It's Homeland Security for Aussies! (Scary stuff, seriously)

[Nnnnsic]

Click this link and make sure you have RealPlayer if you want to actually watch the story instead of just read the transcript.

Disturbing stuff.

[big pix]

........ will it be safe to come home, or should I leave my laptop in London......or should I say if I can get home, with British Airways not flying and Heathrow airport just a mess of people trying to travel, but not going anywhere..........

[PiroStitch]

BP I think you're going to have to borrow Birdie's wings

[big pix]

....... it might have to be a slow boat home......':lol:'

[cyanide]

What amuses/worries me are people who believe Wilkie actually knew anything.

[birddog114]

....... it might have to be a slow boat home......':lol:'

Swim

[Sheetshooter]

Big Pix,

I can't recall ever being over there and actually wanting to come back. It may be a blessing in disguise.

[gstark]

Big Pix,

I can't recall ever being over there and actually wanting to come back. It may be a blessing in disguise.

That's a very good point.

[kipper]

Sheetshooter it's like that isn't it

[big pix]

:lol::lol:

[Sheetshooter]

Big Pix,

I am not sure if you are fond of a bevvy, but when I lived in Notting Hill Gate I used to go into the pub opposite the tube station and there they sold my most fond drop by the pint:

Orkney Dark

I highly recommend it if you like a good dark beer. (A word of caution though: there was an incredibly attractive 'Tom' working out of that front bar who was most concerned for my solitude. To put any rumours to rest: I retained my solitude at all times.)

I also used to get a good steak at the Leinster in Pembridge Square (where I lived) and the ONLY good coffee I've ever found in britain was at the tacky 'Diana Café' on the Queensway opposite the rear to Kensington Gardens. I got an absolute cracker of a shot there one morning. A typical older Pommie dolt came in with the Coca-Cola bottle bottom glasses, leather-elbowed tweed jacket and several weeks worth of egg yolk dribbled on shirt, tie and lapel without favouritism. he sat oppsite against a wall covered in pics of the dead girl. Some with black garlands, others of ski-field fun with the boys and so forth. he had the Guardian open at a double page spread with a giant reversed head:

"EVIL DIANA

Best of all I was totally and successfully surreptitious using, as i do, the little Olympus MJU-II. It was one of those pics that register as a Bresson Moment.

Cheers,

[big pix]

Streetshooter .....thanks for that, I will be having dinner at Notting Hill gate later in the week so I will pop into the Pub for a quick one or 2. The portobella road area has changed. I was here 2 years ago and there must be at least 6 to 8 yes that many, new coffee shops come trendy eateries or bars on or the side streets off portobella road. The whole area has moved very up market........

[gstark]

Streetshooter .....thanks for that, I will be having dinner at Notting Hill gate later in the week so I will pop into the Pub for a quick one or 2. The portobella road area has changed. I was here 2 years ago and there must be at least 6 to 8 yes that many, new coffee shops come trendy eateries or bars on or the side streets off portobella road. The whole area has moved very up market........

None of which equates to curing the problem that Sheetshooter described, which was that it was difficult to get a good cup of coffee in Britain.

Trendy cafes come and go, but a good cup of coffee will rarely be found where the trendoids choose to hang out.

[big pix]

Trendy cafes come and go, but a good cup of coffee will rarely be found where the trendoids choose to hang out.

You forget that I live in Qld and it is harder to get a good coffee there than in England......but the beer is cold in both now......

[leek]

Trendy cafes come and go, but a good cup of coffee will rarely be found where the trendoids choose to hang out.

You forget that I live in Qld and it is harder to get a good coffee there than in England......but the beer is cold in both now......

Then you're drinking the wrong beer bp...

[Sheetshooter]

Well do I remember being on Chevron Island one morning when the constabulary arrived and confiscated all the poppy seeds from a bakery. Is the ban still in place up there in Qld.? What need is there for good coffee if you can't get a good poppy seed strüdel to go with it?

I did a story back in about 1980 for Penthouse about Aussie beers. At that time XXXX was the ONLY antipodean brew that used whole hops and I shot the old brewer pulling the cord of the hopper up there in Milton. Seems their priorities are somewhat different in Queensland. Stuff the coffee and poppy seeds and ggive me something to flesh out my stubby cooler!! Curiously, not one Australian beer ever won an international award despite us being second behind Czechoslovakia at the time in terms of consumption. On the other hand, San Miguell from the Phillipines was a consistent winner - and it was made entirely from ingredients shipped from Sydney ..... except for the water.

Gee willickers, we've certainly strayed from Big Brother espionage and intrusion, haven't we?

Gotta love the unpredictability of informal conversation!!

[gstark]

Welcome to the pub with no beer.

Welllllll .... that's not entirely true.

We potentially have every brew available, depending totally upon what's in your fridge.

And it's probably a smoke-free environment, and with your personal choice of background music.

What could be better, expecially given that it's still only 11C outside?

[Sheetshooter]

"your personal choice of background music."

I have always thought there would be good money in making juke boxes with an option where you put in your coin, as usual, and got three minutes of heavenly silence!!

Cheers,