General News Thread

[Kopic]

41 minutes ago, kenny said:

Ive been on holiday to Albania, we are as close to cashless as it gets. Over there we had to withdraw cash to pay for the hotels we booked on booking.com

Bloody hell where did you stay? I was there the other week, 3 different hotels and eating out every lunch and dinner whilst traveling south. I took cash as thats what everyone said, I struggled to spend it all by the end. Ended up bringing a bit home as it wasn't worth exchanging back, was just buying absolute shit by the end of the week to get rid of it.

[kenny]

2 minutes ago, Kopic said:

Bloody hell where did you stay? I was there the other week, 3 different hotels and eating out every lunch and dinner whilst traveling south. I took cash as thats what everyone said, I struggled to spend it all by the end. Ended up bringing a bit home as it wasn't worth exchanging back, was just buying absolute shit by the end of the week to get rid of it.

We went to 4 Balkan countries and had to pay for 6 different hotels in cash. We were going to cash points with 3 different cards to withdraw £250 from each one.

 

Even worse, they wanted paying in Euros, so we then had to ask them to convert to local as that was all that came from the cash points.

 

Everywhere else, restaurants/bars/tours etc the pricing was lowest in local currency, then Euros, then card if they accepted it.

[Kopic]

1 minute ago, kenny said:

We went to 4 Balkan countries and had to pay for 6 different hotels in cash. We were going to cash points with 3 different cards to withdraw £250 from each one.

 

Even worse, they wanted paying in Euros, so we then had to ask them to convert to local as that was all that came from the cash points.

 

Everywhere else, restaurants/bars/tours etc the pricing was lowest in local currency, then Euros, then card if they accepted it.

Fair enough. My time in Durres, Berat, Gjirokaster, Vlore and Sarande the only places I couldn't use card were remote tourist sites and some little shops. All the hotels, restaurants, proper shops, bars etc took card and there was no difference in price.

[The Bear]

59 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

Think some very much lack common sense if they think this is literally the best way to try to cool phones down like food is the best answer..

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clywkjwmw2jo

 

Mine stopped working the other day because I left it in the car for a few minutes in mid-afternoon when the temp got up to 34C. Took it out to use the camera and it had an overheating message on the screen. It was bloody hot to touch too. 

 

Lesson - Don't leave your phone in the car when it's hot! 

[kenny]

1 minute ago, Kopic said:

Fair enough. My time in Durres, Berat, Gjirokaster, Vlore and Sarande the only places I couldn't use card were remote tourist sites and some little shops. All the hotels, restaurants, proper shops, bars etc took card and there was no difference in price.

Most in Albania took cards (except our hotels) they just added a premium to cover their costs.

 

The local restaurants were all cash only, the tourist ones were card accepting.

[Kopic]

2 minutes ago, kenny said:

Most in Albania took cards (except our hotels) they just added a premium to cover their costs.

 

The local restaurants were all cash only, the tourist ones were card accepting.

Amazing how people can find something so different. As I said I didn't get a premium anywhere I used card, it was only proper remote places that wouldn't take it at all, also 1 petrol station i pulled into. I didn't feel it was much different to here cash/card wise. And no, I didn't just eat at burger king (missus wouldn't let me)

[kenny]

8 minutes ago, Kopic said:

Amazing how people can find something so different. As I said I didn't get a premium anywhere I used card, it was only proper remote places that wouldn't take it at all, also 1 petrol station i pulled into. I didn't feel it was much different to here cash/card wise. And no, I didn't just eat at burger king (missus wouldn't let me)

Weird there are no mcdonalds anywhere.

 

Most gas stations were happy with card we noticed.

 

One over-charged us, when we flagged it up they repaid us in Euros (cash) rather than put back on card. That was just outside Burat.

[FoxesDeb]

2 hours ago, kenny said:

Weird there are no mcdonalds anywhere.

 

Most gas stations were happy with card we noticed.

 

One over-charged us, when we flagged it up they repaid us in Euros (cash) rather than put back on card. That was just outside Burat.

Mcdonald's and fast food in general is not nearly as prevalent in continental Europe, people here value home cooking and local restaurants far more than fast food. 

 

Where we live the Spanish youngsters come for their summer holidays and they all cook, lads and girls. It's great at night to see them all cooking before they go out, not a takeaway in sight. So much healthier and cheaper. Our nearest Mcdonald's is an hour away and we don't miss it.

[kenny]

10 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

Mcdonald's and fast food in general is not nearly as prevalent in continental Europe, people here value home cooking and local restaurants far more than fast food. 

 

Where we live the Spanish youngsters come for their summer holidays and they all cook, lads and girls. It's great at night to see them all cooking before they go out, not a takeaway in sight. So much healthier and cheaper. Our nearest Mcdonald's is an hour away and we don't miss it.

