pmccarthy

That sounds about right when looking at the image.

It is just the sizes that have been corrected. Of course the image of each region is no longer the proportionate distance from its neighbours. The main message for me is that Russia is not all that big compared to Australia.

I watched the movie The Conclave on a plane two weeks ago. Highly recommended, an imaginative story about what happens behind the scene when the pope dies.

We just bought some tubes of Anthisan cream here in the UK for friends. Apparently they can no longer be sold legally in Australia, I don’t know why. It is antihistamine for stings etc,

The policeman on the desk asked “does that restore your faith in human nature?” I said I hadn't really lost it. He said “ I lost it years ago!”

A big positive for me. I lost my wallet in a park yesterday in the English Midlands and today I got it back with licence, credit cards and about $400 equivalent in cash. The girl who handed it in at the police station did not leave her name.

The minister at our church was always saying to use lettuce spray, but I haven’t tried it myself.

Why does it need a peephole?

I was told in Oxford today that London is not really a part of England, it is full of foreigners. People just ignore it and get on with their lives.

How long is it WITH your hearing aid?

This popular bronze is also losing its patina.

I think the bronze is fine, it is the patina that has rubbed off. And maybe the novelty.

Those mobility scooters need maintenance.

I would never claim it was bigger than I thought it was.

We are staying in a four star in South Kensington at present. But the supposed five star in Dubai had an identical setup, a high bath to step over then a narrow base to stand in. A big swinging glass panel which you can’t lean on or grab for support. And an overhead shower rose that forces you to move about to get coverage, I have nearly gone shafts up several times.

I don’t urn any more, but I’m still coffin.

My gripe for the day is hotel showers that are at one end of a high bath tub. You would think a basic design rule for a shower is a flat wide base so that you can stand and move safely. I have had five days of near catastrophe stepping in and out and trying to turn. No wonder the poms avoid showering if they can’t get the design right.

My wife could make me an urn but not a coffin.

I passed through Dubai this week and learned a couple of things. A Trump Tower and apartments are being heavily promoted. There are frequent flights in and out of Moscow and St Petersburg, every few hours.

Had a positive day touring around Dubai. The buildings were as big and modern as I expected but the whole joint is much, much bigger. And nearly all built in the last Fifty years.

I had a couple of those gold coins but I left them in a drawer in a cupboard that the removalists took away. They delivered the cupboard but not the coins. In 1989.

Just one word.

I didn’t mean to take a shot at CSIRO in particular, just the myth of Australian inventions. The Age article explains that CSIRO made its money by litigating a patented aspect of WiFi. In my opinion the invention of the AAS, as Onetrack says, was a world leading advancement. It was first tested and used in the assay lab at Zinc Corporation in Broken Hill. Everyone was proud to be part of that. If you look up who invented the rotary lawnmower in Wikipedia, you might think it was an Australian. But the truth it was Leonard Goodall, an American. See https://www.gasenginemagazine.com/farm-life/the-rotary-power-mower-and-its-inventor-leonard-b-goodall/

There is an interesting article in the Age today which debunks the story of CSIRO inventing WiFi. The people who invented it had never heard of CSIRO. Which leads me to the second myth, the Hills Hoist. There is a photo of a rotary clothesline in Melbourne on the 1870s. I have a US Sears catalogue from 1903 which shows one, it was even made by a Mr Hill. Peter Cuffley wrote a book about this. And the rotary mower? I could go on and on.