Hm. I can't see any xmas merchandise per se in the shops yet but things like specialty tins of biscuits and buckets of M&Ms have appeared on the shelves. It's Father's Day this Sunday - I suspect the retailers are waiting to get that out of the way before starting the xmas campaign. Hmph.

I ran out of tea! Unthinkable! And I couldn't find my usual brand (Nature's Garden Organic) so I had to resort to Twinings. Admittedly I bought the Lady Grey for Soulsis cos it's her favourite (and she needed coddling cos it's been a difficult couple of days, what with trying to get her head around Bail Justice legislation and having to put up with the street lights down here in the suburbs disturbing her sleep - tch, country folk. Where was I? Oh yes...) but I don't remember Twinings being so delicate. And by 'delicate' I mean 'weak as piss'. <g> That's a daft phrase, isn't it? 'Weak as piss', cos even weak piss isn't weak. Not that you'd want to drink it, but still... Where was I?
I had a lovely Earl Grey blend yesterday afternoon, at a cafe. Not sure of the brand but it's made with real bergamot, and sage, I think. Absolutely delicious and it brewed into a wonderful rich shade of claret. The only downside was that the teabag was made from nylon net fashioned into a pyramid. Terribly stylish but not at all compostable. Hm, wonder if I could buy the tea loose-leaf. That'd be neat.
So, Twinings, it'll do at a pinch, but it's still better than <spitspit> Liptons. :)

I have two reasons to anticipate the beginning of a month now. I get my broadband 'net speed back, plus my Flickr account ticks over and I can upload again. Given the amount of pics I take I think it's not outside the realm of possibility that I'll be pushing the limit for uploads there on a regular basis. <g> That's not to say that all my pics get posted, oh no, just what I consider the best/most interesting/illustrative.
Needless to say, there's a new batch posted...

More bizarre, and strangely analogous, suggestions from Blogger's spell check:
manga - mange
anime - anion
Trigun - truism
Gessekai - gasseous (<snicker>)
Nightwalker - nostalgia
daft - deft

Two weeks left of term. Or rather - given the upcoming camp - one week and two days...