There were quite a few burger kings and the odd KFC. It's like the country has rejected maccies as a brand.

[Md9]

Maybe they can feed trump some of the food that causes the explosive diarrhoea and maybe we won’t hear from him for a month or so 

[Trav Le Bleu]

5 hours ago, The Bear said:

Mine stopped working the other day because I left it in the car for a few minutes in mid-afternoon when the temp got up to 34C. Took it out to use the camera and it had an overheating message on the screen. It was bloody hot to touch too. 

 

Lesson - Don't leave your phone in the car when it's hot! 

My work PDA has done similar when left in the van.

[CosbehFox]

Re: Cash 

 

Go Berlin, you’ll find a number of places will not accept card. There and Vienna are very strange for it 

[123]

9 hours ago, Md9 said:

Maybe they can feed trump some of the food that causes the explosive diarrhoea and maybe we won’t hear from him for a month or so 

TDS.

For non-urgent mental health advice, you can contact NHS 111. This service is available 24/7 and can guide you to the appropriate support

 

[leicsmac]

https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-administration-launches-effort-isolate-international-criminal-court-2026-07-13/

 

And so we arrive at another loggerhead between those who think to do as they want in the name of nationalism, and those who think no nation should be unaccountable. 

 

Unfortunately, the balance of power remains in the hands of people like Rubio, for the time being. That needs to change. 

[RonnieTodger]

Police round at this man’s house ordering him to take his flags down! 😡 

[Clogger_]

14 hours ago, Md9 said:

Maybe they can feed trump some of the food that causes the explosive diarrhoea and maybe we won’t hear from him for a month or so 

Not sure this is necessary. Given his reported diet, don't imagine Trump's bowels are in the best of order. His name is probably apt

[Clogger_]

2 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

Police round at this man’s house ordering him to take his flags down! 😡 

Good joke. I am however completely unsure if this ridiculous scene is real or fake!

[UniFox21]

Laughable how they've managed to **** up so badly. Thames have been on a downward spiral for years and the regulator has decided to flap around doing nothing

 

[Clogger_]

1 hour ago, UniFox21 said:

Laughable how they've managed to **** up so badly. Thames have been on a downward spiral for years and the regulator has decided to flap around doing nothing

 

Have you seen the *gigantic* pay rises awarded to their CEO and CFO? Looks to me like they're trying to goad the government into taking them back into public ownership!

 

Dreadful company. Disastrous decision to privatise our water supply in the first place

[UniFox21]

22 minutes ago, Clogger_ said:

Have you seen the *gigantic* pay rises awarded to their CEO and CFO? Looks to me like they're trying to goad the government into taking them back into public ownership!

 

Dreadful company. Disastrous decision to privatise our water supply in the first place

Ridiculous isn't it? To be honest I dislike all CEO pay increases when some of their staff earn barely enough to live.

 

The takeover plan was laughable as well.

 

I don't believe public ownership fixes anything across the board. 3 or 4 regulators all tiptoeing around actually doing anything regarding sewage etc. Overall the quality of water is up there with some of the best globally across the UK.

Thames should however be removed from private ownership as they're clearly a shit show

Edited 7 hours ago by UniFox21

[ajthefox]

43 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Ridiculous isn't it? To be honest I dislike all CEO pay increases when some of their staff earn barely enough to live.

 

The takeover plan was laughable as well.

 

I don't believe public ownership fixes anything across the board. 3 or 4 regulators all tiptoeing around actually doing anything regarding sewage etc. Overall the quality of water is up there with some of the best globally across the UK.

Thames should however be removed from private ownership as they're clearly a shit show

I wouldn't expect public ownership to fix everything and no-one should. One of our big issues is partly down to much of our drainage infrastructure being combined. It's not something anyone seems to even mention because we simply don't have the funds to change it.

 

That said, access to water is the foundation of life and IMO it never should've been privatised to make profits for people. It's fecking mental. 

 

I could be wrong but I'm sure I remember reading we were one of a handful of countries in the entire world (if not the only) that has a privatised water system. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, ajthefox said:

 

 

I could be wrong but I'm sure I remember reading we were one of a handful of countries in the entire world (if not the only) that has a privatised water system. 

We are the only country with a fully privatised water system. And by country, I mean England and Wales; Scotland and N. Ireland are fully state owned, as is most of the world. Some countries use a mixed model system and some sort of subcontract it, but there's not many of those either (surprisingly, France is one though).

[UniFox21]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

We are the only country with a fully privatised water system. And by country, I mean England and Wales; Scotland and N. Ireland are fully state owned, as is most of the world. Some countries use a mixed model system and some sort of subcontract it, but there's not many of those either (surprisingly, France is one though).

Welsh Water are a weird one as they're technically a non for profit company. Overall they're pretty dreadful across the board