Celebrating Positives (offset of the Gripes Thread)

[onetrack]

Maybe your vision, and the sky, reach amazing levels of clarity, after a few gins?

[pmccarthy]

Apparently people on their first LSD trip say that they can see the air.

[red750]

Talikng of drug 'trips', when you look at those idiots at the Melbourne 'rage' over the weekend taking those pills, you have to wonder about the future of this world.

[onetrack]

No doubt they're the same people who look suspiciously at any food or drink you might supply to them - or any product in the grocery aisles - and want to know exactly what's in it?

 

Yet, they'll happily swallow an unmarked pill from an unknown source and with an unknown list of ingredients.

 

As part of their re-education (if they survive) they should be getting shown the backyard labs, manufacturing methods, and types of ingredients going into their illicit pills.

[Jerry_Atrick]

This evening, I am in London.. Richmond to be precise. It is where I lived while living in London. I was very lucky to be able to. There is a pub called The Duke's Head, which is in a suburban street. The same governor has been here since before I arrived in late '96. Except in the peak season, I stay here (he discounts it for me during the non-peak season)..  I know the landlord and his lady well, and some of those I socialised with regularly still come in occasionally.

 

After work, I come in, park in his back courtyard (normally not open to visitors). I get the key. The rooms are clean and cosy, even if a little Fawlty Toweresque.

 

I have the El Greco burger with fat chips. The burger is a patty with the lettuce, etc.. but also Chorizo (Spanish) and Halloumi (Cypriot) - so hardly Greek. But it is yummy. All washed down with a large glass of Aussie rough Shiraz (I dare not ask to see the label.. Wolfy would be disappointed I am sure..)

 

The crowd is largely new, but I am establishing myself amongst them.

 

I hardly gets better than that..

 

The photo is from the restaurant bit. Personally, I am not a fan of the painted bar panels (they used to be stained)... And the eating area this time of year is quiet. But what a great pub in an otherwise residential street

 

 

Edited January 8 by Jerry_Atrick

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Personally, I am not a fan of the painted bar panels

Better than the railway station toilet tiles of the older Aussie pubs.

 

Aussie pubs are not much better than watering holes for thirsty animals, but I found British pubs to be welcoming, relaxing places, where the food was actually cooked food and not bland manufactured whatever that had been thrown into a vat of hoy oil to warm. The only thing that irked me in British pubs were their version of one armed bandits, which I could never work out how they played.

[willedoo]

The only unpleasant experience I ever had in English pubs was witnessing a couple of glassings. One was at Wimbledon, the other at Fulham Broadway. I don't know about these days, but it was quite common in London pubs in those days. It was a rare thing in Australia back then.

 

edit: oops, forgot about the thread title. On the bright side, nobody died.

Edited January 9 by willedoo

[octave]

We had a pleasant bush walk this morning.  We try to do this walk at least once a week. We are very lucky to have these areas available and the time to use them.

 

 

 

[facthunter]

I've asked "where would be better" a few times. Being unhappy MUST make some people Happy. You don't have to look that hard to find some nice things  here , IFYOU WANT TO.  I JUST KNOW a Cruise Boat would not be for Me. It's a floating Prison Feedlot and disease incubator Par Excellence. Nev

[willedoo]

I have a positive to report. This is the first year ever where I've correctly written the right year on dates after the turn of the new year and haven't written /23 once. And that's writing the date every day in a logbook. I have often written the old year by mistake for up to a month after the new year.

[octave]

5 hours ago, old man emu said:

Aussie pubs are not much better than watering holes for thirsty animals,

I think over the past few years things have changed in that craft beer pubs have become more popular.   Craft beer pubs tend not to be full of blokes drinking VB.  In the craft pubs/breweries we regularly visit there seems to be a more even gender mix.  There are still many old-school pubs around but I think there is a definite trend.  The figures suggest that Australians are drinking less beer overall but craft beer is taking a growing proportion of the beer market.  

 

Craft beer consumption up according to latest report

[facthunter]

I just put the year ONCE up the top.  We are working a couple of frequencies here at once .

     I became  a wine drinker before it became fashionable. Copped a bit of crap at the time but BEER gives me "Hives" AND we don't make great speeches when we are full of it.  Nev

Edited January 9 by facthunter

[red750]

51 minutes ago, willedoo said:

I have often written the old year by mistake for up to a month after the new year.

It used to be bad when you did it on cheques, but they're as scarce as hen's teeth these days.

[red750]

I rarely go to a hotel. Haven't even been to my son's pub since before the pandemic, and the not the bar. Only went to the bistro for a meal such as a family celebration - birthday, etc. Apart from that, my hotel visits would have been less than once a year.

[spacesailor]

I have an ' Optus ' cheque. 

