Is there anything on TV? Chat with Bobi

By Bobi

… umm … I won’t say there’s nothing on TV. It’s just not not-nothing.  

There is much searching and changing of channels In this house and many shows are abandoned after the mandatory three minutes. I am working on it but the batteries in my remote have gone flat.

But I am on a mission. 

A person I am closely related to, plus partner, has just returned from overseas. They are in hotel quarantine. There is only food and television to keep them occupied. I don’t feel too sorry for them as they are being well looked after – but they are bored. 

They are relying on SBS and ABC for entertainment (otherwise known as the golden oldies). Just as an aside, the ABC is the only public service organisation that the Liberal party has left relatively untouched. The Coalition would lose its entire voting base if they tried to shut down either of these channels. 

He-who-is-locked-away is watching Gardening Australia. How weird is life? If I had told my younger self that this was riveting stuff, I would have curled up in embarrassment and yet this is one of my all-time favourites. How retired am I? 

I have mentioned Old People’s Home for Four Year Olds to him. I am confident it will go down well. I am expecting much gratitude and chocolates in the mail. 

The TV gods are still sending me episodes of Taskmaster and QI. What would we do without these people and their complete understandIng of the elderly with no long term memory. 

I have found two crime show on SBS: Masantonio (Italian) and Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games (French). Listen, neither of these shows is great but they ticks those boxes: no emotional involvement, likeable characters, obvious clues and a satisfying resolution. A little bit of fun for those who are desperate for a half an hour or so of fluff and escapism. 

I do have a proper recommendation, though. I am watching The Durrells (ABC). It is based on the book My Family and Other Animals. It is the first book I ever remember reading, or having it read to me. A bit of this, a bit of the other. It was the one that started my life-long love affair with books. I don’t care how crappy the TV show could be, and it’s not btw, nothing could take away my enjoyment in it. Just let it be known that I might not be objective here. 

Now, I would recommend The Dog House (Ch 10) – season 1 was excellent – but it has been taken over by tributes to Prince Philip. Not that I completely mind at the macro level, and, yes, it’s sad and momentous, but I don’t understand the logic of putting the same thing on on every channel. What is the thinking? Firstly, no-one is going to do this better than the ABC. Obviously. Fftt. And secondly, why would this enhance Ch 10’s ratings over Ch 9 or Ch 7? What could one channel say that is different to another? And thirdly, all channels? All day? Way to drive traffic to the streaming services. Even the most ardent of royalist has a limit. 

So let me finish on a high note. 




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161 Comments

  1. Thanks Bobi, I too am avoiding any Channel feasting on Prince Philip’s carcass. Another Englishman who failed to make a century. Hardly news.

    • I have to laugh, every time a news broadcast tells me that they have “breaking news” on the Prince Philip story.

      What, did he come back to life? Because I’m pretty sure that hasn’t changed.

    • “Breaking news” is so overused.
      I have noticed that some channel that I largely ignore has started saying “Alert”. It’s still not quite right and I can’t get past being alert but not alarmed.

  2. I thought I’d look at bits of DWTS before turning to Graham Norton, but know that Daryl Somers’s simpering and acting cute will annoy me after 30 seconds, if that long.

    I know the pandemic disrupted filming schedules, but HYBPA handled it quite well, yet it is not back on. Remember when tv used to be crap during December and January, then regular shows would start up again late January? I am thankful for re-runs of Law and Order SVU, various CSI’s, Aircraft Investigations, Death in Paradise, Doc Martin…and good old ABC.

    My remote, too, is getting a workout every night. If I last that long I might watch Shutter Island again, because last night it lost me halfway through. Either I wasn’t paying attention, or I’m dumb.

    • I remember Shutter Island. I got it. I didn’t like it but then I am not a Leo fan.
      I put him in the same category as Julia Roberts. They are not actors, they are sayers of lines. I just don’t get the appeal.
      I was in an out of DWTS. Sonia is funny. Darryl can bugger off.
      I love Death in Paradise. One of those shows that I can (usually) watch on repeat.

  3. I have just got into Sanditon, on the recommendation of a friend. Pride and Prejudice-meets-Bridgerton. I find it very agreeable except it seems there will not be a second season

    • My aunt recommended Sanditon, and when the BBC channel on Foxtel had a binge session of all 8 episodes, I recorded them all and watched them last month.

      I really enjoyed it. It’s a pain there’s not a second season (because I really want to know what happens with Syd and Charlotte), but I did really enjoy the first 8 episodes, in particular, Esther and Lord Babington’s side-story. That was just lovely.

      I will say, though, that there was a lot more nudity than I expected in an English period drama.

  4. So…. how’s everyone in Western Australia going.
    I’m showing my lack of geography studies. I don’t really know where this weather is going on.

    • There were two cyclones dancing around each other off the coast which evidently made it difficult to predict their tracks, as there were various levels of alerts and warnings for a big stretch of coast over the past few days.

