This is not my collection of empties - I hardly drink these days. I do have a few bottles in the cellar, but they are all earmarked for occasions that haven't yet arrived. When someone brings a bottle as a gift for an occasion, I put their name on it and the next time they are here, we can enjoy it together. All the bottles have a name on it now, so there is nothing left that is drinkable for a Friday night after everyone else has gone to bed, as my wife can't drink wine anyway.
I think I will head to the bottle shop tomorrow and get something for the evening. In Finland, alcohol is heavily regulated and anything with alcohol content over a mid-strength beer has to be bought from the government Monopoly, Alko. Alcohol is expensive in Finland, but for most it isn't considered a luxury, more a necessity.
This weekend was meant to be a bit of a rest weekend, but it looks like we are going to have to get some of the upstairs renovation stuff ready in preparation for early next week. So, an evening glass of wine will be on the cards instead. Tonight we also lit the fireplace, grilled a sausage each and had some toasted marshmallows too. It was Smallsteps idea to do this tonight and we decided together that we will try to do it once every weekend. Not too bad, there are worse ways to spend time.
One thing that we have to do is order some tiles as we have heard there are delays again for some imports coming from Italy, which is where the tiles for our entry foyer are coming from - it is where most tiles seem to come from. We don't exactly know when we will need them, but our tradespeople said that once they really get stuck in, things will move fast. About time. I am looking forward to getting the upstairs done so that we have a space that we can set up and relax a bit in without being surrounded by crap.
Well, regardless of the weekend work, it is still the weekend and each thing we do moves us a little closer to the finishing line. My wife and I were sitting in the living room full of out of place stuff and watched the fire and she said, this space is going to be really nice when it is done.
I agree and we'll get there.
If you haven't yet noticed, the latest Engagement Post by my bro @galenkp is a little bit different this week, as there are two options to take part in with HIVE and delegations up for grabs. The first option is about giving some suggestions on accounts to check out. The second option is to write a post for the Engage the Weekend community, which is for anything weekend related. Have a read at the link and check it out and of course, take part in the comment section.
So - Grab a bottle and join in.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Fancy alcohol being so tightly regulated. It's like a free for all here unless you try to buy some on a Sunday morning before 11!
Can't get anything on a Sunday here stronger than the mid-strength beer. Lame AF.
Ooft, that's nanny-state!
On saying that though, we have a terrible problem with drinking in Scotland.
Finland has a terrible issue with drinking too. I think a lot is the problem is making it culturally special.
A revelation this Friday - @galenkp is your brother :) Now I see those two kps and that makes sense.
We also have heavily regulated alcohol industry. The Liquor Control Board has its network of outlets that sell the regulated alcohol. As expected, it is expensive.Though I don't drink I enjoy having people around me drink. I am thankful that my wife drinks. It is fun to have soda and be with the other people who drink. Not to steal their secrets but to have candid and frank conversations 🤣
Oh, you didn't realize?
I used to live outside the city when I first came to Finland and would drive, so didn't drink at the bars. People thought I was drinking because I would talk to people and dance :D
After a couple, the conversation can be good - too many here drink til they can't talk.
No. I never made that connection.Now, it makes sense coz someone who commented on one of your posts responded to you saying "both you brothers write wonderful". I thought that individual knows your brother but never occurred to me it was him 😃
Same here, nobody would believe in parties if I say I don't drink. My friends always told me that I look more drunk with soda than the most drunk guy in the room. My wife agrees. Thank god I don't need to drink to look drunk. lol
Is this a good thing? :D
Ha ha depends what you want. Since i enjoy partying, it's good that I don't need to say no to almost everyone.
Oh, man. Living in Paradise has it's drawbacks, it seems. No fireplace. I used to just love buying a steak when I knew I'd have a fire that night. Cut the steak into bite size pieces and cook them over the flames. My dog loved it too because I'm a slob and plenty hit the floor for doggy dinner. Happy times.
I'm glad you are going to get a 'slow' weekend, I think you've earned it.
I have never done a steak like that, sounds great. When I was a kid, we would make toast over the open fire with butter and jams. The best tasting toast ever.
Viski (our dog) gets some sausage too. Smallsteps makes sure of it.
Ahahahahaha. When my youngest step daughter was little we had a plastic sheet that just fit her corner of the dining area. Put the plastic down and let her eat with her hands. She had a rottweiler on one side and 2 cats on the other and they kept her hands licked clean :) That rottweiler developed a taste for green beans out of that whole deal....
