Sideswipe: March 17: Looking for adventure?

The burden of height

A reader writes: "In Japan, a tall, blond friend of mine and I went to an extremely packed dance club. It was jammin' like nothing. All night, a constant influx of people were around my friend, talking with him. He thought he was the most popular guy on the dance floor. We found out halfway through the night that people couldn't find each other in the busy club and texted each other to meet by the tall blonde foreigner. He was a recognisable landmark."

Good relationship checklist

1. Their feelings for you are clear. There's nothing to decode or Google.
2. You love the reality of the relationship, not just its potential.
3. Conflict feels constructive not destructive.
4. The relationship doesn't require a specific set of circumstances to feel good.
5. You don't have to hide your needs to keep the peace.
6. They call you out on your s*** (with love).
7. Your growth is celebrated, not criticised.
8. You love who you are when you're with them.
9. The compromises you make in the relationship don't feel like you're compromising your character.
10. They make you feel loved, even when you don't feel lovable.
11.You're reading this and a particular person comes to mind. (Via We're Not Really Strangers @wnrstweets)

Best Wi-Fi password

On the train out west and found the best wifi name..

Kids never let you forget

"Years ago my wife worked Friday nights and I cooked dinner for our family of 6 children," writes Trevor Knight.  "I had grown some broccoli of which I was very proud so decided to serve it up with dinner.  Cooked beautifully and all okay till eldest son discovered a caterpillar on his plate. So began a children's search of their plates and a blanket refusal to eat the broccoli.  I was that wild I ate the broccoli off every plate, caterpillars and all, in front of them. To this day if there are any family dinners with broccoli on the menu someone always asks, 'Who cooked the broccoli?'."

"I'm a public librarian. I was helping someone in the computer room and turned to tell someone he needed to keep his exclamations at the video he was watching down. Just then, the woman I was helping leapt aside because the man I was shushing urinated on himself. It ran down on to the jacket he had tied around his waist, down the chair, on to the ground. Turns out he'd snuck in alcohol and was totally blackout drunk. I told him he had to leave. He put the pee-covered jacket on and stumbled out. As I returned with gloves and cleaning supplies, another patron decided this was a good time to complain about some kids who were making noise. I took a deep breath and said 'This is a good time for us all to appeal to our higher selves and do our best in the moment. Please just adapt for a minute'. Then I thought about the student loans I took out for my master's degree as I scrubbed up wee."