Cloud

popular forum member Camie assures me they are not fakes as well as he recently purchased one.

It's nae funny lads :/

I asked for a white pudding supper in Wolverhampton, they didn't have a fucking clue what I was talking about.

Hahaha, this reminds me of being in Manchester and my cousin asked for a macaroni pie supper...the look of 'what the hell are you on about?' made me laugh for about a month afterwards

The best part was that he couldn't understand what was so funny

I find it easy to eat well here (in Scotland). I too have shops that sell greens & fresh meat.

Not as cheap as Poland, but as I've said before, I find spending money on something so important as food rather than a fancy mobile phone, or a stupid sky package, or a loan for a tv the size of the Vue, justifiable. (and do you earn the same amount as you would here cloud? or is "about three quid" an hours work?)

I found it absolutely impossible in Chelmsford - my uni was in a town of about 5,000 people and it just wasn't possible to buy anything at all. Even Chelmsford itself was next to impossible - there was a couple of Asian shops, but absolutely nothing on 'my' side of the town in the way of greengrocers/butchers. The market had some - but as it was a 40 minute walk to get there, it really wasn't worthwhile.

But for example, here, it takes next to no effort - every osiedle (estate) has countless vegetable and meat shops, and the prices are actually slightly lower than in supermarkets. If the same thing existed in the UK, I suspect that people would be eating much better without trying.

Strangely, the money isn't much worse - the going rate in London is about 12 quid an hour for the (admittedly dreadful IMO) type of teaching I'm doing, whereas I'm on just shy of 9 quid an hour here. The crucial difference seems to be in transportation - I don't actually have to visit supermarkets at all here.

One thing that's also noteworthy is that eating seasonal produce is normal here - it's actually quite hard to find fruit/vegetables that hasn't been grown in this country. Bananas for example (my favourite!) are an absolute nightmare to find.

As a word of warning with Lloyds, be warned that they apparently have been guiding people into paying for CHAPS (which is same day) transfers when you attempt to transfer money to another account in-branch. I know at least three people who have been told that they've got to pay to transfer money to non-Lloyds TSB accounts, which is complete lies. A BACS payment is what you'll want, and is free.

An offpeak return is 47.10?!

Jesus...

Thats pay day that is.

For you, or the machine?

shut up cloud.

Hush, child.

EVERY time you post, i think "is this kid mexican?"

Why Mexican, and not, for example, Cuban?

And let's be honest, at least he's admitting to having shit typing skills, unlike the pretentious twats who use 'yr' instead of 'your' or 'you're'.

PES08 is absolutely dreadful, how could they release such a horrible game after how great the franchise was on the PS2?

We all went over to FIFA last year because of how awful it was - and this is from the same bunch of people that religiously played Pro Evo on the PS2.

Another biggie is to never EVER buy fresh meat from the Supermarket. I use the butcher just off great western road and the quality of the meat does most of the work for you. I also try and go to the farmers market on the green when I have a flexi Friday. The veg you get there is super cheap and tastes ace you can also get fresh eggs there too..

I should really post up pictures of where I live...

There's about five shops selling nothing but fresh vegetables, three shops selling fresh meat and three shops selling fresh bread.

And to make matters even worse, the prices are insanely cheap - 3 quid bought me a kilo of chicken fillets the other day o_O

I'm not so sure I could go back to the UK now, just because it's so, so, so much easier to eat properly here. Even ready meals are practically non existent - the average supermarket has about one freezer with them in...compare to the UK and the freezer after freezer with them inside.

Kirk...buying The Times...

*shakes head* wouldn't have happened in the old days...

Matter of interest Clyde, what junk food options have you got out there? Do you have to make do with McShit or is there anything else?

There's the usual junk places like McDonalds and KFC (no Burger King though, strangely), but there's loads of pizza/kebab shops littered round the place. None are authentic, but kebab meat here is a hell of a lot nicer than what you get in the UK. There's also a brilliant invention of a kebab tortilla - basically a massive tortilla, stuffed like a normal kebab would be. Absolutely brilliant to eat

Hmm..food wise, the best thing around is a thing called a 'zapekanka' - looks like this. They come with pretty much any topping you want - but it seems to usually be served with onions, sausage and shitloads of whatever sauce you want.

What else...there's these places called "milk bars", that you can get really decent meals from for absolute peanuts, as they're subsidised by the government. They're fast, but the food is really good, although they're ran on traditional pre-1989 lines in terms of being shouted at and treated rudely

The one thing that there's a shocking lack of is getting anything to eat from a bakery that isn't either just plain bread or sweet - in fact, getting simple hot food is impossible unless you go to a kebab shop or the like. Some supermarkets do sell hot stuff, but nothing like what's available in the UK.

As for bigos...

Funnily enough, McDonalds/KFC are hideously expensive here - for example, a Big Mac on its own will cost the same price as a 12" pizza from my local pizza shop.

Went to that chipper at the beach in Stoney recently, it was pretty damn good.

