There & Back Again

It's been quiet here.

But we're back.  I noticed on our return that the crisp all-too-bushfire ready grass made the same crunchy noise at +35 degrees as the snow in Canada did at -2 degrees*.

We'll get a few blog posts together of some of the many highlights and fun things we got to see and do on our Christmas and New Year extravaganza over the next few days and weeks, so check back and please let us know you're stopping by!

James

( * For those still stuck using Fahrenheit, that's 'really hot' and 'just below freezing' - or 308.15 and 271.15 Kelvin.)

Sad Snowman

Someone very Christmassy

But he's obviously expecting the thaw already.

Beware the Canadian Lego People

Those of us that have recently purchased an item from the Lego Store in Canada have been greeted with the following image.

I'm presuming that the lumberjack-shirted and beaver-hatted 'Kel'(?) is specific to the Canadian market.  (He also needs a shave.  A kid's toy that needs a shave?)

Horrifying though he and his mademoiselle are, one dreads to think what the Australian or British equivalents might be...

James

Where a flower & flag mean something...

Most Australians would recognise this combination as being the usual result for a newly-minted Australian from the Citizenship Ceremony. It's a two-Aussie and a dog household now.

We were lucky that we had an excellent ceremony, on a special day, hosted by the Kyneton Mayor, and played in by the Kyneton Municipal Band. They were good too. Thanks all!

The mention of Canada in the news report? That's us, that is. And among other salient thoughts, the mayor was at pains to point out that taking Australian citizenship did not mean forgetting where you came from. The wide heritage, is part of what makes Australia what it is.

James

A couple of great things about the Commonwealth of Australia's coat of arms is that it features native flora and fauna (the former unofficial to the authorised design, the latter integral) and secondly that the kangaroo and emu are both edible. (Try finding a unicorn, and you really, really don't want to try lion or eagle...)

Australian passports. The left hand example, issued in 2001, has differently shaped arms than the 2011 example on the right. The logo below the word 'Passport' actually refers to the fact the document has an electronic chip, and isn't a monochrome version of the Aboriginal flag, although exactly the same layout. The smaller arms on the 2011 issued wallet at the top (back) is different again.

Again the contrasts between Canada and Australia are intriguing in this area, as Canada's arms are essentially a British design with some Canadian additions, while Australia's is so appropriate it actually doesn't use traditional heraldic beasts.

When the Australian arms were approved in 1912, in Parliament, MP William Kelly said:

"The emu and kangaroo are so built that they hardly fit into the heraldic atmosphere, and I think we make ourselves ridiculous when we endeavour to carry on the traditions of the Old World with some of the wild creations of our Australian fauna."

I doubt anyone in Australia would suggest more traditional (and therefore non-native) heraldic animals would be a better alternative nowadays. However, making a full size example of the arms smacks somewhat of the chimps' tea party, but didn't stop Museum Victoria:

In contrast of course, Australia's flag, so vehemently defended by certain conservatives is 25% someone else's anyway, while Canada opted for its own flag in 1965. The contrasts and similarities are worth, I think, noting. Australia's flag can be easily mistaken for any of about a dozen similar designs, and when folded or draped, for that of the United Kingdom. But no-one would mistake the coat of arms as belonging to any other country than Australia. Conversely Canada's coat of arms is distinctive only in its details (maple leaves etc.) while the Canadian flag gets 100% recognition in tests.

Heraldry, eh?

James

Census counts

Australia has one of the highest census response rates in the world, with 97.3 per cent of its population counted during the 2006 census, the spokesman said.

This compares with 97.2 per cent in Canada and 93.9 per cent in Britain, he added.

The Age.

And some of that's down to my work as a collector! Part of the difference between the UK and Australia will be down to Australia having all household census forms being hand delivered, and mostly still hand collected by dedicated collectors, while the UK uses the (more comprehensive) postal system. I don't yet know what method the Canadian census uses, but I'm sure I will soon. Meanwhile, the US census seems to exist in an alternate reality, and I've been unable to find any reliable statistics as to its count accuracy behind the variety of other strange stories and controversy it generated.

