FROGLEGS

Don’t ever buy stuff on an airplane. It’s a racket.

While we were in the US, we stayed with my Mom for most of our time in California. She spent a few months in China earlier this year. In fact, she had just got back a few days before we arrived in Bakersfield. While in China she discovered, as most do, that you can get a crappy version of pretty much anything at various shops selling counterfeit products for a very cheap price. She brought back 2 crates of what she calls “junk” to use in different mixed media pieces she is planning.

One of the things she brought back was a cheap set of battery powered iPod speakers. She paid about $5 for them. I used them and I can attest that they are “junk”. Turn them up more than a quarter of the way to a decent volume and you get a load of distorted mess. They aren’t really a counterfeit of any name brand product. They are just really badly manufactured speakers.

On the way home on our Iberia flight, I saw this in the inflight shopping magazine:

That’s $80 for something that cost $5 in China. And not just that, it’s eighty bucks for really really really bad speakers. If you are ever tempted to buy something on any airline flight. Remember this: They are ripping you off!

Does anyone know of a website chronicling just how much of a rip-off inflight shopping is? Iberia has got to be up there in the rankings of “most malificent highway robbers”. In addition to terrible (and terribly expensive) electronics, they also charge 10 euros ($14.66) for a sandwich. And the food (which we got for no additional charge)we got on the trans-Atlantic flight was seriously inedible. It was picture worthy.

You might have thought that I’d forgotten about unfortunate names… but I haven’t. Unfortunately, opportunities abound in Spain, a place where some people think that saving money on translation is more important than saving face before a watching world.

The above photo is of a beautician’s school about 5 minutes’ walk from my house. I have no idea what they are trying to say, but it is obvious that if they do speak any other languages besides Spanish, it certainly isn’t English.

My little sister send this too me from Santa Cruz, California. I would imagine that there are some frat rat college boys down at UC Santa Cruz that would be in for a shock when they opened up this can of tricks and are greeted by the pine fresh scent of turpentine rather than the frat party favour of the century.

Not too terribly unfortunate, but unfortunate none the less.

See if you spot it. It was in a United Colors of Benetton shop here in Sevilla. Bizarre.

Anyone for a condemned citrus drink? You can also get “Damm Beer” and “Estrella Damm”.