Cheap Pairs of Spectacles

A recent report, out a couple of days ago, rates Finland as the SEVENTH (7th) most expensive country in the world.



This must be because the compilers of that report have not read the book by Annikki and me, published in 1994, called "Handbook For Survival in Finland" and because they are not readimg this blog - Oulu Best Buy!

We have beaten inflation continuously for the last 23 years and the cost of living for us has gone down, even though with Finland joining the European Union, many vendors have just replaced the "markka" sign with the € sign - a six time increase in prices.

In our book we had recommended that if you needed a pair of spectacles, you should take a holiday to a third world country - such as India.

A few days ago, a couple of people have asked about getting pairs of spectacles in Finland.

Today, it is possible to get your pair of spectacles cheaper than any third world country!

Take a look at the web site called SpecsSavers

Specsavers was founded in 1984 by Doug and Mary Perkins, who started the business in their spare bedroom on a table-tennis table. The couple had moved to Guernsey after selling a small chain of West Country opticians. ....

..... It hit the milestone of 100 stores in July 1988, 200 in 1993, 300 in 1995, 400 in 2000, 500 in 2003, 600 in 2004 and 700 in 2005. The first Netherlands store opened in 1997, the first Swedish in 2004, and 2005 saw the first in Denmark and Norway. In 2006 the first store was opened in Spain and in 2007 the company began supplying in Australia and opened the first store in Finland. ....

Presently, there are two Specsavers shops in Oulu, one on the walking street (Rotuari) across the road from Stockmann, and one at the corner of Hallituskatu and Uusikatu, across the road from Instrumentarium - the shop to avoid at all costs!

A single power pair of spectacles is available from just € 9, while a multipower (varifocals) pair is available from € 109, almost half that of any other optician in Finland.

Considering that I paid € 218 almost 8 years ago in Madras (Chennai) for my varifocals, this means the price is half what I paid then!

All Specsavers frames come with free Single Vision Pentax lenses as standard.

Stay tuned to this web site for more interesting price information to help you live cheaply in this expensive country.

This weekend's BEST BUYS

This weekend has a few best buys for fruits, mainly.

Red Delicious Apples are € 0.99 per kg at both Citymarkets and at Prismas around the town.

The Golden Delicious Apples (green) are also € 0.99 per kg in the Prismas.

Clementine oranges are € 0.99 per kg at the Prismas.

Bananas are € 0.99 per kg at the Citymarkets.

Sharon fruit are € 1.79 per kg at the Lidls.

Shop around as tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, turnips, beetroots, cucumber are some of the vegetables with wildly fluctuating prices at this time of the year.

Best Buys this week

I have found some really good buys this week (till Wednesday) at Lidl. Bananas are € 0,69 per kg, Oranges € 0.79 per kg, Honey Melon are € 0.70 per kg and Cauliflower is just € 0.99 per kg.

There are a few items which are always cheapest at Lidl. Rape seed cooking oil, which is what we use is always €1.09 per litre, Vitamin C soluble tablets are € 0.99 for a tube of 10, the Orange and Apple juices with no water or sugar added are € 0.59 per litre.

There are several Lidl shops in and around Oulu, so there will be one quite near you. You can check out their web page to find the one nearest to you.

Tokmanni has two shops in Oulu where they sell groceries, one in north Oulu at Kaijonharju and the other at Jukkolankuja in south Oulu. Today they have red paprika at € 1.99 per kg and large fresh tomatoes at € 1.99 per kg.

Flea markets with cycles

There are two main flea markets that have many second hand cycles:



The Alppila Kirppis on Kaarnatie (No. ? - 17 or 19) has many cycles standing in the shed outside in the garden.



Pohjolan Kirppis at Kempeleentie 4, Limingantulli, has many cycles in the cellar.

Many of the cycle stores have reconditioned cycles for sale.

Best Buys of Friday and maybe the weekend

Some superb offers this Friday and maybe for the weekend.

K-Citymarket has excellent oranges in 1.5 kg string bags for just € 0.99 which works out at just € 0.66 per kg. This gets a Super STAR.

K-Supermarkey has Spanish Tomatoes at € 1.39 per kg and Dutch pears at € 1.39 per kg, both very good offers.

Lidl has Bananas at € 0.89 per kg which is a very good buy.

If you want to buy Orange or Apple Juice, the prices at Lidl are presently the cheapest at € 0.59 per litre. These are juices with no water or sugar added.

Online Spice Shop from Oulu

Posted on Oulu Best Buy, Oulu Chaff and Jacob's Blog.

About six months ago a long standing Indian resident of Oulu, Atul, informed me that he was planning a Spice Centre in Oulu. There were a couple of physical Spice Centres in Oulu in the late eighties and early nineties, but Indian food was not so popular then and there were just a handful of clients as us.

Sadly, Atul did not let me know about the progress.

Findian couple Helena and Atul, who are behind Maustekauppa.fi

Last night, when we had a meeting to set up a new Indian Group in Oulu, Atul mentioned that his Spice Centre was up and running and that it was on the internet.



The online shopping experience, which is offered in both Finnish and English, is simple as Atul has the alternate option of using a post or bank account besides a credit card.

I, for one, do not use credit cards, so this means I can happily shop online using my direct online banking facility.

The pages are clean and neat and quite unusual in the way the spices are offered. Atul is also attempting to promote Indian cooking as he has started a recipe page, but at the moment there are only two recipes online.

I tried to log in, but found all buttons related to this process inactive. But it is not necessary to log in to shop!

Hope you have a great shopping experience in Maustekauppa.fi.

Let us wish Helena and Atul all the very best in this venture.

NOODLE HOUSE Opens

Posted on the Oulu Best Buy Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

At the stroke of midnight heralding a new December, NOODLE HOUSE opened its doors to the public. They did brisk business right until the last customer left at 04:30 am.

Not being a night bird, I visited the fast food counter an hour before they opened this Saturday afternoon. I was fortunate not to be swallowed up in the rush as I tasted their premium dish.





I then took 3 of their 8 selections for the family to get a taste of this new Chinese food centre. Their take away boxes can be used directly in the microwave oven. Unusual containers with an interesting colour combination - red and black!

In my earlier blog entry I was wrong with the prices. It is € 8 for the meal with 2 vegetable spring rolls, a Chinese salad and a drink of Pepsi. Without the drink, the cost is € 7.50.

The common level of spice is medium. But they add a very spicy chilli fish oil concoction if you want the dish spiced up.

Remember, the ingredients are not listed on their board, so if you do not eat octopus, prawns or pork, please tell them when you are ordering!

Verdict: Good food and very courteous service - vital ingredients for success!