I've been following the story of the Australian miners trapped underground for two weeks and finally rescued. I was eating it up, relishing the absence of the feminized and tragedy-addicted American media from the manly story of courage, friendship, patriotism, and good humor in the face of danger.
Communicating with their rescuers through a 50ft-long plastic pipe drilled through the rubble, they joked that they were staying in a two-star hotel - with the two of them as the stars - and that they would be demanding overtime and back pay.
They vowed to give up mining and asked for a newspaper to scan the situations vacant advertisements.
They said they were worried they had eaten so well during the final days of the rescue operation that they would have to be greased up to fit through the tunnel.
Amid the celebrations, medical experts made very un-Larrikin like statements. They said it was difficult to know if the men would suffer from long-term mental health problems.