Gone Away to Australia 17/09/2005 For a few weeks now, The Blog Herald has been running a series called 100 blogs in 100 days. The idea is that a different blog will be highlighted on each of those one hundred days, thereby introducing new readers to blogs they might like. Duncan Riley, who runs the Blog Herald, asked for submissions from his readers and, I have no doubt, was swamped by the resulting response.Well, today Technorati informed me that Gone Away had risen to the top of the pile and was featured as the blog of the day. Of course, I immediately rushed over there to check and, sure enough, Technorati does not lie (although it can't count - I know my links are increasing all the time but Technorati sticks doggedly to the total it chose ages ago).I ran all the way home and started laying the table for the hordes of visitors, bought party hats and sent out for a huge celebratory cake, made sure that there was plenty of beer in the fridge, dragged in an assortment of chairs from other rooms and blew up a few balloons. It was as I was laying out the paper plates that I realized it was all wasted; the blog stands or falls on what it is and it's too late to pretty it up somehow and pretend to be anything other than I am. I sat down then, surrounded by those party trimmings, and pondered.Cause for celebration, indeed, I thought, and what is a celebration without a present? Yes, that's it, a present for Duncan as a symbol of my gratitude for his foolhardiness in selecting my blog. No fancy bows or ribbons on it, however; Duncan is Australian and it's doubtful he'd go for that sorta stuff. But a present at least.And there I had the clue: Duncan's an Ozzie. I'm supposed to be talking about America and England but inevitably those Ozzies have crept into the posts, particularly the last one, in which I'd lumped all old colonials together. We could have an Australia Day to applaud that land of straight-talking, wry-humored individualists.So what do I know of Australia? I have never been there but Mad, my son, visited a few years ago and loved the place. And I've had my thoughts about it over the years.In my youth I subscribed to the standard view of Ozzies at the time: that Australia was a great place but had one drawback - it was full of Australians. The problem with that opinion was that it didn't last very long once I started meeting a few Ozzies. They're just so darn likeable.Oh, there was the proverbial chip upon the shoulder, that defensiveness about their supposed lack of culture and the resulting disdain for the poms (English). But I had not understood my own pommihood at the time and tended to agree with them. We Southern Africans tried hard to stay a cut above them but I had a sneaking suspicion already that they were very much like ourselves. They had the same experience of life in limitless space, mile after mile of dry, dusty continent. They, too, were groping their way to a new definition of their nationhood in the southern hemisphere.Later, when I moved back to England, I was often mistaken for an Australian, thanks to my accent. This seemed ridiculous to me at first, there being such clear differences to my ear. As I became accustomed to English accents, however, I began to see that they were right; there is a similarity in the way southern hemisphere old colonials flatten vowels and refuse to move their lips too much. For a while, I even acquired the nickname Rolf (after Rolf Harris, an Ozzie who was big on British TV at the time).It was the internet that introduced me to more Australians than I'd met in my entire life up until then. And they turned out to be even more likeable than I'd thought. There is something very appealing in their gift for inventing colorful words and swearing beyond the wildest imagination of the hoariest old trooper. If there is a funny way to view anything, those Ozzies will find it and describe it. And the women are worse than the men!I remember one Ozzie woman in chat who was in the habit of collecting boyfriends and discarding them faster than a roo on the run. Her descriptions of her exes were enough to sear the eyeball (especially when she spoke of one particular pommie bastid who'd let her down) but so brightly colored, one couldn't help but laugh.And I suspect that it is this that endears us to the Australians more than anything else. Sure, we can admire their sporting prowess (I won't mention the Ashes) and envy them the Barrier Reef, Ayres Rock and the weather. But it's their delightfully coarse and honest humor that we respect above all else. Everyone loves to see pomposity and self-importance taken down a peg or two by a dry Australian comment.So here's a toast to the Ozzies (well, someone's gotta drink all this beer). Forget all the culture you're so carefully nurturing in Sydney and never lose your clear eye and biting wit. We love you just the way you are!
