Where else better to post my review of a product I like? No royalties paid by Sony, I’m just enjoying these headphones (again)…

I am now on my second set of Sony MRD-E828LP earbud headphones, after temporarily misplacing my original ones. (After buying the second set I found the originals – so now I own two sets!)

The shape of the earbud is right for me – they sit well in my ears and don’t cause pain or discomfort unless I’m lying down with them in or have used them for a long time.

In terms of the features, I can present a direct comparison between the MDR-E828LP and the Sennheiser MX-400, having bought the Sennheisers to see if they lived up to the hype. (I since gave the Sennheisers away…) While the Sennheisers feel way lighter in the ear, they’re also a lot less bass-y. Not to say that they’re bad quality – they’ve got a clearer, more airy sound than the Sonys – but they don’t suit my typical listening genres of jazz, classical, house and lounge, and some pop/rock. I like to hear all the way down to the bottom of the bass/kick/cello, and the Sony earbud design helps the buds to have great bass response without needing to switch on bass boost on my player.

And they look good too – understated, unobtrusive, not the “I’ve-got-an-iPod” white kitsch which has been forced upon consumers of late.

I bought my original set of these headphones a number of years ago (Sony have been making these headphones with the exact same specs for a while now) and they still sound excellent. After wearing my new set in for a while, I can’t pick any sonic difference between the two. The only modification Sony seems to have made in the intervening time is to the cord. It used to be a standard black insulated headphone cord, but now they’ve changed to a more rubbery cord. It still winds up nicely but it’s somewhat springy, so it straightens out really easily and doesn’t get tangled as much.

All in all I find that they are an excellent purchase, and at their consistently low price they remain the best price-for-performance earbuds on the market before investing in higher-end in-ear designs like the Shure E3 or E4.

You are NOT going to believe this, but I swear it’s true…

Five minutes ago, just a few minutes after submitting my request for myth clarification, the phone rang. Lo and behold, it was Sharon at National Foods! (Yes, really.) We had a wonderful conversation and I was grinning the whole way through. For posterity, here is the request for clarification:

I am hoping that you, the esteemed producers of our Only Drink, the One True Iced Coffee, Farmers Union, will be able to set the record straight on a little urban myth running rampant.

You see, avid FUIC drinkers as we are, we have observed the mysterious numbers inscribed on the bottom of our 600mL cartons. Some say this is but a production line tracking number, but others have more sophisticated theories. The best of these ideas has been described thus:

“The story goes that for each batch, those with a number 1 are the first quarter taken out of the vat, ie the top layer of the batch… being the ‘weakest’. Next quarter is batched as number 2. Next is 3… and the dregs… the last quarter… is regarded as the strongest.”

Is this a mystery you can solve for us, setting our minds at ease and providing us with supreme knowledge, or are we to relegate it to myth and legend passed down from FUIC-drinking generation to generation?

Humble regards and many thanks,

Inquisitive FUIC Drinkers all over the state

Now, while Sharon herself isn’t quite as passionate a FUIC afficionado as we all are, she was able to set the record straight. Place your bets…

Drum roll please…

Our Q: What are the numbers on the bottom of FUIC cartons for?

The A: The numbers on the bottom of the cartons, to our immense surprise, no doubt, do NOT refer to levels of strength. Nor, interestingly, do they refer to variations in composition of the gold-brown elixir, nor intended differences in taste. (Can anyone say, pla-ce-bo?) Nay, they are but reference numbers to the production lines churning out our caffeinated friend, numbered 1 through 4.

Naturally I am quite impressed with the responsiveness and attention to (tongue-in-cheek) requests for detail from The Esteemed Producer.

And I did not avoid the opportunity to inform National Foods through Sharon that I did, in fact, track and account for my consumption of Iced Coffee a couple of years ago; that it totalled almost 200 litres; and that many of you (yes, own up) have been known to drink way more than that.

So now even National Foods knows that we, a humble group of FUIC lovers in Tea Tree Gully, SA, are keeping the entire company afloat by our dedication and commitment to the One True Iced Coffee Way.

More power to us!

P.S. I’m still laughing…

I don’t know if this journal of fixations is anything more than a self-indulgence, but suffice to say that I’m alive, well and enjoying the Australian summer. I will continue to write randomly about fixations which occur, as the need arises.

