(no subject)

[sideways]

The folks flew up for a week, and we spent the majority of it traipsing around the tourist circuit up north (as best as we could with two increasingly frail parties who could tolerate neither long walks nor too long in the car). Overall very nice to see them again, and we even managed to have a lengthy cassowary encounter. Unfortunately at least one has learned picnickers are a source of food, and it was with a mixture of amusement and sadness that I watched her successfully rob several by simply looming. They need to expand on the "don't feed the cassowaries!" signs with advice on how exactly one avoids feeding a large and persistent bird with knives on its feet.

Dad's caffeine addiction came up during the travelling, as he does get a headache if he goes without his morning coffee, and then a little while later I coincidentally ran into a recent Guardian article on "The Invisible Addiction". It was an interesting read as someone who has been largely sheltered from it through no real effort of my own - I don't like the taste of coffee, tea, or dark chocolate, and I find the carbonation in soft drinks painful. Some parts of the article almost made me feel a little cheated :| I can't say I sleep significantly better than your average coffee drinker, that's for sure.

Oh well. The sugar addiction probably makes up some of the difference!