      One cyclone petered out, but Seroja crossed the coast at Kalbarri (about 600km north of Perth) and caused extensive damage there. It also did damage at Carnarvon, 800km north of Perth, and strong wind and rain as far south as Geraldton. So, an unusual weather event. It’s okay here in Perth; we had a little rain over the weekend and some wind, nothing scary.

  5. So Nine has announced Lego Masters will launch on the same day as MasterChef. Talk about splitting the potential viewing audience. I think we will have to record LM and watch it the next day

    • Absolutely and positively LM.
      I like MC and will drop in and out but LM is joyous.
      I can predict that MC will be filled with tears, manufactured drama, artificial suspense with a sprinkling of a dead Nonna or two.
      LM will just be fun and surprises.

      • I LOVE LM but Mr 9 will want to rewind bits he did not understand. We were late to the party so binged the last two seasons at our leisure

    • This is exactly the discussion I had with Young Adult Male yesterday. I was moaning that MC and LM have the same demo audience, and why couldn’t they put one of them on at same time as MAFS, so we had something to watch now, and then move straight into the other. He insisted that the demo audiences for the three shows are all the same. In his words “people who watch tv”.

      I still think I am right.

    • Yeah, it’s a word I take great pains to avoid, if I can help it.

      I blame reality TV shows for completely killing the word.

      • Along with “dream”, “passion”, “share”, “sacrifice”,” me kids” blah,

        How about “restaurant quality”? BS

        Debased.

        Lest we forget the greatest abuse of all ……. “chef”

        • And “leave it all on the plate”. FFS, of course they’re friggin well going to. Don’t want to eat it off the floor!

    • Here is my list Von;
      Journey (unless you are packing your bags and going somewhere)
      Celebrate, ( Unless there is a party with food and streamers).
      Learnings, and any other words invented by a politician.
      Youse,
      And now flog, unless it’s used according to any of the dictionary definitions provided by Dave, it you are making fun of it.
      And the overuse is words such as “Amazing”, “Awesome”, or “Too easy”.
      I recently heard a lovely check out girl trying to be so polite, saying “Too easy”, to every customer ahead of me. When she came to me, I asked her, as nicely as I could, please don’t say “Too easy” to me.
      She didn’t even know she was doing it.

      Mean aren’t I. Not really. I just had to spare myself.

      • Hey….. It’s all good. It is what it is. Shit happens.

        “There’s a lot to unpack” Well, if it’s a suitcase, maybe.

  6. Here I am channel surfing, looking for something for the grandkiddies to watch (last day of school holidays), and here are some choices:
    Meghan and Harry – a Romance.
    The Royals and the Tabloids
    Am I the only one feeling a sense of ick?
    The guy is about to be buried and commercial channels are going for the lowest common denominator.
    Plus, of course, complaints about over saturation is being completely ignored.
    So, again, ick.

    • It seems that all the royal docos have now been entered into a loop system. They were going before HRH’s death, in fact I think they started around the time the freeloaders left England.

    • Sam Burgess has multiple arrests to his name. I’d be sleeping with one eye open around a domestic abuser.

    • I haven’t heard of the majority of these people.
      I am assuming that they are mostly football players? Which would be a good indicator of who their target audience is, and why Bryce can get a job as a football commentator in Victoria.

      • I think most of them are athletes?

        Pete Murray is a singer, isn’t he?

        There’s the actresses who need to fire their plastic surgeons. Oh, and Dan Ewing is an Australian actor. He’s done a few local films, but he played “Dillon the Black Ranger” in Power Rangers RPM, the seventeenth season of the show. I just happen to know that.

        I like that Manu is there. If he put up with an insane cocaine-addled Nazi chef, for ten years, he can survive a few weeks of SAS training.

        • There’s a couple who are kids of famous people: Jett Kenny (son of Grant & Lisa) Jessica Peris (Nova Peris’ daughter, I think). Olympians: Jana Pittman, Kerri Pottharst, John Steffensen. Footy: Heath Shaw (GWS), Sam Burgess (NRL). Tennis: Alicia Molik (love her), Philippousis. Brynne Edelsten, I think, was the arm candy for Geoffrey Edelsten who owned the Sydney Swans for a while. She must be a fair age now as he has been dead quite a long time.
          Six others I don’t know (the actors, I think), and of course Manu, who we all know.

          That said, I didn’t watch the show, and probably won’t this time either.

          • Geoffrey Edelsten is still alive and 77. I had to Google. Only the good die young. He’s got a new blonde on his withered arm, too. He’s done enough bad things to be on this show but I guess a heart attack on tv wouldn’t be good viewing.

            Busty Brynne is 38 , that’s years , not bra size. How sentimental of her to keep the Edelsten name.

          • Goodness gracious. I had a brain snap for a minute there.
            Thought that Geoffrey was going to be on the show and had a mental image of him jumping out of a helicopter.
            It just show that reality shows have jumped the shark if it didn’t look too improbable to me.

          • Edelsten is still alive? Wow, my faulty memory is getting to be a real problem. I can distinctly remember a big funeral. It must have been someone else’s.

            And Brynne is only 38. From the pic, I thought she was mid-50’s.

