Aussie Tuesday-ANZAC Day

Dawn ceremony at the Australian ar Memorial on the 90th anniversary of ANZAC Day

*image and information taken from wikipedia.com

Well, it's only April 24 on this side of the globe but in a few short hours it will be April 25 on the other side. April 25 is ANZAC (Australian and New New Zealand Army Corps) Day in Australia. Being a landowner Down Under (even if it is only one square meter of earth) I figure I should get to know about the important holidays there.



Wikipedia describes ANZAC Day as among the most spiritual and solemn public holidays for Australians. It commemorates the landing of forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula during the first World War. The intention was to capture Istanbul and knock Turkey out of the war. Unfortunately this objective was not achieved during the 8 month campaign and Australia lost over 8000 of her sons to the effort. It did however serve to galvanize national pride since this effort came just 13 years after Australia had become a federal commonwealth nation.



The earliest remembrances were focused on the men lost during the Gallipoli campaign but in later years became the nations memorial day on which to remember those who sacrificed during any war. Dawn services are a common part of the observation, as well as marches, and games of two-up (a simple gambling game, which outside of licensed parlours is illegal but on ANZAC day is permitted because it was a popular past time among the soldiers).

Happy ANZAC Day to my Australian readers.

Aussie Tuesday-

This week I received another bottle condom and a personalized stubbie cooler from the Land Down Under. I love them all! Many thanks to my benefactor! I may yet be turned into a proper Aussie sheila. So since I have 3 of them I was afraid I'd have some real juggling to do.

Good thing two of them have clips so I can attach one. Ok, my Aussie mates...how am I doing here?

Ok, so next order of business is for me to learn the rules of drinking down under. I may be a bit of a piker, but I'm no wowser and I certainly don't want to be accused of being a bloody Seppo bludger! So here's some help I found at a site recommended by my dear cooler supplier. Enjoy!

*this is copied directly from AustralianBeers.com

To shout is Australian meaning to buy something for someone. In a drinking context, it means to purchase a round of drinks (ie one for each person), often with the expectation of reciprocation. This was its original meaning. The consequence of the shouting ethic is, of course, a fairly rapid and consistent pace of drinking.

Consider the following scenario:
One bloke buys a jug of beer (the 'first shout')
Four blokes have their pots filled (typically by the person who shouted, he fills his glass last)
There is one beer left in the jug
The fastest drinker gets the last beer (or in some cases, the person who shouted gets the last beer)

As the jug is empty, the person next to the person who shouted last either:
feels obliged to get another jug quickly as it is his shout and it is early in the evening;
or
he gets pressured into buying another jug as one of his mates is thirsty (this may be done either verbally, or by staring at the jug, or by bashing one's glass on the table).

But it does not end there. Now, of course, there is no chance that the original shouter will be going anywhere, as he just shouted every mongrel at the table, and he has three jugs coming his way. Similarly, people who have been shouted feel as they cannot leave the table, for fear of being considered bludgers.

Hence the shouts go round and round the table till either:
you leave on your shout or soon after your shout;
or
the night draws to an end and basically everyone has stopped drinking.

Oh, and in case any of you bloody yobbos get confused.....this is MY cooler! Ya bastards.

Happy Aussie Tuesday!

Aussie Tuesday

Bloody hell, mate! I had a whole post all typed out and then lost the bugger! Alright, I won't whinge. I'll just get on with it.

Back at Christmas, you may recall I became a landowner in Australia when Mr. Lime bestowed upon me the title to one square meter of Queensland. I've got a lot of learning and adapting if I am going to be a proper Aussie landowner.

This past week a very sweet person provided me with my very own Australian flag and a bottle condom (I love them both!) so I thought I'd start learning about the flag.

*image and information take from wikipedia.com

The current design was approved in 1954. It's comprised of 3 main elements. The Union Jack, the Commonwealth Star, and the Southern Cross. The Union Jack obviously indicates Australia's history as a British colony. The Commonwealth Star in the lower left originally had 6 points to represent the six originally federating states. The 7th point was added for the Territory of Papua and now represents all external territories. The southern Cross is the brightest constellation in the southern hemisphere and has been associated with Australia since it's earliest days as a colony. One of the flag's designers was 14 year old Ivor Evans, who wanted the four points of the constellation to symbolize justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. the blue field is said to represent the ocean, the journey to Australia, the sky, and as a reminder of the early Eureka flag.

In recent years there has been some push to redesign the flag and remove the Union Jack so there is a greater demonstration of Australia as a sovereign nation. A notable advocate of this view is former PM Paul Keating.

Interestingly, in the package that contained my flag and cooler there was also a current newspaper with a surprising article. Apparently, the organizers of this years Big Day Out rock festival scheduled for Australia Day in Sydney banned the national flag. They planned to confiscate any flags or bandannas bearing the flag. They had branded it as gang colours being used as a racist symbol disguised as patriotism.

So the question is...can I fly it on my own land or not? If I do, should I just tell the authorities to bugger off?

Christmas Weirdness

Christmas 1972. Did I not have the most amazing fashion sense even then? I mean what stylish girl DIDN'T wear gogo boots and an Indian headdress? Kind of a precursor to Spice Girls meet the Village People, n'est-pas? Such a trend setter. Ah well, enough of that shocking trip down memory lane...

This is PURE weirdness. Christmas Day in Pennsylvania hit the 50s. I was walking around on concrete, outside, in bare feet...comfortably. Now I've been known to scamper out to the mailbox in a light snow with no shoes but that's not the same as strolling about aimlessly. It's December in the northern hemisphere! It should not be warm enough to do this on Christmas Day!

I used to give my kids a new tie dyed shirt every Christmas. They finally organized in revolt against that tradition so it stopped a couple years ago. This year my stepmother, bless her heart, ASKED specifically for tie dyed shirts. I was all too happy to provide her with some of my handiwork.

After the "Monty Python toilet paper debacle of Christmas '05" I told Mr. Lime I expected something that showed a wee tad more thought and effort, specifying that it did not mean I expected him to go to huge expense. I understand the concept of 'budgetary constraints' but a roll of joke toilet paper does not exactly express sweet devotion. This year I am proud to commend him for his efforts. I got a 49 square foot crossword puzzle with over 28,000 clues. He complains I do them too quickly. I think this should keep me quite occupied for a long time.

Mr. Lime also gave me a gift card showing he was thinking ahead to our golden years. It said, 'for our retirement' and was attached to the above deed for one square metre of land in Queensland, Australia. I'm an absentee landowner in the land down under! I can't even tell you how hard I laughed when I opened that one. By crikey, I've got some work to do if I'm gonna have land in Oz! There is slang to be learned, pub etiquette to be mastered, vegemite to acquire a taste for....Alright, mate...I'm off then Avagoodone!