Aw. That's great to read [no need to apologise from deviating from the topic at hand]. I needed that smile. And PS. I love southern US accents. Love'em. And you might be interested to know ... after dipping my toe into American Lit in my undergrad years, I went on to do an American author — Hawthorne — for my Masters.…

Aw ... we don't live in fear. We certainly keep our eyes out for things; I grew up in a leafy green suburb but even our hydrangea bushes [and our pools sometimes] harboured the Sydney Funnel Web [yikes]. That is one scary arachnid.

Ha ha ... this is better:

This little badger-scare snippet really could use some context. It's no wonder the jolly girls of Folkestone might be running a little bit terrified given the attention given to Mycobacterium bovis — TB in other words — which is being spread from badgers to cows and hence on to ... who knows? As most of these girls'…

Oh I dunno ... I'd be force-feeding it on my parents if they weren't already [well, my Dad at least; my Mum just enjoys the ride] utter fans. We used to watch it as a family when I was growing up. And all had crushes on everyone. Except Blake, of course. No one really could get behind Blake. ;-)

What — bush food-type places? Or just good eating? Anything in the Good Food Guide [the NSW/Sydney version, available online] is definitely worth a shot. Tell me what you're after and I'll whittle you down an okay list, if you'd like. :-)

Crows? Ooh. For me it was always the cockatoos fighting for air time with the bloody Indian mynas [sniffs! Imports!]. And the currawongs. Good mimics as it happens. But we have a lot of good mimics. The lyre bird, for example. Check this out:

I will never look at beet salad and yogurt in the same way again. *Shudder*

*Sings* Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he, Laugh Kookaburra, Laugh Kookaburra, Gay your life must be!

Lordy. I'd wiped Elle from my brainbox ages ago. Oops.

There's your movie!

*Applauds wildly*

I don't think Ms Scarlett I-Ooze-Sex Johansson would be quite the most appropriate person to play Young Hils.

Don't remind me. I've had my share of 'dingo'* situations, also mostly shot-related. ;-)

Of one of these! Lots of fun, I'm sure.

I think I just vomited in my mouth a little.

Oh my heavens. They look positively crusty. I used to be a bit more permissive in the olden days, but I still drew the line at sleeping with people who looked riddled. Ugh. That guy's hair! It's got things living in it.

No worries. Enjoy the fruits of your labour!

Oh classic. No, I'm not [promise]. I just grew up with these things [among others!] and have acquired a smattering of knowledge about them along the way. I believe we even dissected them in biology at one stage ... Anyway, cheers for the mistaken identity thing; made my day.

Your vegies/fruits/etc will be fine. Cicadas don't eat that sort of stuff [they're not like locusts, destroying everything in their path]; they hang out in trees and suck the sap from those; deciduous trees [from memory]. They can damage trees from their egg-laying activities, but that's about it.