mike carey

It's also one of the options under the 'Discover' tab on the forum pages.

I'm sure I sat across the table from him at the dinner of my first Palm Springs weekend, Nice guy.

Interesting thread. Coffee is a matter of science and art, or arts. Source, growing, roasting, blending, brewing, and the skill of the barista if it's espresso. My coffee at home is either filter or plunger (translation, French press), and out, a flat white, always full cream milk. I think I've commented on coffee threads here before so pardon me if I repeat myself, I'm not going to search for any previous comments. Local cafes are the usual thing here, not chain stores, although there are some of those, McDonalds being the most common (yes, McCafe started here). The vibe of a coffee shop does nothing for me, but some aspects of what might be called 'ambience' can be a factor. I remember a story in the Economist on the virtual demise of Starbucks here where the author said every corner store has an espresso machine and knows how to use it, and that's pretty accurate. The quality is not uniform, but it's generally good. Even Maccas. They have recently been running ads on TV about their new blend, and they have proper barista-operated machines not automatic ones. (Not that automatic machines are bad, the self-service machines in one petrol station chain here make quite passable coffee, and the expensive Italian one my sister has is very good.) My favourite? The one I have in my hand at the time. Biggest turn-off is where they have heated the milk so much that it is scalded, although I can count the number of times that's happened on the fingers of one hand, but still a non-zero number.

'God' has nothing to do with it.

These are local distilleries and they are very much an Australian thing, I'm sure there are similar things in the US. Don't buy spirits from big companies, find local distilleries and buy their products. I know I'll find such things to take to my friends in the US. [I know, the borders aren't open now!]

I'd have to think about that suggestion.

'Well kept' being the determinant I suspect!

I wasn't paying attention, but if so your prediction was prescient given tonight's play. The Canadian is doing well, even if two sets down right now.

Oh dear, I'm a little bit too short and probably not lithe enough. No doubt my silver tongue will prevail. /s/

It did come up earlier.

On a tangent, on a lifestyle program tonight that features people moving to rural areas, they had one farm that raised sheep and made artisan cheeses. At first they had fed the whey from the process to their sheep but they now much of it to make vodka. Who knew that whey vodka was a thing? And they had won a world vodka competition.

Were you referring to anyone in particular in that comment?

I had copied the first item to comment before seeing the second. The Scotch and Irish versions do indeed use the opposite spellings, Scotch Whisky and Irish Whiskey, and as you noted, Lov2play, matched by a parallel distinction between the Canadian and American versions. (The recent rush of Australian distilleries produce whisky [and a lot of gins using indigenous aromatics, but that's a separate issue].)

I was unimpressed by his couple of sets against Kyrgios, but he stepped up tonight, Félix Auger-Aliassime beating Zverev. The Togolese-Canadian from Montréal. Les deux jeunes Canadiens ont bien fait aujourd'hui.

Kyrgios started out well, having missed so much tennis over the pandemic. He was always a love-him-or-hate-him guy in this country and he's moving very much in a positive direction. He is clearly enjoying himself, and was having a lot of fun in the mixed doubles with Venus Williams. My favourite moment of the Championship so far was not tennis related, but was on the first day when they announced the lead of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine development effort and her team were in the Royal Box and they received a standing ovation from the Centre Court crowd. She looked decidedly non-plussed. But the thought I have tonight is whether to dare to hope that it could be the Barty Party on Saturday. She seems to be growing as the Championship progresses and tonight's performance against the French Open champion, Barbora Krajcikova, was determined, despite being broken in the third game.

There is one, Knight Call, in Sydney's Kings Cross, and from its web page appears to be operating. I haven't used it. http://www.knightcall.com.au/location.htm Oops, I didn't click far enough into the site. It lists its prices and escorts with direct contact details for them but notes it is not operating from the address on the opening page, but will return at new premises when things return to normal.

Quite so, when I got off the plane, I wasn't like, OMG, I'm in South America, how did that happen, so not surprising in that sense. It was surprising in that it was not a trip I had long contemplated but rather, one that was the result of an unexpected suggestion. LAN as it then was (now Latam) flew to Santiago from Sydney via Auckland. Qantas later started flying there non-stop, and Air New Zealand used to fly from Auckland to BsAs. Qantas also added Rio during the winter of 2016, and it's one of their planned Project Sunrise destinations. I think Aerolineas Argentinas also flew to Sydney and/or Auckland at one stage. If I recall correctly, at one time when range was an issue, Qantas also flew to BsAs with a technical stop in Rio Gallegos.

Many of the Bounty survivors' descendants live on Norfolk Island, an Australian territory.

Ah, the borders are closed so I can only dream!

'Surprising' is when you are surprised that you ended up there, not if the world is surprised that you were there. I had no idea that I would end up in South America, so that qualifies, likewise for remote atolls in the Pacific. (And I didn't mention Tahiti in my earlier post.)

I don't doubt that, and in your position I would have done the same, And Spirit doesn't fly there.

A mall there is like a mall anywhere else. I don't think I would have chosen to go there as a tourist, and I wasn't there for that.

https://rent.men/tommygunss He's been on RM for two years but only three reviews.

That well and truly trumps my list of Pacific Island visits, viz Nauru, Kwajalein, Majuro, Kiribati (Tarawa), Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Easter Island. Oh, and Hawai'i.

Wow, just WOW!