Category Archives: Diversions

The stuff that didn’t fit elsewhere.

Grandpa!


Grandpa Rick came to see Poppy for a few days. They spent the morning together while I was at work and Rockford was at the library. I think they had a pretty good time — with a minimum of yucky diapers!

Thrifty Belgians

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Thrifty Belgians are causing a headache for Dutch supermarkets by gathering large numbers of plastic Coca-Cola bottles and bringing them across the border to the Netherlands to collect the deposit.

The scheme takes advantage of a recent move by Coke’s Dutch arm to introduce new bottles that are identical to the ones used in Belgium — but the Dutch bottles carry a 30-cent deposit.

While the Netherlands’ NOS television reported that Belgians were bringing bottles across the border in “massive" numbers, a Coke spokeswoman downplayed the story.

“There are incidents, but I probably wouldn’t use the word ‘massive’," Marte van Esser said.
Coke raised its Dutch prices by 30 to 40 percent on average when the bottles were introduced in January. The company is attempting to recover from a two-year price war in Dutch supermarkets that left its products selling near the same price as in-house brands.

Sija de Jong, a spokeswoman for the supermarket industry group CBL, said she doubted any bottle-returners were becoming millionaires.

“It’s a sporadic phenomenon, but it’s obviously an annoyance for the supermarkets," she said.

Farewell, Mr. Limpet

There’s always been a special place in my heart for Don Knotts, and that little place hurt a little today when I read that he’d died. Here are a few reasons why:

  • “The New Scooby Doo Movies” (“The Spooky Fog” and “Guess Who’s Knott Coming to Dinner”)
  • “The Andy Griffith Show”
  • “The Incredible Mr. Limpet”
  • “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken”
  • “The Apple Dumpling Gang”