jasper123

Hi Trotty,
On the subject of walking to the shops which you say is fine but not likeing to walk back with the shoping bags ---- well what a lot of people do over here that Ive noticed is they walk to the shops pulling one of these shopping carts on little wheels that you can buy here for about £10 or less, will last for life, holds a lot of groceries, you can push or pull it home so easy, and no stress with the traffic either,
On a real nice place to move to ------ let me think Hmmmm OK how about Portsmouth Ive heard thats a nice clean friendly town if you like somewhere a little smaller yet still close to lots of shops then Portsmouth is surounded by lots of little villages just a few miles out of town, and we are surounded by water, gosport is an island a short ferry ride away lots of shops and things to do, its a town, and then you have the lovely Island called Isle of White, absolutley gorgeos place, very popular for hollidays but a lot of people live there and retirees love it, and thats a short one hour ferry ride away,
In fact why dont you all come and live in Pompey cause then I would have lots & lots of friends
Rodney.

Englishmum

Oh Rodney, you beat me to it - I was going to mention the shopping trolleys!

About 18 months ago I got fed up of taking groceries out of the car and then having to go through various heavy doors and up the lift to the 23rd floor at the apartment in Singapore. Not only were the shopping bags heavy, it took quite a few minutes to get from car to kitchen if the lift kept stopping at other floors. It was a nuisance having to go back down to the car for another load of shopping too which I couldn't carry all in one go.

Well, I decided to get a shopping trolley. My spouse was mortified and said they were only for old ladies (my mum has used on for years). I didn't care - it was pretty useful and even better the bag is insulated inside which is great for transporting ice-cream and other cold or frozen items (Singapore has a tropical climate). My trolley also has wheels for 'climbing' up stairs and steps. Here is a similar one:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...G+TROLLEYS.htm (I'm sure you can get them cheaper than at Argos, I know I've seen these in other shops in England recently, possibly at the discount stores or Primark or Matalan?)

The regular kind of shopping trolleys (much cheaper!)

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...G+TROLLEYS.htm

Anyway, my husband started a new posting in Switzerland nearly three months ago. He told me that he was going to get rid of my shopping trolley and I had some cross words with him Well, when our shipment was unpacked in Switzerland I was so happy to discover that my shopping trolley was there after all!

Our apartment there is about 20-25 mins walk from the town of Zug. It is such a pretty walk (either alongside Lake Zug or via a path adjacent to the cherry and apple orchards) that rather than take the car to get a few groceries, I've enjoyed walking to town (wearing my Fitflops ) .... and I take my trolley too! It's so useful, especially if I've got heavy liquids eg. laundry detergent. We are now only on the third floor, but there are steps to the door of the main entrance and the 'stair climbing' feature on the trolley is very helpful.

I would highly recommend them for any shoppers! (BTW - I've seen loads of people using them in England and they take them on the buses too).

Fish n Chips 56

Hello Rodney, Im doing fine, getting by, thanks.

Everything you wrote made perfect sense to me, unfortunately the wealthy 1% control this country, they have bought off congress and control the supreme court.

A year ago the republicans ran mid term elections promising they would put Americans back to work, Jobs was their number one election issue, but they haven't done a dam thing, infact Obama presented a Jobs bill but the republicans have said they wont pass it, Id love to see them without a job, a pension, a medical plan, many are purely worthless and have no clue how many Americans live, I've never seen so many people begging, I now see it everyday.

Obama has done a lot more than people give him credit for, democrats always do a bad job of promoting themselves.

This country has taken a nose dive and people are starting to wake up and band together for the common good, the banks have had it too easy and are constantly ripping us off, we the tax payers bailed them out but now they are hanging on to the money and not willing to make loans, instead they are making money off bogus fees that they invent, lets not forget that some of these banks and Credit card companies conduct business in the UK, so look out.

A year ago the Democrats came up with a banking reform bill to protect consumers (Dodd/Franks) but again republicans are holding up the approval process, hoping to eliminate the bill as they run out of time, they protect the banks.

At least MPs in the UK seem to be honest and represent the people that elected them, here the politicians bow to the masters and money that put them in office.

The media are a major part of the problem, they make money from discussing what goes on, plus they make a fortune on advertising fees when election time comes around, one hand greases the palm of the other, what a waste of money...

The only politician I really trust is Bernie Sanders of Vermont, he informs us of what really goes on and the state of this country.

There is so much more I could say but I will leave it at that.

I'm happy to see you are enjoying the U.K, good for you...

Fish n Chips 56

Great Divider, Hahahahaa Trotty you do speak a lot of TRIPE, Obama has tried his best to bring this country together but people like you are not interested in making a better America, you just want a republican America and a White president no matter how worthless he or she is.

Obama my not be 100% perfect, but he can string a sentence together, he is a dam sight better than the idiot that started 2 wars and ran this country into the ground for the previous 8 years, or have you conveniently forgotten about that.

