please empty your brain below
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Please don't reveal the stamp solution.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 28.11.25 - 8:00 a.m. | #
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I am sure there is an elegant formulaic way to solve the stamp problem that I used to know, but that knowledge is long gone. So I resorted to brute force (i.e. big table in Excel).
Greg | 28.11.25 - 9:01 a.m. | #
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Rochester is rather nearer to London than two hours, and Strasbourg considerably further!
Man of Kent | 28.11.25 - 9:06 a.m. | #
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I began with expressing it as an equation, and then adding the condition that x and y (the number of first and second class stamps respectively) must be integers. After that I realised my maths skills were not as sharply honed as they once were so used a similar brutish approach to Greg. But the answer dose (finally) work.
Peter | 28.11.25 - 10:05 a.m. | #
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Focus on the 87p stamps and you should be able to get the stamp solution quickly without resorting to brute force. Writing out a formula and solving algebraically is making a mountain out of a molehill here.
(also, aren't stamps expensive these days!)
I'd imagine any and every beloved sitcom's Christmas special will be in the schedules as, if the channel has the rights to air it, it fills space cheaply (useful if you are paying to make more special Christmas programming) and gets people watching. So the Good Life, Blackadder and Vicar of Dibley specials would be joined by Yes Minister, Only Fools and Horses (several of those), Peep Show, Gavin and Stacey (x3), etc.
Plus UKTV Gold exists to run such programs on repeat anyway!
Si | 28.11.25 - 10:22 a.m. | #
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I could have solved the stamp problem 40 years ago using pencil and paper. I solved it today using ChatGPT. The moral of the story is identify the right tool for the job to minimise the effort required.Yes, I am a lazy arse.
Hugh Jorgan | 28.11.25 - 10:34 a.m. | #
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Call the Midwife is a Christmas TV staple missing from your list and I also look forward to the All Creatures Great & Small special too, though it's probably the last one.
Sadly no Dr Who!
Cornish Cockney | 28.11.25 - 11:22 a.m. | #
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For the stamp question, I used an online graphic calculator. I admit I did then check with chatgpt and now its teaching me how the Modulo operation works, having to tell it to remember that I'm stupid to give me a good explanation.
Nameless | 28.11.25 - 11:30 a.m. | #
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Solved mentally in about ten seconds by trial and error involving a simple multiplier to get close.
DavidC | 28.11.25 - 12:09 p.m. | #
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Bucharest is at least 3 hours flying time. It’s then over three hours to drive to the town of Craiova.
Southern Heights (Light Railway) | 28.11.25 - 2:03 p.m. | #
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Who still sends Xmas cards??
Miss Regutz | 28.11.25 - 3:09 p.m. | #
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It has, admittedly, been a good decade since I used the North Kent line from Faversham to London, but I could've sworn the fastest service went *through* Rochester each time.
Of course, it's possible that Kent has been subdivided into different time zones and Medway is now on a separate time to Faversham and London...
Jamesthegill | 28.11.25 - 4:11 p.m. | #
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<snip>
Sari | 28.11.25 - 5:46 p.m. | #
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I still send Christmas cards. I feel cheated if someone send me an e-card!
Alan S | 28.11.25 - 7:08 p.m. | #
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Si and DavidC - yes, disappointed in my brute force, I did divise a method to solve it using a simpler and quicker trial and error method, though I started with the 1.70 stamp and worked back from there.
And yes, stamps are expensive now.
Greg | 28.11.25 - 9:18 p.m. | #
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Start with second class...
At 2200 I doubt this is a dreadful spoiler...
Gordon | 28.11.25 - 10:08 p.m. | #
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The X26 and X27 Christmas Countdowns have made me feel rather nauseous. Please stop.
David | 29.11.25 - 10:04 a.m. | #
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<snip>
richard | 29.11.25 - 4:15 p.m. | #
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I started with the 2nd class stamps by figuring out how many times I needed to multiply it to get a multiple of 10 as the total price for them, then divided the difference between that and the overall total by the price of first class stamps to get the number of those too (which luckily turned out to be a whole number, confirming the 2nd class count was correct too!).
A less grumpy David who is enjoying the Xmas puzzles | 29.11.25 - 8:41 p.m. | #
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