Now, to alleviate the withdrawals. Where did I put that last FUIC…

Following our Parisian jaunt, we returned to London having planned to get away to Bath and Salisbury. The hire car was upgraded (again!) from a Vectra to a much larger Renault 5-speed with many bells and whistles. There was a lot of touring around the countryside, a lot of driving on the British highways and a lot of exploring overnight accommodations. Breakfasts were in the true English style, either with cereals, toasts, croissants and tea or the full English breakfast of sausage, egg, bacon, mushroom and tomato.

The touring was par for the course, with many crumbly buildings and a couple of guided tours through the respective cities. I now have my own pictorial collection (royalty free!) of Stonehenge, and out of about 20 shots I got one which worked in Cafe Nero, which, I can finally say, was my favourite coffee franchise during my time here.

An interesting highlight of the British highway system is the high quality rest stops which are spaced about 50 miles apart. The one we visited, called “Welcome Break”, had a full food court with KFC, Burger King, some delicatessens, a small shopping spot and a game hall. Outside was brilliantly landscaped with a running water feature and tall green trees. Wow.

And now, the end is near… We’ll visit Hillsong London tomorrow morning and then we’ll begin our 24 hours of transit time to get back to fabulous Australia. I’m looking forward to coming home.

Our time in Paris was brief but good. After meeting the folks at the Paris airport on time and successfully navigating through an obstinate French bus driver, we arrived at our hotel and were pleasantly surprised. It was a Best Western, and it was warm, sparkling clean and the staff were friendly. A stroke of good fortune meant that Tim and I had a twin share room with space for an extra bed, which meant extra floor space and actually a bigger bathroom. We spent a little while getting used to everything (and scamming the complimentaries so they’d be replenished the next day) and then went out and about for a walk in the neighbourhood.

The Eiffel Tower was in view as soon as we walked out of the hotel. Flying in I had thought it looked small, but that was simply an illusion of distance. Up close, the thing is huge, and a remarkable feat for something more than 100 years old. On the first night we hunted out a local “main street” with plenty of open cafes, restaurants and street vendors. We bought bread, sweet pastries and other delicious things right on the street. Once again, these French people showed their skill with making plain bread interesting enough to eat on its own.

The next day came after a warm evening in the room, despite the cool outside. Our beds seemed to retain all heat, so we were toasty toasty to the point of exhaustion. We got up and out fairly early to jump on a bus tour which circled Paris. We got out at the Louvre Museum expressly to see the Mona Lisa (I think I dragged the rest of the family, they didn’t seem too impressed), and we had coffee and croissants afterwards. Back on the bus to see Notre Dame, Pont Neuf and a whole heap of other sights.

That night when the others were back in the hotel room, Dad and I went out for a night time view of the Eiffel Tower. We were standing under the monolithic construction exactly on 10pm, when we heard a cry of enchantment from other passers by. You see, on the hour every hour after dark, the tower is lit up by hundreds of strobing white lights. It looks like stars sparkling all over the tower. We made a pact to keep hush hush about it and get Tim and Mum there on the hour the next night before our trip up to the top. The hot chocolate we bought from a street kiosk was simply delicious.

The next day we got on a boat tour down the Seine, which looped around the Notre Dame island and back to the Eiffel Tower. It was an enjoyable cruise and much more interesting than the one we took in London. After that, we headed off to the Latin Quarter for lunch and to buy some trinkets to remember Paris by. I found these cute little espresso mugs which will surely get good use…

After lunch we went back to the hotel and had some strange interpretation of pizza for dinner, which didn’t taste terrible but looked confusing with an egg plonked right in the middle. A little relaxation followed until 8pm when we went out to visit the Eiffel Tower once again. Unfortunately, they closed the very top level for one month starting that very day, so we could only go up to the second level. Quite frustrating given that we saw heaps of people travelling up the night before! But it was still nice to be on the Tower and Paris looks nice at night. One interesting thing to note is that Paris has basically no skyscrapers at all in the scenic centre – a credit to historically-minded town planners.

And that’s that. We finished off with the family photo in a cafe on the second level, went back to the hotel and crashed. The next morning (yesterday) was the usual pack up, breakfast, rush to train, wait around for train, get on fast international train and wait again. The Eurostar, which travels under the English Channel, wasn’t as fast as I thought it would be but the experience was another to add to the list of firsts.

Paris is a beautiful city, and the people are nice enough if you try to give them some French before gesticulating and muttering in English. And the fact that we didn’t get to the top of the Eiffel Tower simply means I have reason to go back one day…