<$BlogRSDURL$>
Musings from the Merse
Thursday, January 08, 2009
 

Being Careful at the Castle

If you put 'tight' into the Berwickshire website you won't get necessarily be directed to the story about the number of drivers with drink taken nicked over Christmas (93-43 fewer than last year). More likely you will go to a reference to a Channel 4 programme 'The hunt for Britain's tightest person' in this case the chatelaine of Duns Castle, where the Hay family have been ensconced since 1696. Apparently Mrs Hay's frugality whereby she uses only half a tablet in the castle's dishwasher and shops in a 'budget' supermarket rather than say, the spendthrift infested Co-op will be highlighted in the programme. It would be useful, for the anorak who specialises in trivia, to know how many half tablets of economy dishwasher tablets the Hays have used since the end of the 17th century and what, if anything, they do with candle stubs apart from relighting them? (I remember the result of a survey not too long ago on what Scotsmen do with old razor blades-the answer, predictably, was they shave with them)

Could be riveting viewing. Peak time:7.35pm tomorrow. Should be good publicity for the budget supermarket if identified, and indeed for the Castle upmarket (and several flights of stairs) B and B business. Although possibly some future guests might tend carefully to check their breakfast crockery to see if half a tablet in the dishwasher is

really enough.

(Looking at the image one wonders if stinting on the Windowlene might be a more effective way of cost cutting?)

Labels: , ,

 
Comments:
your blog is very nice......
 
'ey up Huttonian, you've got a good-lookin' version of Lauren Laverne after you ;-)

Presumably the Lady of the Manor shops at Aldi in Berwick or LIDL in Kelso - those would be the obvious candidates... I wonder if she's factored in the cost of the fuel to get to either?
 
Actually, according to an insider, its Cost Cutter in Duns! Walking distance
 
Mrs H has already blocked out the time in our busy Friday night schedule in order to pick up a few tips
 
I wonder why she doesn't use dishwasher powder anyway - it's cheaper and the dosage is infinitely more controllable. Clearly she's not going to win.

CostCutter? Is that the one next to Romanes the Pharmacy?
 
Incidentally, it seems the Lady of the Manor has some catch up to do in the "carefulness stakes" - according to this article on the BBC
 
I am not sure her policy on teabags. We will await with baited breath with a hint of juniper. Yes its the Market Square Cost Cutters.
 
I don't recall that being particularly discount - quite the reverse - made the Co-Op's prices look like Netto.

Incidentally I notice that my bought-locally (Wilkinson Sword) razor blades were made in a factory in England (which closed in 1999) so you could well be right about the "old razor blades" gag.
 
Mrs H researches these things very carefully-anything she buys in Cost Cutters will be cheaper than anywhere else on the known earth including mid-Berwickshire.

Razor blades. They may of course be fromPatel, Wilkinson, Patel and Patel, 2-89 Raj Street, Ghandi Industrial Estate, Mumbai. 'Wilkinson' brand kept for marketing purposes
 
Well Paper Boy you got that right! It looked like Aldi in Berwick so your point about fuel is a good one.

But a bit of a nothing programme really.

Richard : not really worth staying in for that or even postponing loading the dishwasher
 
What a waste of 30 minutes of my life...not that I really expected any less. It really says something about the state of our TV. . .If only the woman who bought so many toilet rolls bought fewer she could have invested her money instead, even at 1.5% that's better than clogging up her cupboard!
 
Razor blades definitely made in Cramlington - the dust on the outer jacket highly suggestive of the 10 year hiatus in selling them. Wilks German blades are noticeably poorer than the UK ones and the Chinese ones (their other factory are like shaving with a dull spoon).

I wonder why she buys expensive Fairy pouches and then cuts them up though - damn fool - Aldi sell perfectly passable dishwash powder (I'm told - I'm a Finish-with-powerball man myself).
 
And I should she has shopped in Cost Cutters in Duns. Just for the record
 
Ah, the balance between frugality and the environment in this era of waste and gas guzzling unnecessarily large cars. I don't find Duns is a reasonable shopping venue apart from the greengrocer.It says something about the state of Berwick supermarkets that many folk are looking forward to the arrival Tesco. I'd hoped to tie in my Alnwick trips with a Sainsbury run but ther new one is a pared-down provincial version which succeeds in making even Morrison look good.
 
Well A Peasant I have to say we find Duns a (surprisingly) good place to shop. Apart from the veggie shop: good deli, two well stocked newsagents with an amazing range of stuff, including toys in one, a very good bakery, excellent electronic shop, BAVS shop with many of our surplus books and clothes after flight from Hutton,an exceptionally well stocked off licence, a gun shop for goodness sake, an adequate hardware shop down town plus of course Pearsons out a bit,brilliant Thai restaurant. And of course the Co-op, adequate if unimaginative. You just need Berwick for the Green Shop and Kelso for shoes and posh clothes.

You need to venture out from the sticks a bit more!
 
Hurrah for Duns!
 
r to coin a phrase

Duns Dings A' (on stilts)(
 
...and don't forget the fabulous optician's. Reminder to self, appointment Tuesday
 
Post a Comment
Happenings in A small Scottish Community

Links

Comments to Huttonian

Disgruntled Commuter

Town Mouse

Oz Blog

Zoe Blog

Xenophobia

Mike Bishop

British Bloggers Directory

Digital Moon

Havering On

Country Strife

Coldstream Pipe Band

Flyte-Tipping and Other Pastimes

'Top Scottish Websites' - www.our-scotland.org

ARCHIVES
04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 / 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 / 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 / 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 / 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 / 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 / 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 / 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 / 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 / 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 / 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 / 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 / 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 / 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 / 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 / 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 / 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 / 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 / 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 / 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005 / 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 / 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 / 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006 / 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 / 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 / 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 / 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006 / 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 / 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 / 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 / 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 / 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 / 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007 / 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 / 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007 / 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 / 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007 / 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 / 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 / 07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007 / 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007 / 09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007 / 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 / 11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007 / 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008 / 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 / 02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008 / 03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008 / 04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008 / 05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008 / 06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008 / 07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008 / 08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008 / 09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008 / 10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008 / 11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008 / 12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009 / 01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009 / 02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009 / 03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009 / 04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009 / 05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009 / 06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009 / 07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009 / 08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009 / 09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009 / 10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009 / 12/01/2009 - 01/01/2010 / 02/01/2010 - 03/01/2010 / 03/01/2010 - 04/01/2010 / 05/01/2010 - 06/01/2010 / 06/01/2010 - 07/01/2010 / 07/01/2010 - 08/01/2010 / 08/01/2010 - 09/01/2010 / 12/01/2010 - 01/01/2011 / 11/01/2011 - 12/01/2011 / 12/01/2011 - 01/01/2012 /


Powered by Blogger