HossC

I get earworms all the time. I can often get rid of them by listening to the whole song, but that can be a problem when it's a song I don't know from the radio or a commercial. Sometimes I wake up with a song in my head, and I can't remember why I'm humming it as I get ready for work. Then there are the random things that put songs into your head. Recently at work I came across a folder labeled "Incidents & Accidents" - I immediately started humming Paul Simon's 'You Can Call Me Al'!

That's news to me too. Tire pressure monitor sensors were only mandated in the EU in 2014, and I'm yet to own a car that new! We also don't have to have any law mandating reversing cameras.

There's a clothing shop over here that rotates its stock frequently. New stock often comes in at "30% off RRP" (very little is ever priced at RRP). After a few weeks it may drop to "50% off RRP". After a couple of months, any stock left gets put on "Final Clearance 70% off RRP". Because the lines aren't restocked, you have to play a guessing game and take your chance on the best to to buy! Black Friday never used to exist over here, but it's gained traction over the past decade, mainly due to online retailers. It often seems to be a chance for shops to get rid of unpopular stock or buy in cheap electrical goods which aren't usually part of their inventory to sell at headline-grabbing prices. I rarely find anything to interest me.

Another example of a quote that's needs context! Waylon says this after Rosco uses his remote controlled pop-up stop sign near the start of the episode.

Well it always got the Duke Boys thrown in jail for owning the real thing!

I've said it before; a bit of context helps with quotes. This is when Luke and Daisy are in the General chasing Billy the Quill in his Triumph Spitfire. Billy squeezes under trailer parked across the road and the Dukes have to jump it (the jump is actually recycled from 'High Octane').

I don't know what it's like in the US, but our fuel seems to go in price a couple of times a week at the moment. The post I'm quoting was only two weeks ago, and yet it just cost me almost €1.72/litre to fill up - that's $7.54/US gallon at today's rates!

I went back to the seaside yesterday, but it was very different weather to the last time. It was so windy that at times it was almost hard to stand up! The spray was whipping off the top of the waves, and then I got soaked when a big wave came over the sea wall. It was a very exhilarating walk, topped off with some very tasty fish and chips.

Belated congratulations to Jamie Chadwick who won both of the final two races in the W Series championship at the weekend to clinch her second title. She beat fellow Brit Alice Powell to victory in a couple of great drives in Austin as the W Series concluded its season supporting the F1 race at COTA. As well as the prize money, she also gets super-licence points which could help her get into F1. Down in 13th place was another British driver, Abbie Eaton, who you may have seen as the test driver in 'The Grand Tour'.

I keep getting scam text messages giving me websites to track my parcel deliveries or some variant. There seems to be a lot of them going around. The fact that I don't order online kind of gives their game away.

ECTO-1

Here's a look at the PS2 version. I know that Edward Mulhare (Devon Miles) died in 1997 (five years before this games was released), but they don't seem to have licensed any of the original actors to provide voices (unlike the Dukes games).

Danica Patrick conducted the post-qualifying interviews at the US Grand Prix today. It's the first time I've seen her in a while - is she still racing in any series now that she's no longer in NASCAR?

Chase The British (original) version on the quiz/game show 'The Chase' ends with a potato (I think it's the production company). Don't believe me - you can see the video here. (I thought I'd avoid any Irish stereotypes about potatoes!)

It's not hard to see why most gas stations have added convenience stores, delis and coffee shops to supplement their income from the fuel. I was watching the video below about that very subject last night. A car that had been involved in a crash and then cheaply and very badly repaired. Some of the comments suggest that this is now common practice in some dealers.

Someone sent me a video last week of an independent TD (member of parliament) giving a speech to Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament) about the breakdown in fuel prices. He said that out of every €100 of petrol (gas) sold, €39.92 goes to the manufacturer, €3.08 goes to the retailer, and €57.00 goes to the government, despite the government not having any involvement in the manufacture or selling of the fuel. Added to that is the way they try to tax older, less economical cars off the road. The other day I was reading YouTube comments about what a bargain E39 5-Series BMWs are a the moment. It's true, I can buy one for around €3k, but the road tax on the 3.0 litre gas model is €1,400/year. The tax scale was changed in 2008, so older cars with big engines are harder to sell when they get to this price level. The exception is "vintage" cars, i.e. ones that are 30 years old or more. I could tax, for example, an old Mustang with a massive V8 engine for €56/year. Of course, I'd still have to fill it with heavily taxed fuel! BTW. There are still plenty of potholes in the roads.

I don't have much sympathy - I filled up with unleaded last night at €1.67/litre. If my sums are correct, that's about $7.33/US gallon.

True

Judy (Punch & Judy is a traditional puppet show, often found in little booths at the seaside. I don't know whether it transferred to the US) Tracey Ullman returned to Britain with her own sketch show on the BBC a few years ago, but I don't remember it containing any ground-breaking cartoon shows.

Kangaroo D'oh = Homer Simpson DoH = Dukes of Hazzard I hope than clears things up.

Ireland (Southern Ireland is another name for the Republic of Ireland or Eire) You threw me with the reference because I thought you were talking about 'Speed Buggy' which I think was shown in the UK during school holidays around 1980. I haven't seen it since. The quote is from less than 10 minutes into 'One Armed Bandits' while Waylon is still setting the scene: Balladeer: "Bo and Luke always have breakfast with Jesse, except on Saturdays when they eat at the garage, on donuts and beer." Hobie, I'm not Irish, I just live in Ireland!

I finally let Windows install its update tonight. I'm not sure exactly how long it took because I left the room, but it was under 10 minutes. Maybe I've still got the big one to come.

I've finally had to resort to Google to understand the "Let's go Brandon" memes I've been seeing for the last two days!

That's certainly happening to some extent here and in the UK. I don't know how much people are getting in the UK, but higher earners here have been getting €350/week (roughly $405) if they're unable to work. That compares to just over €200/week ($230) if they were merely unemployed. The authorities are finally looking into the payments, and have found that quite a few recipients weren't eligible to receive them for various reasons. The situation in the UK is, despite what the government says, complicated by Brexit. Many mainly European workers have left the country, leaving gaps in the employment market. European truck drivers are now being offered extended visas by the UK. As you can imagine, after the UK pulled out of Europe, the EU isn't exactly rushing to help.

It's that's silly situation where hoarders and panic buyers screw things up for everyone. If no one told them there was going to be a shortage, there probably wouldn't be one! It's happening with fuel in the UK at the moment. People are queuing for hours and gas stations are running dry because they heard that there aren't enough tanker drivers to deliver the fuel. From Monday, the army are going to help out with deliveries. Luckily, we don't seem to be having the same issues here.