Breasts

Here we go again. A doctor indulged in disgusting behaviour by expressing milk in a Virgin Australia business class lounge. She discreetly did so under a shirt but was requested to do so elsewhere.

In 1984 it was legislated that women can breastfeed in public. How can this still be an issue some forty years plus later? Do you know what makes it all the worse? It was a female staff member who 'advised' the woman. When it was suggested she could express her milk in the toilet, the doctor said, ok, you bring your lunch with you and sit with me in the toilet eating your lunch while I express milk to feed my baby. 

I think as part of staff training anywhere, the right to breastfeed in public should be mentioned. It shouldn't have to be like that. 

One woman who spoke on the radio said that when challenged by a man about breastfeeding in public, because it made him feel uncomfortable, moved her baby away and flashed him in his face her full bare breast. He moved away.

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Unrelated, this was an odd headline I saw on FB. Florida man bites off brother's penis when he caught him having sex with his cousin on the penis biter's favourite Dragon Ball blanket. Nowt as queer as folk. 

I was led elsewhere, whereby you Guggle 'Florida man...' and insert your birthdate in the format say January 22. 

Lordy, mine came up as 'Florida man arrested for pleasuring himself with an ice pack'. Feel free to comment what your Florida man birthdate comes up with. I won't judge you.  

Friday cat extra

We put on the new harness and took her out onto the balcony She wasn't very interested. We much later took her outside and she wanted to hide behind a dark place. A neighbour came out with two small dogs, and she immediately arched her back. Instinct or experience? I'll go for the latter. She already knew dogs. 

She didn't seem interested in the outside world, and she was trembling. We quickly brought her back to the apartment, her home where she feels safe. She hadn't been into my wardrobe for a couple of days, but that was where she went once back home 

I think it is cat toy shopping tomorrow. 

Feline Friday

I am not Jass' keeper. I just pay, and give her a tuna treat mid afternoon. And vacuum up her fur at times. She does shed fur but not badly. It most lands on the carpet where it is vacuumed up, although I did see a ball of fur had gathered in one place, probably where the air con fan had blown it. 

I don't know if it is a gender thing or not, but I've found male cats much easier to deal with than female cats. Once neutered, boy cats are quite chilled and relaxed. It is only three weeks since Jass was spayed, so hormones could still be affecting her. 

Today Phyllis and Kosov were out relatively early, Phyllis having fed Jass. She wandered around a bit. She makes very faint meowing noises very often. I can tell she has experienced the outdoors, and hungers to get outside. We learnt that she was found on a street, without a tag or microchip. Her age was judged to be one year old. I think she is a bit older. She is too wise in the ways of life to only be one year old. 

She sat on a lounge chair for most of the day, very content At 5pm, she began to bother me. Did she want her dinner three hours early? Probably. But Phyllis and Kosov were late home, and I think she wanted them to be here. Her strongest attachment is to Kosov.

Phyllis came home loaded with stuffs from a new store called Panda. I know nuffin'.                                        

In Richmond we bought her a cat house with the scratching pole. She has used the scratching pole a couple of times, but her preference is for the underside of beds, and the back of my very expensive desk chair. She has learnt that kitchen bench tops are verboten. Well, mostly. 

One reason I think she is older is that she understands a sharply said 'no', very well. 

Once Phyllis and Kosov were home, for the second night in a row, she decided to exercise by tear arsing around the apartment, diving into empty shopping bags, and generally behaved in a crazy manner for about fifteen minutes. 

Last Friday at the vet for a welfare check, she had lost 700g/1.5lb since she was weighed before we chose her. Now she has settled in, her often lack of interest in food has disappeared and she now looks forward to food. She isn't a big cat, but I am a little concerned she is not eating enough.

She isn't wearing a collar, in spite of her having three blingy collars. A Temu package arrived this week, which included a cat harness for visiting the big outdoors, and who knows whatever crap. 

I wouldn't call her an affectionate cat, more like one who expects her servants to serve her needs, and who she must at times acknowledge. 

Oh yes, in the Temu package was something for me, a new mouse mat to replace my well worn London Tube Train map mat.

Apparently this was essential for the cat's welfare. It has stopped her desire to drink from the tap. Pretty cool, actually, in spite of bright plastic looking our of place in the room.  

