[Ex Finn.]

It just occurred to me that meatballs are the only thing you can buy at IKEA which comes preassembled.

There are couple other things also but not too many.

[bertwert]

Ugh. I feel like my head is clamped in a vice, while simultaneously being ironed. Not to mention that the taps to my nose are turned on full blast, and someone has been scraping a rasp down my throat. And a stinging bloody slash in my cheek (note to self: do not shave while sneezing...) Oh well, c'est la vie, I should stop complaining and go sleep.

[Ex Finn.]

Ugh. I feel like my head is clamped in a vice, while simultaneously being ironed. Not to mention that the taps to my nose are turned on full blast, and someone has been scraping a rasp down my throat. And a stinging bloody slash in my cheek (note to self: do not shave while sneezing...) Oh well, c'est la vie, I should stop complaining and go sleep.

Hope you did not catch anything at the airport !

[Ex Finn.]

Back in 2014 or so there was a discussion by some of the very well known members here, about killing this fine ongoing thread...
Just remembered that for some reason.

[savoche]

Isn't that some sort of pasta sauce?

I'm sure it would "work" as that, too.

You Tube

You Tube

[savoche]

Pretty damn impressive.
Competent folks in the winter those Finns.

They have a mindset that tends to make them competent at most things. They call it sisu.

[tim60]

Sorry Tim, but IMHO, this is a case of folks helping others. When British Columbia had extensive fires a couple years ago, fire fighters from other countries came to help. When California was in the same position, the same thing occurred. No one country can have the resources to fight these massive fiery outbreaks. Thankfully help always seems to comes from all corners of the world.

I accept your point. Mutual support is very good and there are times when Australia has helped others in the extreme events they have confronted.

[tim60]

You have to pay extra for the privilege of paying ridiculous international roaming fees? Your carriers are even worse than ours

Ok, within the EU (with friends, such as us) the roaming fees are gone, but going elsewhere in the world can be quite expensive still.

In some countries the best deal is to buy a local SIM card from a local provider. In some, such as Taiwan, most of those deals come with unlimited data, both to use on the phone and to hotspot to other devices. Then use data services to contact whoever you want. Singapore is a bit a of a ripoff for SIM bought locally, and they charge for both outgoing and incoming phone calls.

This approach is especially useful when most of your calls are to locals where you are.

Of coarse, you need to make sure your phone is 'unlocked', so there might be a trip to a shopping centre phone fixing kiosk before she goes if you bought the phone on a carrier contract.

[tim60]

Good luck getting to use the plane's restroom.

You are meant to sleep in your seat.

[tim60]

If Whittakers fired their entire marketing department they'd still sell more chocolate than Cadbury.

That was part of the message of your originating post.

[bertwert]

I should stop complaining and go sleep.

Mission failed, didn't sleep a wink, and who am I kidding? I'm never going to stop complaining.

[bertwert]

Hope you did not catch anything at the airport !

Luckily not - that's all I'm hearing on the radio right now.

[robtcorl]

And a stinging bloody slash in my cheek

You are talking face cheek, right?

[robtcorl]

[savoche]

There's been some noise in the media here about a docking in a light gale. Not sure why.

You Tube

You Tube

This is pretty much standard procedure when docking under these conditions - drop the anchor and let the wind do the job. Here's a more elegant demonstration with the same ship in the same port a few years ago.

You Tube

You Tube

Of course, I prefer to stay on land in weather like that