            My 44yo BIL who works for a major retailer where you can give customer feedback, had a compliment submitted that identified him as a 20yo! And no, he’s not one of those very well-preserved 40yos. He does have a hipster style bun and beard, so maybe it was that. He is telling that story everywhere, of course.

  7. We watched, “I know your secret”, on Binge. It’s a murder mystery. We both enjoyed. I would rate it a moreish 7. Just because it was a “page-turner”. Bit far fetched.

    • “The fact that I actually had to Google what neo-Nazi meant is pretty telling. So I just want to tell you this once and one time only, it is completely untrue, unfactual and a load of garbage.”

      Sure, Jan, sure. He did not know what it is. What a dumb little f*cker….

      • It’s also a bald-faced lie.

        On Instagram, Pete admitted that he watched “Romper Stomper” in his youth … a movie where Russell Crowe plays a Neo-Nazi.

        Evans is a narcissist who lies like he breathes. He’s too used to surrounding himself with a cheerleading squad, so nobody ever calls him out on it.

        And I hope to ensure that Pete will be FOREVER remembered for this rubbish, because that’s damn well what he deserves.

    • I didn’t read the article until just now.
      Pete is so much worse than I thought. I came out of IMAC really liking Grant and now I like him some extra.
      I did like Colin more than I expected.
      I get Colin defending Pete. I have a friend whose a racist (not Pete-type racist but nevertheless) and, to keep it in perspective, so anti-Trump its rabid.
      We have been friends for such a long time. The best I can do is change the subject, a lot, and hopefully maybe I can keep her on the left hand side of Pete (it is left, isn’t it?). She is someone with strong opinions so it is always interesting times.
      The good news for me is that it makes me question my own views on stuff. As I get older that “bubble” is ever expanding and hard to fight as I, increasingly, stay in my comfort zone.
      The worry is the “Am I a casual racist?” bit because it is so insidious. Every now and then, obviously yes but awareness is a fabulous thing.
      Colin sounds like he has the same dilemma. It’s hard to articulate without inviting condemnation.

  8. It seems we have, not only all the Perth people who had the long weekend planned down south, but a whole lot more who stampeded to escape lockdown.
    Yikes. Mask on.

    • Daisy, I saw the lines of cars exiting Perth on the news, as well as the crowds panic buying at the shops. It’s a three-day lock down, we should be able to do that standing on our heads.

      Why make a rushed, unplanned trip to places you know are going to be crowded? I am enjoying how quiet it is in my neighbourhood today.

      Definitely mask on, stay safe.

      • For about 10 seconds, after the last publicity about the blood clots, I thought about not getting vaccinated.
        And then I pulled myself together and gave myself a stern talking to.
        Vaccinations, no matter what the risk, are a miracle. My grandparents lived with an awareness of death from disease lurking around every corner. My mother had tuberculosis. With a small (and mildly painful) poke in the arm, I can be protected from something that has killed millions.
        I am lining up, socks pulled up, first in the queue- as soon as they fix the website so that I can register. These public service cuts …

        • For longer than 10 seconds, I thought about waiting to get vaccinated until I had a choice of vaccines. That is never going to happen, so I will take whichever one I can get, as soon as I can, as we all should.

          I think we were all so relieved that vaccines were available and effective, that objectivity went out the window. Any vaccine is going to have side effects, but, as we’ve heard eleventy billion times, the benefits outweigh the risks.

          There are no problems with me getting on the website. My own doctor’s clinic is offering vaccination appointments. The delay is hitting a time when appointments are available so I can register. I just got my flu shot, so have to wait a few weeks now anyway. Perhaps by then vaccines will be being distributed more widely because they seem to be doled out in dribs and drabs now.

          • Yes. We wanted to choose Pfizer. But then it’s not like shopping for shoes, is it? Take what you can get and hope that it’s better than nothing.

          • I don’t qualify yet, but I will be discussing options thoroughly with my GP. I don’t intend at all *not* to get a vaccine, there are just some issues that I want to clear in my mind first that related to my personal health history. I won’t be one of those in a car at a drive-through, I need the comfort of medical staff nearby.

            DH is in the current group due to his work, but is waiting to be asked by work to do it. He’s had a close call with his mortality in the last few years and it has made him very fatalistic in general, and therefore in no rush. Of course, non-existant cases in our area make it a lot easier to take the decision slowly.

            There’s people all around me getting it, though (I hang with a lot of older people than me) and there’s been mixed stories of side effects. Quite a few have had extended periods (days to weeks) of general malaise and headaches. Others have had nothing.

  9. Back to the stampede from Perth. I don’t know if you have had our news, but NOW, politicians are saying that their was a stampede out if Perth to dodge lockdown. NOW they are say people in the SW should wear masks (I figured that out when our local café was inundated with Perthies, and without masks). NOW politicians tell the Perthies who made the great 11 or more hour ( some would have already left before the announcement),NOW they are being told they should be in self isolation and wearing masks. They are not.

