We're heading into winter term now so I am going to get my (now annual) Covid vax. I had Pfizer up until last time when I had Spikevax (makes me think of vampires). What is the most recent recommendations? I haven't reacted badly to either Pfizer or Moderna. I don't know if we can get Novavax - the local chemist does stock it but I've heard that you have to have a reason.

Yeah the one finger thing is definitely a rural thing. The next step after that is what I occasionally see around here, drivers will just stop in the middle of the road, roll their windows down and talk to each other for however long.

I thought this was a good article about unwritten road rules in Australia and wondered if it's the same everywhere? https://www.youi.com.au/you-connect/articles-and-guides/australias-unofficial-road-rules

Recent research is finding exercise just as important as medication - it's hard to find the time, but if it's possible to start walking in nature, for example, there should be some benefit. I went to therapy once as a uni student and strangely enough it flipped everything for me - I went from very depressed to having forgotten I'd even been depressed. I think I just needed an outside person to reframe things.

Yes. In Australia, we will continue to fill needed positions through immigration, which I don't think is a bad thing if it's done properly. Our current culture is a pretty rich mix of different backgrounds, and I think it leads to secularisation, because when you have such a mix, you can't privilege one religion over another - which again, I think is a good thing. On the other hand, I agree that we should be strengthening resources in people's own countries so they don't need to immigrate, because you lose so much - family, culture, language - when you leave. I wonder though whether people having fewer children leads to an increase or decrease in valuing children. You'd think that if they were rare, they'd be valued, right? But I don't know - I feel like often in the media parents are portrayed as selfish for even having kids, and selfish for wanting them out in public at all. On the other hand, pets seem to be filling that gap, and people are starting to bring pets into places they traditionally wouldn't (eg stores). There's a lot of complaints about vet care being so expensive (which it is!!) and I was imagining one day that the government would set up some kind of medicare for pets, where the whole population pays in so that people can take care of their five dogs. I mean, it isn't the fault of the dogs, right? Because it's the rich minority who do most of the damage, and who can still have kids (look at Elon Musk). Just 60 companies are the source of almost the entire world's plastic problem.

The other possibility with brain lesions and arm weakness is Parkinson's. My brother was diagnosed before he was 50. I am trying to persuade him to get a fecal transplant as there's good recent research showing a big decrease in symptoms.

Just read Imposters by Scott Westerfield, which is set a generation after the Uglies series (a book I highly recommend for tween/teen girls - all about appearances etc). This one is pretty violent but a fun read. I think there's four in the series so I haven't got an idea of what the big themes are yet.

The only time I've ever heard someone say/write that they didn't have an accent was from an American, and I've never understood it, because there are so many different accents in America! People say my son has 'an American accent' because some of the words he says he's learned from youtube - so words like 'route' he'll say with an 'out' instead of 'oot' like I'd say it. I always hassle my kids to pronounce 'laboratory' rather than 'lab-ra-tory' the way they hear it on youtube. I was talking to locals about how the accents are changing locally. We have the 'originals' who have a country accent, the 'weekenders' who are wealthy and have a posh accent, and then the newbies who have moved up here since covid and have something in between. Even just in Sydney there are so many different accents, the Lebanese inspired western suburbs accent vs the anglo western suburbs accent (see Housos for both of those!), the Eastern suburbs accent (rich and posh) vs the Northern suburbs accent (also rich and posh, but not as much). I have a bit of a country accent but not very much - however when I went to the USA for a course, out of all the Australians they struggled with my accent and vocab the most.

That sucks. I'm so sorry.

I would look at the research and discuss it with the doctor. There's definitely research showing that removing tonsils does affect immune function (https://journals.lww.com/jfmpc/fulltext/2020/09030/Long_term_impacts_of_tonsillectomy_on_children_s.34.aspx) However, you can never take single studies as gospel, you have to take context into account which is why discussing them with doctors is useful. For example, I'm on a medication which has a side effect of causing fractures. But when I discussed it with the doctor, he explained none of the studies had subjects under 80, and they'd all been on it for over a year, not just one course.

My kids are on holidays too and my Dd also started back at school this year. I've had to work every day and so they've been at home alone the whole time, and yes it's screens the whole way. However - I don't really mind. They're out there playing together now and it's nice. They came into my room last night and told me about a D&D campaign based on Dante's inferno, and we brainstormed different characters and how they'd work on redemption throughout the process. (I was raised very religious; my children raised without, and their views on Christianity as mythology are fascinating to me). I do ask them to do some stuff around the house while I'm gone like the washing etc, and I kick them out to go outside when I get home. It is just gorgeous weather here right now.

I think I've read that vaping has increased the number of smokers, in that they get addicted to nicotine and move from vaping to smoking. Smoking has increased for the first time in 25 years in Australia. Around 1 in 10 people smoke or vape. They are going to make it harder to vape in Australia, lots of new rules coming in like making it prescription only and making it illegal to import disposable and recreational vapes - also restricting flavours to 3 only. https://www.quit.org.au/news/new-data-shows-australian-teen-smoking-increasing-for-the-first-time-in-25-years-against-a-backdrop-of-rising-e-cigarette-use

Thanks, Kassia and Mercy, I have been thinking of her a lot. I am so glad she's able to get so much help and support from her family and friends, and still attend activities like her daughter's play.

Not that I watch it, but it's been non-stop on Australian media! Bluey ((who is female)is seven years old (apparently had a bday in another episode?) So is legally allowed to sit in the front without a booster if there are no other seats, although it isn't ideal. All the state road people have been going on about it lol

Terrifying news, I am thinking of you and hoping for all the best.