Sunday 13 September 2009

Z has had a long day

I was very disappointed, a few minutes ago, to discover it was only 6 o'clock. I'd thought it was nearer 7 and I could cook dinner, eat it and consider another early night (lights out by 10 last night). Not that going to bed early is much use to me. I fall asleep early and wake up a few hours later; I must have woken up 4 times for half an hour or more.

Anyway, the good thing about it being 6 o'clock is that it's time to open a bottle of wine. The Sage and I are sitting in a companionable manner, having eaten a cheese straw and everything - gosh, we know how to live.

I've been spending half an hour or so writing a letter to explain how, if one *person or organisation* pays 80% of a total and 5 others, jointly, pay 20%, then altering this percentage share by 5% a year until the first one pays 50% and each other pays 10%, there is never at any time an increase to the payment anyone actually pays of 5%. Being considerably less mathematically- or financially-minded than any of 6 treasurers, it's a wonder that no one else has actually understood the system but me. I'm simple, you see - I have to work it out to something I can understand in a small way rather than deal in big sums that confuse me. But that means I actually do it, because I need to understand it, whereas someone else will just work out their percentage increase and complain that it's 9% (this being several years into the arrangement) when he or she had expected it to be 5%.

If your head aches already, think of a bill of £100 and one person paying £80 while 5 others pay £4 each, and the next year one pays £75 and the others pay £5 each - the only place 5% comes in is the percentage of the whole, not to anyone's increased or decreased payment.

Anyway. Head aching more? Drink a glass of wine. Unless you don't drink wine, of course, in which case I suggest you eat a nice crisp apple or a piece of delicious chocolate. One of those appeals, surely?

Right, I promised you a few photos of the lovely Norfolk countryside. And its churches. A photo of Phil has crept in, and some of Zerlina's bike buggy. In addition, you can see that we grow sugar beet and maize in Norfolk. I can't be bothered to label them all, but you might also spot a pub, a glass of beer and an ice-cream. Sadly, for she adores ice-cream (no, she hasn't tried beer, what do you take us for?) Zerlina slept through this bit.














The pictures are in no particular order because, as you'll know if you use Blogger, they upload photos in reverse order (the last shall be first and all that) and I did it in several sets (they appear at the top of the post and you can just cut'n'paste).

A flavour of the day. The flavour of this afternoon has been lounging on the sofa, with first the Grand Prix and then Dave (the channel, not the friend) on TV. And now it's quarter to seven and time to start cooking dinner. Happy Sunday evening, darlings.

19 comments:

Z said...

Oh, the ones I cropped ended up on their sides - how did that happen? Pfft, you can twist your heads I daresay. I really must cook dinner now.

Dave said...

If I rick my neck and am unable to lay bricks tomorrow, you will only have yourself to blame.

Z said...

Come on love, you're two years younger and more agile than I am.

Marion said...

The country side looks lovely and the churches interesting. I'm glad you had such a nice day out with your family.It's also lovely weather here.

Eddie 2-Sox said...

Splendid!

Dave may be, archaeologically, two years younger, but he's a bloke, therefore 15 years older, at least.

We must get our walking plan off the ground before I get employment and lose time.

weeza said...

My favourite church, by far, 2nd pic down- Hem.bling.ton. Don't know about you though Ma, but I'm still pooped! Early night for me

Weren't we lucky with the weather? Jeebers!

xx
Weeza

Z said...

It's been a lot chillier today, Marion - as Weeza says, we were really lucky. We had a great day out and although it's not far from here it was a really pretty piece of countryside I didn't know at all. You see a whole lot more from a bike.

Dave is a year and five days younger, to be precise, Simon. Hope we can do the walk, though hope even more that your interview goes well tomorrow.

That was the one with the wall paintings - wasn't it lovely? And that nice lady peeling apples who gave us orange juice.

martina said...

Thanks for the "Tour de Norfolk" photos. I love the architecture of English churches and all of that stone work.

Dandelion said...

I very much dislike the way Blogger messes with the incorporation of photographs. Someone should tell them this is the 21st century, not the 1st. If we can put a man on the moon, surely they must be able to fix this.

Jon said...

Cool post... though I'm going to have to re-read the part on the percentage increase... my mind doesn't do well with numbers... no matter how much wine I've drank!

;)

Like the photos too... looks like you're in a beautiful place...

thanks again for letting me link to your site on my new blog... I wrote up a little review of your site in a post there... let me know what you think

Dave said...

You can rearrange photos when posted, of course, by dragging them to the desired position.

2 years older for just one more day.

Z said...

Yes Dave, but there are 14 photos, put up in batches of no more than 5. One has to check them in Preview, note the order they should be in, move them, check again (and I usually find I've made a mistake so have to rejig) and do the same with the next batch. And sometimes I do all of that. But in this case the order didn't much matter as I wasn't labelling them and only those of us who went actually know the order they should be in. So I didn't. As Dand says, I'd rather not have to bother, it's a nuisance. Just think how long my posts could be if I didn't spend time on that...

Thank you Jon, I'll go and read it later - with some trepidation, I must say. I'm sure you've been kind *toothily ingratiating smile*.

The percentage thing only matters in that people who do understand numbers didn't work out what the facts actually meant and applied the percentage to the wrong numbers.

lom said...

oh I just though the church had fell over!

sablonneuse said...

The arithmetic has me completely befuddled. Perhaps I need to drink a bottle of wine and try again. . .

Z said...

Or maybe that the photographer had drunk a couple of beers too many and fallen over?

I've given the unexpurgated explanation in another post, Sandy.

Gia Fernandes said...

First Pat's blog and now yours... I'm giddy with delight at all the beautiful pictures of your gorgeous countryside. You guys are truly blessed!

Z said...

She and I are about 300 miles apart, but both in a lovely place - I do love the English countryside

luckyzmom said...

And if you had been a visitor to England, one who loves historical novels and old s___, who is also frustrated by how confusing it can be to post pix on Blogger, you would be transported to pleasant memories, no matter what order the pix turned out to be in. Also, beer is a lot like lobster for me, I'd rather have wine or crab legs, but in England I loved having a pint of ale every chance I got. So, were I in England right now, having a pint, I might understand the percentage thingy.

Z said...

Beer, wine, lobster, crab legs - bring 'em on, darling...

A lot of English publicans pride themselves on their knowledge and care of beers, whereas (especially in traditional country pubs) the wine is a generic plonk and if a glass isn't ordered for a few days, the bottle just sits there until it is. Also, it's very expensive for what it is - you just know that you pay more for your glass than the whole bottle cost wholesale. So you get a lot better deal from the beer. A decent draught beer is jolly good and I make a point of trying out local beers when I go to another part of the country. Not that I know a lot, and I'd never claim to.