Sugar in Drive thru Coffee

Whats the deal with sugar in Coffee at the drive thru.

I already ask fer more sugar than I put in meself because their spoons must be smaller.

Why can’t they stir it?

What is the point of putting sugar in a coffee if  its only to clog the drinking hole when you get to the end.

That is, of course if they’ve remembered to add sugar in the first place.

When I first saw McDonanlds drive thrus showing the number of sugars requested I thought this problem would end but no.

I have even asked if the sugar were added, been told it was and then find nothing sweet about the coffee I were drinking.

In the old days we received as many little sugar pillows we requested and they came with a little plastic spoon to stir with.

Gradually it became part of the “service” to have the sugar pillows opened and added, while we watched then the lid were put on. Alas no stirring. Drive out the drive thru, pull over, open coffee, stir, close coffee, resume journey.

Then as far as drive thrus go the sugar pillow disappeared altogether.

Replaced by coffee flowing over a base of unstirred sugar.

I have encountered this way of drive thru coffee life more often at McDonalds than Hungry Jacks and I have me own plastic spoon that lives on the dashboard to deal with the situation.

The joys of working with daylight saving

To set the scene..
Pirate Show booked fer Pacific Pines, Qld at 9am tomorrow. The plan is to be finished and out of there by 10am leaving 90 minutes to travel the 75 minute journey to the second show of the day booked at 11.30 in Bangalow.
No dramas there, we’ve sailed a lot closer to the wind on previous occasions.
Complication number one…
9am start in Qld time 11.30 start in NSW time.
9am in Qld is 10am in NSW.
Now looking at 30 minutes to cover the 75 minute trip.
That’s not going to work but thankfully Bangalow will postpone till Friday.
Phew!!
Complication number two…..
Camped the night in Murwillumbah NSW time.
First show tomorrow 9am Qld time.
So we has to weigh anchor at 6am NSW time in Murwillumbah to get to Pacific Pines around 8am Qld time.
Are we following?
6am NSW time is 5am Qld time so we sailed into Pacific Pines around 6am leaving a three hour wait till showtime. Not me most favourite thing to do is sitting around waiting fer hours to pass fer a show.
Complication number 3…
Rolled in around 10 minutes before showtime at Pacific Pines and noticed a sign on the front door advertising a 9.30am start.
Double checked at reception. No worries! 9.30 start it is. (lucky we didn’t still have to get to Bangalow after)
Dropped treasure chests in correct room and ducked out fer 20minutes (don’t stay in these places any longer than needs specially before shows)
Complication number 4…
Setting up accoustic rig ten minutes before showtime at one end of the room when a teacher suggested we sets up way down the other end of the room cause they were going to bring along enough children to fill this room.
Aaarghh!!
Bring out the sound system.
Out it came and away we went with 111 little pirates.
Gotta Love Show Business

Shortbread Creams

Looking at Arnotts Shortbread Cream Biscuits on second top shelf in this pic.

The eye is drawn to the yellow “Special” sign which at a glance appears to refer to Arnotts brand but actually refers to Woolworths own brand of Shortbread Creams. The Arnotts pricing is hidden behind the bags of little easter eggs.

2012

All of a sudden 2011 is gone and we is looking at a whole new year….2012. Lets do it all again but this year we’ll try and maintain a better and more frequently updated blog

Coca Cola – what’s it worth?

Two litre Coke on the shelf costs around $3.50 -

Six x 375ml cans on the shelf 2.25 litres cost around $8 -

600ml plastic bottle in fridge cost $3.40

Then into Coles and 1.5 litres plastic bottle costs $1.90 PER LITRE

Wyoming Caravan Park

Drove in…. lots of shady looking characters coming and going….quite the hive of activity…mainly single men of varying ages. Waited ten minutes at check-in to see if someone would answer my bell ringing then gave up and left. Googled caravan park near Gosford and the top 8 responses were for Wyoming. Great, no other caravan park fer 50 km.
The number two response caught my attention “Wyoming Caravan Park – worst caravan park in Australia.”
With that endorsement I could not deny myself the experience. Found the phone number and called. Site available, price reasonable and people in reception now…all I needs.
Squeezed in between two vans that obviously had not moved in a good long time. Two feet clearance on one side and four feet clearance on the other…no problems yet. Power close by and works…no immediate threat of electrocution. Already I’ve seen worse than this.
Amenities close by. Perhaps that should be amenity singular. One pedestal and no trough between how many people I don’t know. Its my own fault I didn’t check for toilet paper when using the night before…must have missed the bring yer own toilet paper sign. Seat was dry bowl was clean….seen worse.
Three showers…so what if only one works,…only need one…blow me down it has hot water and cold water and sometimes they even both flow at the same time.

Fast Food

Zinger Works Burger
Advertised image
Zinger Works Burger
and this is how it comes through the magic window
The real Zinger
view from the other side

 

 

Realize now that blogs are a place to put yer whinges. Unfamiliar with whinging and prefer to effect changes rather than complain about the current state of affairs. All the same I reckon I’ll give it a go.
Being on the road so much I unfortunately (or happily) often rely on fast food outlets fer feeding and one thing that ruffles me whiskers is the photo of an attractive bountiful healthy looking burger at the drive thru compared to the product that comes through the window at the other end. Has anyone ever heard of  false advertising and does this constitute the same?

Another example I recently experienced…

The KFC Double Down

Compare the size of the product to the cardboard packet it comes in

Double Down
Double Down

Compare the size of the product to the cardboard packet it came in

Caravan Parks

Pirate Pete spends a lot of nights in Caravan Parks. Some is good, some is better and some isn’t.
How we rates Caravan Parks is probably a little different to how most folk might.
The Captain likes a Carapark that has a power point – which is all he really needs. Access to water is good too.
So we rates parks with a skull and grossed guitar fer each facility we likes.
Categories is:-
1. Amenities
2. Staff
3. Price
4. Showers
Other categories may be added at whim..

Tuesday March 15 2011  –  Caravan Park next to Nowra bridge, The Willows, opposite helicopter wanted to charge $30 fer a powered site PLUS $10 per head. Thats $40 to park on a little piece of grass from sunset till just after sunrise. No thanks! They earnt theirselves a big thumbs down from Pirate Pete and he didn’t stay there and is unlikely to go back there in the future. He opted for rest area near McDonalds Sth Nowra.

Monday 21st March 2011  –  In contrast Rivergums Caravan Park, Strafford St, Manilla (45km nth west of Tamworth) gets theirselves a double thumbs up and five skull and crossed guitars. $15 absolutely reasonable. No one at check in but sign says find yerself a site – any site is ok- and we’ll see you later on when we return. Perfectly happy to wander down to reception and pay. Friendly service when you do. Amenities what they should be. Situated beside river/creek with loverly outlook – river gums funnily enough ….Very happy pirate tonight

Wednesday 23rd March 2011  – Something a little bit different always attracts Pirate Petes attention. Here we are in Mullumbimby (northern NSW). At $25 yer paying a few dollars fer the uniquity of the camp site but the lady who takes the money is very nice and friendly. Clean showers and toilets are under the clubhouse and always open. Power comes from sockets on the grounds 4 lighting poles – plenty of space fer unpowered camping. Pirate Pete likes a bit of distance between hisself and his neighbours so this site rates highly on his register  -  no laundry which wouldn’t have even  been noticed except it were that one day a month he washes his clothes… aaarrr! Another day wearing them won’t make any difference. .

PS if yer there on the right night yer might get to watch the footballers train.

Mullum Footy Club Campground360 degree video