It is a good thing women can multitask better than men. Because this weekend I rented a car and not only did I have to navigate and remember what I was shopping for but now I had to do it on the left side of the road, on the right side of the car, while always using my turn signal and being polite to my fellow drivers. That's a lot to keep track of, and I am proud that I only turned into the right hand lane once. I did however turn on my windshield wipers every time I wanted to turn. Thank the auto engineers they didn't swap the pedals or I might have discovered how car insurance works here.
I am now the proud owner of a Fisher & Paykel refrigerator (made in New Zealand) and a Sealy guest bed (made in Victoria state, Australia). It is neat to be somewhere that still makes stuff. I move into my new apartment on Thursday and should get new carpet and blinds next week.
I took another trip to Sydney last week and sat next to a woman with a baby in her lap. I though I was doomed, but she had the magic touch and he fell right asleep. The flight attendant asked her if she needed anything for the "bug" and I thought that was an odd term for a baby, but kinda cute. Then I was corrected by an Aussie that it was probably "bub"' which is far less cute to me since that conjure images of strangers that you don't want to socialize with. So I'm officially starting a campaign to adopt the term "bug" when referencing a cute baby. I'm quite fascinated by how we end up with all these words for the same thing and I'd like to see if I can be the meme generator in this case.
I also discovered on that trip that you cannot "fly standby" on domestic Australian flights. This is just not done and the agent was appalled that I even asked for such a concession. Meanwhile in the States they have adopted advanced standby handling procedures it is done so often. He then seemed intrigued since he was visiting the States soon and wondered what airlines offered it. Perhaps he will try it and bring back the good idea to the lovely people at Qantas. They have not had a fatal accident since 1951, but that night was one of the fastest/roughest landings I've had in my many years of flying. Still safer than a Yank driving on the left though!
I have been told that "sheila" is a term used by blokes when they are talking about women, but not to them, which explains why I have not been called that by anyone but my American friends.
My favorite word of the moment is "heaps", as in "there are heaps of cafes in Melbourne". People use it heaps! :-)
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