mike carey

I guess there are new (or forgetful or foreign) flyers who don't know this, but yes it must be mind-numbing if that's your job. At JFK I asked if an empty bottle was OK, and got a prompt, 'That's fine'. (Not a problem here on domestic flights, the 100ml limit for liquids and gels went away fairly quickly.)

This is curious. When I open the overall forum, the forums that have new content are in bold, likewise with the threads with new content in each forum. When I click on one of those bold threads it takes me directly to the first post I hadn't read.

I may have misunderstood but it appeared to me that the top three clients were the three who happened to be the top each year not the same three from one year to the next. (I'm not suggesting you meant to imply that it was the same three throughout.) So I suspect that a strategy would be to develop regular relationships with clients in general rather than a strategy aimed at three individuals. I await being corrected on this.

Me too. I'm so happy that it worked out as it did. As I've said before you have kept us entranced since you started this thread and today was no exception. I hope that you do make it to Palm Springs.

Life imitates art. [MEDIA=twitter]1078833811083821057[/MEDIA]

I have only just noticed that when a previous comment is replied to or quoted, the cited poster's name is hotlinked back to the relevant comment. I don't remember this feature being present in the old version, and I find it very helpful. It's only taken me three weeks to notice.

@WilliamM I took your comment to be about an overall relationship like the one Unicorn described, not just the vacation part and its related expenses. That's a different context again, and your wish to be repaid makes perfect sense.

I can see why you would not want to repeat the arrangement, but it seems to me this was quite a different relationship to Unicorn's (forgive me if I have misunderstood either). Because of the friendship and companionship you shared you were prepared to lend him the money. Repayment (in financial terms) does not appear to be part of Unicorn's arrangement, so the two arrangements were 'alike' but not the same. The only thing certain in any relationship is what each side is receiving now, anything into the future is an expectation or a hope, but neither is a guarantee. Unicorn is understandably nervous about the future of his relationship, in retrospect you are not happy with [the timing of] the way yours worked out and would not repeat it. It seems to me that if your happiness depends on the long term outcome and you cannot be happy in the day to day pleasure a relationship brings you, you need to re-evaluate what commitment to it you are prepared to make to it and/or your expectations. Expectation of or hope for future happiness and fulfilment in a relationship is reasonable but it's a recipe for disappointment if the 'success' of the current relationship depends on its future success. If you would resent the commitments, emotional and financial, to a relationship if it were to end. Far better if you could look back on it an be happy with the joy that those commitments brought you at the time, better still if you can be happy that what put into the relationship helped the other person both during the relationship and after it ended.

No matter how you celebrate or even whether you do, take a moment to think of someone else and mark the joy of the season for them as much as for yourself. Have a happy Christmas and a safe and prosperous new year. Having another glass of sparkling lunch-time wine (non-alcoholic) after our non-standard meal (lamb chops and salad). More glasses of bubbles to follow (proper ones). The heat wave has held off, at least for Christmas Day, some serious heat to come in places up to the mid-forties.

Yep, it's happened to me as well.

And at the risk of taking the airline analogy too far, legacy carriers (and others) that use this business model (rather than the low cost no-frills option) have varied approaches to how they treat the 20%. Some treat the 20% as a marketing option, seeing every steerage passenger as a potential pointy end customer should their circumstances change. Others show, how can I put this, less concern about those passengers.

I figured that (on the airport code). When I saw aus in isolation and the mention of a 24 hour flight to Mexico I assumed he meant Australia (as I might be expected to do, and as it happened, my guess - and that's all it was before I read the article - was correct). Hens' night is Australian (and I assumed wider) vernacular for a ladies' night out, and the referenced article talks about a hens' party attended by a dozen Aussie women.

Not sure how Austin came into this discussion - aus in Deadlift's post meant Australia not Austin. The article is from an Australian news site and it talks about Australian women going to Mexico City for a 48 hour trip. It doesn't, however say that they flew from Australia. Take it from me, a trip to anywhere in North America from Australia with a 48 hour turn-around is not worth contemplating. (Business travel aside, even then not desirable.) I inferred that they were Australians in New York who had made the trip - the article mentions cheap airfares from there. In the closing paras it mentions the 3.5 hour flight from LA as a reason for Australians to consider a trip there, but I took that to be a reason to go as part of a bigger trip to North America, not as a weekend away.

Not sure how Austin came into this discussion - aus in Deadlift's post meant Australia not Austin. The article is from an Australian news site and it talks about Australian women going to Mexico City for a 48 hour trip. It doesn't, however say that they flew from Australia. Take it from me, a trip to anywhere in North America from Australia with a 48 hour turn-around is not worth contemplating. (Business travel aside, even then not desirable.) I inferred that they were Australians in New York who had made the trip - the article mentions cheap airfares from there. In the closing paras it mentions the 3.5 hour flight from LA as a reason for Australians to consider a trip there, but I took that to be a reason to go as part of a bigger trip to North America, not as a weekend away.

Agree, Kurtis, people are out of their minds on this. He is hot and attractive, not everyone likes him. That happens. The outrage is unhinged. If I were in NYC now rather than last month I know who I'd be calling (except he's in Montreal). (And if I were in Austin, I know who I'd be calling but that's a separate issue.) I don't think keeping the forum closed for the month would have changed anything.

I was tempted to say, 'Hold my beer'.

He's only just signed up for this, so that may not be where he ends up. But if he can get it, more power to him. That said, I've never paid $500 (AUD much less USD) but I have paid north of $1500 for an overnight with no regrets (I have regretted shorter hires). If those actually are his rates, it's an unusual hourly to overnight ratio, but hey, it's his choice.

It is what it is, and means as much and as little as the provider and the client chose to allow it to mean. I have regular contact with providers, not all of whom I have met for a session, that ranges over many issues and happens frequently. I also have contact with others that is specific, either to future meetings or specific matters (like travel to Australia). Just let the contact happen, don't try to force it to meet your expectations, whatever they are.

Excellent!

I second this! Happy birthday, hope you have a great day and great days over the next weeks with your boys.

It's 12 months since Parliament passed the law allowing equal marriage. Re-reading this thread has brought tears again. I don't begrudge other countries that have legalised marriage equality but I'm still proud that we and the Irish had a popular vote that approved it so it wasn't 'unelected judges' or 'elites' who delivered it.

Like so many others I am deeply saddened by Joseph's passing, and like posters above, I am glad to have met him, thanks to a forum function, last year in my case. It is quite appropriate that we are able to remember him here, hope that we can live lives as full as his, and honour him by enjoying the same sweet pleasures that brought him to us. It's a reminder, if one were needed of how much this forum enriches our lives as it enriched his.

If those who were donors to this site are a proxy for those who would pay to join the PWR forum, they were just as represented in the forum as it was as non-donors were. And posters whom I would chose to join for lunch and those I would not were both represented.

You often, nay usually, get that when you read @Kurtis Wolfe's posts here.

Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hauoli Makahiki ho!