Toots

Tasmania has been listed alongside New Zealand, Iceland, the United Kingdom and Ireland as potential havens of the future. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-30/tasmania-among-best-places-to-survive-global-collapse/100333892

A good song from my favourite Stone's album.

I inherited a love of blues music from my Dad. Grew up listening to Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Muddy Waters and others. Here is a tune from 1953. Elmore James - I Believe

Truffles are lovely for a treat. I usually get a box of them before Christmas. Another nice chocolate is Haigh's chocolate made in Adelaide.

There are always people like that Tulip ....................... "our thoughts and prayers are with you" ............. I know what you meant but honestly most people I know have family/friends in the UK and know what is going on there. Some people do like a bit of drama though. It's OK for me to be so blase about it as nobody I know in the UK has been affected that much. They are on farms/small holdings. My sister found it a bit harder as she lives in the middle of Edinburgh and does like to get out and about and she's used to the lots of activities that city has to offer. All that came to a stand still which she soon got jack of. Things are now far better. As I've stated before, life in our wee bubble in Tassie is as if Covid doesn't exist. Hope it stays like that!

You would enjoy the chocolate from our local chocolate factory Bulya. Anvers chocolate was established as a cottage industry in November 1989 by Igor Van Gerwen who came to Tasmania from Belgium.

It's a nice enough place but my favourite places in Canada are Montreal and Quebec city. Beautiful cities. I could easily live there and I'm not a city person.

Well that hasn't been my experience with people I know in Qld, Sydney and Melbourne. Most of them are just fed up of the whole Covid thing and they certainly aren't treating it like some sort of apocalypse. Mind you most of those people are retired or semi-retired. It must be pretty horrible for people who have lost their jobs/business. That must be pretty soul destroying and depressing. Other than that most people I know are just getting on with it. My sister in Edinburgh and SIL in Hertford were pretty fed up of it as well. Of course there are always the doom and gloomers who are scared of dying but I don't know any of them.

I haven't seen it for many a long year. Thought they had stopped making it.

LIstening to radio Caroline just now ................. music from the 60s and 70s currently playing. Thanks for the heads up.

Are people really that ignorant about world geography? I knew where NZ was when I was 7 years old. Education must have been much better way back then. Countries do change name e.g. Burma now Myanmar, Ceylon now Sri Lanka, Swaziland now Eswatini. Why not NZ too?

New Zealand's Maori party - Te Pati Maori - has launched a petition to change the country's official name to Aotearoa, calling for Maori place names to be officially restored in the next 5 years. Ahead of last year's election, the party said if it won power, it would change New Zealand's name within 6 years, all towns and cities with "pekaha" (European) names would lose them by 2026 and half of all lessons in schools would be taught in Maori by 2030.

I know people who can't wait to be able to go overseas. I am happy to bide my time, though I would love to see our two sons again. Tasmania is in a sort of bubble. We are living a very normal life and have been for a year. Never had to wear a mask. We've been to Sydney and Melbourne when they aren't in lockdown. On the north west coast many GPs have been administering the vaccine since May and for those whose GP isn't doing so, local surf clubs are places where jabs are happening. As soon as anything to do with Covid or Afghanistan appears on the news I switch off. What a mess the world is in. I've reached a stage in my life where i just don't want to know anymore. Not a good attitude I know but that's as good as it gets from me. The more I see of humanity the more I prefer the company of my animals.

I've been following your progress through your nursing degree with interest. Very well done!!

My Dad used to listen to Kathleen Ferrier records. She isn't classed as an opera singer but had a lovely deep voice. I think she was contralto.