For me, it’s easy. YouTube premium. There’s so much good stuff on there and getting rid of those adverts is a joy worth every penny..
Life’s little luxuries
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
Yes! I pay for that as well. Otherwise it’s decent food, tea, and coffee.
Me too. I use it a lot for all sorts of things and the ads drive me insane so it’s my little treat.
I took advantage of the free trial for ad free You Tube and the lack of ads was pleasant but I don’t use the service enough to justify the cost so I ditched it. My little luxury at this time is being able to walk pain free and without needing to use a walking stick. I travelled into Chester on Monday by bus and sans stick. It was the first time I’ve been able to do that for three years. I celebrated with an almond flat white at the Jaunty Goat. It was splendid.
I watch YouTube quite a bit and the ads are really the worst sometimes coming on in the middle of a song. So I pay for no ads and you also get the YouTube music streaming service included which is nice
I use Qobuz for which I pay a yearly subscription so You Tube music streaming had no value for me. I’d have been paying just short of £13 a month to get rid of adverts from a service I only use now and again.
Yes, naturally depends on your usage. I don’t stream much so it is good for me. It also only costs about 9 quid a month in Canada (just gone up)
I pay £10.83 a month for Qobuz on a yearly subscription. That gives me all I need from a music streaming service. I’ve run others alongside it occasionally but I invariably end up cancelling them. I like Qobuz, it sounds really good and they pay artists the best plus they won’t countenance AI. If You Tube was as cheap here as you’re getting it for in Canada I might reconsider but not at the current cost.
That’s good to hear, Mr P. And an almond flat white also sounds like one of life’s little luxuries!
Diolch and it is certainly a luxury as I get to chat with a lovely young woman from the Lone Star state whenever I visit the Jaunty Goat.
They do the best cinnamon swirl pastry in Chester there too if you’re ever in the mood.
I second this wholeheartedly. Good pancakes too.
Why are flat whites so expensive? They only seem to come in one size and are at a premium price compared to other espresso related beverages
I pay £4.50 for an almond flat white at the Jaunty Goat, not cheap but it is really good coffee.
Wow. Another thing that’s more expensive over there compared to here (around 3 quid). Eating/drinking (without alcohol) out here is generally cheaper, at least compared to desirable UK area, like Wales naturally! Groceries here are expensive though and I think of a poorer quality in general.
It’s certainly gotten and is getting ever more expensive in the UK. I’m fortunate in having decent pensions and low overheads. My heart goes out to the young ‘uns. I don’t envy them anything other than their vitality.
I am not sure eating out is generally cheaper in North America. It used to be. Was recently in Toronto and I thought the restaurant prices were very high for dubious quality. (I am talking chains as opposed to fine dining).
By the time you have added the 20 percent tip even more so. Would be nice if the restaurants paid a decent wage rather than expecting the punters to pay for the service which should be a given.
Flat white – double shot of espresso, hence the higher price.
Let’s have a mini mingle at the goat. It would be lovely to see you
Sounds good to me Mart. Give me a day and a time and I’ll Picard it.
Maybe Chester could join us for a swirl
Of course everyone is welcome. The more the merrier.
Ah, good news on the sans stick motif. Very pleased to hear things are easing for you.
Diolch Beez.
I watch YouTube on Brave browser – No sub and no adverts.
Me too, it’s great. Although because of my transcontinental life YouTube decided that I was in the UK and Mrs thep was in Oz, so she was shut out. So I signed up to an Australian account and she was still shut out because she hadn’t taken up the invitation last time. Unlike me she doesn’t have several email addresses. I’m happy though, and I’m graciously allowing her to use my account on the Apple TV.
I use a VPN for many things. I find it useful when watching youtube to set it to Albania, which is one of the few countries where forcing you to watch adverts is illegal. Lo, no ads.
I would stop watching youtube if this changed. Gotta draw a line somewhere.
Re the OP, I would say having the time to walk somewhere non-urban and to just gaze around and listen to the birds is right up there. As is swimming in the sea.
Oooohhhh. I didn’t know that. Virtual Albania here I come…
Top tip of the year right here….works a treat, thanks!
A Crohn’s sufferer writes: public toilets.
Some of them are brill, most of them are adequate, a few of them (Wells – I’m looking at you) are ghastly.
That there are any at all should be a cause for celebration.
They don’t really exist over here. One needs to sneak into a fast food outlet/bar or a store that has them for any near emergencies.
Yeah, that’s kind of what I meant to say (but didn’t).
See also: almost everywhere else – one of the reasons I don’t travel abroad much any more.
Judging from that Wim Wenders film “Perfect Days”, public toilets in Tokyo are plentiful and immaculate. I now want to visit Tokyo, just to go to the bog.
Wells bus station, or those by the town hall? Neither brilliant. As someone who now has to go RIGHT NOW it can be quite grim…
The ones by the bus station were absolutely vile. Mrs F was offered drugs while she was waiting for me. Afterwards, I had to walk to Tesco, just to wash my hands with soap and water. The ones by the town hall weren’t much better.
