Are you a tightwad or just thrifty

[happy daze john in oz]

James, no problem with shoes here in Oz.
Most only wear runners, shoes are far too expensive.
I wear sliders for about 9 months of the year and bare feet indoors and outside for about half the year.
Still got a pair i bought back in the mid 80's, did not fit so well then so held onto them in the hope that over time either my feet would change or the shoes would.
Must give them a go soon.

Like les, never buy goods pre packed, that is how they get rid of the rubbish.

Grow most of my own veg and about half the fruit we need.

[James Curry]

John. I have feet like flippers, wide fitting so only ever bought quality shoes. Trainers you can get cheap in the likes of Aldi or Lidl, cheap in price and cheap in materials. Weather here in the UK it is wellies you need, and in some areas it is waders.
I have several pairs of Clarks shoes and had them for years. Always find Clarks shoes comfortable, rarely do I wear trainers. I have Clarks sandals again had them for years , UK weather not often you get the chance to give them an outing.

You are lucky growing your own fruit and veg, we have a short growing season here up north so if you want Toms etc it has to be under glass. I had a good crop last year, cherry toms great but Moneymaker& Alacante good yeild but did not have enough room in the greenhouse so took ages to ripen as we had a poor summer last year very wet. Good crop of spuds from earlies right through to main crop. Just used the last of my spuds just before Christmas, Basil, Parsley and Spring onions. Still harvesting my own Parsley.
Need I bigger green house the boss says no but as it is on order she will have to back down. Never see the point of a lawn front garden okay back garden for veg , the argument will continue

[Tony Taylor]

John. I have feet like flippers, wide fitting so only ever bought quality shoes. Trainers you can get cheap in the likes of Aldi or Lidl, cheap in price and cheap in materials. Weather here in the UK it is wellies you need, and in some areas it is waders.
I have several pairs of Clarks shoes and had them for years. Always find Clarks shoes comfortable, rarely do I wear trainers. I have Clarks sandals again had them for years , UK weather not often you get the chance to give them an outing.

You are lucky growing your own fruit and veg, we have a short growing season here up north so if you want Toms etc it has to be under glass. I had a good crop last year, cherry toms great but Moneymaker& Alacante good yeild but did not have enough room in the greenhouse so took ages to ripen as we had a poor summer last year very wet. Good crop of spuds from earlies right through to main crop. Just used the last of my spuds just before Christmas, Basil, Parsley and Spring onions. Still harvesting my own Parsley.
Need I bigger green house the boss says no but as it is on order she will have to back down. Never see the point of a lawn front garden okay back garden for veg , the argument will continue

Quality of Clarks shoes has declined over the last few years, I used to wear nothing else for my work and they were durable and comfortable. I always bought the same style but noticed some time ago that they werent lasting as well, especially the inside liners. I decided to investigate and it appears that the slide coincided with transfer of manufacture to India,

[Les Woodard]

The son had a birthday a couple of months ago and the grandkids decided to take him out for dinner. Invited me to come along. So could not get away with wearing thongs so broke out the shoes which are sneakers as the leather ones are to tight now. Found that I had to clean the mold of them but wore them. Bloody well near crippled me by the end of the night. I go under the assumption that if I am not allowed in wearing thongs then the place is to expensive for me. Like John only wear the thongs when going out or if the concrete is to hot to stand on. For those not knowing? Thongs here in Australia are what is knowen as flip flops in the UK. T shirt shorts and thongs make for a easy and cheap life her in OZ.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Les
Now is your chance to upgrade to a higher level. Rivers the clothing stores are closing 118 shops in April , there will be any amount of GOOD quality Bangladeshi and Chinese clothes and shoes going cheap. I get my soft rubber soled shoes there, had two pair for around four years one for indoor and one for out.
Cheers Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Yes James, no good having a lawn when you could use the land to grow veg.

Found two new varieties of Tomato this year and very good.

One is a Plum Tomato, so called as that is the shape of it and about twice the size of a Cherry variety.
The other one looks almost like a Capsicum in shape.
Very easy to grow and very quick as well.

But would think you would have no problems growing root veg as sunlight is not such an issue.

[James Curry]

#14, Ref: Thongs , brought a memory back from when I lived in Spain. I was big into Bowls(not the 10 pin sort)
Anyway as is the normal age group that play bowls being retired folk. We had a bar maid served in the clubhouse a really good looking Kiwi girl. She wanted to learn how to play bowls so she was allowed to become a member and as we all did we abided with a dress code. Summer time men could wear White Polo style shirts and white tailored shorts or White light weight trousers.
Women also Polo shirts and Shorts or below the knee shirts.
The Kiwi girl as said was a good looking girl mid 30's. So away we go and Gale is playing lead. Bloody hell she bent over and a few of the old codgers had to be now on resuscitated, Gale was wearing a thong an the shorts left nothing to the immagination.
Me never played a better game of bowls in my life lol.
Dress code was up dated ASAP after that event.
A week or so later Gale was pulling me a pint and I asked her did she get any flak over her dress code. She winked at me, just from those old biddies over there. What about the men folk, nothing, but my Tips have gone up by several more €€€€€'s
Wait until match day tomorrow, hope that De Fibrillator is fully charged
Sadly she dressed the same as the old biddies, such a shame

[happy daze john in oz]

James, we were up the river in Moama a few years back and a wedding was taking place on the old wharf.
Bride and Groom well dressed in traditional manner.
Then came the groomsmen, 4 in total.
All well dressed in white long sleeve shirts, bow tie and waistcoat.
White shorts and thongs to complete the dress code.

The code here for much of the year is simple.
Shorts, shirt and sliders. Hats and sunnies optional.

[James Curry]

John I like my seasons, Winter, cold,wet and windy, Spring , not so cold,wet or windy, Summer,Cooler but with warmer rain and sometimes not so windy
Autumn, getting colder, wetter and windier. What's not to like

[happy daze john in oz]

For me, spring in all its glory with the local Australian Ravens rearing their young and knocking on our screen door for food.
I feed them bits as I consider we as humans take so much natural habitat away from our wild life.
Fresh growth in the flower beds, roses in bud, tomato's beginning to grow along with other veg.
Hope of enough rain to keep the reservoir's full for summer and fill my three tanks with 5200 liters for the garden.

Summer, beach weather, good drinking weather, easy to down a case of beer a week.

Autumn beautiful colors on the trees, young birds flying to new places, cooler weather with great evenings.

Winter, time to go to Uk or Europe where it is warmer for a month or so. Rain enough for coming spring.