xbl

Not just with him though, you never seem to contribute anything except attacks. Does it not get a bit tiring?

Do you have anything to offer except for attack posts?

So 3 seconds then?

Ah, see what you mean, I was thinking of Causeway heid itself.

? Link? Btw, seriously? Edited to add, found the story. Nobody I know!

I miss Soap McTavish.

I don't count, so I'm not counting it.

Thats cool, I never knew that! Jelly Bean FTW. Although I only get one Jelly Bean, no floating ones.

I love his c+p river chat!

Well at least nobody can call you predictable!

Ah, that explains why Greenock closed their coastguards this year then.

...what?

Which let me guess, is also not on the coast?

Lets not generalise here. Its far worse the further south you go, which is what you expect really. If you don't have much experience in snow, then it stands to reason that you don't cope so well. That said, the way London closes with 1cm of snow is nothing short of hilarious! Not a flake here all week though.

Racist. Philpy has done nothing wrong in years except have shite patter, and he's hardly unique in that! Seems to me like he's trying not to take the forum so seriously these days. I'm sure he'll find a balance soon enough, he's harmless really. For some reason, I don't think chuckles has ever given me a hilarious nickname, so he obviously knows his place.

Philpy has woeful patter, although to be fair, the Standfree alias detective squad isn't much cop either. But he's not doing anyone any harm. You can't all be fresh, varied and original patter merchants like myself, so it seems a bit harsh to pick on Philpy for this. Leave the boy be! The difference between him and chuckles is that while they both make shite jokes, chuckles thinks he has the ability to tear people to shreds, and thats just painful to watch.

That'll be London closed then?

Control Room - the story of Al Jazeera during the Iraq invasion. Fascinating (and harrowing) stuff.

Yeah, I can imagine he'd be mortally offended, the Romanians are very sensitive about their association with gypsies, and you can see why. I mind my friend being furious a while back when Paris tried to send all their gypsies "back" to Romania, and it annoys them that this is still the main thing Romanians are known for (basically, they are like Bulgaria with a worse marketing department). Its definitely worth a visit, but as I said earlier, I don't really think its a drunken stag do type of place.

The Romanians are always at pains to point out that the "Romany people" is an entirely artificial term and is really nothing to do with Romania. But yeah, the gyspsy community does exist, but they really do get a bad deal. Regarding gypsy beggars, I got far more hassle from beggars in Paris than I ever did in Romania. The interesting thing (for me) about the fall of Ceauşescu is the radical difference it made. Honestly, nobody above 35 seems to speak a word of English, because the borders were always closed and it wasn't encouraged. After the fall though, the borders opened, and English learning because a massive priority. Also, because the borders were closed for so long, unlike most European countries, all their imported tv shows and films were subtitled rather than dubbed. It means that the age/linguistic divide is starker than any I've ever seen.

I have to be honest, I thought the booze was going to be a lot cheaper than it was, but in my experience, while most things are cheaper, the booze didn't seem to be all that much of a saving. I can't remember individual pints, but I remember those shots, and they weren't cheap! It was 10 leu a shot, with an exchange rate of about 5 to a pound. There isn't really a binge drinking culture either, as people tend to frown on falling about drunk behaviour (I discovered this one night. ). I'd imagine it might be different in the coastal resorts though, much like the Spanish resort towns are different from Spain, so your mates might be right there! I was there with some Romanian friends I know, so I can't comment on the cost for stunners! I spent a fair bit of time just wandering the place, ended up going to a couple of museums and galleries too, so didn't really have any properly mad drunken nights. Fascinating country though, for a whole host of reasons.

I went to a place right in the centre of Romania called Sibiu. It is really, really nice. The people are really friendly and everyone under 35 speaks perfect English. Its a strange mixture of really rich and really poor, but it is a really nice place. I would actually love to have spent more time there and seen more of it, as it has mountains, glorious beaches, the lot. I don't know if its a stag do type place though, it seems that it is very "unfashionable", and so its completely free of stag do type tourism. For a really nice holiday a bit off the beaten track, I'd recommend it, for a stereotypical stag night, I'm not so sure. I actually found that the pubs weren't all that great value though. They were generally quite small intimate places, and alcohol wasn't really any cheaper than it is here. A shot of Sambuca (say) costs about £2, so no real change. A lot of the food and day to day stuff is cheap, but the booze is a bit pricey. In one of the bars I was at too, they were watering down their shots. Oh, and they don't have a smoking ban yet, and you really, really notice the difference! I woke up one morning in particular with my coat on the floor beside me, and I just had to chuck it out of the door, it reeked. Overall, fantastic country, really good culture, really nice people, not ruined by English stag parties, but I'm not so sure its party central.

Typos are serious business. Aye, I'm a grizzled veteran of this forum at the grand old age of 27!

Well I am from Arbroath... But no, I just had a series of very hard paper rounds, I'm still in my mid 20s! Edited to add, "serious" typo there!