    And it’s not just the SW as reported on the news. As well as the SW towns, such as Bunbury, Donnybrook, Margaret River and Dunsborough, on FB people are reporting the Great Southern, eg Denmark, Albany, and northern towns are all reporting the same inundation of people dodging lockdown.
    Now Woolif and I are in lockdown to avoid contact because the Perthies have created close contact.

    I said to the TV, the first time I saw a stampede window created in the Eastern States, that it’s what they are doing, and I think anyone with half a noggin, said likewise.

    And when we were at our café, we ran for our masks in the glove box. Haven’t needed them since May last year.

    • I wondered about the start time of this lockdown, since the last one for us in February started at 6 pm. But, frankly, this lockdown doesn’t affect or restrict me much, so I went on with my life, only thinking it was a bit odd.

      But, I agree Daisy, giving people that window of time to get out of town was a major stuff-up by the WA government. I don’t know if it was long-weekend mentality, or lack of forethought, or simply a huge mistake. That poor man who caught the virus in hotel quarantine had over 300 close and casual contacts here; the ripples from that could have serious consequences with city and Peel people travelling all over the state, not even considering his fellow flight passengers and their contacts in Melbourne yet. There has been some major backtracking by politicians and police officials over the weekend. Let’s hope common sense and good fortune will help us again, as during the February lockdown.

      I’m pondering now how all the travelers are going to get home. If they are supposed to be isolating, are they meant to stay at their holiday spots for another 11 days, assuming lockdown does end 1201 am Tuesday? Or will there be traffic jams heading back to the city after that time?

      Someone was not thinking clearly. I’m looking at you, Mark; you’re my hero during the pandemic, but, damn, who were you taking advice from on Friday?

      • I think the delay start is related to what happened in Melb when they snapped-down the towers in about July. The biggest problem there was people who needed medications and that sort of thing ie genuine need to prepare themselves. And of course the tower people are coming back at the Vic government about it. Ever since, every lockdown has had a warning period. In addition, while the govt may announce 3 days to start with, there is no guarantee it won’t be longer. With WA’s Premier, I would expect it to go on for a very long time.

        I suppose in WA, part of the exodus was that you guys had a public holiday today, so people were already in the mindset of going away and possibly already had accommodation booked. That does tempt people to just stick with their plans for the weekend, and not consider whether they might spread germs. Nobody ever thinks that they might be infectious, it is only other people.

  10. I don’t understand the need to panic shop. Firstly, everything these days can be bought on line and, secondly, who doesn’t have enough in their house to last 2 days? Seriously.
    I think I have mentioned that I have a close relo who just came back from India. I have a video of economy class – empty. Also, they have been vaccinated. Why isn’t everyone vaccinating before they get on planes?
    He does have a friend who is worried about going the other way. He has children here and there. He is vaccinated but there will be fewer flights.
    Notice the theme here?

    • No, I don’t unless the theme is that there is no theme?

      I would be grateful for consistent advice from the federal government. Of course recommendations change as science changes and new discoveries emerge. But I’d like my government to be more reliable than its seemingly knee jerk reactions to click-bait headlines. I know it is wishful thinking to hope for that from this lot.

    • 🤣
      Vaccinations.
      The problem with jumping from one conversation to another. You think that the same people are with you.

      • I’m not sure that I would test my vaccination by going to India. It is clear from GB that the vaccines make a huge difference, but there is still so much uncertainty about the virus behaviour.

        The medical advisors seem to be getting less certain about what they know, not more. No wonder the govts are challenged about how to set the rules.

      • Thanks, Bobi. It’s not often that I lose you. Was trying to read something profound into your question, when it was simply a question.

  11. So, I have been watching Shadow and Bone on Netflix. It is fantastic. 🙂 I enjoyed the books, read them during last year’s lockdown. Well, the first lockdown… the first of a gazillion we had so far in Europe. Netflix and Co, my books are my best friends. 😉 I started graphic design classes as a cake shop is so far in the future, I completely changed my plans (also because which vaccine??? Not for my age group until fall or even later).
    I have all the inherited cook and baking books with handwritten recipes of my Oma and my mum. I want to create a recipe book for kids and their mums. I am going to get a graphic tablet (still not decided which one, Wacom or XP-Pen) for illustrations. On Thursday I am going to lock in my kitchen. Takes about 6 weeks to get it delivered, so I need to renovate the room. Plus work, but home office, so it is not a big issue. And then I can start testing the recipes and tweak them if needed.

    • I have been thinking of giving Shadow and Bone a go. I haven’t read the books.
      Speaking of books (segue 🤣) by grandkids would love a graphic novel type cookbook. It would so much be up their alley.

    • Zhee, I am so impressed by your initiative and planning for the future. Well done in finding a dream and getting started to make it happen.

      • Thanks. 🙂
        I have to admit I felt very lost, my mum’s death didn’t help the situation either. Plus in Europe, the Covid situation still looks really bad. I was basically forced to rethink my plans for now. I always loved writing though, to some extent drawing as well. So I started to think what else I can do. Don’t know if there really is a market for “my recipe book” as you can find basically everything on the internet anyway, but if I don’t try I will never find out. 😉 Though I think Covid also changed the way families are together and I think we will never go completely back to the way it was. Even if the majority is vaccinated, Covid will most likely be our companion for a few years (until the next pandemic strikes).