The one ran by the guy who used to own the wee one between the town centre and the harbour? If so...yep, damn good chipper.

Excellent move in getting Tyskie in, it definitely is my beer of choice here now.

Another Polish beer to avoid like the plague is something called Tarta - it's dreadful, and tastes like week-old McEwans that was left open. And add something called Kasztelan to the list of beers to avoid - apparently it's a medal winning beer, but it tastes like..well...like the aforementioned stale McEwans beer :/

It's affa fine, I haven't been in a while but I fancy one myself now from all this talk. The food is remarkably un-greasy for a chipper.

That's exactly what I think about the place, especially the chips. I'm now absolutely starving

No chance of a decent fish supper anytime soon though

Aw, come on Alan, Hass's is brilliant! I've only been to the one in town once - but I would always go in past the Banchory one when driving past...yum.

I really hope Kinnear makes people look stupid - they all seem to have forgotten that he excelled at getting good performances out of Wimbledon when the odds were against him, and I think his attitude may suit Newcastle perfectly.

Either that, or he'll be a disaster.

See, I actually think the centre of Aberdeen is far worse than the outlying areas - I've walked through Logie, Tillydrone, Bryon..etc late at night and never been bothered once, and I'm hardly a big scary bastard.

I did once see a pair of twats at 4am (while I was still stupidly drunk from an all-day drinking session) try and smash the windows of the Rosehill shops/bank. Was sober enough (just) to call 999 and tell them, and waited nearby while watching said twats. They walked off up...Rowan something?, but the police turned up, asked me where they went, then got another car after them. They then asked (very politely, it must be said) if I'd mind jumping in and identifying them as they'd just been caught red handed with two hammers in their hands. They drove past the other car slowly, then asked me if I'd seen them before. I grinned, told them "yes" and gave a statement with the help of them 'jogging' my memory. The worst thing was that there was no need for them to do it at all - I could understand trying to break into the chipper, but just breaking the glass was fucking pathetic.

Got a letter through about two months later from their solicitor, begging me to talk to them..ignored the letter, got another even-more desperate letter, then finally they sent a letter saying that the accused had entered a guilty plea, which was nice.

Flyering on Belmont Street will always hold a special memory in my heart though, just for the amount of violence for no reason whatsoever that you'd see.

It's a stupid law anyway - what's the difference between a bunch of football supporters drinking on a bus and a bunch of rugby supporters drinking on a train? Absolutely fuck all.

It's especially fucking stupid if they're dishing out fines solely for carrying alcohol too - what if you're intending on drinking once you arrive?

Would be far better to dish out high fines to anyone caught causing trouble while under the influence of alcohol, rather than picking on the majority that can handle their drink just fine....

Thanks guys, do you think I could do the highers part time?, i'm in full time employment so there is no chance a year at college is going to happen

You might be able to do them totally through distance learning, so no need to ever visit a college apart from for any exams.

For instance, James Watt College offer Higher English and Maths through distance learning - James Watt College, Scotland. Courses - Highers/ Intermediate 2s..

I'm not sure how it works with the exams, but it might be entirely possible to visit Aberdeen College and ask them if you can just sit the NAB's and final exam without attending classes - if you prove you're capable, I really doubt they'd say no.

As for the uni courses - once you do the highers, they'd probably be more than willing to let you study whatever the hell you want part time, as long as you pay.

edit : It's also worth checking to see if you can get the fees paid - no guarantees, but there's always pots of money in educational institutions to 'enable learning'.

i'm not sure most would agree with that

Ah, most probably couldn't care less.

You think a lot of people (and there'd need to be a lot of people if it was just 500 each) have enough time to co-own/run a music venue in addition to their existing job/studies/musical pursuits? You crazy. If only 'creating a vibe' was as easy as that...

Why not? Seriously, why not?

If Ebbsfleet United (through MyFootballClub) can have 31,000 owners - why can't a small music venue in Aberdeen have 50 owners? Apart from a booker, that could double up as a manager, who else would need to be paid? No reason why volunteers from among the owners couldn't be found to run the place in the evenings, and voila...you have a music venue owned and operated by the very people that it's designed for. I dare say a vibe would come quickly to any such place, especially if it was to give all sorts a chance.

I dare say that such a venture may also attract funding, especially if it was explictly non-profit.

It's a shame I'm no longer in Aberdeen, otherwise I'd put 500 quid where my mouth is.

i miss drakes every day.

no, no..edit.

For all the people that say they miss the place, why not sink some cash in (say 500 quid each) and raise the money to open a venue with a similar vibe? I know it might be way off the mark - but I don't think anyone can really say that Aberdeen is better off without having a small venue for bands to get their first shot in.

One amazing thing about Poznań is the fact that small venues like Drakes are everywhere - there's pubs that have tiny stages in a basement room, with bands always playing - half the time to barely anyone, but there's a definite underground vibe about this city.

Just don't mention the nearly-30 quid to see Fish.

Change? On a city bus? Stop spreading such nonsense Alan