Beautifully chilly, but lovely and warm in my proper old pub, mulled wine, free buffet, plus doggy bag for the foxes in the garden as the staff know me so well now! Nice to have a winter with heating and double glazing too!
Was up in rural Wales a couple of weeks ago, just after Storm Darragh. Lots of trees down, in my Mum's area many people were 5 days without power as the company just couldn't access the problem sites. We just had 70mph winds down here, straight off the sea. So strong I couldn't open the balcony door for 3 days, and there s now a thick layer of salt on the windows!

Hope the heat isn't too unbearable there, and that the fires stay away from you

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i Chi hefyd

Here's a question for the barbie, to muse on while the shrimps are cooking... Why don't we have outlaws any more?

In olden times - Robin Hood and all that; Butch Cassidy and Sundance even; Bonnie & Clyde - criminals on the run were stripped of their legal protection. They were deemed to be literally "outside the law", and could be beaten or robbed or killed by anybody at all, for free! "Wanted, dead or alive", the posters proclaimed. Sometimes, the outlawry was extended to anybody who helped them. Why was this practice ever abandoned? In effect, it still does exist in wars. We are allowed to kill foreigners who have been labelled "enemies" by our rulers, right? They are beyond the protection of our laws. We can bomb and slaughter millions of them, any way we like, pretty much. So why not do the same to bad guys who happen to belong to our own tribes (nations, we call them these days) who have brutally killed or maimed one of our fellows? What do you reckon?

Sounds heavenly! So glad you’re making the most of it and enjoying UK life.

I'm loving it thanks!
Nothing is perfect of course, no rose-tinted specs as every country and city has its issues, but feeling that I'm actually at home here is the most important thing.

For any barbie-guests with Polish connections, here is what my daughter-in-law just sent me in response to a question of mine about a local dialect of her country. (Reading it is optional, needless to say...)

The Kashubian language (język kaszubski) is a West Slavic language belonging to the Lechitic group, which also includes Polish, Silesian, and the now-extinct Polabian language. Kashubian developed from the same Proto-Slavic roots as Polish, but it retained many archaic features and distinct vocabulary influenced by historical interactions with other cultures.
Today, Kashubian is recognized as a regional language in Poland, protected under Polish law. While it shares similarities with Polish, it remains a separate language with its own grammar, vocabulary, and phonetics. It is taught in some schools, and efforts are ongoing to preserve and revitalize it.

Sounds delightful, we spent Christmas in Helmsley North Yorkshire and it was delightful such a lovely area/market town it felt like a Dickensian Christmas plus the weather was good, spent Boxing Day on Scarboroughs north and south beaches with plenty of fun activities being held, new years was spent in Bakewell, we seemed to have “dodged” the bad weather that a lot of areas had over Christmas (unusual for us lol) hope 2025 is a lovely one for you all. Best wishes x

Sounds beautiful! Spent a lot of time in North Yorks years ago, I had a partner with family in Harrogate. Lots of great memories from Scarborough and Whitby!

Hope its a good 2025 for you too

No, I won't bother, JG. If it's censored here it might well be censored there too. Anything to do with aboriginals seems to be a non-starter on BE these days. Thanks anyway.

As JG said, it would be fine in TIO. But that subject matter simply isn’t appropriate for a ‘light chat’ forum such as The Barbie. Any more sensitive subjects need to be in TIO.

Yes well, apologies for that. My personal visits to real barbies over the years have usually included some less-sensitive encounters. Hence my post. I really have engaged in acceptable conversations in those situations. And since my rejected post was typed off the cuff, without a copy, it will have to go unread. No disrespect, but I find the TIO forum petty, ill-informed and distasteful, so I won't post there.

On to less controversial places and topics, then...

If you wish, I can send you a copy of your ‘rejected’ post.

No, don't bother, thanks. How indigenous peoples cope with the laws and customs of their conquerors is a worthy and legitimate topic, I think, but never mind. Maybe BE is just not the place to discuss it.

I agree that the Barbie probably isn't the place for it, TIO would be much better - or even a different forum altogether where there are indigenous posters from Australia (and other nations) who can discuss first-hand how they deal with the current laws and customs of their country?

BE is the place, but this is not the appropriate forum. You have been directed to TIO, but have declined.

I wonder if "hitching a ride" is still safe in Australia. I used to hitch home to Toowoomba and back every weekend when I was working in Brisbane and couldn't afford a car, but times have changed since then. Years later, my wife and I hitched around New Zealand's South Island. On our first day, a car screeched to a halt and the driver hustled us on board. He then proceeded to tick us off for living dangerously. "A young fellow was killed just last week by a bloke in a car", he said. "You have to be careful who you get in with".

I'd be interested to know how things are these days.