Smallsteps has always been a very tidy eater - she just makes sure that the dog gets his share :)
Friday for the start of my weekend is starting out pretty good. Looks like Italy is in the forefront of the internet brainwaves. I have been looking for glass drinking bottles for the last couple of years, (we are trying to move away from plastic). Today I found some they are from Italy and have the pop top on them like the Grolsch beer bottles.
Kind of a shame they use the hard plastic now. I remember when the tops were made of ceramic but I guess the hard plastic chips less and is cheaper to make, So now I have a glass bottle to hold my water, made in Italy instead of China or Taiwan. It is nice when we can get things from other countries. We used to be able to get real Fosters beer in the oil can from Australia, now it is made in Canada, which i guess is fine since I don't drink beer to often anymore.
I wonder if the American markets will be opening up to more products from other countries, I know a lot of people are blaming China for the lock down and are semi boycotting their products as a form of protest. It will be nice I think to see more varied products from other locations.
They are quite popular here because people make heir own berry juice and those bottles can be boiled and stored.
It is the same in Finland. Most international beers are locally produced these days.
It is funny how people blame China for so many things - yet we have been sending our production there for years. Who's fault is it?
That's just it, In the late 60's early 70's, all the blame for bad products, cheap knock-offs were of things made in Japan. I suppose after China, India or one of the middle east countries will be next on the blame block for cheap knock offs and local job cuts.
Business is going to find the cheap labor where they can, I wonder what will happen when they need to use a digital asset to pay employees, will crypto level the wage field around the world?
!ENGAGE 25
That is an interesting line of thought. I think that a large part of what screws the average player is that currencies are localized.
Look at the earners on Hive, they are from all over the world. While my earnings aren't going to get me far in Finland, there are people earning where it does make a difference. Nothing stops a person from a third world country from earning here, though of course there is going to be various skill challenges, like language. but, there are people in some countries like India and Philippines that are doing quite well. What happens when crypto is the norm, does it mean that we are able to better regulate earning and bring some level of parity to job done? It will take time of course, but it will get interesting as crypto slowly squeezes out the middleman money makers.
ENGAGEtokens.Smallsteps has the best ideas! Sound like legit way to spend an evening. I hope you get a chance to relax a little as I know you've been flat out at work.
Yeah, looks like it isn't going to be a "do nothing" weekend, but it probably won't be physically heavy at least.
We might fire up the marshmallow machine tonight too :)
Get on it! I like toasted marshmallows! Thanks for sending that picture @smallsteps drew of us! Faith is drawing one for her now, will send soon.
She thought it was great!
Yay! That video you sent of her was funny. Little monkey.
Not a bad idea to spend time on the weekend. by the fireplace, some alcohol and maybe something to read. actually i love to read books when i drink alcohol. I can fully enter the book. My head is really crowded at a normal time. I do not like this habit of mine. I think I think too much. Most unnecessary thoughts bounce inside my brain. and they really isolate me often. let me stop writing unnecessary things this weekend night. and I hope you will soon finish the work that needs to be done at home. and you will have areas that you will like very much. I wish you a good weekend
Having trouble slowing down the mind is common these days. I used to have a massive problem with it but was able to improve by consuming less, creating more.
Up!I love @galenkp initiative so here I am dropping and will be posting my entry
Anyway, it has been a long time that I'm looking for a chance to say thank you. I think you are the one upvoting my post with a huge upvote about my hive-pud. Thank you so much, Sir.
Get into the initiative and have fun out there. :)
Of course, I will do it!
only one bottle? Working on my engagement post now. Will post it mid day tomorrow. We are in the future here anyway haha
I am not much of a drinker. A Cadbury kid - A glass and a half and I'm done ;D
hahaha I get the reference. Not me though I can pack em away
Once upon a time I could too. Finland is a good place to build tolerance, but I haven't been drinking much since our daughter was born as there was just no time.
i remember those days. My boys 20 now so he's probably downing more rum than I can handle now
Aww the little campfire idea sounds like an adorable family tradition :D
It'll get done, just keep picking at it. It took us nearly a year to get everything sorted after moving in and we didn't even have renovations to contend with, just youngest's birth XD
I can't imagine how much this would suck if there was a baby on the way as well...
Quite a lot XD It already sucked for us moving in and our renovations were purely superficial at the time. You're doing hardcore stuff.
I am not looking forward to the sanding of the floors.... :D
Happy weekend and thanks for the update.
Ok...
There might be a "Little Dust on the Bottle"
I think often about having a cold one. But these have been in the fridge for quite some time.
They don't know that we are doing this - it is a surprise ;D
I am not worthy of drinking gift wines alone.
Probably :)