I didn’t go to the ones by the library, but we later went to the cathedral loft cafe for a cuppa. I’m pleased to report that I could have eaten my dinner off the bogs in there – cleanliness next to godliness, and all that.
The one in Union Street by the library used to be ok.
I had to have a wee in one in Norfolk the other week, and left a note in the door jamb saying ‘No toilet paper’.
The ones in Cromer by the car park have a massive skylight window thing in the roof, and no ventilation. They’re ok first thing in the morning but, by lunchtime on a sunny day, you have to take a deep breath before entering and hold it in until you leave.
I usually steer clear of public toilets at all costs but many years ago had the misfortune to visit some public gents in Abergavenny. Not only were they disgusting but the messages and drawings left on the walls were graphic and eye-watering by any standards and in most cases physically impossible.
I marched into a public bog in Folkestone a few years ago and discovered two elderly gents tossing each other off at the urinals. Decided I could wait until I got home.
Not one of Life’s Little Pleasures.
Perhaps they were filming a porn version of Last of the Summer Wine. I bet there is one.
Rule 34 — “If it exists, there is porn of it.”
Get those wrinkled stockings into this bath tub, Norah.
I was browsing a mixed box of junk in a flea market in Barcelona once when I was startled to uncover an Asterix porn DVD. I didn’t investigate further but I could guess what effect the magic potion had.
Orgasmix.
That huge thing Obelix always carries around in his hands was no menhir, I can tell you.
The toilet in question was – I think – Burnham Market, from whom I expected better. But I had shopped well, and didn’t need a poo.
Test Cricket on BBC Five Live Extra, starts tomorrow.
I was talking to someone last year about the BBC…
She: “Get rid of it, it’s biased.”
Me: “So where do I get ball-by-ball commentary of the Test Cricket from? Fromage and his mates ain’t gonna to supply it.”
She didn’t really have an answer to that.
Might not be the case in 2029, when up for review, and the ECB seem to be in the mood for change. Until then, cricket on BBC radio – Test, County (4-day, T-20) is worth my license fee.
Currently hooked on wine from the Gamay grape…not overly expensive and almost guaranteed to be a solid, enjoyable drink. Much under-rated.
I think my quarterly (ok slightly more often) visit to Majestic Wine is in this category.
I suppose it’s a bit obvious and taken for granted, but my vote goes to the (high-speed) internet. It has transformed my music collection, which is my one indulgence.
I’m a big fan of numerous, relatively obscure-outside-their-homeland European goth and darkwave bands (Blutengel, Diary of Dreams, Unheilig, ASP, Faun, Arcana, and many more). Without the net I would (a) have never discovered them in the first place and (b) probably found it impossible to buy their music.
Oh, how I long for the day when I can walk into HMV and pick up the new CD from German goth champions Mono Inc or Swedish martial industrialist neofolkies Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio. Until that happy day, I must buy their music, and that of many others who mean next to nothing in the UK (hello, Canada’s criminally ignored Birthday Massacre!), via the net. I’m very glad I get to use it for a relatively low cost.
Seconded, and I’d add The Afterword.
It’s great to have a place to vent/enthuse/nerd, and you lot know me better than many in Meat World. Without this place, Mrs F would very quickly be reduced to “what are you on about now?”
To quote some old ad, “I’d be lost without it.”
NYT sub chiefly for the full fat wordle connections spelling
They do a specific games subscription for £25 a year which is what I have. You do get a lot of irritating pop ups trying to get you to upgrade your subscription to the whole thing or upgrade games to cover the whole family.
I think you can still get the whole NYT, The Athletic as well as all the games £2 per 4 weeks, something I’ve had for a few years.
Twas two, maybe three, years £2 a month for me then , no warning, full whack. It took me many emails then a phone call (WhatsApp, so free) to NY to cancel and refund. I blame Trump.
that’s what I have, other people in the family read The Athletic, I occasionally read the NYT times, but chiefly its the games, so will think about downgrading.
I may shave been saved by getting ahead of the renewal date and clicking through the cancel sub pages, whilst it’s still active. This was after getting charged £60 for the Athletic alone after missing the renewal date – they initially refused a refund but caved when I told them I’d go for a charge back on the credit card.
4 cans of Red Stripe and M & S Beef & Onion Crisps
(yes, I’m easily pleased)
Gold Top Milk
(see above)
Ocado – only bit missing for me is after ordering and delivery, I would like them to come in and put it all away for me.
I have a man to do that – he takes some of it out again, three times a day, and cooks my meals for me. And empties the washing machine. While I sit on my arse and play records.
Well, I can dream, can’t I?
Good boots. Boots with welted soles that can replaced by a decent cobbler. I have a couple of decent pairs. Last autumn I had them both resoled by an independent cobbler, rather than Timpsons. What a difference. He restitched some loose threads on the brogueing without being asked too.
A similarly good quality wool jumper, too. One that won’t bobble or stretch out of shape. In a plain solid colour. Navy, black or grey. Makes you feel very mature at long last.
Boots? Jumpers? I must start smoking a pipe.
Can I interest you in a Quad amplifier?
A big yes to quality boots and jumpers. I recently found a pair of lovely condition brown Trickers for £30 and they fit like a glove.
