Welcome to a forgotten corner of the ancient forest.
Tomorrow is the Melbourne Cup. The most significant horse race in Australia and one of the big ones world wide. It is a public holiday in Melbourne tomorrow so The Green Man anticipates that he will be sipping alcoholic beverages and sqandering money on the ggs' in a once a year indulgence. (The horses that is, the alcohol is a somewhat more frequent pleasure.)
Few places in the world other than Australia, if any, have a holiday specifically for a horse race. Of course only Melbournians have the official holiday but you can bet that in offices throughout Australia there will not be much work done come Tuesday at 3:10pm. It says much about the Australian pysche.
It is one area where I think significant portions of the worlds population could benefit from taking a leaf out of our book. You lot get so het up about things, lighten up, chill out, tolerate, have fun.
I'll be back on-line Wednesday no doubt poorer and hung over but happy. See you then.
There are many jewels hidden amongst the leaves in this forgotten part of the ancient forest. Spend some time browsing and you are sure to find some. Click here or continue your search below
or read the most recent entries here.Just what is the Australian psyche? Australia was right in there in Iraq, but then two Senators had the huevos to get down! But then, only two. Sorry, two is more than anyone else. Cheers to Australia. However, I see Australia as trailing along on a fool's errand that is not harmless.
Richard W. Crews,
American, Patriot, Liberal, still a Voter
From my perspective the Australian psyche is destinguished from American, British etc by a more laid back attitude to things generally.
We have less respect for authority, in particular our politians, and don't seem to get as worked up about things such as patriotism.
Unlike America, we are very suspicious of success. It's known as the "tall poppy" syndrome, our tendency to cut down people who we feel are too successful. This isn't necessarily good but it is the way we are.
Posted by: chris at November 4, 2003 08:09 AM
Stumble It!