Strike while the iron's hot!
Surfers are known for very many things, being stupid, being dumb, being cheap, but in my experience none of these stereotypes are true. We are elevated, able to think through myriad complexities with clarity. Able to problem solve etc. and also prioritize. Yes, none of these stereotypes are true except for surfers being cheap, though “thrifty” is a much better descriptive adjective.
The surfer has many important things on which to spend her or his money included but not limited to wax, Futures Fins, BeachGrit outerwear (buy here) and wetsuits. He, therefore, must economize. She must pinch pennies when there are pennies to be pinched.
And recent news coming out of Russia and Africa is very welcoming to the thrifty surfer in a longterm relationship.
A possible end to the ban on “Blood Diamonds.”
As you well know, the traditional diamond engagement ring is supposed to be worth three months of salary. That is a small-ish diamond and especially for surfers employed by the surf industry where a fifteen year apocalypse rages even through the greatest economic run in modern history. Many layoffs. Much depressed wages.
In any case, Russia and Africa are seeking to solve this problem and let us turn to Bloomberg for the very latest.
Russia is proposing to move toward ending the ban on selling so-called blood diamonds from the Central African Republic, a former French colony that’s struck recent military and commercial ties with Moscow, amid resistance from the U.S. and Europe.
The CAR, which is mired in civil conflict, should be granted a “road map” outlining the steps it needs to take to get the suspension of diamond sales lifted, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said in an interview in Moscow.
“We need to ensure that illicitly traded diamonds move to the legal marketplace, bringing income for people and taxes for the state,” Moiseev said. “The situation in CAR isn’t getting any better, and we can’t delay this any more.”
Russia’s pressing for action as President Vladimir Putin seeks to challenge the U.S. and other major powers in a new push to restore Soviet-era influence in the resource-rich African continent. He hosted more than 50 African leaders in the first Russia-Africa summit in October and his ally Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary venture is active in about a dozen countries, including the CAR.
So, are you in a longterm relationship? Is a ring expected soon, maybe even this holiday season? Aeroflot flies non-stop from LAX. I have flown many times and cannot recommend highly enough.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
It has started, first they steal our food then they come for our soul!!!! https://www.timeslive.co.za…
Ah, an East coast, maybe they’re all better on the back end of the storm.
I believe West coasts are better on the leading edge/brunt of swells.
I had to look New England up on maps. I didn’t know the US has regions as well as states!
Wife doing Surgery , kids asleep , weather like New England , 3rd Beer .
Nah , I realized I read a lot of books set in New England .
Bloody hell nSOS I just booked a room at the Hotel New Hampshire . Oh well , I can go and see a local shaper and get a hand made tail , a dystopian model … dumb Australian that I am Handmaid’s Tale ….Might see you at the Cider House … Rules apparently ?
There’s no “i” in “team” but there’s an “ay” in Kay Jewelers.
We all like a shiny ring-piece.
Remember on Monday they were hyping Friday and the forecast?
When did the back end of a swell ever get good
Remember one thing gentlemen….. fuck the ring, the marriage license is the biggest business contract you will ever sign and NO ONE surfs more AFTER they get married. Choose wisely and if you have to pull the plug, do so with a hair trigger…. lost time is even more money.
Yeah, & wait to they have kids – that person who found your surfy eccentricities mildly amusing & cute has now left the building! You are now (probably quite rightly!) a self centered prick – you have now moved to the credit/barter system of surf opportunity!
Choose very carefully indeed my fine young professors!
Surfed as much as possible until I was 45 , knowing the day would come and when I reached my use by date ,decided that it was ok to finally become responsible , and no longer just responsibly irresponsible as most surfers tend to be …. ?
In this care free state of existence (a state of semi-depraved addiction) I live, you give me hope Mr Bickerton that I might just pull off succeeding as an adult.
I’m not a very good role model , just one of Neverland’s Lost Boys who found a way out . After 7 years in Purgatory , I will be back on a real surfing coast very soon , though no longer playing the role of lost boy , but as a husband and father …. wish me luck
Oh, don’t worry James, role models and being a role model is overrated. To quote/paraphrase John Lydon, “I have no heroes, they’re all useless”… I mean look at him…
The end to the stint in Purgatory seems well deserved — the Baltic and North Seas are no place for Antipodean surfer — I only lasted 3 months before I was back to the Tasman and Pacific.
Thanks Civil . Over the years I have met many who I would love to surf like but few that I would like to be like …….. And even those , like myself , suffered from human frailty …. so be it
We’re all hopeless sinners… but all the more interesting for it.
Buying rings for your gal stinks of inequality.
Can’t come soon enough. Also, I’m here all week!
The biggest catalyst for further price declines are lab grown diamonds. Indistinguishable from real diamonds, even by experts. This news just adds to the oversupply unfortunately.
Thrifty surfers everywhere rejoice!
I met a guy who was growing diamonds in a home lab.
But the law came and said they were ‘crystals’ and locked him up…
I Saw Putin had 6-7 bodyguards with him to take a piss at a train station – so obviously trade in blood diamonds will help build the Russian economy again – and to pay his staff
I had a piss with Bob Hawke at halftime during a MANLY V Canberra game at Brooky
It was just me,Bob and the old fellas, his goons stayed outside
Cunts won.
I suppose he was standing on your left ?
I spent well over 3 months wages on an engagement ring. thankfully I was unemployed at the time.
You spent money on De Beers instead of the Beers …. ? Please tell me Phat-wan that her dad owns a Brewery ?
he did, went broke after he put the piss on for the wedding.
And now his daughter is Kerr-upted ….. ?
I love Russia. Had the best nights of my life deep in Moscow and not even one child in collateral.
Yes but they have the video tape to use against you.
Oh goody you watched?!… My commission earns me an annual salary from pornhub.
Rasputin …..Putin’ it in …… Coitus interruptus or divine intervention …..I remember as a kid all Soviet women were supposed to be 100kg peasants ….and then the wall fell down and the reality was that they were really supermodels ?
Yup..I always announce I’m just here for wax as I walk past the counter to look at the boards first to save the kid any kind of anxiety about a sale.
You are a good person.
I am