BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[briantrumpet]

Use something like a Clarity card rather than cash and you'd have got between 1.16 and 1.17 to the pound.
Or take money out of the hole in the wall using your debit card when in the country and you'd get a far better rate than a bureau de change will ever give you.

This.

Pre-buying euros is a rip-off, unless you have the facility to buy them via somewhere like TorFX and dump them in a euro account. Just using most UK bank cards (check your own though) is usually the cheapest way: cash via the debit card and purchases via the credit card. Used to be something like 1.5% on the total subject to a minimum charge of £1.50 per transaction.

PS - don't rely on a bank card if you're going to Russia - they don't work, as some Trumpian US govt official found recently.

 

[Psamathe]

I stream most of my content. I mostly use iplayer ...

I'm in my 70's and I stream most of my stuff. Only really C4 News on Freeview and next TV licence renewal I suspect that will go as I feel ripped-off by the fee going to the BBC. I can't won't use iPlayer, can't because despite being a UK resident, despite paying for a TV licence iPlayer won't work through my UK VPN server, won't because it's a tracking service and I won't accept BBC privacy terms (though not looked at them recently but not really anything I want to watch on BBC anyway).

Most of my fiction reading is on a Kindle but non-fiction tends to be printed (probably as Kindle doesn't provide a lot of the non-fiction stuff I read).

 

[Psamathe]

Pre-buying euros is a rip-off, unless you have the facility to buy them via somewhere like TorFX and dump them in a euro account. Just using most UK bank cards (check your own though) is usually the cheapest way

I mostly travel using pre-paid debit cards (which are generally Mastercard rather than Visa). You get the standard credit/debit card exchange rate (though you can pre-load them with a few mainstream currencies).

Main reason though is security in countries where Express kidnapping is a risk ie you exposure to financial ruin is very reduced as max they can take is the pre-paid balance on the card(s). And without any online app to the cards you can't be forced to top-up as no "give-aways" that there is any option to top-up ie it's just a card that stops paying out money.

 

[Poacher]

I just bought some Euros at the post office.
I was always lead to believe their rate was good.
Today’s rate was €1.05. So basically almost 1-1. I remember when it was 1.5.

You were diddled. M&S would have given you E1.13.

The rate collapsed due to Brexit.

If you order online at https://www.postoffice.co.uk/travel-money/euros , and pick up at your local post office, you get a reasonably competitive rate:
Today’s online rate: 1 GBP = 1.1439 EUR
If you just rock up to the counter without having ordered online, you get shafted, as I imagine you've just found out.

 

[Psamathe]

I just bought some Euros at the post office.

You have to be very careful at the Post Office these days. Look on the interweb and their rate can look quite good but walk into a Post Office and the rate you get won't be as good. Only way to get the interweb rate is to buy (and pay for it) on the internet and then just collect from the Post Office. It's becoming more widespread these days, eurochange branches now do the same, John Lewis currency services now do the same (probably others but I know those 3 certainly do or did a few months ago).

 

[icowden]

I'm puzzled by the word 'content'. I'll switch on the radio to listen to a programme, then switch it off again. I'll put a piece of music on (CD or download) and listen just to that.

My "radio" listening is via BBC Sounds. Best way to enjoy radio comedy IMHO. My music is via Amazon Music. I also have some podcasts on Spotify.

To me "content" is synonymous with "slop". Content providers make mostly mindless crap for TikTok etc.
I was listening to Omid Djalili's new show on Radio 4 and part of his routine was bemoaning that now when he has a tour or something to promote, he has to make "content" to advertise the stuff.

 

[First Aspect]

Pfft. Missing "being installed by immigrants".

Surprised they didn't manage to find even one foreign sex offender.

Also totally silent on ethnicity and religious persuasion of the immigrants.

 

[PurplePenguin]

A few thoughts on changing money, because I think a lot of people over look the cost differences.

I think https://www.bestforeignexchange.com/ offers very competitive rates in central London. At the moment the rate is 1.145 which compares with a mid market rate of 1.16588. This is a cost of about 1.8%.

If you have a card like Clarity then you get the Visa rate which is set each day and is around a 1% charge; however, for cash withdrawals many machines will charge you a fee, so the overall charge for cash can still be several percent. Nonetheless, for card purchases it is pretty cheap.

If you have a normal debt card e.g. Lloyds, the charges are 2.99% + £0.50/£1.50 for purchase/cash if outside EEA + the cash machine charge. I'm also suspicious the rate is on top of Visa's rate, so another 1%. All things considered this is a complete rip off and I wouldn't recommend. It's a bit like using the bureau de change at the airport.

 

[First Aspect]

I hadn't realised that Will Self is an optometrist. Hopefully he's not given you the death stare.

Whats the differenfe between an optometrist and a dispensing optician?

I dont

 

[Ian H]

Whats the differenfe between an optometrist and a dispensing optician?

I dont

The optometrist examines you and prescribes the lenses. The optician provides you with the specs according to the prescription.

 

[First Aspect]

The optometrist examines you and prescribes the lenses. The optician provides you with the specs according to the prescription.

A dispensing optician is an optometrist. It's just not a word we really used here in the UK until the 90s.

I think optician is barely used in the US, so the distinction, possibly, is fairly recently crafted to make use of both words.

 

[All uphill]

I have a Kindle but prefer physical books. I just use the Kindle for those 99p deal books. I pretty much just buy second hand books via ebay/Amazon now though as they're often 'as new' and very cheap.

I'm a fan of A ebooks for secondhand books.

50 books a year at £5 delivered is a lot less than 50 books at £11.99

 

[Ian H]

A dispensing optician is an optometrist. It's just not a word we really used here in the UK until the 90s.

I think optician is barely used in the US, so the distinction, possibly, is fairly recently crafted to make use of both words.

My optician separates the roles.

 

[AuroraSaab]

I'm a fan of A ebooks for secondhand books. 50 books a year at £5 delivered is a lot less than 50 books at £11.99

Abe Books, World of Books, Chiron Media, are all pretty good. I've had loads of books from them and rarely been disappointed with the condition. One arrived today, £3.40 delivered, absolutely mint paperback. Apart from fiction from The Works I rarely buy new books.
It makes me read more cos for £3 delivered I'll have a punt whereas at £9 for a new paperback I would have to be sure I'd like it.

 

[First Aspect]

My optician separates the roles.

Yes. In 2026.

Brian will chime in with a graph soon.