Thoughts for the Weekend & this Week’s Links

A Tale of Two Burgers.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
It was the age of being ripped off; it was the age of not.
It was the FA Cup semi-final, it was the last game of the season.
It was Wembley Way, it was St Mary’s.
We had the prices before us; we had none.
One side going to heaven, the other going the other way — in short, it was a week that summed up everything that is wrong.
Well, perhaps not everything, but it allowed a degree of comparison.

“Two burgers and fries, please,” I said.

We were standing on fake grass over a low wall on one side of Wembley Way. Hunger before the match and the first burger van after the Tube station called. The card machine was waved. No screen visible.

I normally just tap, but something made me pause.

“How much is that?” I said.
“£42,” she said.

As I recoiled and before I fell over the low wall, I managed, “Are you joking, you’re taking the……”

Lying flat on my back, looking up, the clouds parted and, in yellow, painted in the heavens:

We’re going to take everything you’ve got.

As I gathered myself, the burgers were taken out of the glass hot box, and my son was told that it was so expensive because they are charged so much to be there. They apologised as they handed them over.

I sat on the wall and ate the burger. Head hung low. Forty-two quid for two pre-cooked burgers and some chips.

As we walked up to the publicly funded National Stadium, it became clear that shopping around would not have yielded better results.

Anyway, the Saints lost. Long trip home.

A few days later, we are in Southampton. Same team, different stadium. Same burgers, same chips. This time, twenty quid. Not cheap, but not terrible value in the context.

Benchmark: the local burger van on the beach charges a fiver for a burger. Yes, I like burgers.

As the week progressed, I kept seeing those yellow words. And I kept asking: why does Wembley charge vendors to pitch up? Why didn’t I take a packed lunch? How can two burgers be forty-two pounds?

Then a quote lands in my inbox. Single-storey rear extension; walls knocked down; new kitchen, toilet, and utility room; sliding doors to the garden. £123,539.

Day rates for additional work: £360 a day for various trades.

No wonder. Electricians eat burgers too.

Have a good weekend.

All the best.

This Week’s Links:

A new video from me
I analysed 276 houses, and this is what I found.

A new song
From Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr.

I need a drink
Negroni? Yes please.

A new cathedral entrance in Angers, France.
I cannot imagine our local conservation officer going for this. Which, in my book, makes it a good idea.

Main Image credit: Two burgers, one economic system. (ChatGPT)