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Author Topic: Staycation  (Read 2284 times)

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Tony

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Staycation
« on: July 25, 2008, 08:54:01 AM »

I heard on the news yesterday that due to petrol/gas price rises that Las Vegas is suffering from people no longer driving into the desert to spend a vacation.  Instead they are opting to stay at home on, wait for the new word; a "staycation."

Well, thats what I'm doing.  We have spent the best part of six months refurbishing our home at a cost of silly pounds and no change, so we are having a two week "staycation" and enjoying our new conservatory etal with several bottles of wine coupled with Brandy chasers.

There is not much worse than a drunk Englishman with time on his hands, so my wife will no doubt put me to good use in the garden or some such...You all know what the English are like for stripy lawns and perfect flower borders....sigh.  I have a blossom tree from Japan, a lilac from the Middle East, a magnolia from somewhere else that’s special and a bottle brush and mountain pepper from Australia, even my manicured lawn comes from Canada, so what nowadays is a traditional English garden?
I asked a friend and his response was curt;
"Numb nuts!" He said, "Its a garden with an Englishman in it, preferably lying back on a comfortable chair, mouth open catching flies, with a glass of Brandy precariously balanced on his knee.  Everyone knows that!"

I intend sitting in my foreign field in the afore mentioned posture and getting on with some writing, to-wit I may only be periodically on this here 'puter.  Please forgive this impertinence and understand that I have to make the most of the short lived English summer, which, when we do get it, is always just perfect.

Thank you Australia and California for my wine and thank you France for my Champagne cognac.
I have no idea what the English give to the world but rest assured over the next couple of weeks I will take the question seriously and contemplate it whilst flicking the dust from my navel.

Have a nice time all and please wish me luck for a warming English summer.

Tony...   ;D 
« Last Edit: July 25, 2008, 09:05:11 AM by Tony »
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Elena

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2008, 10:50:57 AM »

Tony,
I hope the weather is absolutely, incredibly, wonderfully perfect for your staycation!  And, that you are able to spend a copious amount of time making sure your garden is an "English garden" !

Judging by the ads on TV it would appear that staycations have become a national hit.  Lots of state tourist bureaus are trying to entice us, and local tourist attractions are touting how close to home they are.  And, there is yet another effect of the high gas prices, our local paper tells us that traffic fatalities are down 27% since the prices went up.

Elena, who doesn't go anywhere anyway!
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B L McAllister

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2008, 06:54:23 PM »

Tony: your staycation sounds ideal, but, about this brandy and wine bit: a while ago somebody--I think it was at MWF, because where else have I been lately?--asked about the effect in blood alcohol tests of a single ounce (US has had a bit of trouble going metric, so "ounce" is the word) of alcohol.  A responder asked if an ounce is the same as a "shot," which I imagined was incorrect, but when, for fun, I set out to research the matter--strictly using US standards--I discovered that the US doesn't have a very inflexible standard, in that a shot can be an ounce or (more often) an ounce and a half, or an ounce and a quarter, or, of course, some minor variation on one of these, due to overfilling or underfilling the "shot glass."  That got me to thinking about alcoholic standard drinks, and in turn led me to wonder what the British equivalent of the US's "shot" is: i.e. how does one ask for some small quantity of, say, an alcoholic beverage of the relatively strong variety?  Does "shot" do the trick?  How about "jigger"?  I doubt if the demand is formulated in milliliters.  Google sent me in way too many different directions, none of which seemed ever to have heard from anybody who asked for strong drink in a UK pub.  So, uh, can you answer this technically unimportant but fairly gripping question for me?
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Lynette

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2008, 09:34:08 PM »

Tony,

Having just returned last weekend from a week at Myrtle Beach, a staycation sounds perfect to me. Now I'm back in the real world playing catch up. I will have to admit that I got some writing done while away. There's nothing more inspiring for me than to sit on the balcony of an ocean front condo with my writing tools before me.  I hope your staycation turns out as well for you as my week away did for me.

Lynette

Tony

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2008, 06:25:15 AM »

 Good morning chaps!

The Lord shines down on England with fine weather today and so I am a happy chap restoring my garden this morning in preparation for my afore mentioned assumed posture of a true English lazy git!  Its a tough assignment and only chosen men need apply....  ;D

Byron...What a cool question to contemplate whilst watching an ant swim through my Brandy....I think Sir, we are in entirely the same zone.... ;D  Such questions need answers whilst on holiday!  Such questions do indeed grip ones curiousity and demand attention more than mere technical unimportance Sir.  And, without any research for that would be tiring at this time, I think I have the answer for you....

Like you we Brits are still struggling with the metric system and it remains gratifying to see a world power stubbornly refusing to be assimilated into the Borg collective of Euro nonesense....Your country is to be admired in this regard.

Because we are Brits we like to make things rather complicated and so we play with both systems....sigh.

