Month: October 2023

Root Cause

Food & Drink

I really need to visit Britishland again, not just for personal reasons but to do my bit to reverse an alarming trend.

This is the most depressing article I’ve read all week, and it may explain a whole lot about the nation that Britishland has become:

Brits are eating less meat, potatoes and bread than ever before, according to data tracking the nation’s food purchases over the last six decades.

Red meat consumption has plunged by up to 81 per cent since the 70s amid health fears, the steady rise of veganism and growing concerns about climate change.

Then again, perhaps it’s the slow brain death caused by a low-meat / vegan diet that has allowed a nation of skeptics to become a nation of fearful wussies:  where the .Britgov can pass a law that makes ownership of cars illegal by a certain date without said .Britgov being sent en masse to the gallows, and where Brits can not only get arrested for posting mean tweets, but allow themselves to be arrested therefor.

But all this has just made me want to add a little something to my morning breakfast (and it’s not a second gin, shuddup):

Excuse me…

About Those Duracell Cars

Drive Time

It seems as though at least one car manufacturer is thinking straight:

“It is regular users who are the ones who suffer” when government regulations try to shoehorn buyers and automakers into EVs, according to Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda. Speaking publicly as the head of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Toyoda said, “People are finally seeing reality” as sales growth sputters. “I have continued to say what I see as reality… if regulations are created based on ideals,” instead of real-world conditions, “it is regular users who are the ones who suffer.”

All true, of course.

As an aside, I would love to see the sales figures for EVs that excludes those in California, because I’ll bet that state skews the whole thing. Why do I say that?

Anecdotally, the Son&Heir just got back from a business trip to SoCal, told me that regular gas there is currently costing $7 per gallon (!!) and that just about every Uber or Lyft driver now uses an EV.

Classic Beauty: Brigitte Bardot

Classic Beauty

People who weren’t around at the time, or who weren’t aware of Brigitte Bardot probably cannot understand the effect she had on the world in the early 1960s.  She literally defined the term “sex kitten”, and many of those who followed her in that appellation simply don’t compare.

Consider:

She simply exuded sex appeal, and was the object of many a callow lad’s fantasies.  And I was no exception.

Same Time Next Year

Travels

Apparently there’s this German guy who visits the same city in Britishland each year for his vacation, and has done so for the past several years.  (My Brit Readers can be excused for going “Huh?” when they discover which city has so enthralled our Frequent Visitor.)

Which leads me to ask the question:

Is there any city in the world that you would re-visit for two weeks exclusively each year for the next, say, decade? 

(I’m going to assume long lives for the Olde Pharttes among us, bless ’em, who could always just substitute “…for the rest of my life” if they so choose.)

Give reasons, in Comments.  It could be a furrin city or a Murkin/NorMurkin one, your choice.  In the spirit of the thing, it has to be a city, not a region or a resort.  Play the game.

My choice is below the fold:

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