What Are You Doing Now?

[Fiona1986]

I wouldn't trust the staff to pick my food unless I was desperate. Some of the substitutions they make when things aren't available are laughable. I don't do food shops online and I rarely order takeaways but on behalf of those who do (and for good reason) I just thought that branding them all lazy was uncalled for. Besides, I have a hospital appointment this afternoon and a good rant is just what I need to take my mind off it!

[Rob Houghton]

Fair enough! I agree that these people aren't really lazy - unless they are fairly able-bodied and therefore should be getting the exercise!!

I hope your hospital appointment goes well.

[number 6]

Blimey! I think I've opened a can of worms here! Yes, of course you're right, Fiona. There's a lot of folk out there who do rely on the on-line facilities for buying quantities of food, doing banking, etc, & I don't begrudge any of them for doing so. I was just poking a light-hearted finger at the minority who just won't go out the house if they can help it, not because they're housebound or have some physical disability/phobia, etc, but because they just can't be bothered.
I know four folk who live very close to me, who order takeaways, etc, on-line & the shops are just a few minutes walk away. They are physically fit & have part time jobs! They've got plenty of time on their hands to nip out to the shops, but they won't do it cos they'll use up valuable gaming time on the play stations!

[Lucky Star]

I think the criterion here is whether one needs to shop online for some reason or whether one is just too lazy to go to the shops themselves. In the case of books and music I buy now mainly from Amazon or ebay or second hand bookshops. If I urgently want something I will usually get it online simply because I live a reasonable distance from any good second hand bookshop and to go there would involve petrol and parking costs.... and then they may not have what I wanted anyway! So if I suddenly decide that I must have a specific book then online is where I buy it.

As regards food and groceries I am a singleton and so my shopping isn't particularly onerous anyway. Like Rob I also have a car and so I just drive to the supermarkets and back with the shopping. But if I had no car and a large family to buy for then I would probably use the online service for the saving of time and convenience. By the way Iceland offer an inbetween option; you shop in the supermarket, bag it up and then they deliver it to your door later that day.

[Carlotta King]

I do food shops online sometimes but that's because I don't have a car and everything I need to order is big heavy stuff, ie cat litter, boxes of cat food, lots of milk, etc. Also the smaller supermarkets in the city centre don't have the cat food varieties that he likes, whereas online i can get the right ones.
However I don't bother ordering fruit n veg etc or most of my everyday food - I still walk to the supermarket to get those, because they're easy to carry and, like you Rob, I like to choose my own.
Although, in fairness to Tesco, they seem pretty good at choosing stuff that has a long use-by and nice quality loose produce. There have been times when I have included loose produce etc in my online shop and it's always been top quality and very fresh. The milk also always has a very long use-by on it. (Although, we have goats milk and that tends to have longer use-by than cows milk anyway, but even so, you can tell that they've picked really fresh cartons because the use-by is way ahead.)

If I had a car I would go and do all the shopping myself. I actually really enjoy food shopping and having a good browse round the big supermarkets so it wouldn't be a chore.

[Rob Houghton]

I guess if they're not an expert like everyone here, they wouldn't really know how much was a good price. (Although four figures is a bit drastic!)

I have absolutely no clue whatsoever how much is a good price for a Blyton book; if I was looking to buy, say, a nice copy of an Adventure book with a nice cover and Tresilian illustrations, I would have no idea whether £2 or £42 was the right price to pay. I would easily get conned.

I wouldn't get conned into spending four figures, I would think that anyone would realise that that's ridiculous, but if we're talking lower figures (from £2 to £50) then I haven't got the foggiest so I can easily understand how people would pay double figures if they didn't know much about prices.

I think we all tend to forget that not everyone is such an expert as we are here, and that what seems obvious and second nature to us isn't obvious at all to other people.

I really don't consider myself an expert - and I've been collecting seriously for 17 years. Tony might be an expert - but then again many of the prices he paid for an Enid Blyton book in very good condition were way, way cheaper than nowadays - like £5 for a very good condition Adventure book in a dust wrapper, lol. I think prices are changing all the time, and I find the best way to work out prices is to regularly go on somewhere like eBay.

Even since I've been selling books on eBay (about a year) prices have risen fairly steeply. Back then, I was buying Famous Fives with dust wrappers for as little as £1.99 - now that's an incredibly rare occurrence!

Looking at eBay prices, you can ignore all the very high prices. Maybe a first edition Famous Five really is worth £3000 but only Stella and Rose etc would charge that much - and I really can't see who buys them! As a seller myself, I tend to look at what others are charging for a certain edition or title and then undercut them if I can. I sometimes feel bad about charging £20 for a white spine edition of Five Go To Smuggler's Top - but if others are charging £30 - £60 for the same book, I know my £20 is pretty much on the fair side.

[Carlotta King]

Yeah you're right, if I looked on eBay regularly then I think I would definitely start to learn and get a good idea of what prices are good. I think its because I never look, that I don't have any clue.
I agree it must be difficult though, with prices always changing!

[Rob Houghton]

Sellers do seem to charge what they like - and seem to be under the impression that EB books will fetch any amount they ask - like £600 for a 1978 annual or £75 for a Dean book with no wrapper - but these are extremes. Very often, if you search long enough, you come across a 'bargain'. For example, yesterday I bought a copy of 'Enid Blyton's Lucky Storybook' with very good dust wrapper for £4.00 (1959 edition) - but to do this you have to trawl through masses of EB books on eBay pretty much every day!

[Moonraker]

why would you let other people choose the food you end up with?! Also ordering takeaway food online (or even by phone) - lazy in the extreme - and ordering birthday cards online instead of going out to buy one. All things I've never done online and aren't about to!

Not lazy at all. We always order take-always online or by telephone. That way, I can sink a few pints before eating. I also order cards online if I wish to personalise them with a photograph.

[Rob Houghton]

It's no wonder we're all getting fatter!!!

[Moonraker]

I'm getting slimmer! 4" off my waist and nearly a stone lighter than a year ago.

[Rob Houghton]

That's because you've been spending all that money your wallet is stuffed with!!

[Lucky Star]

The one time I ordered a Chinese takeaway to be delivered it took ages to arrive and then I got very sick indeed later that night. I reckon the driver had had several other orders to deliver and mine was last so it had cooled dangerously by the time I got it. Hot food should be eaten fairly quickly not driven halfway around the town first. Since then I always drive to the takeaway myself on the few occasions where I eat them.

[Rob Houghton]

I must admit I'm not a fan of takeaway food of any kind - and the only type I've ever eaten is fish and chips!!

[sixret]

We can always reheat the food using microwave!