#also when you go to the cinema here you can get a litre cup of slushie

[fated-normal-767]

Large drinks are how god lets us know we’re his children and he loves us which is probably why there are none in Britain

Yeah 😔😔 believable.

[dungeons-bat]

Not Just a Little Party (6th Chap)

Warnings: Cursing;

The complete fic

———————————————

‘Shit’, is the only thing that I can actually think about when I wake up. It takes me a while to realize where I am, and when I do, I feel a pair of hands hugging me by my waistline. And I had my face buried in his chest. Fuck, fuck, fuck. “Oh, good morning, darling.” - I hear him saying. Lord, his port-sleep voice is gorgeous. “Good morning, slept well?” - Because I certainly did. “Incredibly well. If I knew that was the solution to the problem, I would have done it sooner.” - He said. Well Thomas, me too. “How did you know I was awake?” - I mean, he said good morning ten seconds after I woke up. “Your breathing changed.” - He simply said. That means that he was at least paying a bit of attention, so why didn’t he move. I mean, we were sleeping like a teenage couple. And we’re not any of those things. “And what time is it?” - Because it was five thirty when we went to bed. “It is nine thirty, darling.” - Usually, I’m completely okay with the fact that he calls me darling, but now I’m blushing. Maybe it is the position that we are in. “Four hours sleep, that’s not bad.” - I don’t like sleeping that much, but we need it, don’t we? “Do you wanna go out to have breakfast? Or we can bake some pancakes here.” - Thomas’ pancakes are probably the best thing I’ve ever eaten, but I don't know what he feels like doing today. “I don’t have a preference.” - He hates when I do that. “Little one, you have three seconds to tell me what you want.” - But I’m the last person you should ask when you want to make a decision. “I love your pancakes, but it takes time, and we have to clean everything after. I also love to eat out, but we have to look presentable to go out of this house. So, as I said, I have no preference.” - Really, I’m fine with anything. “Out it is, but just because I’m craving Jenny’s waffles”

We're at Jen, which is a restaurant specialized in breakfast, and probably the love of Tom's life. Jenny, the chef and owner of the place, is a 57-year-old lady, who cooks better than anyone I’ve ever met. I was eating a croissant with strawberry jelly, and a cup of coffee with vanilla extract. Tom was eating his waffles, and tea. We were talking to Jenny when out of nowhere she says. “So, what does the cute couple has planned for today?” - Oh, Jenny, my dream, but not reality. “We’re not…” - Both Tom and I said at the same time. “Oh sure, still at the denying feelings phase.” - She simply said, and left. I look at tom and see that his face is as red as the ketchup bottle at the table. I also felt my face burning, so I was sure I was blushing too. I mean, I know that I'm into him, but I won't fool myself thinking that TWH was into me too. So we just kept eating, no words coming from none of our mouths.

“Ready to go?” - Now, we were at my house, I needed to get ready for the party. Tom was waiting for me in the living room, but I had to lock Hades in a bathroom because he was leaving his fur all over Tom’s suit. I decided to go for an all black dress, black heels. My hair was down, and as I let it dry naturally, beautiful wavy locks covered my chest. I put some make up, but I wanted my face to look as natural as possible. Then it was the hardest part, in my opinion, jewellery. I decided that I was wearing my favourite colour, green, so everything I put on, rings, necklaces, earrings, all white gold and emeralds. When I stepped out of the room, Tom looked shocked and said, “Lord, you look gorgeous, loyally breathtaking.” - Well, I have to agree with him, I do look gorgeous now. “You don’t look bad yourself, Tom. I told you once, and I’ll tell you again, the suits suit you.”

Sebastian had some stuff to do in London, he had rented a giant house, where he was going to satay for two more weeks. Since he paid a huge amount of money on this, he had to have fun, so he decided to throw a party.

