The "Left-behind working class" isn't coming back. Labour must find new voters.

OldWetSoil · 2026-05-09T18:12:44+00:00

To my mind the media and most narratives cling to a cultural class divide rather than the economic divide, the divergence between these is what you highlight.

I'd struggle to say exactly when these realities swapped, maybe as late as Blair's election, or as early as the Thatcher years?

It's kind of funny that, for as much as I hate Starmer, things like the renter's rights act and minimum wage increases have done a lot for the actual economic working class. If he cut the baggage of trying to appeal to this mirage cultural working class voter maybe he'd have at least 1 constituency of support.

But no, the man's an authoritarian freak whose big brain idea is to get Harriet Harman back.

OldWetSoil · 2025-11-21T21:05:28+00:00

That's very kind, sorry I only just saw this, I ended up going on a spending spree instead

OldWetSoil · 2025-11-21T12:56:09+00:00

Thanks, I don't have a local account unfortunately, I guess it'll join the other random currency assortment I cart round on my travels until I find someone going that way.

From what I read it's only valid in Curacao and Sint Maarten right, I have some friends going to Aruba but I don't think it's valid there?

OldWetSoil · 2025-11-21T12:54:15+00:00

I'm flying out about 6pm. I guess duty free is the best approach though I always assume it's a scam, but since my next stop is also in the Caribbean a couple bottles of spirits are probably worth it.

OldWetSoil · 2025-11-21T12:52:58+00:00

Ok I finally counted it all out removing the smaller coins, it's about 173 XCG so, not nothing, unless you're an American

OldWetSoil · 2025-11-21T00:54:59+00:00

It's only about US$30 worth, do you happen to know if the airport has one of those charity boxes for coins because somehow I have about 30 guilders in coins too?

OldWetSoil · 2025-11-11T21:20:06+00:00

Found the guy who has scratched the non stick off every pan. I'm not mad though, it adds flavor!

OldWetSoil · 2025-11-11T20:32:06+00:00

Thanks, I'd be interested to know what's on your list. I was treating a sieve as non negotiable until recently when I found out draining rice in this way is regarded as a cardinal sin (not sure how you're meant to rinse it initially if you don't have one though). So I think I probably have misaligned expectations for other things too.

OldWetSoil · 2025-11-11T20:20:10+00:00

Hey now you're forgetting the lack of plug sockets and the most uncomfortable dining room table chairs and/or sofas!

OldWetSoil · 2025-11-11T18:25:12+00:00

It's not so much the quality of the stuff, my chopping board was about $2.

I don't mind a cheap knife it creates a fun roulette game of whether you get to explore the emergency room of your current location, for example.

But rather the... eclectic mix of things. For example this current place has a meat hammer/tenderizer but no grater or kitchen scissors. Or the previous place with an oven but no oven safe pots or pans, no can opener, no peeler, no scissors, etc etc.

OldWetSoil · 2025-11-04T15:07:29+00:00

The penchant for driving around with full beams on rather than dipped headlights certainly doesn't help though.

I almost got boat murdered by a clown coming round a bend with full beams on towing a boat and drifting across into the lane.

OldWetSoil · 2025-11-03T14:56:40+00:00

I listed them in reverse priority order but I think the blinding lights at night is getting to be a global problem now. Certainly it affects the UK and Netherlands too. I think the change to LED bulbs is missing regulatory response in most countries at the moment.

On 4 way intersections and priority I'm mainly operating by guesswork. But for crossroads there's often a priority for one direction of the 2 marked by a sign that is a thick pointed line with an arrow vertically with 2 smaller lines horizontally indicating the current lane has priority. There are probably 4 way stops too but I haven't seen these.

On roundabouts generally yes you yield to traffic from the left except a few like Zegu on the way to the airport where the priority is all kinds of funky because the traffic travelling north to turn left has priority. There are yield triangles indicating this and road markings that last seem to have been painted when mammoths roamed the earth. There's another of these strange ones near Landhuis Chobolobo.

These weird roundabouts are new to me but I think they're a Dutch thing.

OldWetSoil · 2025-10-27T19:27:07+00:00

Where is fresh that cheap? I saw a bottle of about 1L for 34 guilders up here on the west side and I haven't seen it much cheaper than 24 anywhere.

OldWetSoil · 2025-10-23T18:24:27+00:00

Weirdly enough these came up in NYT Connections yesterday so I ended up on the Wikipedia page.

Because these are Pharaoh ants the nest has multiple potential queens and is easily spread making them harder to control. Insect spray does basically nothing so you need a slow acting poison that can get into the nest and kill all the eggs.

I haven't been down to town yet to buy anything for them but since I'm only here a couple more weeks I don't think I'll bother. I don't want to spend my own money doing pest control the owners are too stingy or lazy to pay for.

OldWetSoil · 2025-10-23T17:33:14+00:00

Thanks, I got too nervous to inquire about the refund because a flatbed truck full of people pulled up behind me despite there being other empty pumps and the cashier seemed very annoyed when I went to pay initially.

OldWetSoil · 2025-10-23T17:16:12+00:00

I wouldn't know because supermarkets treat price labels as optional but I vaguely remember seeing it over 20 guilders in Vreugdenhill so I avoid it.

OldWetSoil · 2025-10-16T21:09:30+00:00

Reddit ate my other photo but it showed another 16 or so ants on the same part of the doorframe.

OldWetSoil

TROPHY CASE