There's some interesting material on censuses on the Wiki page (here) including on the countries in question.

James

Imperfect 10

Imperfect Ten, Lake Okanagan.

James

Meredith of the floppy ear

Meredith is now in Canada, but he started life in Australia.
(Don't tell me Meredith is a girl's name, I'm not listening.)

One ear stubbornly flips down - it's the one with the different lining. His body is scraps and the legs and arms are bits of old clothes-making projects.
A very useful chap is Meredith.


When he's not nestling in tissue paper and leaping in a jiffy bag for the budget flight to Canada, he likes long walks, evenings by the fire and the occasional ride in a plastic truck or toy train set. (You get me, Zachary?)

Happy Canada Day! / Jour heureux du Canada!

Mes amis / My friends!

A great Canadian view...

Glod, glod, glod, glod...*

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images - via the Globe and Mail article

Not to be outdone, the Canadian men's hockey team figured out how to do it, too.

Go you canucks! I'll be wearing my Olympic jumper with pride tomorrow. (Fleece. It's a fashion statement. - If you're Canadian.)


* Terry Pratchett reference for Sharon and Susan (and James)

The leaf takes the ice

Globe & Mail.

The Canadian women wrap it up. That's three Olympic Hockey* Golds in a row.

Can the boys do it too?

*On this blog that's always Ice Hockey.

Australia Day 2, eh?

Q. What is the difference between Australia Day and Canada Day?
A. Hemispheres.

At dinner, James asked me this question. By now, I am used to my husband asking me awkward questions when I have my mouth full of linguine. I have also learned that I am unfortunately unlikely to get away with 'Mrrf' as an answer.


So, what exactly is the difference? Well, not much, apart from the obvious bits: flag, day, month, country, large bouncing marsupial, small determined chewing mammal, mate!, eh?, and degrees of mild social difference aside.

Canadians celebrate the anniversary of the British North America Act, which formed the Dominion of Canada in 1867; Australians celebrate the anniversary of the First Fleet's arrival (essentially the first moment of what became the nation), as James said in his previous post.


But here's the jazz. Both celebrations are in mid-summer, they're national holidays involving picnics, beer, sunburn, barbeques, going to the cottage/the beach, and an unusual preponderance of flags.

At sundown there will be fireworks. The Prime Minister, in a ceremony of tact, names a carefully-selected group of national 'heros' who promptly turn around and use the media time to criticise the government's policy on immigration/health care/aboriginal and native rights or the environment.

Children and adults wave flags and sport inaccurate renditions of same flag (if we can see through the sun-screen smears) on one or both or all cheeks. More sausages char as barbeques go up in a swirl of smoke. (Headache tablet and antacid sales are healthy the following day.) Music festivals. Street parties. Protests, particularly about our Commonwealth heritage and uncomfortably memorable moments in the treatment of indigenous peoples. Citizenship ceremonies and the handing out of certificates and trees in little pots, soon to languish in backyards everywhere. It's all there.


The differences? A few. The Australian flag is older, has more colours (so I was reliably informed), and is, I suspect, harder to accurately depict in face paint - never having tried it myself. Pavlovas versus pancakes. Beach cricket vs softball. Parched plains versus Great White North. (Great White Shark versus Growling Grizzly Bear -- but don't believe the locals, they wouldn't know what to do if they saw the real thing, really.)

That's about it, but here's one final difference: if a Canadian were to take offense because I said they were basically the same festival, I would probably never know because they would be so polite, tactful and overtly nice about it ('Just smile, Cathy.' - 'I am, Doug!')

But if I'd annoyed an Aussie, on the other hand, I'd hear about it. 'Wotcha, mate?' They'd probably crack a grin and settle in for the favourite national sport: having a bluey (a barney, a ruck; a fight). Great White what?

Australia Day 1: 1788 and all that

Today is Australia Day. It's the 222nd anniversary of the First Fleet arriving in what was to become Australia on 26 January 1788, starting the European settlement of Australia that has continued to this day. The Sydney Museum has an excellent model of the First Fleet ships on show (below) and I wonder how many of those aboard realised they were arriving in mid-summer?

