thunder thighs

Thick legged flower beetle - Oedemera nobilis

As I was photographing this very colourful chappie, I had it in mind that it was a fly. When it finally got bored with the big eye and flew off, it still did not register that the wings opened up like a beetle, with the coloured casings opening and not flapping. As a result, I wasted about twenty minutes searching for flies.

This is plainly obviously the male of the species, as the female does not have the bulbous hind legs. Quite a spectacular find, one that I cannot remember ever seeing before. It has been said many times before but I will say it again, blip opens your eyes. The rather attractive bloom that it rests on was quite a bonus and I am confident one of you horticultural types will easily identify this for me.

Today's Indonesian difference discussion I will loosely call status. The idea came from yesterday's comments on the sun tan issue. In Victorian times, women of the upper echelon, would powder their faces white, I guess as a sign of the upper classes, were to be white meant that you never had to spend time in the sun. But now everyone wants a sun tan, but is this a status thing - I doubt it, I will ask my first wife.

I met a Japanese guy on the beach, he was sunning himself, wearing speedos and a glove on one hand. When I asked him about the glove, he told me that the un-tanned hand would suggest that he played golf, an extremely expensive pastime in Japan. I don't know whether this is just one guys idea or whether it is a common practice, but definitely a status thing.

The status symbol in Indonesia and probably many other countries, is the long nail. Growing an excessively long nail indicates that you do not do manual labour. Usually it is the little finger but sometimes the thumb. Very common amongst taxi drivers.

Dave