Trickers for £30!? Good God.
*eats own fist in jealous rage*
Yep. My job in semi-retirement is as a trader in vintage clothing. I couldn’t believe it either! I was going to sell them on but I will probably hang on to them.
Trickers fun fact- The factory floor scenes of the 2005 movie Kinky Boots were shot in the Trickers factory. I know this because I used to live across the road from said factory.
Fast track security lane at Stansted when flying Ryanair. Gets you through the scanners in zip time. Doesn’t cost much but you can have a small smirk of satisfaction seeing the hordes shuffling around looping queues on the other side of the glass. Still, this being Ryanair you’re still stuck in a solid queue in the airless metal jet bridge for about 20 minutes, before standing on the runway for another 10 before finally irritably clambering aboard the plane.
I have to use a wheelchair when flying which fast tracks me through the fast track queue.
Yes, we treated ourselves to priority boarding, front row seats and pre-ordered drinks and snacks on EasyJet last year. It worked out really well – we were treated better than on that than some of of our (10 x more expensive) long haul flights.
My favourite was when I was flying back to Stansted with Ryanair. The priority boarding passengers had queued twice as you describe, while the rest of us sat at the gate. We then saw then loaded into one of those little buses, which stayed exactly where it was while everyone else walked straight past and into the plane that was about 50 metres away.
I was at Stansted two weeks ago, I didn’t have fast track and got through in 10 minutes flat.
Wouldn’t entertain giving Ryanair anything I didn’t need to.
When I typed this Stansted appeared as stagnated. About sums the place up – generally avoid it like the plague but it was the only option at time of booking.
It’s our local so our default. Now the security queues have sped up I don’t mind it. The snaking shopping section between security and the main area is a pain, but once you know where the semi-secret extra seating areas are life becomes a lot easier.
I flew to and from Seville from Gatwick last year with Vueling (me neither) carrying only a backpack that was small enough to go in the locker and discovered that by booking a seat in the front 3 rows for around 10 Euros it included the cost of baggage in the locker. I booked a seat after check in both ways and had no trouble, most of the seats were still available. Overall, a better experience than most airlines.
A luxury is having something to gripe about.
Single malts, much discussed here. Surely something which feels very luxurious but not actually ££££ (unless you are after 20-yo Glenfiddich etc).
Currently working through:
Laphroig Lore
Ardbeg Eureka (last of our Islay stash)
Hibaki Harmony – def. a luxury
Jura 10yo
Talisker 10yo (supermarket great value bottles)
In fact a spirits cabinet generally is one of life’s little luxuries, being able to invest upfront in a range of bottles which we gradually add to as bottles are then finished. As a student/poor twenty something alcohol was generally bought and consumed within forty eight hours max. No sunk costs there.
I’d never heard of Hibaki, @moselymoles so I bought one out of curiosity. It’s very pale but gosh it’s a nicely balanced whisk(e)y. Cheers!
Infinitely prefer Japanese whiskey to bourbon. Comparatively pricey compared to Scotch as it has to make its way here, but as ever with the Japanese when they put their mind to making something, its usually made well. Light, floral and as you say very well balanced.
I’d place a nice 15-year old single malt smack in the middle of the “little luxuries” bracket: a step up from the 10s and 12s – but not so expensive as to be prohibitive for normal, everyday use (like the 18s and 21s).
Bowmore ‘Darkest’ 15, Glenfiddich ‘Solera’ 15 and Dalwhinnie 15 all come to mind immediately.
Physical newspapers on a Sunday are a nice luxury.
I buy one (Observer) and then go into a local hotel to collar the arts sections/magazines of the others (the brilliant Financial Times, the awful Telegraph and Times).
Much of it is laugh out loud funny… the clothes… anything to do with pop music… the children of famous people who “haven’t had any help to get were they are through their parents” etc.
Seriously wouldn’t miss it for the world.
I agree that a physical newspaper – Sat Guardian round here – is now a luxury. And to think we once bought one every day!
I know most of you types probably get all the FIFA World Cup games on terrestrial TV channels – but the TVNZ + app offers access to every game for a very reasonable 22 quid. That made me happy.
Just discovered that SBS in Oz is showing all the games for a very reasonable $00. Whether I’ll get my head round the various time zones is another matter.
British strawberries in June. A fruitful experience par excellence.
Strawberries, cherries, asparagus and (getting more exotic) alphonso, kesar and honey mangoes. It’s a wonderful time of the year for food.
Seeing the ‘Asparagus next left’ sign near Felbrigg Hall is always a joy.
My singing of the HMHB number is less joyful for anyone in earshot, however.
A comfortable bed and high thread count Egyptian cotton linen.
We have just purchased a summer weight duvet. Changed our life – now we have two duvets, the sheer indulgence.
Or, as we call it in this house: 1 duvet cover, stuffed for winter, empty in the heat.
An all seasons goose down duvet is a perfect thing.
We’ve got two down duvets which tie together at the corners. One’s 4 tog, and the other is 10. All four seasons covered: 10-4-10-14.
Yes, I know how to live…