It's Australia Day tomorrow. For those in the Northern Hemisphere think kind of like a lower-key 4th of July and you get an approximation of the flavour. There are all sorts of debates on here at the moment, some reasoned and some hysterical, about the flag and the use of it. The story of a concert promoter's attempt to ban the flag at a concert to be held
My plans involve a lunch for twelve at a friend's house, part get-together for Australia Day and part farewell for the host who is off to India for a few months. A trip which includes a pilgrimage of sorts to sacred Buddhist sites in India.
It's also a bit of a family day for me. It's my little nephew Connor's birthday and the anniversary of my Dad's passing, many years ago now. I kind of like the fact that some of the sadness of the day was taken away by Connor's birth. My sister gave Connor my Dad's first name as his middle name, in his honour. In my Buddhist way I like to see it as a nice reminder of the cyclical nature of existence too.
The rest of the weekend will be taken up with bits of housework, some chilling out, some work at the Buddhist centre, some photography (hopefully) and some general lazing about. So fellow Aussies, what are your plans for Australia Day?
12 comments:
Never mind the fact that The Big Day Out is on today in Sydney and Australia Day is tomorrow...
And after the whole Cronulla thing and the fact that some people seem to be leaning towards nationalism (in the bad sense) rather than patriotism, I don't really blame them...
I thought Big Day Out was tomorrow. It seems weird to have it on a work day instead of a holiday.
I will probably be heading into the harbour (mine, not yours) for some gastro-inducing food cooked in a pool of disease and watching the cheap celebrity impersonators entertain us right up until someone lets off two out of date flares claiming its a "Mega Fireworks Display!"
Yes!!
seems a very sensible day indeed.
a bbq to show a visiting canadian ow it's done.
many a lamb will be eaten.
Tyson, you do make me miss Adelaide so!
(not)
The re-energized Sydney Star Trek Meetup Group's members shall be flocking to Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour, in the late afternoon - hoping to avoid most of the family crowds - to have dinner at Baia restaurant. Have been there once before - and it was excellent, both for food and atmosphere. Italian food on Australia Day, yeah, why not?
It's a far cry from the days of organised ST fandom in Sydney, when we could easily get 100 people to a meeting, but we actually had to cap our RSVPs at 15. So it should be intimate, with about six brand new members, several of whom are new to Australia. So Aussie Trekkers are doing their bit for immigration and multiculturalism, even if John Howard just fired his minister and renamed her portfolio!
They moved the BDO this year... I think it mentioned something about it in that news story you linked to...
"It was moved forward by a day to avoid connotations of nationalism, which organisers feared would further inflame tensions between ‘Anglos’ and Australians of other backgrounds.
*just smiles sweetly*
We're at Ettalong (beach place norrth of Sydney) for a long quiet weekend to end the holiday season. We did this last year and think we may make it an annual tradition.
You know, when I first saw the title of this post, “Three of the best words in the English language”, I thought of something rather different.
Fuck. Me. Senseless.
Sorry, is that either OTT or a little too revealing of where my headspace is at the moment?
M-H, that sounds like a fantastic way to spend Australia Day!
Stil, that sounds like a fantastic way to spend Australia Day! :)
Shame I didn't spot your comment earlier...
Oh, that isn’t how I spent Australia Day, that was just what came to mind about Three Best Words.
I make no comment about any other day, Your Honour.
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