mike carey

Yep, for some longer term members their join date is Time Zero of the system, not when they actually joined, and that is 0000h 1 Jan 1970, but it's GMT, not local. So for me, Charlie shows as being a member since 1 Jan 1970 (Time Zero is 1000h my local time), and for Charlie and other members in the Americas, it's 31 Dec 1969 as Time Zero is 1700 PDT on that date.

This morning there was an item on the news that Australia had suffered one more Covid-19 death, taking the total to 93. It was just reported in a matter of fact way, not as a way to make some other point about the pandemic. It was remarkable in a few ways. There was no tone of celebration that it was good. When numbers in other countries are so horrifying, even a single death was being dignified by being reported. The fact that people are still dying [and catching the disease] even though in small numbers, and it's being acknowledged helps emphasise that we are not at the stage of 'mission accomplished' yet.

Some of those sort of things had already been addressed here when it became clear that the epidemic wasn't overwhelming the health care system. Elective surgery has resumed (joint replacement, cataracts and other eye surgery, even IVF) as have things like chemotherapy, mammograms and colonoscopy. Phone and video consultations by GPs and some specialists, previously 'impossible' were authorised and funded by our public health system within days. Messaging to the public is now stressing that people should definitely see their doctors for any conditions, not just respiratory ones. We had never formally been told otherwise, but people had been refraining from doing so anyway, and are now being told that they shouldn't wait. Despite indications yesterday, restrictions that prevented travel to see family have been eased, and shopping for non-essential items is now explicitly allowed.

Yes, in concept, but it's different. DC is the core of a much larger metropolitan agglomeration, the ACT is much more self-contained. As a 'metropolitan area' there is only a New South Wales city of 35,000, about 10% the size of Canberra that is linked to it, and effectively part of the city of Canberra. The ACT has a rural area, a large area that is a national park, and the water catchment that supplies the city. Although not a state, to all intents and purposes it is. It has a government that looks like and functions like a state government, including a parliament. Unlike anywhere else in the country, there is no local government, and no mayor, so the territory government performs all the functions that local councils do in the states, streets, parks, rubbish collection and the like. There is a central area with all the ceremonial spaces (but where nobody lives) that is run by a federal government agency, the National Capital Authority. So it was the NCA that made an incredibly popular 5km running circuit around part of the lake in the centre of the city one way (clockwise) for the duration of the Covid-19 restrictions.

I continue to be rather incredulous at the mixture of luck and timely government action that has enabled us to do so well. Restrictions on personal life and business activity have been extensive and there has only been a little timid loosening of the controls even with that level of success. Even with no remaining cases, the ACT isn't relaxing anything, probably for the next two weeks (at least). That said, controls here weren't as strict as they were in some states, for example, although non-essential travel was discouraged, it was never banned here and there was no legal enforcement to restrict travel within the territory.

An interesting milestone today, although not yet the time to claim any sort of victory, but the ACT is Covid-19 free today, with the last couple of patients having recovered. That doesn't mean that there won't be more cases in the coming days, and we have an open border with NSW, one that it's not feasible to close. The Territory hadn't recorded any new cases for a week. There have been nine new cases nation wide in the last 24 hours (numbers aren't in for Tasmania yet and it's had a bad few days, but still single figures each day). Several other jurisdictions have had no new cases over recent days. Australia's national death toll is now 91. Of those 20 were from one cruise liner, 12 in a rural area in NW Tasmania (most likely originating from that cruise liner) and 12 in an aged-care home in western Sydney. *Edited to say nine rather than none (which didn't actually make sense anyway).

I recently followed Mike on twitter, and when I commented on something he replied calling me an 'old friend' or some such. I had only met him once. That is a measure of the man.

I would say that yes, it does. Regardless of previous connotations of 'toilet', the meanings of toilet, WC, lavatory, bathroom, and even more colourful terms have merged. I don't attribute any genteel meaning to the word 'toilet'; if someone says 'toilet water', I think in terms of a dog drinking the toilet water, not a spray bottle used to freshen up. Maybe Australian English has moved in a different direction on this than other Englishes.

'Toilet water' carries a whole different weight of meaning to 'Eau de Toilette'.

