King of the castle

Day four over and the Czech us out tour comes to an end. Today we were at Karlstejn, an ex European tour venue, and a lovely course. It is high in the hills about an hour from Prague, and really would not have the infrastructure for a major tournament these days.
Cookie and I played another match play for our Virgin Atlantic league, and I had a rare win against him. Back to back birdies at 11 and 12 got my nose in front and a steady back nine saw me through to victory.

The course is built in the grounds of Karlstejn castle built in the 14th century by Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV and it is one of the best examples in the Czech Republic.

Last night was the gala dinner at which prizes were dished out. We came home empty handed but the experience has still been worthwhile. As far as a festival of golf goes though it was not quite what we expected.

There were tour reps from China and Germany, and a guest of one of the Germans ran a Porsche golf events team. Four Scots had won the trip in a golf magazine competition. One Frenchman owned a hotel with two golf courses in Bordeaux and another typical French raconteur lived in Aix Les Vains. He had a restaurant in Mirrabelle and skied in Japan.

So there were very few paying guests, but we held our own had a good time and would come back. It's a golf tour destination of the future. Now all I need to do is repack my suitcase for EasyJet. Hey ho!!

Going, going, gone....

The auction season started again yesterday. I could have made a New Years resolution not to buy so much rubbish this year, as 2015 was definitely the year of the dross. I have been lucky with some items i have purchased, and made a reasonable profit, but quite a bit of it remains downstairs ready to be utilised at the car boot sales when they start in March.

I would like to think my luck has been hard earned as I do have an eye for what will sell, I just occasionally pay too much for it!!

Yesterday I purchased a golf flight travel bag for £5 which retails for about £60 so I  will keep that for my own use, as it purports to carry two sets of clubs, so saving air freight charges with EasyJet et al.

I missed out on two rather nice piano stools which went for £45 each which I think was all the money. I did get a pile of pictures though, in which I thought there were a couple of hidden gems. They are on e-bay at the moment so we will see how they fair. It's commission which does the damage though. You pay it on what you buy in the auction, plus occasionally VAT. You then pay commission on e-bay and a handling fee if your payment option is paypal.
Apparently it costs £20 to submit an item into the auction to sell and there is sellers commission as well as that of the buyer. I know they have to make their margin somewhere but it all needs to be considered when trying to make a few bob on whatever you buy.

I have fishing bits ( but not your type of stuff,  Dick) Pepper Pig xylophones, modelling tool kits, a few artifacts and a good range of pictures so far in the car boot box, I might have a clearance sale just to get rid as its all spent money so anything I make will be straight into the beer kitty.

I'm Mandy, Fly Me

I have just returned from Portugal after the annual 'Algarve Cup' tournament. I avoided winning the parrot for last place, and with two good and two bad rounds, I came mid-table.

I travelled over and back on EasyJet, but for some reason from Liverpool, John Lennon International Airport, they only fly one flight on the Monday, so whereas most of the team got back Monday night, I had to wait until Tuesday.

EasyJet are fine as long as they fly on time, I don't have a problem paying for baggage or golf clubs, and the staff are generally friendly and helpful. I was interested though to read about the extra charges being introduced at their hub in Luton, while travelling back.

I had already noticed that people are charged 50p for the clear plastic bag they put their make-up in, at Liverpool, and there is the lounge charge, the priority boarding charge and the fast track security charge which seem to be accepted these days. The announcement that people were to be charged £1 to drop people off at the airport though is a bit cheeky. Air travel is designed to be quicker than other modes of transport, so encouraging people to use the park and ride so way away is only going to erode the differential. I know its only £1 , but judging by the RyanAir announcement to their staff that theyneed to think of new ways of charging passengers, it could be the tip of the iceberg.

So, what are the suggestions; charging people to eat their own food on the plane ( food corkage equivalent), making fat people pay more money, or including your weight as part of your baggage allowance, and what else?

Well here are a few things for you if any RyanAir people read this.

Its 30p to spend a penny at Paddington Station in London, although you can slide in past the turnstiles if you know the trick!! So lets have a toilet usage charge on aircraft. What about paying so that the seat in front of you cannot be reclined, although a reclining passenger may need to be re-imbursed for not being able to be selfish and inconsiderate. Short haul don't have movies or entertainment, but that is an obvious one to charge for, if they do not already.