When we arrived at Sebastian’s house, I could not help but notice how big it was. Compared to the other actors houses, it wasn’t that huge, but lord, I was not used to this lifestyle. “Hello miss, you must be Isabela, am I correct?” - My god in a shining armour and purple pants. That is Sebastian bloody Stan. Asking me my name. Sebastian bloody Stan. “Hi, yeah, Isabela Grey sir. Thank you very much for welcoming me to the party, your house is lovely, mister.” - I say. I mean, I know his name is Sebastian, not mister Stan, but I’ve just met him, what am I supposed to cal him? “Well, I thank you for coming, it is a pleasure to finally meet my new colleague. And please, no need for “sir” or “mister”, Sebastian is just fine.” - Well, that answers my question. After greeting me, Sebastian starts to talk to Thomas, they chat a bit, then we go to the living room, where the party is actually happening. The other actors are there. Scarlet freaking Johanson is there, what surprises me a bit, I mean, that woman is my idol. I can also see Anthony Mackie, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Holland, wait, I thought Seb hated Tom. I can also see Mark Ruffalo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd and Jeremy Renner. Also, I see RDJ, who’s not a Marvel Actor any more, but apparently he’s still pretty close to the others. They all greet me, say that it is ‘so nice to see you’ or that ‘your dress is marvellous’. But I was almost dizzy, all this people that I’ve been seeing in the cinema since I was eight, are now here, in front of me, talking to me. Lord. Thomas noticed that I was going crazy, excused both of us and took me to the yard. “Honey, are you okay?” - He asked me. “Yeah, yeah. Sorry to worry you. I’m just surprised. I mean, wow, I’m an actress, you know. That was my dream since ever. And more, I’m a Marvel freaking actress. I grew up watching Marvel, Tom. And look at where I’m now. I literally have a plastic figure of every single one of those people that said ‘hi’ to me. That’s crazy. If you told the twenty-year-old Isa that this was happening, she would tell you to stop lying and giving her expectations. This is ten hundred times bigger than anything I had ever thought I could accomplish.” - I think I talk too much. “Well, darling, that's amazing. I just did not know that you had figures of them. Do you have a Loki one? But anyway, I’m happy that I could be a small part on all of that.” - Is he crazy? A SMALL part? He got me my life. “TWH, you’re not a small part, if it was not you, none of that would have happened. Really, thank you.” - I say, and he leads the way back inside. “And by the way, I do have some figures o Loki. He is my favourite character, and I thought you had noticed it by now.” - He has been to my house, I have tons of Loki merch.

After some hours of party, the guests started to leave, but I discovered that it was like a rule that we, the ones I named in the previous chapter, should stay. Since they work with him, and I'm going to do the same later, we stay a bit longer for chatting and playing something. Like a friends' reunion. Both Chris Evens and Hemsworth were getting more beer, I believe today was the day that I had more alcohol in my whole life, but unlike most of them, I'm not drunk. They were controlled until the other guests left, but after that, they drank three litres of beer in an hour and a half. They were not crazy drunk, but you could see that sober was something that they were not. Thomas, Hemsworth, Scarlet, and Benedict were as sober as I, but the rest of them were stoned as a rock.

We were telling embarrassing stories that happened to us, when Lizzie says, “But no funny stuff about you two?” - While pointing a finger at Tom and I. “Oh, come on. A cute couple, like the two of you, had never walked through something you could not solve and ended up embarrassing yourselves?” - Shit Lizzie. “We are not…” - I said, while Thomas just said, “Not dating.” - Well now I have an embarrassing story to tell, when Elizabeth Olsen asked me if I was dating Tom Hiddleston. “Oh come on, I can smell the sexual tension from miles. You’re lying. Either to us or to yourselves.” - RDJ is visibly drunk, so I’ll just ignore that. “Let's change the subject, shall we?” - My saviour, Ben, says. I look at Thomas’ direction and can see that he’s trying, but failing, to hide a blush.

[icepeak-blog]

That Was the Year That Was – 1948

Free healthcare, free schooling, free love – and now early retirement free from the financial woes that plague the rest of us. Could there be a luckier year to have been born than 1948?

As pensions fall off a cliff, the smug 61-year-old is planning the next safari or cruise. Nourished and nurtured by a "cradle-to-grave" welfare state and protected by final salary, the holy grail of pension schemes, the 1948ers would appear to have had it all.

