Election Night food

This Saturday is election time in Australia. I was asked in a poll today "What would need to happen to change the way you are going to vote this Saturday?" Pretty odd question so I replied "If Martians came down and took one or both of the party leaders, I would vote for the Martians".

But to more important things - Saturday night dinner. Obviously pork must be centre stage but what else should I have for the fateful meal?

Greens on the side, obviously.

Rhubarb for dessert - but Fool , Snow or Crumble? A waffle, perhaps?

Any thoughts on the right foods for an election night?

And drink? A Budgie Smuggler Beer? A Steely-Eyed Red?

Suggestions?
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Miraculous!

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Tomorrow, Tuesday, is the Australia Day public holiday.

Australians have been done out of a long weekend this Australia Day, with the public holiday falling on a Tuesday.

But research shows that up to 500,000 workers will blow off work today anyway to snare themselves a four-day weekend.

- ABC

You know you are Australian when...

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You know the meaning of 'girt'
You know that stubbies can either be worn or drunk
You think it is normal to have a Prime Minister called Kevin
When you hear that an American 'roots for his team' you wonder how often and with whom
You understand that the phrase 'a group of women wearing black thongs' refers to footwear and may be less alluring than it sounds
You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'
You believe the 'L' in the word ' Australia ' is optional
You can translate: 'Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas'
You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep
You call your best friend 'a total bastard' but someone you really, truly despise is just 'a bit of a bastard'
You think 'Woolloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for a place
You believe is makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin
You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' can't be called 'Woy'
You know, whatever the tourist books say, that no one says 'cobber'
You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, while 'scuse me' is alway polite
You understand that 'you' has a plural and that it's 'youse'
You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle
You understand that all train timetables are works of fiction
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Australia Day

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"Spirit of the Drought" - Arthur Streeton

A holiday here in Australia, Australia Day.
Some things we have bequeathed to the world:

The secret ballot
The Australian crawl
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry
Tall poppies
Sausage sizzle
The wiggles
Steve Irwin, Paul Hogan & Elle McPherson.
Kangaroo
Penicillin via Florey
Boomerang
Combine harvester
Box kite
Black box flight recorder
Rack and pinion steering
Lithium for bipolar
Bionic ear
Kerosene fridge
Dual flush toilet
Hills hoist
The electric drill
2-stoke lawnmower
Garage roller door
Plastic bank notes
Refrigeration
Vegemite
Wine cask
Heart pacemaker
Spray on skin
Winged keel
Eucalypts
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Thirty five years ago...

Thirty five years ago...the Sydney Opera House was opened.

1973. I was 19, studying chemistry at Melbourne University and living in a share flat in Carlton with about half a dozen other people (most of whom I am still in contact with). I had ginger hair, lots of it, a bushy beard and was a couple of jeans sizes smaller.

Where did that time go?
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Black gold!

To people who are not Australian, or do not know Australians, Vegemite can be something of a mystery. But probably more Australians can sing the "Happy Little Vegemites" song than can sing the first two verses of our national anthem.

Thick, black and salty, made from brewery waste, it is very much an acquired taste. Don't let anyone tell you that it is 'just like Marmite', because it isn't. (mind you, there was a period in its life when Vegemite was called "Parwill", a parody of "Marmite".)

It is an Australian icon, something that we pine for when travelling. I remember it being on sale at travel agents in London.

Anyway, the reason for this post: the billionth jar rolled off the production line yesterday.
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A follow-up on the Moving Forward post.

The Aboriginal Flag

A few people have asked for a bit of background to my post of a couple of days ago where I reproduced Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's address to the nation from Federal Parliament apologising to the Aborigines for past wrongs.

1. Have the Aborigines accepted the apology?
By and large, yes. They have been asking that an apology be given for some years now and were consulted over the wording of the apology. As is the case with any group of humans, there is a diversity of views with some saying that it was enough and others wanting more. But for the majority it appears to have been accepted.

2. Does Kevin Rudd mean what he says?
He is giving every sign of believing and acting on this issue. He said during his election campaign that it would be one of the first things he did if elected. It was done on the second sitting day of parliament. There are many issues needing to be addressed to level the imbalance in the Australian community: life expectancy, health generally, education, housing. Successive governments have, to varying degrees, tried to move on these areas with limited success. Will Rudd succeed? I don't know but he gives every indication of wanting to tackle the issues with speed and compassion. As part of the supporting address he proposed a bipartisan parliamentary group, similar in its concept of unity and focus to a war cabinet, to work collaboratively towards some of his goals for improving the lot of Aboriginals, hopefully avoiding the point-scoring of party politics. The Opposition parties have agreed to this.