In answer to your question....Over here we ask for a "single," or a "double."  A single....You will simply love this....Is in an imperial measurement known as "A sixth of a Gill."  A doiuble of course, measuring aproximately double.  By any standard it is a poor measure and costs too much money to engage in on a regular basis.....I have no idea how many "Gills" equate to a "pint;"  The Pint Sir is the true measure of an alcoholic beverage.  It is such an old measurement that I feel sure no one really knows how many Gills there are to a pint any more...If some one does know then they too are to be admired.

Therefore I have formulated a cunning plan...Henceforth and for the duration of two weeks a single measurement and sixth of a Gill shall be the equivelant of a bottle....In this way I will never be an alcoholic.  I rest my case....What a cool question...

Lynette
Your holiday sounds idilic (sp)....I too hope to get some writing done and perhaps allow my imagination some free range, lets see what happens!

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Elena

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2008, 11:30:40 AM »

With due respect for your most excellent staycation plan for liquid supplement - some sources agree on a gill being a quarter of a pint.  Now in that a pint is 16 ounces or two cups, a quarter of same would be 4 ounces or a half cup.   Therefore a sixth of a gill would be would be a never ending fraction. 

Practically, a fraction being less than a whole,  it appears that a gill is smaller than a bottle.  EXCEPT, when you have a never ending fraction! Then the consumption of a single gill would take a lifetime and then some.  At least in US measuring schemes.

So clearly, by your definition, your solution is brilliant!

Elena, the elephant's child
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Tony

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2008, 04:32:07 PM »

Elena!!!
I knew you would come up with the definitive sensible reply to this most pressing of matters, thankyou.

I failed to acknowlage your previous reply to this thread; and unforgivable error for which you have my unreserved etc etc... :)
Did you get my rather late Email?

So, a Gill (pronounced Jill) is a quarter of a pint....Well, again I have learnt something new....Very satisfying....I much prefer U.S measuring schemes; keeps me in a good supply....  ;D

I'm off to a car boot sale tomorrow, I dredged out some stuff from my garage for the said purpose and my neighbour bought a Mary Silverwood print stored in said garage for £30.00 or $60.00 in proper money... :)... A good start.  I'm looking forward to seeing what a few Janet Walsh prints will bring...Look them up, they're both American types.

This is proving a most anecdotal thread....Which is a good thing

Tony... :)


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Dave Freas

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2008, 06:48:20 PM »

For the last twenty years or so, I've taken the last week of September as vacation (primarily to avoid dealing with the horrendous traffic from the local fair).  I don't go anywhere, just hang around my home, work on my cars, drink beer, and write.

Hey!! I've been a trend-setter for almost twenty years and never knew it!

Dave
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Tony

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2008, 01:22:07 AM »

Dave!
You are without doubt Sir, a top bloke!
Welcome to the new order!...One that you probably unwittingly started twenty years ago...

Tony...  ;D
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Peg H

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2008, 12:57:59 AM »

We have also been ones to staycation for over 25 years.  Now that he's retired we still stay at home.  I have my garden to putter in and a pond to relax by so who needs to go away?

 ;D Peg H
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Elena

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2008, 10:15:52 AM »

With the speed of light cable TV has caught up with the latest popular new word.  A channel devoted to travel is starting a series about Staycations next week!  Will they broadcast a different version for each state and block it so that you can only watch about your state? The mind boggles.

Elena
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Brenda B.

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #11 on: August 07, 2008, 01:50:47 PM »

Just to pop in and say hi.  ;D

We didn't stay cate this year.

We have friends who were married two weeks prior to us, the same year. This year was #25 so we fulfilled our dreams of cruising in Alaska. Yeah, yeah, we took the kids (their 14 y.o. daughter, our 16 y.o. son) but it was still wonderful. Disappointing in that we saw almost no wildlife (1 fox, 1 moose, 1 whale, half a dozen bald eagles). But the guys said that was made up for when they saw Hubbard Glacier calve right off the balconies of our staterooms. Me, the highlight was sitting in the front seat of a six person golf cart with my son and being pulled on a one mile loop by a team of sled dogs. Spectacular experience! And since we're Virginians, we all enjoyed the relief from the heat. And the drinks on the ship, we enjoyed those too.  Though not as often or in as great a quantity as many others aboard.

Last Thursday the dh's sister arrived from Wisconsin for a visit, 4 year old granddaughter in tow. Today, the local sister's daughter (also local) had a c-section and delivered twin girls, so it looks like Wisconsin sister will be staying until middle of next week. Hopefully the cats will survive 'til then.

That's our summer. Oh and driving the teenager to and from work. At least the Dh bought a more gas efficient car in the spring.
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dhparker

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Re: Staycation
« Reply #12 on: August 12, 2008, 01:30:51 PM »

Wouldn't you know, with the price of gasoline up, we've had to be on the road more this summer than we have in many years?  Most of it wasn't vacation.  Along with the usual visits to aging family and our sons, we had both a wedding and a family funeral to attend.  All of those were several hundred miles from here.  School has started now, so we should be staying home more.

I'm looking forward to getting more writing done, and seeing more activity here.
« Last Edit: August 12, 2008, 01:35:41 PM by dhparker »
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