OTOH, I was appalled to discover that Kingston basically shuts down on a Sunday. At least you can still eat in Manuka on a weekend

See, the whole design of Canberra with all its little 'town centers' spread out everywhere is good for preventing traffic jams, and for the scenery, but yeah, less population density means less places open at obscure hours and then there's usually more driving and more hunger-induced swearing...so I can't decide whether I like the spread-outed-ness or not. Also, the lack of people squished together can freak out the non-locals. One girl I met at Uni (who had just recently arrived from Sydney) said she walked into the middle of Civic at midday and actually rang her mother back home to ask whether there was a public holiday here because the place was 'deserted'.

Most used direction in my repertoire? "Left, Left! The other left!!"

My mum used to make me paranoid about this, because she had all these behavioural development books that said if your kid can't tell their left from their right then they weren't going to be able to learn properly or something, and she still gives me this look when I get confused, blah blah "I did fine at college despite not being able to give directions, thank-you Mum!" cakes.

...is also my usual method of direction giving.

Note to self: No driving with jimi!

And I am so stealing "direction finding duck".

Go right ahead, Beverly. lalala Not mentioning that I stole it from Leunig lalala

In other, me me me news?

Tonight, me me me gets new Fray. Not a bloody moment too soon, I say. Sometimes, Joss Whedon (of the Frickin' frackin' I had a good idea and couldn't makeup my mind whether to use it on my telly show or in my comic book Whedons) has a lot to answer for!

(ouch, that did not work!)

Julie, I fixed your tags.

Julie, I fixed your tags.

but not before I had killed them. mwahahahahaha. cough.

Here they are again in less clever fashion... (I should probably specify that they are for Beverly.)

[link]

[link]

[link]

Which side of the car does the driver sit?

And since I see I missed it- Generally, the opposite side of the car to you, Beverly. (Which makes for excitement when one - this one - is driving a friend's car in Vancouver, reaches for the gears and gets the doorhandle!!)

I love Buffy as a character, both back when she was all quippy and innocent and now when she is less quippy, but also so much more comfortable in who she is and what she has to do.

See, I've decided this season that I really don't like Buffy, but I think it's mostly down to SMG. I've spent way more time than is healthy imagining the show with another actress in the title role.

Interesting - which other actresses, Fiona? One who pronounces 'okay' properly?

I haven't really found the perfect one yet. Though I think my favourite so far is the actress who played Sunday in The Freshman. I've mostly been going with blondes until now.

Really? Sunday as Buffy? Huh.

Meanwhile, Plasmo has brought me round to the view that Azura Skye, who played the nice dead girl who then came back to torment Willow, is utterly fantastic and it would have been great if she had been a series regular. (Not Buffy, though, whom I think SMG does a more than adequate job as, hmmph!)

Really? Sunday as Buffy? Huh.

Yeah, well, she wouldn't have been Sunday, she'd have been Buffy, if you know what I mean. She seems, to me, to give off a warmer, more relaxed vibe than SMG, which is part of what I'm missing.

Buffy's become so hard and cold, though it is a testament to SMG's acting ability that I can't tell how much of the hard and cold is her and how much is Buffy.

And I agree, I liked Azura Skye a lot.

Does the UK have a version of the Miranda speech (you have the right to remain silent ...)? I think I heard something like it on today's "Waking The Dead" and I was wondering what the full text was.

Yes. This may be a paraphrase:

"You have the right to remains silent, but it may harm your defence if you fail to mention anything you later rely on in court."

This was a HUGE issue when it was brought in a while ago -because it means that if you're scared, confused, tired etc, and you choose to keep quiet until you get some sleep and a lawyer's advice, the prosecution can and will say "Oh, but he didn't tell the police that at the time, so he's probably a lying whore - bang him up!".

So, in effect, UK defendants no longer have the right to remain silent.