@timrichards Some of my twitter friends who could not face the work required for mastodon have instead now moved to bluesky. Does feel more like early twitter to me.
@timrichards Great format. I had some lovely Georgian food from a local pop-up restaurant when we were living in Reading. After that and hearing coverage of the wine and feasting culture on the radio, Georgia is high on the list of places that I’d like to visit.
Interesting read. IMO you can tell it's by a British writer from this para (I'm picturing a booze-soaked EasyJet flight to somewhere hot):
"Typically, alcohol consumption and the behavioural tendencies of different cultures under its influence are the primary threats to a peaceful flight. Passengers on some routes are infamous for drinking."
Flight attendant reveals how crew deal with aggressive passengers
@timrichards I’d go with that. Certainly it was a normal part of the holiday experience for many of my UK friends to fill the time between check-in and boarding at the airport pub “getting relaxed”.
Caught some video footage of Anthony Albanese shaking hands with voters at the Dunkley by-election. We must be doing something right as a nation if the Prime Minister can rock up to a polling booth and chat to random strangers without anyone being too worried about his safety. Good to see.
A passing thought while I'm in Western Australia...
WA was never part of New South Wales, so 26 January 1788 - Sydney's foundation day - can have no meaning for it per se.
The only significance 26 January can have for this part of Australia is a celebration of the arrival of white settlers on the continent. So nothing to do with the modern nation state of Australia, and everything to do with white supremacy.
It really won't do as the date for a unifying national day.
@timrichards We were discussing this yesterday. It is as meaningless as the King’s official birthday. Just an arbitrary date as far as WA is concerned. However should Australia declare itself a republic then a unifying date of independence would conveniently be created.
We did all the shopping but put off the feast in favor of snacks and amazing leftover fried rice and spending more time together on Christmas Day, so today I’m unhurriedly making Elizabeth David’s Cumberland sauce while the ham bakes and video games happen nearby. David’s books are such an ideal blend of erudition and lazy wit, she’s my favorite.
@timrichards For me it always depended on how much annual leave I had left for the calendar year. Often by the time December came I had used so much during the year that I just had enough remaining to take off the three working days between Christmas and New Year. Which would force me to work up to and including Christmas Eve. We had strict policies about not carrying annual leave over or being recompensed for unused leave so there was no point in hoarding days.
This Optus outage probably points to the advisability of having two different Internet sources, one via NBN and one via mobile. I have iiNet NBN at home and Telstra 5G on my phone, so I assume they wouldn't crash at the same time. (And if they did, we'd have bigger things to worry about, like an alien invasion.)
On reflection I think one of the reasons I like the resurgence of zero-alcohol beers is that it provides a nonalcoholic drink that's neither sweet nor laced with caffeine. Much needed. There's only so much horrid syrupy post-mix one can endure.
@timrichards I enjoy kombucha when it is available for the same reasons. Not too sweet, has some bitterness, and the tea gives it some complexity to the taste buds.
@timrichards Interesting that the journalist did not manage to find anyone other than the “perpetrator” to support the practice. Possibly those who do were wise enough to stay schtum.