Bits and bobs

[blamebrampton]

Last year we noted development applications for a new coffee bar and a late-night dessert and chocolate bar in Erko. Immediately I wrote to the council in support of the latter and am happy to report that it has been approved ;-)

The coffee bar is a bit further progressed, and they have recently unveiled the new fit-out. It will be called The Kick Inside. Mr Brammers and I are now dreaming of a Kate Bush Tribute Cafe.

I went to post nail polish to people on Monday, and was told at the crazy post office that it is illegal. Yesterday I went to the sane post office and they agreed that yes, it was, even though it's ridiculous. I have written to the management of Australia Post to ask why, and how the Australian nail polish supplies are kept current and in season given the lack of an indigenous industry. Worst-case scenario, I will ship things to the appropriate countries with travellers ;-)

Finally, Air France and KLM are going to charge obese passengers an extra 75% to book the seat next to them, which will be refunded if that seat is empty due to low carriage numbers. I want to know if I can also book a second seat for 75% of a discount price? That's enough space for me to have a reasonable nap! Surely it would be discrimination to charge small people more!

So, now that the airlines have decided it's really all about making sure people are 'comfortable', I think we should all get involved and tell them what would make air travel truly enjoyable. I can't see a return to neat stewarding staff and edible food, but I am sure we can have a few pleasant changes. So ...

[Poll #1514553]NB, the blowdarts are for use BY the women ON annoying members of the sporting teams. And no, men do not need them when the women's cricket teams travel, those girls are lovely!

I'm sure there are other great ideas out there, feel free to share!

Comments

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Oh good grief ... Did the dog make it home? KLA is a typo for KLM, apparently I decided to have a flashback to the Kosovo crisis ...

And yeah ... On the one hand, I do not think it should be appropriate for the airline to make you sit next to someone who spills over into your seat (and have had to move once when I was being physically squashed, that was a hard one to do politely!). But I receive no rebate for not taking up all of my space, so why should they pay extra? Why not just have better configured seats so that everyone is more comfortable?

The argument is that it is partly for the passengers' health, but I know some fat people who are very fit. I also know some who are just lazy-arsed pie-eaters (and have been one at times myself), so while the latter group may need a kick in the bum for their own good, the first group doesn't, it's just the way they are. I doubt a check-in clerk can tell the difference.

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

Aw, too bad; I used to like KLM. Not an "oh shit, not Johnny Depp!" level of disappointment, but still. >.>

Things like online check-in make it difficult for airline operators to pre-screen passengers, and requiring information about height/weight ratios would be too invasive. Having flight attendants move people based on size before take-off would be pretty humiliating. Planes with larger seats seem to be the only equitable solution, as for me.

TBH I'm not fond of the "lazy-arsed pie-eater" argument (which is what, I don't doubt, ultimately influences decisions such as this), because it is difficult -- impossible, even -- to really tell if the lazy-arsed pie-eating is a result of mere laziness or if it's borne of physiological/biochemical defects, psychological problems, mental illness, etc. A kick in the bum is not necessarily the answer in either of those cases. :\ Fat people are perpetual victims of stigma, and I find a lot of the conventional wisdom about being overweight is steeped in yet more stigma, to the point that way too many people think it's a "fact of life" that fat people are deserving of mocking and othering. :(

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

In my case, and my friends, whenever we get fat, it's lazy-arse pie eating. Certainly we could blame our sedentary jobs and busy lifestyles, but it comes down to we choose to eat pad thai rather than salad, and watch a movie rather than go for a run. I have to say, it is the case for a lot of people who then burden the health system needlessly, which is doubly unfair for people who have actual medical conditions.

I decided to go on a diet when my previously mangled foot was so bad I nearly had to go and see the doctor about it. Since I knew the first thing she would say was 'you could lose a bit of weight', I did that instead, and lo, better foot!

But yeah, it's the sort of thing that people need to be making decisions on in their own lives, and not having check-in staff do it for them.

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

Alcohol burdens the health system needlessly on a regular basis -- I'd argue it does so to a far greater extent than obesity can hope to, at this point -- but we don't stigmatise drinkers in the same way we stigmatise overweight people -- not even speaking of smokers (of which I am still one unfortunately). If everyone who made (arguably) unhealthy lifestyle choices were considered equally objectionable by society, I probably wouldn't have a problem with the "you should make healthy lifestyle choices so as not to be a burden on the health system" line of reasoning. Not even mentioning that fat people are not uniformly unhealthy. Additionally, low self-esteem may not be an "actual" medical condition, but it can be as damaging to a person's quality of life in the long run as physical disability (not damaging in the same way, obviously, but damaging nonetheless). Further, not everyone is in a financial or psychological position to make positive lifestyle changes at the drop of a hat. This post I read last year, and others I sought out after reading it, challenged a lot of the thinking and assumptions I (with my perpetually "healthy" weight) held about fat people.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

There is more of a stigmatisation of smokers here than there, in fact, because they're a major burden on the public health system. Drinkers get a free pass because, well, it's Australia.

To me it's a troubling issue because I grew up dancing where people were commonly and unhealthily underweight. Talking to some of the kids I know, some of what they are taught at school sounds like dancer talk: X is a bad food. This leads to no few eating issues.

But on the other hand, I know teenagers who are far fatter than I managed to become after ten years of small yearly weight gains post-foot-buggering because they eat crap and do little exercise. Not only are they dramatically shortening their lifespans, but they are not having a healthy adolescence where they able to do normal teenage things like bike to their mate's place, or go dancing for hours, or walk five miles to with a gaggle of friends through the countryside in the middle of the night if they're a bit older.

At the same time, I know skinny adolescents who have a similarly grim health profile because their skinniness is bought with bad diet and smoking.

I fully agree with you and the person you've quoted in saying that the answer to this is not to say, 'Grrr, you're fat', because fatness is not a good indicator of fitness. But I do think that there needs to be more fitness, and societies do well to organise themselves around walking and cycling rather than the motor car.

And there are genuine and immediate health benefits to exercising, even if it doesn't change your weight. Since rowing and walking more, my immune system has improved and my ability to withstand stress is definitely better. We have a society in which tens of thousands of people take drugs for mild depression, some of which drugs have serious side effects, most of whom I strongly believe would be better off with a good brisk walk in the back.

So my manifesto for a good quality life is be whatever size you are, but be the fit and healthy you.

ETA a missed word!