Those of every generation are inclined to believe themselves more fortunate than the previous. But in Britain, 1948 keeps ticking the boxes. "We are, indeed, the blessed people," says the author and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, who attributes their timely conception to the "bitterly cold and austere" nights during the 1947 fuel crisis.

"We missed out on national service. We had the golden age of the Eagle and the Beano together. No other generation had them combined."

Sharing his birth year with Prince Charles, Lord Sacks, the chief rabbi, and the singer Lulu, he detects another trait. "Everyone born in 1948 was a great achiever. You either become chief rabbi or king. It’s almost automatic."

BRITAIN 1948

Britain has changed greatly since 1948. Today people are much richer. They live in far more comfortable homes and ordinary people can afford things that were luxuries in 1948 (like foreign holidays). People are also healthier and they live longer. They also have things like the internet that were not even dreamed of in 1948.

British society has changed a great deal since 1948. In the 1950s large numbers of West Indians arrived in Britain. Also from the 1950s many Asians came. In the late 20th century Britain became a multi-cultural society. There was another changed in British society. In the late 20th century divorce and single parent families became much more common.

For a long time after 1948 unemployment remained very low and the late 1940s and the 1950s and 1960s were a long period of prosperity. However this ended in the mid-1970s. In 1973 there was still full employment in Britain (it stood at 3%). However shortly afterwards a period of high inflation and high unemployment began. In the late 1970s unemployment stood at around 5.5%.

In 1948:

A quarter of British homes had no electricity.

People often lived in the same town all their lives, near their families.

There were often more than three children in every family.

One third of the British population went to the cinema at least once a week.

There were only 14,500 television sets in the whole country and there was only one channel (BBC). Hardly any homes had a television.

Most families listened to the wireless (radio) for their entertainment.

Many homes did not have a telephone or an indoor toilet.

Cooking was done from scratch using produce grown locally. You could only buy items that were in season and most of what you bought was made or grown in the UK.

There were only just over a million cars on Britain’s roads.

Petrol rationing remained until 1954. For most people, this made the car an unaffordable luxury. Most people used public transport to get around.

Air travel was mainly for the rich. To go abroad, most people travelled by ship.

The average weekly wage was £3 18s (£3.90). Now it is about £400.

In 1948, most people in Britain worked in manufacturing industries, where they made things (in factories for example). Heavy industries like coal mining, iron and steel making, ship building and engineering employed millions of workers. Most of these workers were men. The majority of women stayed at home to look after their families and their homes.

Today, most people work in service industries such as education, health, shops, banks and insurance, where they provide services for other people. There is very little heavy industries left. People can buy of make the same things cheaper elsewhere. New technology means that factories use more machines to do the work and fewer people.

More women work today. It is normal for women to have jobs, even if they have young children.

SS Empire Windrush

The arrival of the SS Empire Windrush in June 1948 at Tilbury Dock, Essex, in England, marked the beginning of post-war mass migration. The ship had made an 8,000 mile journey from the Caribbean to London with 492 passengers on board from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands.

Most of the passengers were ex-servicemen seeking work.

This marked the beginning of post-war mass migration.

When they walked down the gangplank onto British soil they could not have imagined that their journey would begin an important landmark in the history of London and the rest of country.

The passengers on board the Windrush were invited to come to Britain after World War Two, to assist with labour shortages.

Many of the passengers had fought for Britain during the war.

They later became known as the ‘Windrush Generation.’

Later, Enoch Powell, the Tory Health Minister from 1960-1963, was to invite women from the Caribbean to Britain to train as nurses.

It was he who several years caused an uproar with his anti-immigration ‘rivers of blood’ speech.

In reality the response to the call for labour was minimal and by 1958 only 125,000 workers had arrived in Britain from the Caribbean islands. However, there were also other factors at play.

National Health Service is established

The National Health Service, established by the post-war Labour government, represented a fundamental change in the provision of medical services. The General Practitioner (GP) service became organised on the basis of a ‘capitation fee’ paid by the government on every patient registered with a doctor. Voluntary and municipal hospitals were integrated under state control, exercised by the Ministry of Health.