        • Zhee, tell me more about your kitchen. I want to hear about surfaces, colours, handles. Will you have lots of soft-touch pot drawers – is that a thing over there? I sometimes write about new homes for work and the kitchens are always the best bit.

          I found recipes a good way to introduce fractions to my son as saying “cut this dough into six” is so easy to grasp visually

          • Growth mindset and resilience journals are big right now and I could see a cooking version of this aimed at girls doing well, with room to write their own variations
            Or tasks, like: Ask a family member for a recipe and write it here. Make this basic cookie recipe. Now make it again but invent some new flavours. Write them here

          • I keep a diary. I have for 11 years now.

            I write down the best thing that happens every day. The memory that I want to keep, the thing that I want to remember that day for.

            It’s reassuring to know that I’m preserving my best memories. The bad ones tend to stick around far too long on their own.

          • Ooh, pressed a button there, Juz. Soft-touch drawers are a no-no for my ideal kitchen. DH put one in for the garbage bin cupboard and I can’t stand it. I now accumulate a pile of rubbish on the bench and then open the cupboard just once to deal with it all.

      • So sorry, Zhee. My Mum has been gone nearly three years now, If it helps, it does get more bearable. Not necessarily easier but more part of who I am.
        I am a purchaser of cookbooks. I don’t always use them but I love them on my coffee table. They are a delight to flick through and imagine what might be and I have noticed that most of my visitors pick them up to browse so I don’t think I am alone in my delight.
        My local book fair loves cook books. They go in a heart beat.
        My first go to is the internet but every now and then, I do actually cook out of one of my books. One of Matt Preston’s books hits all the right buttons.
        I would encourage you.

    • By that point in MKR, the shine was fading. That was the year that MAFS reallly ramped up the sordid trash, so channel 7 contrived a “sex scandal” (which was nothing more than two of the contestants hooking up, off-camera) to compete.

      While I think it’s a bit silly … I also really like that 7 lost, because 7 is the one who inflicted the show (including the Nazi chef) on the world in the first place.

    • I am glad that she won (won being a loose term). Maybe now producers will be more careful and just let storyline’s unfold naturally.
      We, the audience, can make our own decisions about who we like, or not, without artificial interference.

    • Thanks , Von. Woke with mild headache. sniffles, tiniest of chills. Like a wannabe Jack Farnham of flu feelings. One Paracetamol knocked it stone dead. Dr Phil , Judge Judy, a cd nap pulled me through it and then I walked two miles.

      I think if I was really ill, I’d watch the three epiodes of Home And Away tonight. You’re the virus, try and understand it.

      Appreciate your concern, Von. One Paracetamol ,gice. 58 cents a box. I’ll get a “booster” on July 27.

      • I wonder if will be the same reaction second time round.
        The good news is that Dr Swan says that that reaction is the immune system working: the stronger the reaction, the stronger the response. Or something.

        • That’s what I said after my flu shot.
          The pharmacist said that a bit extra is in the “over-65” shot because our immune system was low. I had a nana nap so … maybe?
          Hence my interest in any reaction to the second time.

      • Glad you’re feeling better, Dave.
        No reaction at all here.

        BTW son 1 is in rehab in Bali and going really well. Beyond my expectations. He just called. I haven’t heard him sound like that in 12 years.

        • Great news, Daisy. And BDD. If you get any insomnia you can suss out my new guilty pleasure: Naked and Afraid XL. It’s on late at night on one of those 90-something channels. It’s a wilderness survival show, sans clothes (they blur the bits)

  12. Fijane, regarding your earlier comment: Mr Juz does not know how to quietly shut a drawer and he barrels through doors like he’s in the Running of the Bulls. So soft-close drawers are a must or I would get even battier

    • I love a soft close.
      When you are in a hurry or in the middle of multitasking, a quick flick of the hip closes a draw. Makes me feel in control.

        • I’ve noticed in a few home articles and ads recently that a drawer is referred to as a draw. I don’t know where that has come from, but hope it is not a new, lazy word because saying two syllables is too damned hard.

          • Haha. Sometimes, when I take another teacher’s class, and read their notes, I see, “in the draw behind you”, and “mark the role”. I so want to take a red pen to their spelling mistakes.

    • It is the opening that is the problem. I’m used to the bang of the closing door, but pulling my shoulder from the socket to open the bin has turned me off them for life.

    • That is on periodically, usually only for a week or so. I wish they would start running old Twilight Zone episodes, too.

      • There is an episode of Twilight Zone that haunts me to this day.
        It is the main reason that I emphatically, positively insist that I am going to be cremated when I die (in the Twilight sense of the word).
        Horrifyingly well told stories.

        • Ooh, Bobi, which one?

          The one that has stuck with me is Burgess Meredith surviving a nuclear blast, leaving him all the time in the world to read, and then breaking his glasses. It wasn’t a frightening ep, but he was so sad and defeated that it has always stayed in my mind.

