bodied style, so went the the Frog's section of the shelves. There wasn't much French stuff there either, and by De Boef (I guess for the UK market) go to of anything French that isn't in the super expensive class, followed by Lous Jadot had all sold out. But there were a couple of Flueries of unknwon labels - at least to me - that were there. One was a £9 bottle, and the other was £10 - marked fdown from $13. Well, I thought I may was well give that a try, 

 

At home now, towards the end of a 30 degree summer day and outside looking at the extended sunset which will take anouther 2 or so hours, and this is a very nice drop. So while the Gripe aboutd the Yering Station, which at normal price is the same as this one at normal price (I only buy it occasionally, and only when on sale, which was usually marked down to around £9), is still there, it has subsided a little. But.. I just looked at the label.. 15% alcohol content by volume!!! WTF, I didn't realise I was buying a port. 

 

I know in Aus, it is (or was for a while) harder to get good uality grapes thanks to drought and disease. But, FFS, fixing a wine at 15% is blooody ridiculous. I am already feeling off my mammaries just thinking about it. 

 

Still, there are plently more people far worse off than me complaining about the amount of alcohol in a bottle of wine. 

[nomadpete]

Methinks the man protesteth a little much.......

 

 

A 2021 is on special @ Dan Murphy's etc, for $37

 

 

Edited Sunday at 09:51 PM by nomadpete
No reason. just stirring

[facthunter]

Red Pinot?  Shiraz is Australia's best red. The COLOUR only comes from the skins anyhow. Pinot & Chardonnay make the Best good fizzy.,Champagne stye. Port is for derros to bring up a good meal. 

  Fortified wines last because of the alcohol%.. Bushfire smoke will ruin the taste and Powdery Mildew. (wet still days). Also known as ODIUM. Smells and tastes Cobwebby. Nev

[onetrack]

I've got a couple of bottles of Late Harvest Riesling, left over from about a dozen that I bought around 1990, that I never opened. We both went off drinking wine many years ago.

I was quite amazed when I opened one of the bottles recently to find it had essentially turned into something resembling a nice light Port. It's quite thick in consistency, and still quite sweet.

I know it can't actually be Port, because Port is fortified with Brandy, but I'm still wondering how the Riesling developed into this Port-style of alcohol.

[Jerry_Atrick]

It will be because a late harvest grape will have a higher concentration of sugar, which will effectively fortify the wine when left over a period of time.. is sort of what I learned ages ago.  The are normally sweeter wines to start with. 

[facthunter]

Normal fermentation won't reach high alcohol levels. The alcohol eventually stops the fermentation. Sugars are converted to alcohol and late picked fruit (as u say) has more sugar (and Less ACID). Alcohol makes the Product last longer. Preserves it . Post bottling fermentation will produce sediments  ( lees) in the Bottle and sometimes some small bubbles. (spritzig). Not really a sort after result. As a general practice , DON'T keep whites too long.  Champaigne  (Fermented in Bottle)  and labour intensive often is earlier picked and therefore More  Acid. Some growers pick early to reduce losses due to birds like  silver eye and starlings which play havoc with the crops. Nev