Olympic Games open at Wembley Stadium in London

The so-called ‘Austerity Games’ were held in London while rationing was still in force in Britain. Fifty nine nations took part, but the defeated powers of Germany and Japan were excluded. London saw the first Olympic photo finish, in the 100 metres, and the introduction of starting blocks for sprinters. These were the first Games since Berlin in 1936. The 1940 Games went to Tokyo, then Stockholm, but were cancelled – as were the 1944 games – due to World War Two.

UK cost of living 1948

Price of an average house £1,651.

Average Salary £300 a year.

Average Family Car £590.

Litre of Fuel £0.02.

FLOUR 1.5KG £0.04.

BREAD 1 LOAF £0.02.

SUGAR 1KG £0.05.

MILK 1PT £0.08.

BUTTER 250G £0.04.

CHEESE 400G £0.04.

POTATOES 2.5KG £0.03.

BACON 400G £0.17.

1948 News & Events

1 January – British Railways created when the government nationalizes the railway industry.

4 January – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

5 January – the first episode of the radio serial drama Mrs Dale’s Diary is broadcast on the BBC Light Programme.

12 January – the London Co-operative Society opens Britain’s first supermarket, in Manor Park, London. In the same month, Marks & Spencer introduce self-service in the food department of their Wood Green store and also this year Portsea Island Mutual Co-operative Society opens a self-service supermarket in Portsmouth.

17 January – all-time highest attendance for an English Football League game as 83,260 people watch Manchester United draw with Arsenal in a match played at Maine Road.

30 January – 8 February: Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and win 2 bronze medals.

4 February – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth. George VI becomes King of Ceylon.

March – Trades Union Congress and Government agree a formal policy of voluntary wage restraint.

The Administrative Staff College (established in 1945) runs its first courses at Greenlands, Henley-on-Thames, the UK’s first business school.

The "New Look" in women’s fashion becomes available in British stores.

17 March – Britain signs the Treaty of Brussels with Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

23 March – the radio comedy Take It From Here, written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, is first broadcast by the BBC.

1 April – Nationalisation of the electricity supply industry under terms of the Electricity Act 1947 comes into effect.

Fire services in the United Kingdom return from the National Fire Service to control of local authorities (under terms of Fire Services Act 1947).

15 April – Rowntree’s introduce Polo mint sweets.

16 April – arrival of Australian cricket team in England for a tour in which it will not lose a match.

24 April – Manchester United F.C. defeat Blackpool 4–2 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium to claim their first major trophy for 37 years.

30 April – the Land Rover is unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show.

4 May – release of Sir Laurence Olivier’s film of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which will be the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

13 May – National Assistance Act supersedes the old Poor Law system.

14 May – the murder of June Anne Devaney, a three-year-old girl in Blackburn leads to the fingerprinting of more than 40,000 men in the city in an attempt to find the murderer.

14–15 May – at midnight, the British Mandate of Palestine is officially terminated as the state of Israel comes into being.

June – Professor Lillian Penson becomes the first woman elected to serve as Vice-Chancellor of a British university (London).

5–13 June – first Aldeburgh Festival.

21 June – the Manchester Baby, the world’s first electronic stored-program computer, runs its first program.

22 June – The ship HMT Empire Windrush arrives in Britain with 492 Jamaican immigrants

An Order in Council removes the title of Emperor of India from the Royal Style and Titles, recognising the independence of India in 1947.

1 July – The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 and its equivalent in Scotland come into effect as the foundation of modern town and country planning in the United Kingdom, requiring planning permission for land development and establishing the system of Listed buildings.

The National Museum of Wales opens the Welsh Folk Museum at St Fagans to the public, the first open-air museum in the UK (director: Iorwerth Peate).

4 July – 1948 Northwood mid-air collision: A Scandinavian Airlines Douglas DC-6 and an Avro York of No. 99 Squadron RAF collide over Northwood, London and crash killing all 39 people aboard both aircraft.

