mike carey

It may not be as clear-cut as that. A consultation for a specific condition is different to one for sexual health advice, although ideally they would be with the same primary care provider. In Canberra, there is a sexual health clinic that offers advice, testing, vaccinations and related prescriptions. It's run by the territory department of health and is free at the point of service delivery. My last appointment they offered advice on mpox and HPV vaccination (the latter would be at a cost to me) and PrEP on demand. Now, back to the topic of the thread.

Whatever you do, don't tell @nycman you prefer a bagel from Queens! Grin!

Since the purpose of this thread was to discuss a case where someone had failed to live up to an agreement, and that issue has now been resolved, and that subsequent discussion has tended towards the exchange of character assessments, the time has probably come to close the conversation. Thank you all for the positive contributions you have made!

Simon, I think your number's up.

OMG!! So, sneakers are straight-people shoes??

Well, that's something I would never have expected to read, @Simon Suraci!

Thanks to everyone for a great weekend, the usual suspects who did the heavy lifting, @Oliver and Phil, @David-SF, @sam.fitzpatrick, @azdr0710 for his tireless taxi service (and bit of In N Out). Thanks @Simon Suraci for your invaluable advice on things to do in San Diego, if only I'd had time to more of them. The zoo is worth it in itself. I know there are things and people I've missed and for that i apologise. À l'année prochaine!

The thing with a lot of those folk recipes is that if you don't know what it 'should' be like and try to make it from a recipe or a video, what your first attempt tastes like will be your 'standard' (or convince you it was a bad idea to even try). If you persevere, you may vary it either by chance or to incorporate suggestions from whatever source, and your 'standard' may shift. If you then try an 'authentic' version, your opinion of it is coloured by your version, for better or worse. And of course every cook from the particular culture has their own version that is 'better than all the others'. And so many 'native speakers' of the dish have similarly vague versions of the recipe as your friend.

Yes, but would it be the truth or a fairy tale?

It's nice to have a lifestyle that is absolutely fabulous.

Exactly what I had thought!

Great to have met you, @BodeBrentwood, I'm so glad you enjoyed the weekend.

Spooky!

You could say that, I couldn't possibly comment!

Yep, there's a group playing cards plus a few others. Love to see you here!

Oh, yes there are, and for me it was only time, not anything that really affected me in the grand scheme of things. I can live with that!! And thank you!

In LA, have car, see you all tomorrow! PS. I hate the LAX immigration queue. Over 90 minutes tonight. OK, I'm over it now!!

Hey, a guy's gotta milk this gig for all it's worth!

Eid Mubarak! And a glorious autumn day it is in Canberra. A far nicer day to walk to the bus stop than it was yesterday, 9 degrees at midday and cold rain. And I am about to do just that now, to go to the airport for my flights to Melbourne then on to Los Angeles. I can't wait to get to Palm Springs tomorrow. Well Thursday, and it is already Wednesday here, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Small earthquake in far away country ... nothing to see ... Seriously, I had heard something about that, but I'm never sure about which small island a place is on ... To quote another poster, 'grin' ...

So is Upper Manhattan in Queens now ... ? I remember using such a parking meter in Rotorua (on the North Island of Aotearoa) when I was there with two other forum members a few years ago.

And Sydney is in the band of totality but near its southern edge, a bit further north at say Newcastle would be closer its centre. The path of the eclipse will be from the NW, moving to the south-east of the country. I've seen (well experienced) one, 200km south of Canberra, in the mid-seventies. It was overcast, but you certainly knew it was happening, and the 'shadow' of totality was still obvious.

Sounds a bit fishy!

A wild-arse guess, but I suspect he is sure.

Moderators Note Gentlemen, we've all had our say about each other's opinions and motives for posting here. It's time to return to discussions of Mark himself.