What's new Pussycat too?

Here, here, here, Matt.

All that and more.

The comedian in the picture is our PM, Mr "Rich Tea" Sunak himself!

Ban them all back to the bad comedy club that they have all previously been thrown out of and yes, like you mate, I mean the politicos. Prats and pillocks, the lot of em. Not a statesman/states person among them worthy of the name.

We are currently absolutely and utterly spoilt rotten for utter rotten apples in our Houses of Parliament and on your Capitol Hill / House of Representatives etc.

Never mind - pop the kettle on, feet up and have a brew is the sure-fire cure all and English answer to most things short of all-out Nuke war.

 

When Sunak asked that homeless guy if he was part of the financial sector, the world should have opened up and ate him. How disconnected from the real world can a PM be.

I watch a YT channel that my daughter got me interested in, it's called PoliticalJoe, he covers mostly UK based stuff, but he makes for some very funny and interesting viewpoints. And he also does a footy channel (if that is your thing).

 

Yeah, there are a number of guys like that on the U.S. side of politico, on YT, podcasts and radio. And one or more to choose from in every media from Dems and Repubs all the way down to libertarian's and green parties that never stand a chance beyond the state level and that's as rare as hen's teeth at the state level.

But I wasn't pulling your legs when I guessed it might be another PM I had missed, as I don't keep up with politics much at all, even over here (but I do my homework before elections and vote, in person, valid I.D. in hand). I only heard/learned about the revolving door PM issues you guys have been having in recent months, which I actually might have learned of first from blokes in the chat box here. And then looked into it after.

I think of it like the movie 'The Big Lebowski' in that passed-out drug dream and music sequence, after Mickey gave The Dude a mickey; "I'm just checking in to see what condition the world's condition is in."

 

I added a paragraph between seeing 'like'reactions from @Andy Barr and @nysavant and then decided to erase that bit after. Not that I felt I wrote anything that I regretted, just that it was just continued ranting that was unnecessary considering the response to @Paul "Mclaneinc" Irvine that I originally intended. That part ended in the last paragraph above.

The rest was just trivial superfluous stuff beyond my intent. And not even humorous. I'm trying to cut down on ranting and over descriptive, attempting to get back to brief yet descriptively accurate writing as I was taught in journalism class as a part of my English degree.

The long writing is for novels, even so, to be as detailed and descriptive as possible in the shortest amount of words. That's the way to keep it interesting and/or entertaining and keep the reader reading. Otherwise you bore or confuse the reader and tend to lose your own point or story plot as well and may end up repeating things due to the lack of focus. And in the end much more work in rereading, rewriting and editing.

Even this post explaining my intent is far too long, and started out as an edit above, and I felt it being a separate subject of explanation, it needed to be in a separate post.

 

I had a half day off work this afternoon and decided to go for a walk down the Ayrshire coast. Thought I'd pick up the latest copy of Pixel Addict on the way back, so I nipped into WH Smith in Ayr.


Mission completed I then headed back towards the car and decided I'd have quick look in the local Cash Generator as I went past. You can probably guess what happens next....

PURCHASE 1: SONY BRAVIA 4:3 LCD TV


PURCHASE 2: SONY CD & CASSETTE RADIO


PURCHASE 3: NEW GAMING KEYBOARD


I think I might have a teeny retro habit

For a while now I've been keeping an eye open for a 4:3 monitor and I know this is LCD not CRT but it has all the inputs I could ever want and a great pair of speakers on it too. Tried a few games on PS2, PSP and Megadrive through it and was really pleased with the results. At some point in the future it might end up being used on a soley retro gaming/emulation pc. A billy bargain for £9.99 including the Sony remote control.

The radio was an impulse purchase, I don't have many tapes but it's nice to have something to play them in and it's now taken up residence in the corner of Al's retrocave so I can sing-a-long to my country music cd's while tapping away on the pc.

Lastly, the keyboard was in honour of Andy, King of the Or(i)c's. How could I possibly resist that glorious black and red colour combo. And those RGB lights. What a lovely ATMOSphere they create indeed.

Keep smiling guys

 

Nice work, Al!

You went for it and got it - a hat trick of heavenly retro bargains.

Yep, all three float my boat and I no doubt would've probably fought you for em instore!

The Sony TV, Sony tape and CD player are both used-quality items - at deffo the reet price - and you finished with a flurry with that sexy red n black modern gaming keyboard... I make that a retro...

RESULT, mate.

3nil to you and there's still time to score again before the weekend... ;-)

I'm currently going retro disco light barmy and also creating my own silly little sci-fi meets dance trance musak meets sarky subtitles aimed at having a light-hearted piss take of me and the lads I gan drinking with.

