99call

Your 2 cents is worth ............

I love the idea of anyone asking Elliot about how VI's are smoking? It's like asking the person who has smoked 99% of there international production...what do you think? Any good?

Oh believe me. I have been waist high in the rotting cadavers of Saturday night fare of which you talk. My comment was just to admire the uniformity of the mess. Like so much barbed wire and mud.

Fuzz.......!! This looks like a diorama of the Somme.

This is something I was going to cover in a separate thread. I'm in the UK and other than regionals for investment, I've never bought a single cigar in the UK. It always seemed like absolute madness to me. I've wanted to stock up on 2 x boxes of Punch DCs for a while now. After looking at all of my options, availability. Brexit etc etc. I finally decided to buy two boxes for £2k in the UK. I never ever thought this day would come, but with all the many layers of bullshit currently going on, I just wanted a straightforward sale. And the price was the same in Geneva. Most of Europe etc. Strangely when I pulled the trigger, I thought I would have instant regret. But I didn't. I was right to do it. But it still does feel very...very... counter intuitive.

LIke opening up a red can of Coke and Sprite being inside, I think we all underestimate how powerful advertising and product packaging is. We may like Coke, we may like Sprite, but we don't like Sprite in a red can, or the jarring effect itself causes a displeasing reaction. I remember seeing a programme on sommelier training, and they were making them east pink coloured banana yogurt, and yellow coloured strawberry yogurt. It was interesting to see how many people actually found the test quite difficult, but when they were blindfolded, had no problem getting it right. We attach so much terroir, heritage and character in our heads and hearts on that cadmium red and gold on a D4 band, or the slightly smug face of Simón Bolivar. I would say the majority don't like these things being messed with. In conclusion, I think Partagas Blue will be the TabClear of the CC portfolio.

As I said from the start, it sounds as if you have some sort of toxic hybrid situation. i.e. Lead contractor- Union-Government all acting hand in glove, like one enterprise. Again, if there could be more controls on how tenders made, then mega companies wouldn't form in the first place. If mega companies don't form, then them being hand in glove with unions wouldn't be such an issue. Things can't be allowed to become so big society can't afford for them to fail. whether that be Banks, Unions or whatever. These mega institutions always offer efficiency, and they always deliver theft.

Careful what you wish for. Privatised rail in the UK, is like something out of a Dicken's novel. Truly embarrassing.

For me the key to a more streamlined, fair, value based system, is all about the tendering process. Some councils either through stupidity or corrupt factors within government, i.e. MP's who lobby for contracts.Will sign a 10yr management contract with a lead contractor, in some deranged notion it will save them money. This is just money for old rope. - Lead contractor, subcontracts to - Main contractor, subcontracts to - Large firm, subcontracts to - Medium sized firm, subcontracts to - Small firm, subcontracts to - Me...the person that actually does the job This is bullshit, everyone gets a taste along the way for doing nothing, there is huge pressure put on what I can charge, and the pressure/responsibility is all on me, even for stuff the chain buggers up. Much better is where there is a procurement portal, or tendering 'chest' that the council has signed up to. I am affectively tendering against all the huge companies that have got little chance of winning, because of all their on-costs. I win the contract, I can charge more, the council is actually paying less. I'm dealing directly with the council, and can cut out all the confusion, middle men delaying bullshit etc. To my mind the problem is a breed of people in construction, who's only job is to find ways of juicing the client for more cash. 'Contract managers'. there seems to be armies of them on site, all roaming around doing nothing, having meetings about meetings The number of days unworkable does sound insane. Like I've said about there needs to be a clear division between - Unions and the workers - Bullshit 'lead' contractor/ Management companies - Councils - Centralised government They all need clear dividing lines. In order for the system to work in a non-corrupt manner. Again, key for me is the tendering process.

I can't not respond to this, though I know nobody is interested. I think it's important to recognise the difference between (and I can't speak for Australia). A- Huge mega companies like Carillion in the UK, who act like complete crooks, time wasting, re-negotiating, paying themselves huge bonus's for abject failure. Sub-contracting to non-qualified tradies, using substandard products etc etc. B- A workers Union, fighting for safe, fair working conditions. To me in the Australia, it sounds as if A has some how infiltrated B. That said, being paid extra for working away, or in the rain, so what! Why is it that so many people who work in lovely working conditions (in the warm, sat on a comfy chair by the computer) are so adamant that tradies need to live in depressing purgatory? I just don't get it. Depending on the specific job and working unusual hours tradies can be expected to die 10-15yrs earlier than others in sedentary non-exposed non- physical work. We have no issue all agreeing that some element of high pay with in the sports world is due to short careers, can't we pay tradies well, because they have short lives? Someone I know was grumbling about paying a roofer £300 to replace some slates on the top of his house, I reminded him that he gets paid £2000 for filling in single page forms that take him 25mins, whilst he enjoys a flat white. I also asked him if he would simply stand on his roof for £300 without a harness, and he said no. I have recently worked on a massive job for a billionaire. The lead company were running the job like a mafia enterprise. Purposefully f-ing up jobs so they had to be done again, stealing from site, asking for bonuses, putting on costs on stuff they had nothing to do with, bringing in people onto the job, that had made up roles. They were a huge firm, and went 3yrs over the deadline, and the client was taken advantage of from day one. In contrast all the specialist contractors that were actually carrying out the work, were operating to exact deadlines, budgets, standards etc. There is a huge amount of what amounts to organised crime that goes on in the construction industry, but it's very rarely the person actually doing the work. Again being in the industry, work can be tough, unpleasant, physical, isolated and stressful, and most important incredibly dangerous. One can only imagine what additional bonuses bankers would require if they were all handed waterproofs (that were not actually waterproof) and expected to perform with the sprinklers going all day long. In summary, I understand your frustrations, that you feel as if the needle has tipped to far the wrong way. But I would suggest, looking at something like HS2 in the UK, major firms look as projects like this as opportunity to commit daylight robbery, and they do. We need to divide what portion we believe is responsible to corporate crime, and what portion is responsible for a tradie doing the work, having decent working conditions. I'm all behind tradies being payed very well, having the right kit, being given adequate rest, having the right tools, having the right safety regulations, getting paid or extra risk or unpleasant factors.

This is just a partial eclipse

In retrospect, yes I little harsh. I've thought a little further as to why I have a negative reaction to him, and similar to Kirby, He gives me magician or 'spiv' vibes. I for some reason have a strong dislike for magicians or illusionists, and plainly that's not his fault. "Spiv" is a uniquely UK word I believe, and they were shifters of moody goods in the 1950s, and generally low market con men. His style I realised does remind me of this, and there is good chance I've mentally associated negativity. The consensus from people that have met him, is that he's a nice bloke, so fair play to him.

Don't get me wrong. I love 'real' eccentrics. He doesn't strike me as that however, he strikes me as someone working a gimmick to get hits. As a basic rule, my bag is the Simon Chase's of this world, the people who know, but don't shout the loudest. There will be, and are people that love people like Jasim and Kirby, but they inevitably are marmite, they should enjoy and console themselves with the 50% of people that love them...and pay people like me (the other 50%)...no mind.

Yep, I've never seen a timber picadura packaging. Maybe much like recent NC products it was an attempt to capture both markets. I.e. heavily aromatic cigars, with orientals blended in?

Cane...or no cane?