I saw that tweet a couple of days ago, and had a belly laugh at it.

Yes, it was certainly conspicuous in the news coverage.

I'm not a big movie goer, and my usual manner of watching them is one that is not available at the moment (See the 'Foreign Travel this Year' thread in the Lounge), so I have missed more of his films than I have seen. I did see him in the 1980s TV series Riley Ace of Spies, and I think that was the first of his roles I had seen. Still, he is such an iconic actor in both of these two counties at the bottom of the world, I looked forward to last night's Australian Story episode that featured him. He tweeted this today after the program aired: [MEDIA=twitter]1254914433098190848[/MEDIA] It's an interesting self-deprecatory note that his twitter bio is 'Proprietor of TwoPaddocks - in the cheering up business since 1993. Also seen acting on occasion', he refers to his Otago winery first rather than his acting career.

So, @BasketBaller the boys are smarter than even you thought, huh? Your love for them has shone through everything you've ever written about them here, and you have conveyed the extent to which they care for you. You may not have thought you were giving much away, but it was pretty clear. Sometimes you need someone else to tell you what you can't or don't want to see yourself. Your boys have seen and now one of them has told you. Don't imagine that they haven't talked about it. They wouldn't have said anything if they didn't think your guy was right for you. I hope you can take their advice. Will it work out? Nobody knows, but if you let him slip without asking, you'll forever regret it. Good luck mate, you deserve to be happy.

Dan Murphy is a chain of liquor shops. Professor Doherty replied to someone who asked, that yes, he had tweeted when he meant to google. [MEDIA=twitter]1254649614466080768[/MEDIA]

I chose not to comment on that. But I echo other comments about being jealous of a shower.

Off on a TOTAL tangent, a couple of weeks ago I was watching a news item about the situation in Italy, and they were filming at a station somewhere in central or northern Italy (I can't remember where) and an ÖBB train went through the station. (I'm not a train spotter, it had ÖBB on the side in large letters.)

Well, this is interesting. Two places at the same time, and logged onto both accounts at about the same time (9hrs ago at 1420 EDT 27 Apr/0230 AEST 28 Apr). https://rent.men/MuscleManMax

David-SF.

Oh, of course! You did indeed! But I neglected to thank you, so I do so now.

It's a thankless task.

Yes, he has, but before today he had only posted on the day he joined and the following couple of days, so 'just started' isn't too far off the mark. Any way, welcome [back] to the forum, @Medjock, there's some fun to be had here. Make your case clearly and with good humour and you'll receive a fair hearing, but you won't please everyone. As you might have noticed. Sometimes it's best to keep your peace.

You've reminded me of one of my childhood meals, salmon pie, which I now feel compelled to make. Cooked rice, a can of salmon (or tuna) and cooked peas, all in an oven-proof dish topped with grated cheddar cheese, in a hot oven for 20 minutes. Possibly with a finely chopped onion in the salmon and rice mixture. Thinking about it, adding a cheesy white sauce to the mixture would be good.

There are a number of coffee vans around Canberra, they usually park at office buildings, set up at sporting and other outdoor events or even park by highways in and out of town. According to someone who rang the local ABC radio station, with the lack of any of its usual outdoor events, at least one of the vans has taken to driving around suburban streets with a loudspeaker the way ice cream vans do. Apparently some streets are quiet but the caller reported that on their street people flooded out of their houses of isolation to buy espresso coffees. Remembering how I jumped at the opportunity to buy a coffee on a trip to the shops after a few days in the house, it doesn't surprise me that a fair number of folk took advantage of the opportunity.

My house in a country town has a 'milk door' but alas there are no milk deliveries. My mother had the house built in 1968 and the milk door was on the side of the house where there was a flat for my grandmother, and she had had one in her previous house. Where I lived in the late 1990s we had milk deliveries, glass bottles that they collected to be reused (not recycled). The milkman supplied a polystyrene foam cooler to keep the milk cool.

Well, this one won't be flying for a bit. An A380 from Singapore Airlines has arrived at the long term aeroplane parking lot at Alice Springs. [MEDIA=twitter]1254182503947972608[/MEDIA]