Andrew wrote
Rod Speed wrote

Costs almost nothing on PAYG with a used phone.

PAYG not that cheap in the UK any more.

It still is when you only have the phone so those you want
to call you to tell you when your interview is can call you.

You need a washing machine since all the laundrettes have closed down.

That last is a lie and you are free to wash you clothes in the bath by
hand.

Or wear things for longer between washes.

Yep. When I was in uni, working in the holidays, in a very
remote are with nothing but a rain water tank and a dunny
that was over a hole in the ground, no shower, no nothing,
we didnt bother washing clothes, just did that on the
occasional trip back home, one or twice in months.

No fridge either. We got fresh meat delivered by the mail man
every week and it could end up a tad green by the end of the
week in summer. Instant mashed potatoes and dried peas.

For some odd reason, I dont actually eat instant
mashed potatoes anymore, even when camping.

You need a fridge to stop your food going off and giving you food
poisoning.

Nope, you just buy your food every few days instead.

Few people outside Suva and the main towns in Fiji had fridges or washing
machines. A bit of rough-sawn 6 by 1 timber, rubbed on a lovo stone to
knock off the splinters and a big bar of wash soap is all you need.

Milk was the tinned, condensed type.

We didnt bother with condensed milk.

You sit it in a saucer of water to keep the ants and cockroaches out of
it.

This is how the US peace corps and VSO volunteers, plus the locals lived.

We didnt even bother with washing, coupla
teenagers there by ourselves for months,
putting in a series of 30' deep holes and lining
them with plastic pipe and then running
a neutron moisture meter down them and
putting ladders on ****ing great pine trees
and doing solar radiation levels up the trees.

Scientific research.

The boss used to suggest we could swim in
the creek occasionally but we never bothered.