Understandably, there is a view that the Aboriginal peoples who were already living here may have a rather less positive perception of the arrival of these convicts, sailors and marines. Although it has no effect on the tragic history of Aboriginal rights and life since that day, it's often forgotten that Australia really is entirely a land of immigrants as all the humans arrived from overseas - the earliest remains found in Australia are Mungo Man from 40,000 years ago. Estimates often giving a remarkably recent figure (in pre-history terms) of between 40,000 to 50,000 years for the first colonisation of the continent, although some believe it to be much earlier.

Of course the First Fleet was a direct result of the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook in His Majesty's Barque Endeavour on one of the world's great voyages of exploration. (The introductory image at the top shows the replica of HMB Endeavour sailing up the Yarra in Melbourne.) Again, an aspect of Cook's exploration of the Eastern coast of Australia and the arrival of the First Fleet is that it could so easily have been a French story, as the French Navy were literally on the spot - or in the natural harbours - at both events. While there are a scattering of French names (particularly in Tasmania - itself based on a Dutch navigator's name) it's a monolingual Anglophone culture in law. Yet it could have been like Canada, with a foot in both French and British culture and language, or a member of the Francophone world like -er- Monaco.

Often overlooked near the Circular Quay in Sydney is this mosaic map (above) showing the very first developments of what was much later to become the city of Sydney, Australia's eternal second best conurbation.

Of course, the First Fleet was the beginning of a social experiment that failed at its origin - to export 'the criminal class' from Britain, and to develop colonies with these prisoners. No one has yet managed to export their 'criminal class', so that part was a failure, but we seem to have managed to build quite a habitable country on this unprepossessing foundation. The convicts would try to escape from the marines and soldiers (obviously to get to what would become Victoria and Melbourne from the rather inferior Sydney and New South Wales) as seen above at Sovereign Hill historical re-enactment. But to get away they would have to get through the Blue Mountains (below) one of Australia's natural wonders which is essentially untouched except for the viewing platforms and coach parking (not included in the picture).
And when it's been another great Australia Day here, and we are rolling home with a beaut sunset to the West, it's the start of another cold, winter's day in Britain. We've just celebrated five years and one day here, and it's bonzer, mate.

James (a Melburnian)

Produit d'Australie

The world may not be desperate for Vegemite, but thanks to Canada's language laws, it is available in French. One side of the Canadian jars point out that it's tartinare de levure concentree, which just proves that some things aren't sexier or more attractive in French. Thanks to Pam & Jim for ensuring the jar was available for my Canadian visits. I suspect it'll last until the 22nd Century.

James

[Much is written about Vegemite's addictiveness or repulsiveness. Only three things matter though: No one's indifferent to the taste. If you didn't grow up on it, you are unlikely to like it. Anyone claiming to be an Aussie outside of Australia can be checked for authenticity by finding their jar of Vegemite in the cupboard. No jar, not an Aussie.]

Ghosts of Christmases Past

Lake Okanagan, -25 degrees C (-13 F).

Maryborough, Victoria, Australia. 25 degrees C (77 F) at night.

Montecito, California.

It's for a big cake, officer

Of course if you are an unpatriotic Canadian food hoarder, please will you put these posters up inside your house next to the clearly marked 'Hoarded Food' bags so the nice policeman can use the labels to ease your arrest.

Underwater Camera No.1

Taken with a camera in a waterproof casing this (northern) summer. That's what it looks like from below when you are paddling, folks!

Incidentally, is the camera facing forwards, or backwards? Answers in the comments box please.

James

Right or left?

The left (blue) and right (red) worlds. But what type of left-right battle? Driving, of course. Image Wikipedia.

