:: One People, Many Cultures ::



::Living Together in Respect and Friendship::

The toddler that my mate’s mother minds 4 days a week was extra hyperactive yesterday, prompting her to tell me that he had a bee in his bonnet. She then told me that there was a Lebanese equivalent and, after a pause to translate, came out with ‘He’s got a clove of garlic stuck up his arse.’

It took me a while to get over the shock of the words coming from a prim lady, especially in front of her grandson, but when I did, I decided that it’s a phrase we should pick up in Oz. I’m certainly going to use it about Dave next time I see him play squash with a better opponent.

‘Look! He’s running around the court like he’s got a clove of garlic stuck up his arse.’

April was a very wet month. It’s hard to believe reports on how little water we have when you see that much falling from the sky. And apparently things have improved tremendously in Port Macquarie, where my parents live, in the last few months, but Sydney is still scared. This is after I saw the pool in the back yard rise by 5cm in one night. I mentioned this to Dave and he directed me to an online satelite view of the rainfall and showed me that the rain was all falling in the Sydney basin and none reaching west far enough to fall in the catchment area.

I don’t recall ever having, or hearing, a conversation about catchment areas before I left Australia, but now it seems that it’s a major topic of discussion. Everyone knows exactly where the catchment area is and watches the rainfall images to see whether it’s today’s rain is going to help. The awareness must be good, but something has to be done to catch some of the water that falls in the Sydney basin itself. I mentioned this in an earlier post, so I’m covering old ground here, but I’m interested in finding out what is being done.