Worth less than a dollar,  with a provision it can't be cashed , if less than " one dollar " .

spacesailor

[Marty_d]

On 08/01/2024 at 9:30 PM, red750 said:

Talikng of drug 'trips', when you look at those idiots at the Melbourne 'rage' over the weekend taking those pills, you have to wonder about the future of this world.

You actually have to wonder about the stupidity of governments who refuse to allow pill testing and drug information.

Plus the whole hypocrisy about alcohol being legal and other types of drugs not.

If it was regulated and manufactured safely, dropping some MDMA and drinking a shedload of water while dancing your arse off is probably a lot healthier than sitting in a pub downing a dozen drinks.

[old man emu]

The Government providing free pill testing services is incomprehensible to me.

 

1. The Government has made laws aimed at ensuring that manufactured items for human (and animal) consumption are safe.

2. Acting on sound scientific advice, the Government has declared the precursors of these "party" drugs as unsafe and unauthorised possession of them illegal.

3. Because the possession of the precursors is illegal, the Government spends millions of dollars preventing their import, and retrieving those that slip through.

4. The illegal manufacture and distribution of "party" drugs is a major component of the operations of organised crime.

5. Control of the market for these drugs is a major source of violent conflicts amongst the organised crime players, resulting in further crime.

 

Then the Government says to young people, "It's OK to support organised crime by purchasing their products that don't meet food quality control standards. It is OK, if we test a random sample of the product, to consume these chemicals without knowing either safe dosage levels, or what other things needed to deal with the physiological effects of the chemicals."

 

As a final thought, just think about the poor bloody constable who has to knock on the door of a family home in the early hours of the morning to tell parents that it is likely that a person believed to be their child has died and would the parents accompany the constable to the morgue to confirm the identity of the deceased person.

 

What bloody idiots thought that pill testing of illegal substances was the way that Governments could protect those it was formed to protect?

[nomadpete]

I rather think that the concept of pill testing is beneficial. It does not condone breaking the law.

It does send the message to the user that taking pills is a serious risk. More importantly it also sends a message to the dodgy dealers - if they cut the stuff with dangerous contaminants, their business will fail because word will get around the buyers, who will then stop buying from them.

 

And I hope it is a first step toward decriminalising drugs. The yanks proved the folly of prohibition. When they tried it with alcohol it created a massive criminal activity to provide the drug.

 

The only way to reduce the harm to public is to legalise the drugs, and back it up with severe penalties for having any drugs in the system of people driving vehicles, etc. And constant advertising of the health dangers. We do this for alcohol, and it clearly works better than simply criminalising it.

Edited January 9 by nomadpete
I had to correct the autocorrections

[old man emu]

4 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

back it up with severe penalties for having any drugs in the system of people driving vehicles, etc.

Unfortunately, in very many cases the penalty for operating machines whilst intoxicated by chemicals, legal or not, is suffered by people who have not consumed those chemicals.

 

7 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

It does not condone breaking the law.

How can you say on one hand that possession of an object is illegal, yet if you give up one of those objects from amongst those you have, you can retain the rest without penalty? 

 

The best thing about pill testing is that it destroys these dangerous objects, one at a time.

[octave]

I believe that in a pill-testing trial in Canberra 18% of people after testing decided to dispose of the drug, this must surely be a good thing.

 

It brings drug users into contact with people who can also subtly deliver a health message.

 

It may erode the user's faith in the quality of the drugs that are being sold.

 

A test that detects a particularly bad drug circulating at an event could have important implications for others who may have bought the same drug.

 

The old-fashioned methods of dealing with drugs have not worked and are unlikely to suddenly start working.  We need to try other methods and rigorously evaluate the evidence and not just make decisions on emotion.  Pending further information I am for drug testing with rigorous evaluation of the results.  Should anyone want to change my my, don't tell me your gut feeling but link me up hard evidence.

 

 

 

[nomadpete]

Thanks Octave for clarifying what I was attempting to convey.

[facthunter]

Difficult topic and has been for a long time. Ruins so many lives and you are dealing with bad people who don't care.  Nev

[nomadpete]

3 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Difficult topic and has been for a long time. Ruins so many lives and you are dealing with bad people who don't care.  Nev

 

The drug Alcohol (which is legal).

Or the illicit drugs?

 

Either are damaging, addictive, destructive products.

 

The only difference is that one group support a very large criminal economy and the other doesn't.

[facthunter]

Either way but more so the unregulated substances. Alcohol with food is OK  (Moderation).  Nev

[nomadpete]

This morning I am sitting out in the warm sun, sipping a cuppa, watching the resident wedgetail going from thermal to thermal. I think it is just simply enjoying the morning sun. The superb wren and his harem are prospecting in the grass and the welcome swallows are teaching their kids to fly.