They could also sell papers and magazines, wet wipes and serviettes but they would all contribute to total takeoff weight and may not therefore be viable.

Alternatively of course they could just make everything inclusive and put the base price up, I am sure it will happen, but then don't Virgin and BA do that already?

Rickyyyyyyyy!!

The BBC soap opera Eastenders, occasionally comes up with some gems as part of its dialogue.

I am reminded of the quote Mo Slater came out with prior to attending one of Ian Beales parties....'I hope there is a cheese and pineapple hedgehog' she said,'it isn't a proper party without one of those'

Memories of childhood came flooding back, when you always dived for the hedgehog, and then removed the cheese before plonking the cocktail stick and pineapple back in the display. I have to say though, that I can't think when last I attended a party which incorporated the hedgehog as part of its running buffet.

My recent golf trip to Portugal though brought one of Dot Cottons philosophical sayings to mind. 'Buy cheap, buy twice', she once said. Now how many of us have suffered from these words of wisdom when buying electric power tools, screwdrivers or sports equipment. These days you usually get what you pay for.

I was team captain of the Sixhitters and needed team shirts and outfits for the match and the final dinner. Given the gear was probably only going to be worn once, and thrown away, there was only one place to go, Primark. Primark is owned by British Associated Foods, and is the flagship brand in their portfolio. It has embraced the Tesco motto previously attributed to food, 'pile em high, sell em cheap', and focused it on the clothing market.

Much of their stuff is crap, but with polo shirt at £5 and £3 for a pair of white shell suit trousers which can double as cricket flannels, I was not too bothered. Neither made the return trip from the Algarve.

If I was in their marketing team, I would be exploring the possibility of opening stores in Aiya Napa, Ibiza and other 'kids' resorts. People could then fly EasyJet with hand luggage only, buy their outfits in the resort, and leave them there on departure. The money they save on hold bags should cover their t-shirts and leggings requirements!!

The way to utilise the Primark brand is simple. Be choosy, select the stuff which will last,both from a fashion perspective and durability, and mix and match them with other more accepted high street or designer outfits. That way you will be dressed individually and at reasonable cost. I buy their mens fashion trousers, but avoid the blue chinos, as they have a tendency to go green after washing, and their cashmere sweaters can last a season. Otherwise I treat Primark like a fancy dress shop. Suits you Sir!

Entry fee extra....

There has been much discussion lately about the rising cost of air travel, with talk of increased landing charges for Heathrow and Gatwick and fuel charge supplements affecting most major airlines. Couple that with the cheap airlines like RyanAir and EasyJet adding-on for hold baggage and golf clubs, and the whole scene becomes extremely confusing. people are up in arms about early boarding charges and 'long leg' premiums. All are classed as stealth charges making cheap ticket prices a misleading selling ploy.

Luckily the Office of Fair Trading has clamped down on these practices so that at least the surcharges are included in the price, if not the luggage charge. Now lets turn our attention to something else which continues to irritate me.

I regularly use TicketMaster for concert and sporting event tickets. They have hidden charges too. This week I ordered six tickets with face value £15 each for a rugby game at Twickenham. I was then charged a booking fee of £2.40 per ticket, and postage of £2.20. As I could only order two tickets at a time that cost me postage on each transaction. The whole package was £109.80, a 22% premium on their face value.

So, I went directly to the RFU box office as I was passing, but they were not selling tickets for this event, it was TicketMaster or nothing. What I want to know is why don't they just say the tickets are £18.40 including P & P, up front, so we all know where we stand, or in this case, sit?

We apologise for the delay to flight EZ1234.....

We flew with GB Airways when we went to Cyprus. They are an interesting airline in as much as they were, until recently, in the private ownership of the Bland Group, with BA operating them as a franchise. The Bland brothers have now agreed to sell the airline to EasyJet, who will acquire the routes out of Gatwick and Manchester, but not the slots at Heathrow more's the pity.

The aircraft seemed to be standard BA stock although it was interesting that the seat pitch was greater flying out than it was flying back when we had those seats that stuck into you somewhere whenever you tried to get to sleep.

I have always been curious of the sub-culture which exists on aircraft. I can rationalise that they never show the Airplane movies or other flight disaster movies, but tell me this, why do you never get chips with the meal?