By the way which president did you vote for that did exactly what he said when he was running for the job?

between two worlds

Everybody uses shopping trolleys in England and in France! SO SO sensible...I am simply at a loss as to why they are so rare in the US, even in towns where people who live locally walk to the shops....and struggle back with ehavy bags...or steal a shopping cart

There is one kind you can buy there (or was in my area), a square thing on wheels, wire frame---but you had to line in with something otherwise stuff falls out through the spaces.



Tina

Mallory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...penses_scandal

Sadly, corruption is everywhere.

jasper123

Hi Englishmum,
My Mum also has been using her shopping trolly for years, she has two, one is an older one she uses for getting her (BIG HEAVY BAG OF COMPOST) 50 literes, when she buys it at the sore we just load it in the Trunk but when we get home I just lift it from the trunk and balance it on the trolly and carry it through the house all way through house to end of garden and put it in the shed, theres no way that I could carry that weight all that way and I wouldn't Attempt it either, it would probably bring on another hernia
So thats another great use for the good old English shopping trolly,

Another thing I use it for is taking all the empty bottles down to the recycling bins, cause if you have say a couple of weeks of glass bottles they can be quite heavy, and we are lucky as our big green recycling dumpsters are just 7 minutes walk down the road,

Each week me and Mum do our main shopping in the car, but every now and again we have to buy other things that we can only buy at Iceland and there isn't anywhere to park on the high street so I just take the trolly down there and load the groceries in the trolly after paying for them and walk home, well last week I was walking home with some groceries and by chance my Son was cycling home from work to his house, (it was a nice day) so anyway he stopped and said Hi Dad and so we had a little chat and then he looked at the trolly and said what are you doing with that trolly ----- he said shopping trolleys are for old men, so I laughed and said I am an old man

Anyway there great, strong, and practical, and for anyone coming home and say there retiring and they dont want to buy a car, then the good old shopping trolly is what you need to get your shopping, the secret is when looking for a place to live make sure you are reasonably close like walking distance to most large shops.
Rodney.
PS ---- I have thought about the subject on ------ should we buy a car when we come home, well some people need it either for work or pleasure,
But with me living close to everything where I can take the ferries or the bus to anywhere I want to go then for me I prefer not to have one, I never want to drive on these roads with these drivers and the roundabouts are confusing to me even when I m on a bus

J.JsOH

Fish, the UK banks already have learned how to use smoke and mirrors, switch and bait with their customers. There are so many varieties of account to make it intentionally confusing. To stay ahead it is necessary to be making frequent checks on rates and charges. They market it as giving their customers wide choices. Gone, sadly, are days of being a trusting long term customer of anywhere.
Similar with electric, gas & phone companies.

sallysimmons

Ain't that the truth. Reminds me of the old saying that a woman has to work twice as hard as a man to achieve the same success - it seems like a black President has to be ten times as good as a white one to get even the most basic respect from half this country. Very depressing to see.

jasper123

Mallory Hi,
The Parliamentary expenses scandal in U.K. is just a small part of the fiddling going on within the government, theres a lot of MP,S that are into lots of different kinds of corruption,
So as you say there is corruption everywhere,
What I was saying is that I like what I see over here that politicians right up to the Prime Minister dont sugar coat too much, normally they tell you how it is, I like that. ----- the daily mail on the other hand

aries

My first post for a while, and from my new and as yet, little explored iPad. It is a temporary replacement for my 24 inch iMac until I am resettled and can buy a 27 inch model.

My house is sold, and I move out next week. I have a tentative flight booked for 2nd November, though am not sure if I can make it. Some health problems cropped up to slow me down, and I see an eye specialist on the day of the house handover.

I suppose England will feel very cold, my winter clothing would be a bit of a laugh to those living in the UK. Ah well, from the fire into the fridge.

trottytrue

Aries...Goodluck you must be very excited I am sorry about your health problems I hope all goes well for you. Health plays a major part when trying to do such a big move. Just the stress of the move can bring on problems. Take a nice long bath and relax. Think of this your new owners cannot be anywhere as bad as ours were and I am sure it will all go smoothly. Just 1 week, have to put you on flight tracker.

trottytrue

Fish & Chips and all others wishing to discuss politics in the US I will reply to you but over on the Chit Chat forum. I dont think we want this forum to go down that road again.

J.JsOH

Hello Aries, best wishes for your big move.

Of all things here in UK the weather has been better than I anticipated. There are seasons and there are some really really nice days, temp just right, light breezes, a bit of cloud to shade the sun, less rain and not as cold as expected.

For those holidaying during school summer there wasn't much of a continuous run of heat, plenty cloudy / damp days there, but Spring and Autumn have been glorious and all told I am really very happy with the weather after the heat and humidity of North Carolina USA summer. Last winter here was record cold I am told, frankly it wasn't all that bad.

Mummy in the foothills

Sorry to hear you aren't feeling well, but great news on the house sale Heres hoping you are well enough to fly