Things I still don't get after 6 months in Australia

[robinpud]

apart from the obvious one- WHY DON'T THEY BUILD PROPER HOUSES WITH INSULATION AND HEATING????

What on earth is Manchester and why is it on sale in lots of supermarkets- is it something about mancunians the Australains don't like?

that is the obvious question really - I constantly ask it in NZ. And no double glazing either.

and manchester - so weird. We finally worked out it is jsut linen as in sheets, towels etc. WE decided it must come from the cotton mills or something. For ages we just reckoned it was a v.prevalent brand name who didn't realise what Manchester was actually like...

I could order double glazed windows, sold as "European". But I'd pay through the nose. Buck up and get used to it

MrsJC is right, manchester equates to mills.

manchester is to do with the mills and that was where our cotton went and came back as fabric etc.

depends where you live robinpud - as we have more heat than cool weather - our old house is built more for summer than our short winter.

I don't get why brick boxes are the go here in QLD when the old 'queenslander' style house is far more suited to our climate - big wide open verandahs and built on stilts to help with air circulation.

Eidsvold- have just come back from 2 blissful weeks in far north queensland. 14 days of sunshine, wearing shorts lovely lovely lovely1
Saw a wild cassowary, platypus, turtles, crocodiles, wallaby. Fantastic

Suzy- am trying to buck up but my hands are too bloody cold to even shovel brownies into my mouth ! it's 10 degrees in the house and the garden is probably about 12 or 13 now the sun has gone down.

that would have been fab - have been north now and in Sept and it seems now is the best time to go.

Target toy sale starts on Thursday doesn't it Eidsvold? Are you ready to go?

(am late with this but fwiw a drapers' shop in the UK, especially Wales, was called a 'Manchester House' for the same reason - think of Mog Edwards' Manchester House Emporium in Under Milk Wood)

robin - found a few things I wanted for the dds the other day and just laybyed them - can't imagine dragging 4yo with special needs, 2yo and 4month old to the toy sale on Thurs. Did not save that much in putting them on layby now as to getting them later.

I think I would have saved about 20 dollars if that. They are for dd1's birthday which is in a couple of weeks though.

Well I think I may have a look around for little things for xmas. At least Target will be warmer than the house! 4 degrees in the family roon this morning and dh scraping the car with a credit card! How's Brissy?

my mate hates the word for sofa
what is it?
and crook

My grandparents were drapers. Manchester used to be a term in england too, meaning bedlinen etc.

My Australian MIL call the sofa a lounge cod. Is that the word you meant?

sofa - couch...is that what you were thinking cod?

you moved to the land of enormous insects and you are questioning brand names??

My sister (been in Bendigo 20 years) tells me that they build the houses for heat, ie with high ceilings, whirly birds on the roof to take the hot air up and out. As the colder weather is that much less in duration, they just all have portable heaters in the garage and get them out when needed.
Her native oz friends often stay here when travelling and can't believe we don't have aircon in our house for when its hot. Same reason - our houses are built for cold which we get much more than heat.

we travelled in oz for a year

i could never get how people walked around the shops with no shoes on, it just seemed so weird

i miss it now!

we had sublime 22 degrees of glorious mellow sunshine today, river glassy like a millpond and just perfect.

Ner ner ner ner nerrrrrrrr

have you got used to "doona" yet?

crook is either sick or a criminal and manchester is as rightly pointed out towels, sheets etc

as a born and breed Aussie I love the weather here - I can't stand the cold unless it there is enough snow to ski and there are very few spots in Oz that you can do that

It must be awkward in another counrty especially one with so many coloquilalisms - many things said over here are in rhyming slang such as a john scholar (a dollar) etc

where abouts are you living robinpud?

doona even causes problesm for Kiwis - really it is a brand and we mean quilts or eiderdowns

hey what about the Kiwis and their Chillibins???

i htink you got whyming slang fom us...

Suzy- that comment was uncalled for.
rizz - we are in Sydney. Getting used to it- not a city girl really but like a lot of aspects of Aussie life. So much to do outside and so many barbeques wherever you go. Looking forward to another day on the canteen tomorrow selling the sort of crap that would make Jamie Oliver turn in his grave!

hey up what's wrong with Manchester?

Have you got a job peddling turkey twizlers, Robinpud?

riss70 - am am a kiwi - less of the chillybin comments!

If you have a spare hour or five, I'd recommend the australian word map, which I think is at www.abc.net.au/wordmap