5 July – The National Health Service begins functioning, giving the right to universal healthcare, free at point of use.

Changes to the National Insurance social insurance scheme come into effect.

The Children Act 1948 comes into effect, transferring responsibility for child welfare from Poor Law Guardians, Approved schools and voluntary organisations to new local authority Children’s Departments with professional Children’s Officers.

15 July – first London chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous.

25 July – end of post-war bread rationing.

29 July – 14 August: Olympic Games held in London. Great Britain and Northern Ireland win 3 gold, 14 silver and 6 bronze medals at the event, which is televised by the BBC.

29 July – Stoke Mandeville Games are held for the first time, the predecessor of the Paralympic Games.

The highest ever daily Central England temperature value, 25.2 °C (77.4 °F) is reported for this day.

30 July – gas boards created as the government nationalises the gas industry.

18 August – jockey Lester Piggott, aged 12, wins his first race, at Haydock Park Racecourse.

September – The first new comprehensive schools open in Potters Bar and Hillingdon.

Judicial corporal punishment (birching and flogging) is abolished in the UK.

6 September – flying the de Havilland DH 108, John Derry becomes the first British pilot to break the sound barrier.

8 September – Terence Rattigan’s play The Browning Version premieres in London.

October – the Hoover Company open a new factory for the mass production of washing machines at Merthyr Tydfil.

12 October – topical debate programme Any Questions? first broadcast on the BBC Home Service. It will still be on the radio more than sixty years later.

20 October – 1948 KLM Constellation air disaster: a KLM Lockheed Constellation airliner crashes into power cables on approach to Prestwick Airport in Scotland, killing all 40 people on board.

27 October – 6 November: first postwar Motor Show held at Earls Court, London. A record 562,954 visitors witness a wide range of new products from British manufacturers. Most successful will be the Morris Minor and Land Rover; but there are also the Morris Six, new Morris Oxford and Wolseley 4/50; Jaguar XK120, the world’s fastest production car at this time, and Mark V; Hillman Minx Mark III; Austin A70 and Atlantic; Vauxhall Velox and Wyvern; Singer SM1500; Sunbeam-Talbot 90; and Bristol 401.

8 November – the King issues Letters Patent granting the title of Prince or Princess of the United Kingdom, with the style Royal Highness, to the children of The Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh. Their first child is due later this month.

14 November – Princess Elizabeth gives birth to a son.

15 November – rising actor and comedian Ronnie Barker, aged 19 and from Bedford, makes his stage debut in the play Quality Street at the County Theatre in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

19 November – Peter Griffiths is hanged at Liverpool’s Walton Gaol for the murder of June Anne Devaney.

December – Patrick Blackett wins the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation".

10 December – T. S. Eliot wins the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry".

15 December – the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’s one-month-old son (later The Prince of Wales) is christened His Royal Highness Charles Philip Arthur George of Edinburgh.

26 December – the first series of Reith Lectures, Bertrand Russell on Authority and the Individual, begins broadcasting on the BBC Home Service.

Undated

Scottish advocate Margaret Kidd becomes the first British woman King’s Counsel in Britain.

Snettisham Hoard discovered near King’s Lynn.

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain is founded.

From the end of the year, manufacturers are permitted to make Utility furniture to their own designs.

“Black widow” road safety poster (slogan: “Keep death off the road – Carelessness kills”) by William Little issued.

Posted by brizzle born and bred on 2019-01-13 16:19:55

Tagged: , That Was the Year That Was – 1948 , United-Kingdom , UK , 1948 , 1949 UK news and events , UK news headlines 1949 , Britain

The post That Was the Year That Was – 1948 appeared first on Good Info.

[johnbizzell]

June 2018 - Of Chums in the Chunnel

Karma turned on Betty and I when we said bad things about the baby. “It’s called Ésmé with an accent over both e’s,” I told her, using the same disgusted tone with which you might announce an outbreak of lice or the release of a new Keira Knightley movie. “So every time they say her name it sounds like a cat retching,” said Betty. We were really saying bad things about Ésmé’s parents, who were the kind of people to leave their child on a filthy Parisian pavement before putting her in the boot of a car, but it was too late. We were awful and our luck had run out.