I was intrigued to read a BBC report regarding Samoa switching to driving on the left, having driven previously on the right. It's one of those not important but critical distinctions, I think, in that it doesn't matter which side you drive on, as long as everyone does the same. Having driven on both the left and right, as per the local road rules, and in Malta* as well as occasionally (briefly) on the wrong side of the road when not concentrating during international travel, I (mostly) feel comfortable with both. Claims for one being technically or ergonomically superior or inferior I think are bull, but as that's rather lacking in detail I'll ask my car ergonomicist and report back. Meanwhile...

It's also a good benchmark of international insularity. Anyone in a country that drives on the left (the minority) is aware that the majority drive on the right, but know it's possible to do either. Many used to driving on the right regard driving on the left as an unnecessary challenge to their international experience, and one that should be abolished. In other words, it's an example of the benefits of different options, rather than a monoculture - or diversity.

What makes Samoa interesting here, as they are switching from a majority preference to the minority one - against the odds, and according to the BBC the first country to attempt the change since the 1970s. Here there is an economic reason offered, to use second-hand cars from Australia, Japan and New Zealand, three of the strongest, industrialised democracies in the greater Asia-Pacific. It will be interesting to see how it pans out. Certainly driving a car designed for the other 'hand' in any country isn't much fun.

Wikipedia offers the listing of which preference countries have today; interestingly the Canadians preference for the right would at first glace seem to be one of the examples of the effect of the proximity of the USA in comparison to the other members of the old British Empire countries (- Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand all still preferring the left) but, according to the Wiki link was resolving a very un-Canadian muddle. Newfoundland was an exception then, too. The oddest factor I ever observed in Canada was in Victoria, BC, whose somewhat over-dedication to Empire involved having London type Routemaster buses with the exit platform facing into the traffic - an excellent effort for tourist culling.

The history of the 'rule of the road' as it's usually known is fascinating (as in the Wiki link above) encapsulating a lot of social history, commerce, muddling as well as technical factors, the last usually being the only one generally considered in passing. Then there's the preferences (and effects) of mounting a horse, boarding an aircraft and the side bicycles chains are fitted.

I'm sure we'll return to this topic. In the meantime, remember: Look both ways when crossing.

James

* 'The British drive on the left, the Americans drive on the right, and the Maltese drive in the shade.'

Summer breezes

As we sit here on the patio, side by side in lawn chairs, looking at the lake and the boats, the sunlight falling on the mountains and the late day's breeze, she says 'It's been two weeks since we posted a blog post - or is it three?' He says: 'Mmm'.

Patio lounging. Pass the wine!

Relaxing in Canada, chez Parents Laing, enjoying summer hot weather and swimming every day in the lake. (Or should that be lakes? Today's sample included a new one.) Clear blue water and hot sun.

Yes, there are bushfires here, and yes they are serious, but they are on the other side of the lake, a couple of miles as the crow flies (and there's a large, long lake between us and them). We watch and hope that the damage is minimal to those over there.

In the last week, we've been out and about, and there's so much to show! A friend christened this the 'Bev and James frolic' across North America. There will be pictures of planes, I promise. And crafty things, too.

Taking pictures of the flowers at the botanical gardens and sculpture park in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
(Photo by Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood.)

In the meantime, there are flowers and sunshine, planes and people, cricket and crafting. And watermelon. Don't forget the watermelon.

Plenty of cuddles available for free. Smiles, too. (Shame the giraffe copped it).

Having a great Northern summer, catching up with the family, meeting our new nephew, and generally being spoiled. More soon.

Bev

More kilts than in Scotland

So it must be Nova Scotia. Actually Fort George, Halifax, with a group of recreators acting as 78th Highland Regiment of the mid-Victorian period.

This little one-minute film was shot in August 2003. There is no sound, so you can thank me for avoiding a bagpipe rendition of 'Nova Scotia the Brave' and various tourists babbling. Feel free to add your own extempore piano accomplishment.

We'd just arrived to have a look around the fort, and I was just testing out our new digital camera. Remarkably this squad acted like I'd scripted and directed the shot - as usual various other visitors did their usual bluebottle impression. It's uncut, which I think makes me lucky, rather than a film auteur.

Just something a little different.

James