I don't use a filter, so the third butt end doesn't get smoked and ends up in the ash tray. I have seen other people use a roach, which is a bit of rolled up cigarette packet paper. This was tried with a bit of flimsy cardboard from a cereal packet, and made to about the same length of the stub I usually put out in the ash tray.
This will actually make the tobacco stretch about a third further, so I think that means I get 25% extra value out of my tobacco purchase. So in terms of smok-able tobacco that becomes 31.25g. Less approx 1g per day wastage, as I wouldn't smoke it up to the roach. This makes 3.5g approx per day available to the smoking party for their enjoyment. So this is a reduction in real terms of 1.5g of tobacco per day, rather than the threatened Axe at short notice.
I think this is progressive, and that as the smoking party become accustomed to a reduction in their expensive habits, they may be amenable to further negotiations.
While I am at this thought of saving some money.
I think the only reason people would want to be footballers, famous pop stars, and stock market jockeys is that they all earn ridiculous amounts of money. Certainly if Bankers and stock market people who deal in high risk sectors were not paid more than their counterparts in low risk sectors, perhaps they just wouldn't want to do this type of work. They might grow up wanting to be footballers or pop stars instead.
Just a random and probably ridiculous thought. However as the governments actually have to prop the banks up with taxpayers money, why can't the politicians actually legislate how much these people earn, as effectively they are civil servants if they get public tax money.
I am off to do some painting, and make a pile of 'roaches'.
Well I have spent the day doing research and thinking through if I have the courage to tackle the wall in the flat kitchen that the builder didn't want to do. I think I mentioned that this was a lath and plaster wall the previous tenent put a fist through. Well that bit got mended by the builder, although I had said that I thought it might have been better to take the wall off, and line it properly to take tiles. This fell on deaf ears!
It is just the bottom part of the wall that I don't think can be tiled, and this is where the worst dipping and bulging is. Also it has a 'give' in it. I am seriously thinking of cutting out this area and replacing it with something like Aquapanel. This is a cement board which is fairly water resistant and supposed to be better for tiling on than plasterboard in steamy areas.
I am pretty sure lath is fixed on to the front of battens, so I would probably have to remove the laths in this area. Screw the Aquapanel on to the battens as per instructions, Then use the tile cement and some of the fixing strip over the join between the plaster and Aquapanel. At the moment I know the Aquapanel is 12.5mm thick. I am concerned that the depth to the battens under the old plaster may not give enough depth to take this Aquapanel. If it is deeper I can probably build it out so that isn't a problem.
I suppose even if the tile on this area did sit proud slightly from the area above, either grouting the lip, or if there was enough depth to introduce a decor strip to make the transition it might look OK. Just thinking it all through...
I am also wondering, if I do this, If I can also get rid of the surface mounted light cables, which was why I wanted the whole wall done. I think usually lath and plaster has mesh at the edges, so this still is probably not a good idea. I am going to inspect thoroughly again.
I was chatting with my favorite assistant at B&Q, and said I didn't want to rush into this, muttering the old adage 'fools rush in where Angels fear to tread'. He said noooo you have that wrong! He said it's the other way round! It's 'Angels go where fools fear to tread'! 'Why is that', I asked. 'Because Angels are eternal, it wouldn't even matter if they walked off a cliff', He said. 'They are the living dead, they never age'. Well I kind of looked at him and said 'That can't be right, they must be the 'Living-Living'!
Ever feel you just had a chat with an Angel in another dimension? B&Q is a good place to find one!
So much for me thinking this wouldn't be a significantly interesting day. We both kind of stood there looking at each other trying to work out the Angel thing, What a wonderful 'real' conversation to have with someone, completely priceless!
You can see a couple of Icons I did of Gabriel and Michael in the Learning to write Icons section. You just never know when you are going to be speaking to one, so it is a good idea to be pleasant and polite all the time, they never come out when people are rude to them.