So I just got back from Europe and I have some questions...

[CrudeSasquatch]

You flew Air Canada. You're lucky they got your luggage on the right plane. Did the flight crew have a strike while you waited? Sometimes they have a strike and have the plane fly again in a few minutes but they ask everyone to pay a bit more.

 

[Radegast74]

Hi, UK answerer here:

Disclaimer: This is an interpretation of the events based on someone living here and may not be 100% factually correct:

It wasn't always like this, as recently as 10 years ago everything was running pretty much as you'd expect - Then the recession hit and the government has been pushing this thing called "Austerity" for the last 7 years...
<snip>
This is the Austerity policy in action. Things you would expect from Public Services are just not there anymore, mainly because we have voted in a government that believes everything should turn a profit.

Total outsider here, but I love reading newspapers from all over the world...anyway, "Austerity" seems to be overall killing the UK economy, the growth since the worldwide recession hit has been dismal, while other countries that did not implement austerity measures have been growing.

Then, as the austerity measures causes the available resources to shrink, people seem to get nastier about how to allocate the fewer remaining resources.

I'm just commenting about this because I see a lot of parallel ideas and actions suggested here in the States, with people ignoring the outcomes in a country that has implemented austerity measures.

 

[Crymsan]

Gah politics on a gaming site boo. Anyways if the UK is doing austerity it is doing it wrong, government spending is up and has not been cut at all. You really should be careful what you read.

 

[CrudeSasquatch]

Gah politics on a gaming site boo. Anyways if the UK is doing austerity it is doing it wrong, government spending is up and has not been cut at all. You really should be careful what you read.

Step 1, put politicians in airplane
Step 2, land airplane on remote island
Step 3, film results

 

[makute]

Callos, check. What's in them? Do I want to know?

Cow intestines, what else? Callos are a common plate in Spain, and every region has his own variants. Basically they're sliced (and extremelly clean, of course) cow intestines, stewed with chorizo, morcilla (and in some cases potatoes and chick peas) in a thick, spicy sauce.

"Jägerschnitzel" is either with fungi (western germany) or a thick slice of sausage with breading (traditional GDR food, eastern germany)

I love how German language turns everything into a menacing WMD: "Klaus, the commie tanks are comming, bring the Jägerschnitzel!!" :D

 

[DarthMatter]

Step 1, put politicians in airplane
Step 2, land airplane on remote island
Step 3, film results

Can we do the same with organised crime?

 

[CrudeSasquatch]

Can we do the same with organised crime?

Grand Theft Big Brother Parliament Survivor Edition

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Step 3, film results

And give them the oxygen of publicity?

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Wow...over here in the States, a lack of basic maintenance can actually result in a loss of money. For example. There is a pothole you see on the way to work. You report it as it's pretty big and might damage cars. City/town/state ignores it. 4 weeks later, you can't avoid it and you damage your wheel or get a flat. In many states, you can actually recover the costs associated with your flat, wheel damage, suspension damage, etc because they failed to take action on a known problem. Because a number of people might get a flat or damaged wheel due to these big pot holes, it's an incentive to the responsible agency to get out and fix the roads rather than have a bunch of people get really upset with their politicians who might not get re-elected as a result of it.

The potholes are a thing here too, and cracked alloy wheels cost councils in legal costs and damage claims too.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Total outsider here, but I love reading newspapers from all over the world...anyway, "Austerity" seems to be overall killing the UK economy, the growth since the worldwide recession hit has been dismal, while other countries that did not implement austerity measures have been growing.

Then, as the austerity measures causes the available resources to shrink, people seem to get nastier about how to allocate the fewer remaining resources.

I'm just commenting about this because I see a lot of parallel ideas and actions suggested here in the States, with people ignoring the outcomes in a country that has implemented austerity measures.

Someone somewhere has a plan but I'm buggered if I can work out what it is.

 

[Radegast74]

Gah politics on a gaming site boo. Anyways if the UK is doing austerity it is doing it wrong, government spending is up and has not been cut at all. You really should be careful what you read.

I know! I consider my hand slapped!

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

What were we talking about? Oh yeah!

Question 21. Why doesn't America have Egg Cups.

Question 22. Why doesn't America have Squash (Fruit juice concentrate you dilute with tap water which may or may not be made of fruit.)

 

[CrudeSasquatch]

What were we talking about? Oh yeah!

Question 21. Why doesn't America have Egg Cups.

Question 22. Why doesn't America have Squash (Fruit juice concentrate you dilute with tap water which may or may not be made of fruit.)

Northern North of North America has eh cups.

Squash is something you do to bugs, a game with a ball and a wall, and what happens to me when I take a biggin home after the bar.

 

[AstroGimp01]

Love this thread, I LOL'd.

'Gimp

 

[MikeNificent]

What were we talking about? Oh yeah!

Question 21. Why doesn't America have Egg Cups.

Question 22. Why doesn't America have Squash (Fruit juice concentrate you dilute with tap water which may or may not be made of fruit.)

We have 'squash' in the Seattle area. My mom was a fan since we were too poor to get 'fancy' aka real juice with no high fructose corn syrup.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

We have 'squash' in the Seattle area. My mom was a fan since we were too poor to get 'fancy' aka real juice with no high fructose corn syrup.

This is news!

I have been told by many many Youtube Videos my soon-to-be-wife watched that you guys don't have Squash at all... My world has been shaken to its very Core.

I sat down once with a measuring jug and worked out the exact amounts to make the concentration of Squash as it says on the bottle (usually 1 part Sq to 5 parts water) and it was okay, but the "pour and hope" method is about five minutes quicker.

 

[MikeNificent]

This is news!

I have been told by many many Youtube Videos my soon-to-be-wife watched that you guys don't have Squash at all... My world has been shaken to its very Core.

I sat down once with a measuring jug and worked out the exact amounts to make the concentration of Squash as it says on the bottle (usually 1 part Sq to 5 parts water) and it was okay, but the "pour and hope" method is about five minutes quicker.

I seem to remember ours being 3:1 and it comes in frozen cardboard tubes with the little plastic peel off ring on one end. Peel the plastic, pull the end off, shake the shit out of it until it slurp slides out of the tube, mix with water, and voila!

 

[MikeNificent]

What were we talking about? Oh yeah!

Question 21. Why doesn't America have Egg Cups.

Question 22. Why doesn't America have Squash (Fruit juice concentrate you dilute with tap water which may or may not be made of fruit.)

WTF is an egg cup?

 

[MikeNificent]

Cow intestines, what else? Callos are a common plate in Spain, and every region has his own variants. Basically they're sliced (and extremelly clean, of course) cow intestines, stewed with chorizo, morcilla (and in some cases potatoes and chick peas) in a thick, spicy sauce.


I love how German language turns everything into a menacing WMD: "Klaus, the commie tanks are comming, bring the Jägerschnitzel!!" :smile:

Weeeeeell I eat sausage, so intestines are not so bad, provided they are clean. The rest sounds fine. I'm in!

 

[MikeNificent]

You flew Air Canada. You're lucky they got your luggage on the right plane. Did the flight crew have a strike while you waited? Sometimes they have a strike and have the plane fly again in a few minutes but they ask everyone to pay a bit more.

No picketing that I saw, but I'm confident that the delay was long enough for a new collective bargaining agreement to be reached, so I may have caught the end of one. My luggage made it. Menzies a.k.a. the baggage tossers are non union I believe. The delay gave them time to load the plane, unload it halfway to fetch a bag for someone who gave up their seat, and then reload it again. In hindsight, I probably dodged two bullets there...