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So, what happened today?

Went to Windsor Castle yesterday, what an incredible place, my wife, youngest and I loved it, our 14 year old thought it was in her words dump !!
Beautiful town too Windsor

Nice! :) even though I'm by no means a royalist, I've really enjoyed watching The Crown, and just observing how pretty much everyone in the royal family are suffering on a personal level from the hierarchy they're supposed to serve. And they're the highest up in the hierarchy, and it still fudges them over! brick. Hierarchies really suck. It's like they own us. So I have a weird kind of affection for them now. I really feel for them. Hopefully it can loosen up a bit with time.
 
A couple whose Caribbean holiday was ruined when they saw a dead body at their hotel and people having sex in a pool were offered £200 compensation.

Alan and Sarah Stevens, from Hull, travelled to the Dominican Republic in June with travel firm TUI.

But Mr Stevens said their £2,800 stay at the Riu Republica Hotel became a "nightmare" and he felt "let down" by the holiday operator's offer.

TUI admitted its "usually high standards were not met".

When Mr Stevens, 50, and his wife Sarah, 49, first arrived at the hotel in Punta Cana he said they were pleased as the room was comfortable and the food was "quite nice".

But by the next day, the NHS administrator said the holiday became "seedy" with "constant cannabis smoking" and people having sex in the pool.

Mr Stevens also said he saw a dead body under a sheet and was told two other guests had died from drug overdoses at the hotel while he was there.

He told the BBC: "The pool had to be emptied twice a day because the water was so murky.

"People were chucking their drugs in the pool and there was absolutely no security.

"When doing our research, no holiday provider described it as a 'party hotel' - but it was."

Riu Republica Hotel is billed as an "upscale all-inclusive resort" on its website.

Mr Stevens added: "It turned into a 100% car crash holiday."

When he tried to discuss his issues, including the dead body, with the hotel manager she reportedly said: "People die every day."

The local press reported that the 35-year-old victim had fallen from a fourth floor balcony and her partner was "in custody for investigative purposes".

'Grin and bear it'
Mr Stevens said: "We weren't taken seriously and weren't even taken to a private area to talk about our complaints.

"TUI offered to move us to another hotel but we had heard from other guests that it was just as bad."

Mr and Mrs Stevens spent the 17-day holiday by a "quieter" pool with other older guests but there was no "Dominican vibe" and it was just a case of having to "grin and bear it".

He said he had been "a loyal customer of TUI for more than 25 years" so felt disappointed at its compensation offer of £200 in vouchers and counselling.

"I've spent thousands with TUI and they are offering us each what equates to £5.88 a day compensation and not even a proper apology," he said.

"We feel so let down and my wife, whose birthday treat it was, is really saddened by TUI's response.

"After we turned down the offer, we haven't heard anything."

He added that he was "considering" legal action.

A spokesperson for TUI told the BBC: "We are sorry to hear of Mr Stevens' experience during his stay at the Riu Republica Hotel.

"At TUI, we strive to make travelling with us a smooth experience from start to finish, but unfortunately on this occasion, and largely due to factors outside of our control, we did not meet our usually high standards.

"Our team has been in contact with Mr Stevens and he was offered a gift voucher as a gesture of goodwill, as well as counselling from CCP (Centre for Crisis Psychology), but unfortunately this was declined."

TUI also confirmed that the Riu Republica Hotel was "not a TUI hotel" and could be booked "via several different booking platforms".

I mean, dead guy in the pool I get, but come on: you've simply got to accept the smell of cannabis if you're in the Caribbeans. It's like getting offended by curry in India. Haha.
 
Happy to do whatever keeps the wolf from the door, not that fussy if the people are good.

That's so sad in a way, but I completely understand you. We've relegated our lives to be dictated by the hierarchies around us, and I completely get it. I've been a victim of that brick myself. Still am. But we can make an alternative world where we don't have to toil ten hours a day six days a week - why the hell do we accept that? We shouldn't and we shouldn't have to work that much. We get depressed, all of us. It's too much. There's not enough time for the stuff we love. We simply have to change this to get people chipper about life again. It's not supposed to be just toiling and sadness. We're embarking on a new chapter in human history. This time it's the people's turn.

Dare to dream, johnola. Audere est facere. What's your minds eye's biggest dream? What do you love doing? What's a skill you've got nobody really knows about? What have you alway been dreaming of? I hope I can sell my art soon and hire some people. I just want to liberate people, include them in a fellowship and let them do their thing. We'll eventually all flower this way. Heads up, mate, we're going to turn this brick around. All of us. :)
 
The thing I value most of all is privacy. I don’t aspire to anything and feel I generally have things balanced out nicely.

I’m not in the poorhouse and not under any pressure.

Sounds good. I'm cheering for you. You got this. :)
 
250? The cheapest phone I know, that is actually usable is the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite.
Think you can get that for around 250. I'd strongly advice you to spend a bit more. The cheapest ones are just frustratingly slow. If you're able to double it, you get far more options, and phones that actually are decent. I'm not sure of prices in the UK, but here you can get a Google pixel for £500, and that's a very very good phone.

Honor and Oppo have some cheap phones, but I don't know anything about them, other than that they seem to focus on the camera, and with price in mind, that means a cheap and slow prosessor, opposite of what you need.

thanks kandi.
it was an oppo i had an tbh it was a great phone, but it must at least 4 years old now, my wifes still works absolutely fine and i think its only the screen on mine that isn't working.
i just don't see that i need a 500 quid phone, not for what i use it for. i've had several iphones, a top spec samsung and neither were any better than the oppo for my needs.
the oneplus looks interesting, i'll check it out.
The Mrs and I are both on One+ phones...just the midrange models. Can't be arsed with the top end anymore...£250-450 range does me ok.
 
The Mrs and I are both on One+ phones...just the midrange models. Can't be arsed with the top end anymore...£250-450 range does me ok.

Taking @Kandi1977 advice I looked at the one+ and ended up with the ce 3 lite.
Really like it, great phone, screen is a little sensitive for my clumsy fingers and I can't find a way to tone it down and there's no pedometer, but other than that I'm very happy with it.
 
Been reading about conspiracy theories to do with the Maui fires that have devastated Hawaii recently. Some people actually think the fires were caused by energy weapons. I have some issues with the left these days which I’ve talked about on this forum but stuff like this reminds me to never lose perspective and how stupid the right can be. I don’t know how much more evidence is needed to convince people about how serious climate change. It should every governments top priority. Saw a story on the news yesterday about the tories not wanting to regulate cryptocurrency which is horrible for the environment.
 
I'm at some kind of punk/stoner/fudge everyone festival. It's kinda awesome and just weird. There are "bars" where you just send money to some random person and get beers in return. Alternative rock band Motorpsycho played earlier, now it's just random brick.
 
Just got back to the train station after work to find the person next to me had locked their bike up through mine so I had to walk home 2 miles
What a total cretin !!!
 
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