I'll post a few and gauge the reaction... probably a case of...

WTF?! Stick to your daytime job, Baz.

As you say, Al, keep on smiling and keeping on, folks.

TGIF (and don't forget a possible link up/video chat one weekend soon...)

 

Sounds like you are having some fun as well Andy. Need to give us a tour of Andy's Bar(r) soon please.

Yes, well pleased with my haul today. Cd cassette player was £14.99 and the keyboard £5.99 so less than the price of a second hand current generation console game and I got all that retro loveliness.

I'm now holding firm on any more gaming purchases though until I see if RetroHQ bring out the 7800GD sd card solution before the end of March. Right now I'm looking forward to finishing work tomorrow and then weather permitting get out on the old bicycle at the weekend for some fresh air.

 

I am hoping to get a 7800GD as well @nysavant. I picked up a 1050 off feeBay last week, the stepper motor isn’t working properly. The drive mechanism works in my other 1050 so the stepper motor works. I’ve replaced the 6507 and RIOT chips which makes no difference. So I was going to try a new FDC, but what I’ve done is order a couple of TMS2793NL FDC’s these are apparently drop in replacements for WD2793-02 so this will be interesting.

 

Those prices you paid were almost charity shop ones, Al.
You did brilliantly well and it's always good to hear that some quality retro bargains are still out there waiting to be tracked down - well in, mate.
Yes, once I get some of these vidz, sounds and lights all kicking in together then I'll do a film review type wotsit and post it up on here.
Wishing Richie well with his 1050 repairs (weirdly, coincidentally, call it what you will... spookily, two of my local retro micro pals - Shaun and John were also chasing the self-same Feebay ad that Rich won - mind, they just need a 1050 box for one of their drives so that it adds to its "completeness" etc. Wonder what the odds on that are - I spotted the ad and flagged it up to them... they dither a bit and... Rich sails in and wins it unbeknown to him of all the interest in E Yorks... LOL!
That's life, guys...
Have a top weekend one and all.

 

Despite what I said only last week, there have been a couple more games purchased this weekend! I had a little purge and traded some PS1 and PS2 games that will never get played into CEX and bought Everybody's Golf and Trackmania Turbo for PS4 instead. Then added a couple of Sherlock DVD's as well as I'm getting back into the classic stories again.
Also nipped into the local Cash Generator in the way out of CEX and spotted Golf Club 2019 for £3.99. It is a game I've been thinking about for a while but heard varying opinions on. At that price though I can afford to make up my own mind.

 

This one isn't computer related but it is retro (circa 1979)....

3 speed hub gears, nice steel frame and some lovely patina (i.e. rust!). Been on the lookout for something that I could use locally rather than my 'good' bike or my heavy electric bike. Lads, say hello to "Elsie"

 

Brilliant buy, Al.
Probably quicker than queuing in car traffic, cheaper, zero emissions and gits yer fit at the same time.
Sorted!

 

Thanks Andy. It was a chance local find on Facebook Marketplace for £45. Who needs to eat until payday anyway

 

I miss my old Raleigh Grifter

 

Never had a chopper (oh, oh...) nor Grifter, just a run-of-the-mill 3 speed bike. It got me all the way down to Southend and back from the East End of London (I looked like a lobster afterwards as it was high summer, and I was stupid). Do like a bike, but I doubt the knee's would stand it nowadays. Still, good memories of my bike bar riding down a VERY steep hill in Marlow and hitting a cow-pat (going way too fast to swerve) causing the bike to skid and throw me over the handle bars at top speed. No breaks, but left a trail of my skin and oodles of blood on the road...Ouch..Not to mentions ripping my clothes to shreds, which made my mum fume as they were brand new....Still I cleared the cow-pat thankfully, as I did my take on Superman flying (like a retard).

But like kids of that time, I bounced back and was riding a few days later and being just as reckless.

 

Great, great, great tales of our old school days spent on endless hot summer hols biking trips, Raleigh Grifters, 3 speed Sturmey Archer gears and going arse over tit as we were either overloaded with camping gear/our panniers caught in the wheel spokes OR avoiding cow pats.... not quite successfully!

Great great days, guys.

Raw sore flesh or not, I'd go back in a flash, lads, wouldn't you?

 

For days when you just need to get your chopper out..

My mate Jeffery had an Italian clone of a chopper, apparently it was more expensive, but all we did as young boys was take the mick that he had a snide chopper. He used to get really upset about it, which was fun...

