We’re about ready to load on the new A380 Airbus to head home. I’m looking forward to flying in it, since I didn’t believe you could get 500+ people off the ground all at once. Rumors say it’s a great aircraft and I’d definitely say it’s far better than the flying antique Boeing 747s that have been the staple of international flight. After 30 years, you’d think the duct tape and baling wire might be getting a little weak. I’m referring to the beasts that make up the United Airlines stable.
Flying Qantas is a treat, and cheaper this time also, except we have to go to LAX instead of SFO. San Francisco can’t handle the A380 due to its size, hence the inconvenience of having to go to smogville first. Since I’m just a poor, retired public servant, the food in cattle class is about the same on both, so no big difference there. Just might try Singapore or Malaysia Air next time via Hong Kong or some other Asian city. Any suggestions from all of you travelers?
To finish up on last issue’s column, here are a few other differences that seem to stand out when you stay in Australia for a while. You may find this hard to believe, but I’m walking about two to three miles per day in various neighborhoods in the suburbs of Adelaide. I immediately missed being barked at from every other house by some fenced canine. Pets just don’t dominate the landscape down here and dog poop doesn’t make walking a hazard if you want to keep your shoes clean. Anywhere in town or in the malls, you never see dogs on leashes tripping everyone, and other walkers aren’t being lead by dogs, either. In my home neighborhood, there are at least 50 dogs being tugged by about 30 people per day. Many have two or three dogs.
To replace all of the dogs on leashes, however, are strollers. Australia is inundated with babies and little people due to still being encouraged with money to have children. Yes, the government pays you to have children here to help increase the population, plus the burgeoning number of young immigrants makes for lots of kids. Sadly, it also adds to the problem of teenage pregnancies in the lower economic areas that will be on the dole forever. I’ll admit the country also spends far more tax dollars on child welfare than it does on animal welfare. Maybe it figures people are more important than pets, unlike California. Many of my friends in the Midwest, however, have told me that, other than California, the rest of the country has greater concern for people than animals. Oh well, enough preaching. I guess I just like people more than dogs. Silly me!
Some things never change. Even Down Under, there’s a battle between the populace and the bicycle riders. The newspaper is full of columns and letters criticizing bicycle riders and, as I’ve suggested at home, stating they should be required to register their bikes at a reasonable fee ($100 per year or more) to help pay for all of the goodies they want—including devoting street lanes especially for them to the detriment of the paying motoring traffic.
Adelaide Hills is very similar to western and northern Sonoma County and the problems are identical: not enough room for bikes and cars, and the Aussie drivers are much more rude than we good guys at home. The reasons are the same, however. The riders are city folk, don’t understand the country—and they think they own the road. Will things ever change?
While on the topic of bikes, another real problem down here is the motorcycle riders. There’s currently a war between “clubs,” and shootings and killings are frequent—two new ones in the paper this morning. The police are blaming the judges for being too lenient and the people are blaming the police for not doing more. It’s really no different that our own gang wars at home, except they aren’t all motorcycle thugs at home—just thugs and lowlifes.
As for sports, the Aussies are completely different. They have professional basketball that only allows two foreign players per team, and there isn’t a team in the country that could beat any top 25 college teams from the United States. The same can be said for baseball, but it’s relatively new and might improve with age. For you with something other than an American background, you may be familiar with cricket. It’s generally described by the outsider as being “as exciting as watching paint dry.” Boy, what a little education and learning the rules can do! It’s really a great sport and isn’t just standing around watching one guy bat and one guy bowl.
The traditional international three- or five-day test matches might sound boring, but they aren’t. But to keep up with the modern world, which wants instant gratification, a new version has been developed to fit into a three-hour time slot similar to our professional sports and ready-made for TV like ours. Each team gets only 20 overs (delivery of eight consecutive legal balls by one bowler). One team starts off and scores as much as it can and then the opposition tries to match and beat it. It’s called T20 Cricket and the league has been named the Big Bash! Great marketing. I have seen several very exciting matches lately, and find it more action-packed and exciting than a pitcher’s duel in baseball (for everyone except the purist). This year is its first year on the international level and tonight is the first game here in Australia. A couple of bottles of Barossa Shiraz in front of the TV will be a great evening.
To conclude, I have to give our Aussie friends a complement for being more civilized than us. I went to a back to school program with my granddaughter, who’s in seventh grade. Following the informative meeting, everyone convened in the multipurpose room and had refreshments. Sound familiar? Well, to my surprise, the refreshments were cookies, as expected, and Champagne, white or red wine. Horrors! Wine in a school? The world is going to hell and never return! Can it really be that they don’t think every kid will be an alcoholic by age 12 if they see their parents enjoying a glass of wine at a school? I’m told that wine at these parent functions, with or without students, private or public schools, is commonplace. What a unique idea.
OK, do your homework now, but not at a school function—you might be sentenced to hell for the rest of your life. Isn’t it amazing when you consider wine as just another beverage? Will we ever mature?
