Damian Christie's duck made me furious with envy - how do people get food on to a plate looking that good? Has Damian thought of entering MasterChef and braving the withering eye of Ray McVinnie?

Yes - I felt sick at that too. Thus the hat tip.

Tweeted a hat tip to Naida Glavish who as a tolls operator in 1984 stared down her bosses at New Zealand Post Office over the use of 'kia ora' as a greeting. Thought some of the younger tweeps might find that story a useful insight into New Zealand as it was. The story is in NZ History Online History of the Māori language http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/maori-language-week/history-of-the-maori-language

Recent New York Times Magazine article "The Way Greeks Live Now" was useful for an insight into the experience of the Greek people. It includes this: "Even the guy selling you souvlaki in Athens can quote statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development showing that the average Greek worked 2,116 hours in 2008, while the average German worked 1,426 hours."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/the-way-greeks-live-now.html?_r=1&scp=18&sq=greece%20magazine&st=cse