          • It was a prison escape story.
            The idea was that when the next prisoner died, the escapee was going to be put into the coffin with the body, be transported out of the prison, be buried in a grave, and wait until his buddy came by to dig him up later.
            I don’t remember the logistics exactly but it was all good.
            So, some time later, a prisoner dies as required, escapee jumps into the coffin with the body as planned, is driven away and buried according to plan. All good.
            Waiting, waiting, waiting.
            Eventually escapee lights a match/lighter and, 🎶 Da Da Duh 🎶, the body turns out to be his buddy.
            Cue screaming.
            Fade to credits.
            Here I am 30 (or so 🤣) years later, still with an incredible fear of being buried alive.

  13. I loved the original Twilight Zones as a kid.(I probably didn’t actually get to watch many).
    I recall one where a kid disappeared into his bedroom wall and was trapped there. And I recall one where a kid’s mother was dead so his/her dad took him/her to a place to buy body parts to make a new mum. I recall the eyeball section.

  14. Twelve years after the last purchase, we have bought our first “smart” tv. Oh my, how complicated it is. Yes, it is wonderfully large, the sport and landscapes look fabulous. We had *the best* salesman at the Good Guys and he was able to identify all my requirements and I am very happy with all the things that were essentials. It still takes forever to find my way through all the menus, though.

    The only challenge, for which I am still hoping to get an answer, is that there is no dedicated Subtitle button on the remote! You have to bring up a menu, then another, then toggle the item on the screen. I like to flick the subtitles on if a person is not speaking clearly or with an accent, and then flick off afterwards. I need a remote button for the subtitles!

    • Yes, and it’s too bad he didn’t “rediscover God” before he decided to rape the victim, isn’t it. He can spend his short time in jail trying to make amends to his god, because he can never make amends to the woman.

    • God was probably too busy hiding from Scott Morrison and wasn’t even returning Hayne’s phone calls.

  15. I caught a few minutes of The Cook Up with Adam Liaw last night. He asked his guests a few food-related questions. Neither of them knew what a baker’s dozen is.

    • But just adding that I enjoy his show (depending upon the guests). It’s a gentle, easy watch.

    • I am desperate for something good to watch. The only channel we haven’t got ATM is Netflix.

      I am tired of dark things with serial killers and gruesome dead bodies and would like a laugh but I can’t find anything funny.
      Anyone know of any funny TV series? Preferably British.

      We are currently watching This Way Up but it’s not funny. At least no one is dead.
      But one for a really food one WITH dead bodies, watch Deadwater Fell streaming weekly on SBS. It has Dr Who in it. It’s really good.

      • I can’t remember – were you one of the ones who watched “Mum”? After finding it halfway through, I bought the dvds of the first two series and am rewatching. Just love it.

        Also, enjoying The Good Place. Not British though.

        There is always the old British stuff: As Time Goes By, Doc Martin (not so old, but the first seasons are), Heartbeat, Yes Minister, The Good Life, To the Manor Born, Monarch of the Glen…

        I’ve never liked the dark stuff you describe, which now eliminates 90% of Netflix and 80% of total shows. I’m always hunting for nice normal life shows.

        I subscribed to Britbox on the flashy new TV, and put a whole lot of stuff on the wishlist, but again it took a bit of hunting past the modern crime stuff to get to ones I would like.

        • I loved Mum. Seriously, one of my favourite shows in a long, long time.
          I liked The Good Place but ran out of steam. I still haven’t watched the final season.
          I, too, am struggling to find cheerful and funny.

        • Thanks, Fijane. Yes, we watched most seasons of TGP until it jumped the shark for us. I think that was at about Season 4.

  16. I had my shot yesterday.
    I didn’t die.
    I just have that odd funny feeling that you get sometimes if you are flu-ish.
    Mind you, I am a hypochondriac.
    Making plans to stay at home and read a book, watch tv, eat chocolate.

    • Oh, that kitty is just me!

      Quite a few friends work in healthcare and are having shots now. They are finding it challenging with work, trying to time the appointment so that they can afford to be off if feeling a side effect. One friend is the coordinator of all the local public health vaccination places, and she is flat out getting them running, and is challenged to find the right time for her own shot.

    • I thought it was all run really well. Like a well oiled machine.
      All forms completed, queues well organised, information was clear, nurses were lovely.
      And my follow up phone call and next appointment has been booked.
      I was seriously impressed.

  17. Anyone watching Drag Race Down Under? Found it on Youtube (wonder how long it will take until they are taken down^^). It’s silly, kitsch, funny, stupid and crazy so far. And I want Hugo Weaving to show up as a judge in his Priscilla – Queen of the Desert drag! But this won’t happen, also surely no Courtney Act…
    And yes, I am a huge Drag Race fan.^^ Especially during the pandemic it is a welcome distraction.

