Posts by Peter Ashby
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I don't remember the coffee at Governors much, except that it was much better than the coffee in the Union*. What I remember about Governors was the Hot Apple and Walnut Cake. I had mine with yoghurt, absolute magic.
*I always maintained that Union coffee tasted like sump oil. This was confirmed for me one summer holiday working in the bike shop. It was a Saturday morning and I was busy building bikes so my coffee break was on the go. I turned to take a mouthful and my first thought was: this tastes like Union coffee. Then I saw the oil floating on top, one of my colleagues had added 3 in 1 to my Nescafe, et voila Otago Student Union Coffee...
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My boss when I was a PhD student had an Italian single shot model. He used to put it over a bunsen in the lab. There I would be hunched over the dissection microscope and the smell of fresh coffee would waft over. But I never got any of course... I would have to go downstairs to the common room and have a cup of Nescafe instant instead. Not the same.
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Here in the UK you can buy those two part stove top coffee pots new in any size you like. I have a small one that makes two espressos though I often use the double for an Americano.
Hmmm, I smell and export opportunity. Whoops, forget I said that. Though what would people pay for one? with extra seals?
Note to self: stock up on seals before going home.
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Paul Campbell I hear you about SB's silly names. There I am standing in the check-in queue at SeaTach Airport (appropriately). It is earlyish and I have not had my morning coffee. There is a SB kiosk 10m away and I can smell it... We are being held back while people arriving for a flight leaving in 5minutes can check in (this was the August prior to 9/11). When I finally check in an get over there with 15min to go till my flight I go up to the window and ask 'can I have a large espresso please?' clearly in a hurry. 'You wanna whaat?' the teenager drawls. 'A large espresso' 'A whaat?' So I have to decipher their menu and ask for a 'dopiaza' pay and go around to the other window to get my large espresso. It was horrible, but it contained caffeine. Never again.
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Ah Simon you should have been in Dunedin, I remember a guide in one issue in the Critic mid '80s advising how to drink just about 24hr. It all hinged on a certain bar just outside Carisbrook that had a morning license dating from the days when workers at Hillside railway workshops would come off nightshift and want a brew.
Bit of a stroll from the City, but not too bad and flat all the way...
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I hear you about Starbucks Russ, our kids didn't realise until we took them to Northern Italy. When we got back and they went with their friends to Starbucks they came back complaining loudly about how crap the coffee was.
We are fortunate here in Dundee to have a good coffee and tea merchant. Their continental roast is not quite up to Italian standards but it isn't far off and much better than most of the coffee chains. With one offspring boomeranging back soon I shall have to lay some more in.
it has been more years than I can remember since I last set foot in a McDonalds and then it was to take the kids when they were little and I did not partake. I intend to make that true for Starbucks. One problem is that if you don't want an espresso it is hard to get something that isn't frankly too large. Too much horrible coffee just adds insult to injury.
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Seconded Bruce, we have been with what is now Virgin Media cable for about 8years all told and the connection is rock solid with very, very occasional outages, good speed increased regularly for the same money etc, etc.
Internet provision is one big thing I am not looking forward to when looking to return home. It all sounds far too much like going back to dialup (shudder!) to me.
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Sorry to see you go Keith, but the wolf always needs to be kept from the door.
BTW the term is 'change tack', it is a nautical allusion you see. There may be different forms of tact but it doesn't work that way.
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For the record, being married I have no problem with Missus or Madam. But I struggle with Miss. Makes me sound like a mistake...
But using Miss is required. If corrected you get to reply:
I'm sorry, I have a cold.
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The US 'Justice' system does have an unhealthy strain of OTT punishment running through it. So it was indeed good to see that our police saw right through it. Also good that we decided to prosecute Owen Walker ourselves and not just put him on a plane to the US.
There are three bankers from the UK languishing in Houston and facing long jail time after being extradited. Their doing were technically a crime here in the UK too but pc plod threw them to the sharks instead. That did not look good, nice to see NZ looks after its own, including those off the rails.
Ignorance of the law should be no defence, for fully competent adults. Others should get consideration and their reactions noted. Walker showed he was not malicious and helped clear up his mess. Good call.