This from Temu would not sit flat. It was poorly made and will be returned. 

The cat house, with two good scratching poles. 

Wtf? Cats can clean themselves. But Ondrewwww, they are so cheap. More cheap arrived tonight, from Panda, cat shampoo, enough to wash 100 cats. Bathe a cat, lol. I'll just stand back and watch the disaster unfold. Two years ago, I could never have imagined my life in two years time. 

A Hexham Holiday

That's Hexham in the north of England, not the one in New South Wales, Australia.

Ray's sister and her third husband owned a semi permanent caravan there, which Ray and I mostly used as accommodation the first time I visited England in 2008, I think. It was very comfortable, connected up to power, water, sewerage and gas, and only a short walk to the market town centre.The gas fire kept us warm, but I clearly remember the freezing cold unheated bathroom area. I found it too cold to shower with limited hot water pressure, and so I used the bath. 

At the bottom of the park was the River Tyne, and one day it rained steadily the whole day. As we say in Australia, the river was running a banker, but it didn't flood. I had never seen narrow fast flowing rivers like the Tyne before. I was super impressed. Australian rivers tend to be lazy, without a rush by the waters to reach the sea. 

The town centre was lovely, and very historic. The locals, as I subsequently learnt, tended to vote conservatively. Being surrounded by farms, I wasn't surprised. 

Hexham Cathedral. I still have a leather bookmark I collected. Note the blue clock face.

The outdoor market was larger than it appears here. 

An Australian connection.

I think from the road bridge looking down onto the town, the river and railway line.

There was partly disintegrated monastery or something like that, so perhaps that's where these gates led. 

It is a delightful town. Just don't visit for good fish and chips.

A Cross Consumer

I bought new heads for my Oral B electric toothbrush. What I thought were four toothbrush heads were priced at $24. Four will last a year. That is ok. 

Note the packaging. Designed in Germany. Well I bet they aren't made in Germany, and sure enough, made in China. Do you see on the packaging what I didn't see? But that is ok.

I think Oral B is owned by the Germany company, Braun. It is. That is ok.

But is it really? No, it is owned by the monster company Proctor and Gamble, with individual and institutional share market investors. But that is ok.

The time arrived to put on a new toothbrush head. Damned hard plastic packaging. I needed scissors, and still risky to my thin skin. I was careful, so that was ok.

What I initially saw was the two heads on one side, as I expected, so that was ok.

I turned the packet around, and hey, this is not ok. There is a head missing. 

This is very deceptive packaging, and most certainly not ok. I bought a new electric razor today, the fourth in my lifetime, although my first was inherited from my grandfather. It was interesting in that while it was plugged into an electric socket, it wouldn't start until you flicked a small inbuilt wheel. Has anyone ever experienced a device from perhaps the 1960s that worked like that? Could it have been a safety feature? 

Now, go back and look at the first photo and below the 100%, you can see it indicates three brush heads. But do you see that when you are buying? As I was buying my new razor today, I checked the toothbrush heads, and they are the same, with only three heads when the packaging seems to be four. 

Will I complain to Braun? You betcha. And maybe to whoever deals with deceptive conduct by companies. 

Monday Mural

Along with Sami and others, here is my mural for this week. This rather hits you in your face. The recurring phrase for murals, I don't have a clue. 

Crass commercialism

I've showed Federation Square before, but something stimulated me to again take photos. Some people like me took time to like the space. Some continue to hate it, but generally, it has been embraced. Even Hels after some period of doubt, came to like it. 

Earlier this year, advertising and mammon overcame style and part of one of the lovely aspects of the square was spoilt. I think the ad was removed before its expiry period by way of public outrage.

I got out and took some pics.

The atrium is lovely, with all the special shapes.

I like the quirky exterior.

The small cobble stone  colours are so beautiful, as paving goes. They are a bitch for prams, wheelchairs, and the feeble.

 

Aside from the forecourt. the rest of Fed Square is friendly to the less abled.

I've seen the space filled with hundreds of people at times.

I love these shapes. 

The design of the whole square  is so interesting.

But then the outrage happened, a covering up of an aspect of the building by crass and huge advertising. I think it was contracted to be there for two months, but the public outcry saw it quickly removed.