To a large extent, Australia seems like the
last outpost of the U.S and the U.K.
They share the U.S’ obsession with the
public’s security and over-legislation of “anything that could possibly
happen”, post Gold Rush towns with residential areas reminiscent of the “The
Wonder Years” sets, desolate urban landscapes a stone’s throw from vast natural
landscapes (tamed and about to be tamed), historical centres designed with 90
degree and 60 degree set squares, shopping centres that are also social
centres, and overprotection of everything old due to a lack of having anything
ancient.
But you soon discover that Australian binge drink every time they drink, they have a good quality universal health care system, their public schools are not that far-removed from their private ones, they are as nuts for cricket as they are for betting, they drive on the left, they equate the fish section of the nutritional food pyramid with the greasy “fish and chips” and they seem to be content with having Queen Elizabeth as their head of state.
C’mon let’s get real, it’s an English
colony with Stockholm’s Syndrome, but it values its space as much as the Yanks do
and as it has its own currency, it redistributes it better. … Or not.
Their imports tend to come less and less
from the UK and the US and are more varied in origin. It’s surprising the
number of Asians you see on the street here I can’t be any more specific, they could all
be Korean and I just don’t realize). And there are very few black people here.
Three things close to my heart never fail
to fascinate me:
- That churros (as cold as they are in Madrid) are such a big hit here.
- The Spanish Festival held this past Sunday was like a flea market on a sunny day.
- That there’s no bar without a tapas section on its menu. This is what they’ll bring you if you ask for a return to Anglo-saxon times.