Clive
melly I can't believe I'm the first to comment. So let me be the first to congratulate you :) (I'm trying to go to blogherald, but for some blasted reason the page won't load.) Now where's my cake? Date Added: 17/09/2005
Gone Away *Passes Melly a piece of cake (that was easy enough)* Thank you kindly, ma'am. :) The Herald can load slowly at times, Melly - keep trying.! Date Added: 17/09/2005
John (SYNTAGMA) Jolly good show, old fruit! (That's just to demonstrate I'm not an Aussie). Actually, I did live in Perth for two years, and when I returned to England I got a job which required a security check. Why? They regarded me as an Australian. Amazing isn't it how quickly one's identity dissolves into something else. The Boy from Basendean (WA) ~ Rolf Harris ~ was actually born in Cardiff. Oh, and well done for the Adelaide, sorry, accolade! Date Added: 17/09/2005
Gone Away Thanks, John - and thanks too for the great comment on Duncan's article. It was a doozie! :D Date Added: 17/09/2005
easywriter Congratulations! And thankyou for founding or co-founding WBA , I will be watching it with great interest. Date Added: 17/09/2005
Gone Away Thank you, Easy. :) And you watch WBA move once we're in our new home! Date Added: 17/09/2005
Autumn Tie me kangaroo down sport!!! - an enviably awesome achievement. The party hats, cake and celebratory beer are definitely in order - congratulations. Date Added: 17/09/2005
Gone Away Thank you, Autumn. :) And have a slice of cake! Date Added: 17/09/2005
Mad Nice one Dad! .o0(I could've sworn someone said beer?) Date Added: 17/09/2005
Gone Away Ta, Mad! And have a chibuli! :D Date Added: 17/09/2005
ME Strauss YEAAA!!!!! An Englishman takes over Technorati!!!! Congratulations. That is ever so very cool. And thank you for not keeping this to yourself. Date Added: 17/09/2005
Gone Away Ummm no, Liz - misunderstanding. The blog's featured in the Blog Herald, that's all. ;) But hey, that's not a bad idea... :D Date Added: 17/09/2005
ME Strauss I'm going to have to start sleeping again. I still think it's way cool and I'm still proud that you didn't take the reserved English route of not saying a think. Being confused is a way of life for me. and please do take over Technorait. Date Added: 17/09/2005
Gone Away LOL Liz, as if I could take over Technorati. Anyway, I hear that Google might be buying it. ;) Date Added: 17/09/2005
ME Strauss I'm finding that I'm having trouble spelling my name today, despite the hours I've spent prewriting it. Well, then, Take over Google that would be even better, because publishers would be at your mercy and the WBA would to through the rool! Date Added: 17/09/2005
ME Strauss Ah that was roof Date Added: 17/09/2005
Gone Away Gotcha, Liz. :) Date Added: 17/09/2005
prying1 Hate to complain but you got any nuts and pretzels to go with the beer. - The cake is delicious but... Got Milk? OK! Enough complaining. This is really the first I thought of you as a breakaway colonialist. I always thought of you (and by extension others in Africa and Australia) as English living in a foreign country. Perhaps that is an impression recieved from watching old movies. Thanks for straightening up some of my thinking. Now if you could just sort through the rest of my brain... Date Added: 17/09/2005
Gone Away Paul, I've read your blog - nothing wrong with your brain! But you were right about the colonials, we are English - just much more so than the ones who stayed in England... :D
.oO(Nuts, nuts, where did I put those nuts... Hang on a minute - I thought they had plenty of nuts in California!) ;) Date Added: 17/09/2005
Scot Enjoyed this fair dinkum post on the Ozzies. What impresses me about Australia is its uniqueness: land, animals, plants, culture, and language. There's just no end to their imagination when it comes to colloquial expressions. Thanks for your recent visit to my blog, and for your kind, thoughtful comment. Date Added: 18/09/2005
Beltane I have always found the Australians I have met on the net to be friendly and warm in general, but it's true, their humor is what is the real draw. I never met one that couldn't get everyone busting a gut :) Date Added: 18/09/2005
Gone Away And thanks for yours, Scot. Date Added: 18/09/2005
Gone Away Same here, Beltane - they're hilarious! :D Date Added: 18/09/2005
glenniah Well mate, If you were going to invite Aussies to the party maybe you should organise a barbie and have a keg or two. Sometimes the australians use self-deprecating humour as if to get in before anyone else does. Yet their pride in their country is very real. I have lived in England and travelled to Europe and the USA, and I appreciated these places. Why do I call Australia Home? I guess it's the life style; having 13 weeks paid holiday every ten years; a smaller population and yet still a multi cultural society. Australia is still growing up and with our good old aussie charm and humour I think we will make it. glenni btw, congratulations Gone. Date Added: 18/09/2005
Gone Away Yup, I reckon you'll make it all right, Glenni. Good to see you, by the way. :) Date Added: 18/09/2005
Yuna holy cow! 13 weeks of paid vacation in Australia? I'd be lucky to get just 6 if I have a baby!! And I am about to celebrate gaining one additional week vacation in Jan 2006 which makes total of 4 weeks after 10 years of services in the same company. Something is wrong here... Date Added: 18/09/2005
Gone Away Hmmm, those Ozzies have the right idea, it seems to me... Date Added: 18/09/2005
scribeswindow culture in Sydney? I thought us Melbournians were the one's with that..... :) Congratulations on making it through the high ranks of the Heraldblog. Date Added: 19/09/2005
Gone Away Well, we hear a lot about all the foreign restaurants and chefs in Sydney these days, Scribe. No threat to the real thing In Melbourne, I'm sure. ;) Date Added: 19/09/2005
Stuart Aah me little Pommie cobber that was a beaut tribute to us dinkum true blue Aussiesthere mate. It's ridgy didge this is a bottler of a country. And you can tell that good looking sheila of your's that she's a bit of orright too :) Date Added: 19/09/2005
Gone Away G'day, Blue... er... I mean Stuart! Just as well I speak Strine as well as Pom and Okie - hey, I'm multilingual. :D The sheila says bonzer to you and yours as well! Date Added: 19/09/2005
Ken I met some Australians in Stockholm last week and shared a few breakfasts with them. No better way to start the day! When I lived in Singapore, my family joined ANZA (Australian New Zealand Assoc.) rather than the British Club - just much more pleasant companionship. Congratulations on your elevation to blogging greatness - you deserve it! Date Added: 19/09/2005
Gone Away Thanks, Ken. Shortlived fame but better than nothing. ;) Date Added: 19/09/2005
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