The Cost of War

What's going on in Ukraine is obviously a tragedy on so many levels.  But even many thousands of miles away, the affects are being felt.  Gas (petrol) prices reached a new all-time record high in our state today.  And I imagine that most Americans care a lot more about gas prices than some stupid war in the ass end of nowhere.  And while the gas prices have shot up, the stock market has shot down.  For example, my company's stock alone has lost nearly 20% since the start of the year.  This has had a disturbing impact to my retirement savings.  I normally wouldn't worry about this kind of thing - after all these are long-time investments that should ride out the ups and downs of the stock market.  But money is on my mind.  I just paid my outstanding taxes - which reached 5 figures, much more than I was expecting, so there went my bonus.  And I'm increasingly conscious of not being a property owner, and if I ever want to be then I need to work out what I can afford (which is, unfortunately, nothing round here).         

Black

I hate having a black car.  I tried washing it today, but for the life of me I couldn't get it looking clean.  Black seems to highlight the dirt, water spots and imperfections more than any other color.   I either need to spend hours meticulously cleaning every square inch with the best quality car cleaning products that money can buy, or shell out a load of money to get it properly detailed.  When I get my next car - and we're not too far away from that - then I will do my darnedest to ensure it isn't dark colored.  I only washed my car today because I was planning to go into the office tomorrow, and I didn't want to be embarrassed by how bad it looked in the garage.  But now I'm having second thoughts about going in.  I've actually got a lot of work I need to do tomorrow, and I think I've got a better chance of getting it done at home than I will in the office.  Me saying this 2 years ago would've been unbelievable - when I would actively avoid working from home.  How things have changed.    

Missing Cutlery

I've had a new set of cutlery for less than a month, and I've already lost a fork.  How the hell did that happen?  Presumably I threw it away by accident, but it's extremely frustrating.  Especially as it's an Ikea set that I bought ages ago, but now I can't find it on their website - I wonder if it's been discontinued?  Well, that's even more annoying.  An aside - America tends to use the word "flatware" or "silverware" more than "cutlery", though I think they are fairly interchangeable.      

Language

I've not been following the developments in Ukraine too closely, it's just too depressing (shelling nuclear power plants doesn't seem particularly sensible).  But I was wondering why the capital of Ukraine is being called Kyiv in the news, when I know it as Kiev.  And apparently the spelling and pronunciation are a political thing, surprise surprise.  The new name of Kyiv is the "correct" spelling (with a slightly different pronunciation) because it's Ukrainian in origin, whereas Kiev is Russian in origin.  Therefore, I will no longer use Kiev - even when the Russians inevitably take over the city.  Sorry if all of this is known to you already, it wasn't to me until I just looked it up.  

Entry Requirements

Only about a month now until my rescheduled trip back to the UK.  Knowing my luck, it's about this time that a new even more transmissible COVID variant will get discovered and throw my plans into disarray.  But before then, I was checking entry requirements to the UK.  And I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there are no longer any COVID testing requirements for vaccinated people entering the UK.  When I was going to travel in December, I was required to book and take a PCR test upon arrival - so I had booked and paid for a test at Heathrow.  When I canceled that trip, I got given a credit for retaking the test within a year.  I guess that credit is going to go unused now - yet another waste of money, much like the lateral flow test that I had also previously been required to book for the trip.  What is frustrating is that the US has not changed it's COVID entry requirements yet.  So to re-enter the US, currently I still have a take (and pass!) an approved COVID test within 24 hours of flying back.  Which is a massive, and expensive, pain in the ass.  However this time I am prepared for this.  I've just ordered a CDC-approved at-home COVID test which meets the requirements for re-entry.  It's still a bit of hassle in that I think I have to perform the test on a video call, but hopefully that's something I can do easily enough and a lot less hassle than finding somewhere (probably involving a trip into central London) to get the test.  Or perhaps the US will catch up with the rest of the world and also drop it's testing requirements for vaccinated people.           

Song of the Week #99

This week's choice comes courtesy of it being randomly mentioned during one of the podcasts I listen to.  I have some vague recollection of the song from the time it came out in the early 90's, but had totally forgotten about it's existence since.  I have no doubt that the artist suffers from some serious daddy issues.

Mid-Week Games

Since when did they start doing FA Cup games during the week?  Replays, yes.  But now they're playing the entire set of 5th round fixtures during the week?  Whatever.  So I was pleasantly surprised to go on the BBC website this evening and find out that Palace are through to the quarter finals.  I didn't even know they were playing today.  Not that I would've been able to watch the game, it was on ESPN+ which I don't have.  But perhaps it says a lot about how low the FA Cup is regarded that they can't even spare another weekend for this round of games.  Let's hope we get another Championship team in the quarters.