Another pointless thread

They have trolleys around here, but charge for carrier bags.

We take our own on the odd time we call in.

No Aldi here, just Lidl. With local variation....

but why can't they always have pretzels? Strange company.

Bret

Good man. I think that was the idea. In Ireland many years ago they started charging 10p each and the number used dropped by something like 90%.

I don't like Morrisons due to their habit of treating all their customers as thieves. Safeway (remember them?) over in Aberystwyth turned into Morrisons and immediately became a much more intimidating place with barriers everywhere and not enough staff.

Choices locally:

Co-op - surly miserable staff, zombie customers

Aldi - friendly but businesslike, good for odd things (waiting for them to have canvas-effect photo paper again)

Tesco - have done wonders by shredding the local abusive monopoly on fuel prices, offering a wider range than the competition and having staff who regard it as a job, not a social club!

I know the arguments about Tesco destroying towns but to be honest the only shops here worth going to sell things Tesco don't. We still have a proper Ironmongers for example - Tesco don't sell lamp wick by the metre or have cast iron firebaskets in stock.

Matt: where are you exactly?

I spent a *lot* of time with my parents when I was young on a caravan park between Aberaeron, New Quay and Lampeter... Aberystwyth was on my list of Universities but I ended up in Yorkshire.

Bret

I'm about a hour's drive inland from Aberystwyth and went to uni there. Great place although I saw more incredible scenery than pubs as I discovered it was cheaper to commute than rent a flat closer to campus. Plus with the A44 listed as one of the best driving roads in the UK it wasn't exactly a difficult choice!

I really must go exploring again this summer, I get to Aberaeron occasionally via the Abergwesyn Pass, also Llyn Brianne.

I went to Aber too. Stayed there though, as just a bit too far from North Shropshire.

Are you Newtown way Matt? EDIT - probably not given the supermarkets you list.

I was going to say Rhyader way, myself

Lovely roads.

Bret

Yep, hence the Elan Valley appearing in so many of my photos!

Going up there again in a couple of weeks with a plan to document the pillboxes built near the sluice tower immediately after the Dambuster raids (when someone realised that the Germans would not be happy and might attempt something similar). There are three left of an original four, and as a fair bit of scrambling around will be needed I plan to use an ME Super and colour slide film. Much smaller than digital and less expensive if I manage to slip over and land on it.

What?

Not B&W then?

Well I do tend to shoot buildings in B&W, but I'm partly doing this for a History teacher friend who wants to do some sort of project about the Dambuster connection and I doubt he'll be quite so keen on monochrome images. This will be more of a site visit and documentation than artistic photography, although I'll probably end up throwing a few pretty landscapes in under the guise of demonstrating the fields of fire available to the defences.

Plus I've got a small pile of Boots slide film which expires in the next few months, so I need to get on and use it!

The black ME has arrived. It's absolutely gorgeous, perfect condition, very clean, and included the original manual. I've already put a roll of HP5 in to test it when I get a chance.

In Tesco's today and it was freezing (-1 deg C outside).... don't think they have any heating on, shortage of some items such as red grapefruit and Hollands steak pies

Went in Lidyl later for some white bin bags and sandwich bags, but it seems that they don't do the white bin-bags anymore. The store was lovely and warm though, but it wasn't just normal warmth it was refreshingly warm I think some places now have conditioned/tempered hot-air heating which feels fresh, but not drafty, could have sat on a deck chair for the rest of the afternoon

Glad to hear the ME's a good one, why not sneak the body (with a cap on it) in a pocket when you go up the 'Valley?

I'm at work on the bike tomorrow and thinling about taking a folder with me, unless it rains that is.

I may well do - it's a bit too nice to take scrambling around hillsides though! I'm more likely to take the KM I've loaded with Ilford SFX and do some infra-red shots too. Only snag is that you don't really want to go too far from the car with two cameras and a tripod...

I do have the 40mm f2.8 which usually lives on a black ME Super as a pocket camera. It was amazingly handy for wandering around various European towns last October.

Youngest son joined us for dinner tonight. We had Chicken Adobo. Delicious.

His partner is still out in Australia, she's got another four weeks there.