Whilst we have known and loved each other for fifteen years, my friendship with Betty is like the anti-Megazord. Our powers do not combine to make us stronger, only meaner and more shambolic. Alone we are self-sufficient, young (yes, young) professionals, winning at work and living life abundantly: she’s got great hair, I can carry five full wine glasses at once. Together, we fall apart.

We have attempted co-habitation twice: the first time ended after six months when I found her attacking the skylight in our bathroom with a broom handle because the seagulls were haunting her dreams. When we moved out I tried to lower an armchair down the front of the house from the fourth floor with a washing line and smashed all the windows below. We told out landlord some youths had thrown rocks at us. The second time lasted three months in a building that had unfortunately been previously occupied by Chinese prostitutes. Despite a very clear note on the door in Verdana, the politest of all fonts, we were hassled day and night by gentlemen callers.

Our few attempts at international travel have also been fairly eventful. There was the festival in Spain where we almost drove off a cliff whilst listening to Bon Jovi, the New Year in Amsterdam where we carried other people’s bags around for two days chased by trams and the wedding in Slovakia when we flooded our hotel room. That last one was years ago though, and surely we’d made enough good deposits in our Karmic piggy banks since then to warrant one tiny uneventful weekend degustation mini-break to Paris?

It started so well. We didn’t even get through half of the two litre bladder of Pheasant Gulley Chardonnay we’d bought for the journey out, proving how mature and sophisticated we’d become, but it’s surprisingly difficult to maintain being a good person in the City of Lights, especially when you’re staying in one of the trendier districts. Little things started to chip away at me: the cool café where the waitress only carried one item at a time, the bar with the framed poster of Phil Collins, the Afrobeat night in the bowels of a barge. By the time we sat down opposite the Japanese boulangerie, next to a boutique that only sold fluorescent raincoats, for our aubergine pannée and Ésmé’s mummy and daddy walked past, I was ready to seek and destroy.

Our bad Karma caught up with us in a 4G black spot on a downward slope outside Amiens. The Eurostar ground to a halt at 45 degrees just as the England-Panama game was about to kick off in Nizhny Novgorod. All power, including the air conditioning and wifi, went off. The train manager, Davide, was not optimistic: “I am supposed to inform you that we will be here for 20 minutes, but, meh…” He had a look of Jacques Rivette and his expression said that we were about to experience something longer and more pointless than the very best Nouvelle Vague cinema.

Over the next two-and-a-half hot, stationary hours, the captives of carriage 11 got increasingly irate with every text informing them another goal had been scored that they couldn’t see. Mrs Brexit in seat 31 complained more and more loudly that the useless locals were going to make her miss her daughter’s wedding and the sooner we got out of Europe and filled the Chunnel with rocks the better. The French teenagers across the aisle humped and slurped. Davide said meh. Goal Chunnel honk slurp meh, goal Chunnel honk slurp meh.

And then the buffet car ran out of rose.

I knew the moment would come. I’d been fashioning a coffee stirrer into a shiv. I got ready to brace myself against the back of the chair and leap towards Davide. It should be fairly easy to snatch his pass key and then bounce sideways onto the necking French teens (using them as a crash mat) and spring forward at Mrs Brexit. One quick stab to the neck should finish her off. Then I’d open the door and throw myself from the train, barrelling through the scrubby countryside of Hauts-de-France towards freedom or the nearest vineyard.

Betty took my hand. If our years of codeine and co-dependence have taught us anything it’s to spot when the other is about to have a conniption fit. She gave me the rest of her rose and the train began to move.

Eurostar 9021 got into St Pancras International three hours late. Davide was found in the goods wagon with three crates of rose and a reel to reel projector showing Celine and Julie Go Boating. England beat Panama 6-1 and went on to win the World Cup (JOKES!). Mrs Brexit made her daughter’s wedding in time to find the groom was Polish and nobody had missed her. John and Betty are planning a trip to the Cologne Christmas markets in December. Stay well away from them.