3. What of the Opposition party?
The opposition Liberal Party (= Republican, Conservative) flatly refused to apologise to the Aboriginies when it was in power. The fractures in the party were clearly seen in their leader, Brendan Nelson's, reply address to the apology. It was as if every faction in the Liberal Party had said that the price that they wanted for an apparent show of party unity on the issue was to have their pet peeve mentioned in Nelson's address. Consequently, as a speech, it was all over the place and lacked clarity, direction and grace. Many people stood and turned their backs to him when he spoke; some, I suspect, more for his past comments than for the content of the present speech.

4. Does an apology leave the Government open to compensation claims?
I don't believe so. If the Government is open to compensation claims then it would have been open to them whether they apologised or not. If you have done something wrong, refusing to acknowledge that wrong does not make you save from prosecution. This has been a myth in Australian political circles for far too long.

5. Is the apology the pathway to peace, love and happiness?
No, there is a lot of work to be done and there are many hurdles to cross when you are trying to both mix and save two cultures. But it has removed a barrier from the communication process that has loomed too large for too long. And that can't be a bad thing.

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Equal time

Having poked fun at the Floridapudlians, it is only fair that I come clean with Australia's odd laws:

A life sentence is 25 years.

Children may not purchase cigarettes, but they may smoke them.

You may never leave your car keys in an unattended vehicle.

It is illegal to roam the streets wearing black clothes, felt shoes and black shoe polish on your face as these items are the tools of a cat burgular.

It is illegal to walk on the right hand side of a footpath.

Under Australian Communications Authority (ACA) regulations, a modem can’t pick up on the first ring.

Taxi cabs are required to carry a bale of hay in the trunk.

Bars are required to stable, water and feed the horses of their patrons.

The legal age for straight sex is 16, unless the person is in the care/custody of the older person, in which case it is 18.

Only licensed electricians may change a light bulb.

It is illegal to wear hot pink pants after midday Sunday.

You must have a neck to knee swimsuit in order to swim at Brighton Beach.

Until the Port Arthur Killings it was legal to own an AK-47 but not legal to be gay.

Lawmakers are proposing a new law that will not allow anyone to come closer than 100 meters from a dead whale’s carcass.

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I must confess that I thought a few of these had been removed from the statutes.

Want to see how your state or country stacks up? Have a look here.

OPEC? No, APEC.

I'm curious how many of my overseas readers heard that the APEC forum was held in Australia this week? My cursory look at various overseas news sites didn't seem to find much.

It was a meeting of 21 leaders from countries that border on the Pacific Ocean.

So we had the Presidents of America, China and Russia; the Prime Ministers of Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Plus sundry other leaders from Peru to the Philippines.

I'm not too sure at what other venues such a body of leaders are brought together. The UN tends to attract foreign ministers and such diplomatic bods. Certainly the opportunity to get them to discuss matters of substance face-to-face is one that should be made the most of. I'm not sure it was.

It has become something of a tradition that there is a 'dress-up' group photo. This is the one for this APEC, with all the leaders in Australian stockmen's coats. A bit drab.


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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Australia has a reputation of wanting to cut down its 'tall poppies', people who achieve above the rest, who 'rise above their station'. While it does seem to be changing, it is (sadly) true that we look askance at the high achievers. You can read more about it at Psychology Today.

The odd flip side is that, while we are skeptical of academics, entrepreneurs and thinkers who dare to stick their head up, we are very prone to elevate sports men and women to 'hero' status. (A misnomer, as they are idols, not heroes. Heroes, by definition, should do something heroic and it just devalues their heroism if they have to share the title with some neck-less yobbo in lycra shorts who happens to be able to play football. Sorry, I digress.)

But elevate them we do.

Well, some of us. I am strongly non-tribal when it comes to sport and being Australian is no ticket to my uncritical support. I was happy this morning to learn that Lleyton Hewitt had lost overnight. Any Australian nationalistic support I may have, any admiration for the guy's talent I may have, all dissolves and fades into insignificance when I see his atrocious on-court behaviour.

This is not someone I want to be associated with, not someone I want touted around the world as representing my country.

In this paddock of poppies I am happy to set the mower blades to 'low'.



BTW Lleyton has justified his 'Mr Hand' action by saying that it is not directed at the opponent, that it is not a form of intimidation, that is is an internal 'self-motivation' action.

So...where are his eyes pointing in the above photo?
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