mike carey

It would have confirmed so many stereotypes if you had said, 'Actually I'm a lawyer, but I didn't want to say that.'

Some may have felt that was rather too much of a challenge. A lack of ambition perhaps, but still.

I love the way some people think!

Yes, but the term is an abomination! A plot by the capitalists and plutocrats to rob working people of their money by forcing them to replace things that shouldn't have broken. (*Sings 'We'll keep the red flag flying here!'*) *Disclaimer: This is mock outrage, it should not be construed as a serious political comment.*

Joyeux Noël!

I have no words ...

In my trips to these forum gatherings (and the other travels I've had in conjunction with them) the men I've met have been 20 or more years younger than me, and none of them has shown the slightest hesitation in meeting me. Others I've simply chatted with at the gatherings have engaged with me on twitter. That said, I never assume anyone is open to a meeting, and ask. For most, ageism doesn't come into it. As I've said before, if it's safe, I'll be there again.

Fenugreek is one of the classic spices used in Indian cooking. Perhaps I need to break out my Indian recipes and start making them again. (Lately I've favoured Thai curries.)

It's nothing official, but today is widely known in Australia as 'Gravy Day' It comes from a 1990s song by Paul Kelly. The words of the song set it on 21 December. The song is a letter a prisoner is writing to his family about missing them for Christmas, and talks of quirks of their normal family Christmas gatherings, and lamenting the separation. A couple of days ago the Economist published an article noting that the sentiments in the song resonate with the sorts of separations that families will be facing this year. In a quirk, the federal government today announced the appointment of a new Chief Health Officer. His name? Professor Paul Kelly. Anyway, happy gravy day.

If I'm not mistaken, the vaccine achieves a 90% success rate across the population, not 90% protection for each individual.

Possibly several times!

'Safe' isn't a binary and like safer sex, it's not a matter of it being 'safe' or 'unsafe', but rather safer or less safe. I think it's safe to assume that there would be some protection from a first injection but that it would develop slowly so may not be measurable before the time the second jab is due. One or two jabs, protection will not be immediate and it won't be a silver bullet. I can't see either the advice on mask, distancing, hand washing and cough etiquette, or the willingness of many people to be less cautious about those measures changing for some time after the vaccinations are rolled out, if ever.

It took me a while, but eventually the penny dropped.

WUT?? It's not pizza without olives (and anchovies as was mentioned in another thread).

When it comes to the men on here, some of us can only dream, at least for the moment! Well, we can do more than dream, we can create a 'to do' list!

This is an interesting map showing the population centres of each state in 1900 (blue) and 2010 (red). Most of them are surprisingly similar after 110 years, but three stand out, California, Nevada and Florida, with the centre of gravity shifting from SF to LA, Las Vegas growing from almost nothing and the growth of population in south Florida. The relative growth of the DC suburbs compared to the rest of Virginia also shows up clearly. It's one of heaps of maps a geographer/demographer in Melbourne tweets. You can see more of his stuff at

Not just a pretty face!

I haven't done it for years, although I had 30 years of my life when it was a regular occurrence, spit polished black leather uniform shoes and (at times) boots. Our combat boots went from black leather to a light tan with a suede-like finish late in my time. I still have a couple of pairs of leather shoes but I rarely wear them preferring sneakers. Shoe shine stands are not as much a thing here as they are in the US, so using them is not something that I've ever done (either here or when I've been in the US). The one time I remember having my shoes (boots to be precise) shined was by a kid who 'hassled' the guests in the hotel where I was staying in Cusco.

Vin Marco posted this on twitter, I can't say I'm affected by either dimension.

I'm due for a trip to Sydney but not before Christmas.

No, or at least not yet, noticed him a while back but haven't followed through. Now that I've read some of his reviews ......

There was a woman interviewed on the ABC this morning whose view was that the Christmas free pass should go ahead because people had planned for it and already bought food, so it would be 'unfair' to cancel it. FFS.

If you go to the 'contact me' tab in his ad, the 'call me now' option tells callers to ask for Jordan.

I think the sheriff meant to say a large boulder the size of a small car, but it didn't quite come out that way ...

I'd love to meet him whenever I can go to London next. No time soon, though.