Fakemas Claus is Coming to Town

'Twas the night before Fakemas, when all through the flat Not a creature was stirring, except for our cat; The sack was placed on the porch with care, In hopes that Secret Santa soon would be there; The Robinsons were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of all the stuff they still hadn't done danced in their heads; Stu needs to sweep, Em was getting herself into a flap Jerry was settling down for one of his continuous naps, When out in the garden there arose such a din, It was Andy Meyer lurking to see what Secret Santa would bring. Everyone should have their Fakemas booze and cheese Everyone's going to have a good time now….please So today is our Fakemas celebration. As the friends we have made are going to be in disparate locations over Christmas, the Robinsons have decided to host an early Xmas - a Fakemas. Today is that day. We plan to cook a big roast dinner - the bird is in as we speak, and speaking of the bird, first logisitical issue over, the bird we were initially sold was frozen, no good to man nor oven. So quick bit of thinking and we have managed to procure a thawed bird and she is in the oven roasting away...yumm - with all the trimmings and we will liberally baste our guests with various liquids that they have been tasked with bringing. Basically we are providing the roast and all other guests have been tasked with a unique contribution be it pre-nibbles, crackers, some fizz to get us on the way, some Baileys for after etc and also it has been requested that each attendee comes armed with a bottle of wine plus a cheese for a final course. I am looking forward to this already.

i think our secret's out

I am pretty much digging life in Brisbane. I have gone on about this, not quite ad nauseum, enough in previous blogs so don't feel the need to carry on here. The point I want to make is that it would seem the rest of Oz thinks that Brisbane is a little backwater country town (it's the third biggest in the country) where everyone wears RM William clothing and just comes into town to get feed for their steers and what have you. However, I think the secret may be out now. First of all there was a feature article in the Australia Traveller magazine under the title of "Viva Bris Vegas" and the opening part of the article goes on waxing lyrical about my own favourite mode of transport - the City Cat. It went on to say: "The idea of of going to Brisbane for a holiday might once have seemed preposterous - somewhere to escape rather than embrace - but the city now has more than enough on offer to cater for all tastes". *Stu Gulps frantically and hopes that AT is not very well read*. Well AT may be little-read but the Australian - a Murdoch owned broadsheet that is nay bad except its online articles could do with proofing before being published - certainly isn't. Today - I think i have mentioned I have it delivered by a man in a large 4x4 who throws it in the vague direction of the property - one of the lead articles on the front page is on Queensland's prosperity and also references the dual ticket of Prime Minister Rudd and Treasurer Swan- both Queensland boys - will increase the focus on the state (the first Rudd cabinet was held in Brisbane). Some of the point's around the states growth the article makes are quoted by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh:

1. First in Australia for growth in business investment, with 20% growth every year for the past 5 years;
2. First for employment and population growth;
3. First for creation of full-time jobs;
4. First for public infrastructure spending ($14bn worth)
5. First for growth in home loan lending;
6. Second (to the Mexicans down south) as most popular destination for overseas visitors; and
7. Second (to WA) for growth in business profit - 20% in the past year or three times the rate of NSW and double that of Victoria.

I suppose my point is, I love Brisbane for what it is and I hope it doesn't change too much. Yes it is growing, yes it needs to maintain growth (after all I am an economic migrant) but it also needs to retain its own little charm.

Things I love.....

There have been some instances this week where I have felt mixed emotions for Oz. Thought I would capture them here: Things I Love 1) A former rock star is now Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts. 2) The integrated approach to public transport and major events, the Suncorp Stadium has its own bus terminus within and after football last night free buses are laid on to whisk punters back into town for their onward journey; 3) The strange flora and fauna including the Bush Turkey that just strutted its way in front of our place this morning 4) The wine. Oh the wine and the thought of today going to the bottle-shop/ offy and buying some Chrimbo wine 5) The markets where I am off to today to go and get lovely fresh fruit Things I am not so Keen on...(I am not whining!) 1) Today is December 1st, i should be rugging up, putting a fire on and decorating the Xmas tree not thinking about sunscreen and whether I need sunglasses 2) Australia's past. The Brits were b@stards, once Australia got independence there was no need to carry on. 3) The fact that e-commerce seems have to passed retailers by. A .pdf catalogue viewable on a website is not an an e-commerce policy 4) The 470 bus which runs to its own timetable, not the published one. 5) The removals truck that parks outside our place and blocks the view across to the park and my Englishness that prevents me from talking to the scary removals man to ask him nicely to park elsewhere.

schwwwwiiiing

Well today is federal election day and by all accounts it does appear that the schwingers are out in force (where's Jon Snow and his swingometer when you need him) with swings from the coalition to Labor. I cannot say that I understand fully the electoral set up in Australia (their institution uses the English term - parliament - yet the two chambers use the American terms Senate and the House of Representatives. It is of interest as I am here in Australia as an economic migrant. Whilst the Howard government has overseen a strong economy driven by natural resources and linked to growth in the Chinese economy, it has come at some cost. Coupled with Australia being stricken by drought, causing crop failures and resulting in crop shortages, Howard's failure to be concerned about the environment - particularly ratifying Kyoto - may come back and haunt him. Howard's challenger is Kevin Rudd, a Queenslander who has run a campaign more about not purring a foot wrong than necessarily conveying his parties policies. One thing I will say for Rudd, as a Mandarin speaking ex-mandarin, if you'll excuse the pun, Rudd does strike me as more of a professional politician - if there is such a thing. Well not much else to say on this subject. We await the final outcome and see what flavour of government it provides us tomorrow.

and the reason for that title was.....

Well this weekend I decided to take the Mrs for a little treat. First off we went to an organic farmers' market (well a treat for both of us), then it was off to DFO - factory outlet place to buy the Doris some clothes as she has been banging on about having none, and then finally it was north to the Glass House Mountains. Fascinatingly beautiful. The GHM are in the same area as Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin's place) about 60KMs north of Brisbane. The actual 'mountains' themselves are at most 500m high. They are in fact plugs of hardened lava that were plugs in volcanoes that have over time eroded away to leave just the plug. They are so called as James Cook (quite famous in Australian parts considering he's a Yorkshireman) saw them and thought they reminded him of glass furnaces from back home. They are very sacred to native Australians (you know the people who had been here for 40million years living a peaceful existence until the white fella showed up) and there is a legend about them, which, rather than paraphrase I will let you choose to read yourself.