    Juz, my ex was also a door smasher. We had the old kitchen version from Ikea in the French apartment (Faktum), no drawers only regular doors. He smashed those shut as he did with bathroom door etc. I tried to teach him how to use door handles. Wasted a lot of time. ANyway, Ikea has a new range called Metod and the drawers are soft close. 🙂 I mainly went with drawers, even though it is on a pricey side. The kitchen will add up to around 6 to 6.5k Euros (I think that is around 9.5k AUS $), which includes a service of builders who will install my kitchen. I checked out kitchen studios and for the same layout, I would have paid around 12k Euros or even more. I wanted stone workbenches but my set up is a bit different (I will have a kitchen island with a connected dining table) and this would have made the price of the kitchen explode. I wanted Quartz counter tops but nahh, too expensive here in Germany.
    Hopefully I get my contract this week so we can sell the old kitchen from hell and start renovating the room. Delivery will be 4 to 6 weeks anyway. -.- We need to remove the old ceiling, rip out the ugly click vinyl tiles (the previous owner seriously matched the tiles to the ugly counter tops…).
    The biggest problems will be relocating the power outlets, they put them into the counter tops. HATE IT! So I have to remove the tiled splashback. The challenge is though, old German homes always have rough rendered walls. You cannot scrape that off, nor could you reproduce the exact look. So I need to try out plastering the walls. -.-

    • Power points IN the countertops? Horrendous – and unsafe! I googled the Metod range and it looks fab

  18. An update on the rats in my roof, because they are keeping me awake, I went to Bunnings yesterday for more rat poison. Dramatic drum roll. There is none. None to be had anywhere in Canberra. All the shelves are empty.
    The plague of the apocalypse is here.
    Between these creatures, and the LNP (including women members) voting on Craig Laming keeping his job as chair of Education and Training, the world is a hellhole.

    • Ew, Bobi, ew. You have my sympathy. I suppose traps are unavailable too. Although with traps you have to have the hand strength to set them without losing a finger, and the stomach to empty the traps without puking.

      I haven’t had the awful bastards in my roof for years. When I did, before they were baited, if they were having their nasty rat races over my bedroom, I’d hit the ceiling with a broom stick, while yelling obscenities, and they’d run away. It’s a temporary fix of course, but at least they’d piss off so I could sleep.

    • I have the ratter-poisoner person coming on Tuesday morning.
      Apparently it’s part of the whole rat/mice infestation that we are having here in NSW. I am not sure why. I’m assuming that it has something to do with the rains we have had over summer and lovely food.
      Someone has to benefit from climate change.

    • We’ve just had one in the ceiling too. Kept waking us at about 3am chewing on the timber frame. Chucked some pellets in the roof space and no more noise – just waiting for the smell now. We already had the pellets, but DH and I were joking together about a run on the hardware stores. Sounds like no joke now.

      We regularly have diamond pythons in the back yard. We would rather not have more than one, but we are hoping just one will enjoy a big feed of rodents before they reach the house.

      Who are the poison/pest elimination companies we should be buying shares in?

      • The “smell” may not come as easily in winter. Depending on the bait sometimes the rat is in a way “mummified” and won’t stink.

        But in summer, the best thing I found was a little bottle of Nilodor which “controlled” the smell somewhat. For a while one year the entrance to my house was an unwelcoming stench of death….

        My council gives away rat poison. They get in the roof frequently, best hope is to control , difficult to eradicate completely. Best of luck.

  19. Daisy, Dave, and Bobi, are you still fine weeks after your covid vaccinations?

    I should be able to get one in the next week or so, but I’ll admit to feeling a bit apprehensive. I will get it anyway because I’m not stupid, and I know 24 people getting blood clots is a teeny,teeny percentage of 2.1 million people vaccinated. Still…

    • That’s how I feel, Von, and I am hoping that no news is good news from the three friends. I would be more blase if one of the clot cases had not been a death in our area.

      I have just spent a weekend with about 15 slightly older people who have all had their first. What I noticed was the huge change in their mental attitude. They are now more relaxed, talking positively about future plans, whereas only a few months ago they were still in a paranoid state. The difference was so noticeable.

    • I had a couple of bad days.
      I oiled the back veranda on one of those days and had to take to my bed, slept 10 hours straight and woke up feeling fabulous.
      My suggestion is to get a good book and use it as a excuse to take it easy.
      I would agree that those older people around me are much more relaxed. It’s nice to see.

      • Thanks, Bobi, I think if I’d oiled the back veranda I’d need a day in bed too :). I tried to make an appointment on line today and, after answering all the questions, was told I’d need to see my doc first and couldn’t book on line. Damn it. I’ll do that and try again.

        I think I’ll relax a bit when I’ve had both doses.

    • I’m fine now, thanks and really only had a day and a bit of feeling strange but could still walk two miles. I’m 63.

      A friend slightly older had a bad reaction and is bailing on the second shot and is waiting. I’ve heard no other horror stories and will get the second shot before Scotty’s rollout rolls over.

      50-69 is the hesitant age group I’m told, that may need “incentives” to get AstraZeneca.

      • Thank you. I’m less worried about feeling like crap for a couple of days than I am about the need to be alert for signs of a blood clot for several weeks after vaccination. And that is probably because some more recent cases of blood clots have been in people older than me.