Easy Rider has a lot of sore armed kids to blame for, I tried to ride one but that weird arms up thing was just odd to me, I preferred my cheap and cheerful bicycle. And I doubt any kids understood what Easy Rider was about I seem to remember Dennis Hopper saying that he was stoned throughout the making of the film. Same as Martin Sheen was during the making of Apocalypse Now.

 

The Grifter was a right heavy beast. And the Chopper was just dangerous! I once went over the handlebars while getting a 'backy' from my friend - Went flying over the top of him and then he landed half on me as well. That was painful at the time.

Hopefully I'll get to take Elsie out for a little cycle this weekend at some point, weather permitting!

 

Ah, we lurved our Choppers, Al (and no, I'm not being saucy - this time - Paul ;-)

There was a gang of us down our alley and the majority of em had the uber cool purple ones (think they might have been newer Mk IIs) whereas I had a bit of a scratched second hand orange mk.I IIRC), but whatever, we felt like a mob out of Scooby Doo, or Double Deckers or Why Don't You who were so great the Beeb might as well have made a children's tv series about us (no, not fecking Byker Grove!).

Those were the days - we rode all day and all night, in the summers of 76-77, and if we could have tekken em to bed with us, we would've!



Theirs....


and mine...



It felt and looked like the older model but I was so proud of the bugger and the "backy" that Al talks about we called "croggies" and it was the ultimate in looking out for yer mate - who was usually a big bugger who had left his bike outside the shops and someone had nicked it leaving you to take up the void in his/her life...

THOSE WERE THE DAYS, my micro friends, we thought they'd never end.

 

Love the old stories, almost all the same bar their localised terminology, they make for warm friendly reading. Times that we miss and enjoyed hugely, and yet compared to some of the achievements we make as adults, these things we did as kids seem more fun and maybe even more important despite not actually being.

I think of some of the stuff I did as a kid and some stuff scares the hell out of me now, like climbing over the balcony rail of our 17th floor flat and dangling backwards by one hand and then just doing the same but hanging with my feet out, Good god that sends shivers up my spine as I type, now I'm scared of heights (wonder why!), but for the most I just relish all the silly stuff I and me mates did. Playing hide and seek with the lads and being told to get down off the roof of jewellers in Dalston by the local copper, for me, it was just a great hiding spot, sadly Mr Plod felt otherwise and gave me a good telling off (and you know what, I was frightened silly by it, none of this give the copper lip like now).

But mostly it was just fun normal stuff that made the best memories, riding my bike for miles, climbing tree's, going huge long walks through the countryside, and of course, playing footy with mates. Totally harmless little fun things that I so miss, but I'm brassy enough to be able to accept it's all memory now. Basically I'm saying, do it all while you can, but prepare your head for when it's not do-able. I'd love to walk along the tow-path by the Thames in Marlow on a summer's evening with Cindy, these days by the time I've driven there and got out the car I'm desperate for a pee, 2 mins into the walk my knees are going mad, and it's back to the car

 

100% agree with your post there Paul. Basically we are an online versoin of Last of the Summer Wine

The girls in work all laugh at me (probably for many reasons actually) because I always like to have my weekend planned ahead so I don't end up sitting in the house wondering what I could do. Today for instance, was out early to drop off my Vita for modding, then a walk (3.5 mile!) round a nearby loch and a trip to CEX for a PS4 game. Headed to the library on the way home after getting a nice bit of lunch and now I'm just about to try and find a stream to watch the Celtic game in an hour. Also on standby as my daughter is down in Leeds and I might need to drive down to Lancaster to pick her up due to weather disruption on the trains...
Tomorrow I'm out early for a cycle ride up to the canal and along to see a new junction bridge that has just been opened then back home via a pizza truck I heard about. The afternoon I'm visiting a local museum in my nearby country park and in the evening going to see the Antman film. Exactly like you said Paul, have to do things while you can.

Of course, there will also be a small slice of retro gaming at some point

 

Gawd, I've got boxsets of Last of the Summer Wine as part of Bob's lot...

Not one I'd watch.. Nothing wrong with it, just not my sort of TV..

But you do get around a bit, sadly I'm not a pre-planner at heart, unless it's something I must do then I have no itinerary, the only thing I know I'm going to be ahead of time is go to the shop each night. It's my way of escaping from here for an hour and being that Serena and I have stomach issues, we both sort of think of what we want on the day.

 

Might be something to do with the fact that I used to be a travel agent before I was an administrator. Love an itinerary

 

My mate Tony who I just mentioned in the shoutbox is an administrator in a mental health unit, he has every detail setup for the day, so organised but it comes across as a bit OCD as he gets the hump if anything is changed.

 

Maybe it's just a thing that all us Health Care admin folk do then