        What I need to do is stop reading newspaper reports of who has had what bad side effect, and focus on the fact that contracting covid 19 is more risky for me than any vaccine reaction.

        I won’t wait for Pfizer to be widely available in any case. Scotty’s rollout is such a snafu that I could be waiting two freaking years.

    • I had zero reaction, which is great because I usually get the flu after a flu shot.

      I am told “It’s not the flu, it’s just flu symptoms”, which is basically the same thing as having the flu imo.

      • Thanks, Daisy. I rarely have any reaction to a flu shot, and when I do it’s only soreness at the injection site.

        I now have a small cross-section of people’s reactions to the covid vacc. I still don’t know anyone who has had it and appreciate you guys telling me how you went.

  20. Ding dong, the witch is dead!
    Gave away my old kitchen for free. It was already in the house and I HATED it. Used Ebay to get rid of it… I don’t think I will ever use it again, it is a cesspool for awful, entitled people. But the kitchen is now with a lovely young family which left Turkey as they are Kurdish and Erdo treats them horribly. They have 2 small kids and are moving to their first own apartment after they stayed in a refugee home.

      • Fun part. My sister and I thought this monster was from the 80s. But it is even older.
        Good, German engineering I guess.

      • Yeps, my sis and I were very happy about that. 🙂 But after we had smooth sailing with the kitchen removal, disaster was striking today. I was just in the cave getting a hammer and a chisel while my sis was working the drillhammer for the tiles. I heard her scream and then a loud noise. Ran upstairs, thought she heard herself. But the wall basically fell towards her. I have posted a pic already below. 😀

  21. Neurosurgeon said brain surgery is my best option for the neuralgia.
    “Say what?”
    He wants to open up my noggin and fix the loose screws. 🩺

      • It’s on the back-burner for a few months. I had agreed to do it on July 6th but then I read that, even if all goes well, recovery can take up to 6months. I just don’t have that much spare time ATM so I will have the nerve cauterized next week. It’s temporary.

  22. Bobi, how is it going with the critters in your roof? I hope they are gone and none decided to croak in an unreachable spot.

    • I ended up with a visit from a professional ratter. Apparently, the blue, Bunnings’ poison has them die in the roof and the red one’s, that he put down, has them leave, looking for water and dying. It took a week for the party to stop.
      And just so you know that the my-life-is-a-soap-opera saga continues, the doggo developed a cough. I took him to the vet and, after many, many expensive tests, it turns out that the candles and sprays I have been using to cover the dead body smell has irritated him to the point of illness. He’s a beautiful boi.

      • I am always mindful that dogs might be sensitive to any of those house smelly things, although the temptation is to use them now that I have dogs. I am also conservative about washing liquid on their bedding. I should use dig shampoo.

      • I remember when I first got him (reminder: rescue), I was told to spray lavender (or such ) in his bedding and in the floor cleaner so that everything became “home” to him.
        I did get carried away. I think that the candles and the diffuser took it over the top.
        Msg to WHO: the difference between droplet and airborne.

      • At least the party has finally stopped. Doggo doesn’t look too upset with you. It’s one of those times when you wish your dog could talk for a minute, so he could tell you all the scented things are bothering him.

        I used to put a few drops of lavender oil in the rinse cycle when I washed my old boy’s bedding. He seemed to like it and it didn’t bother him, but it left a hint of lavender, nothing too strong.

  23. Oh. BJ Thomas died.

    I’m Hooked on a Feeling
    I just can’t help believing.

    You’re all probably too young.

    • Not all of us Daisy, :). I remember him and his songs.

      Gavin MacLeod, maybe most remembered from The Love Boat, died, too.

    • Remember the song, and another they mentioned on the news, but they were all sung by other people. One was a Gary Glitter one. I don’t remember this artist at all.

      Gavin Macleod, though, it just makes me want to re-watch The Love Boat. I always remember an episode where three girls travelling together made a pact that they had to try to match up with any man who said “screwdriver” to them. As a romantic teen it was the ultimate love story – I bet the episode would be OTT corny now.

  24. So, we wake up this morning to the news that the little baby girl has arrived. And the news proclaims a tribute to the Queen in the baby’s name. I am seething, and need to vent.

    Unless the Queen gave specific and genuine agreement, how dare they take her beloved pet name, used only by her parents and husband, and put it on a poor hollywood baby. After the terrible things they have done to the Queen’s family. It is such a clear ploy to keep the illusion that their children are still “royal”, they never want the world to forget that “Lili” is a granddaughter.

    It would have been so much more respectful to just say her name is Lili Diana, and leave the proclaimed reason for it as a family treasured acknowledgement, if the Queen agreed to them using the name.

    Once again everything is geared towards self-promotion. It has just occurred to me, on an interesting tangent, that several of Edward VII’s mistresses were called Lillie/Lilly/Lillee. Hmmm.

    There, feel much better now. Thanks for allowing the rant, all.

    • So a non royal baby was born. Ho hum.
      And besides, after watching the “Princess Series” on stan, and more recently, a doco on Henry VIII, I have a different perspective on the Royals.

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