It's Not My Shout in the Wintery Rosalie

"It's too wintery for water in there."  ---This was just said by our next-door neighbor to her child who wanted to add water to a play table outside.  TOO WINTERY could only be said by a Queenslander, for it is sunny and 64 degrees fahrenheit!  The moment I heard this, I wanted to include it in my blog. 


For all of you who didn't hear the news, Kevin Rudd stepped down as Prime Minister of Australia.  Julia Gillard is now PM.  As soon as I heard it here, I began looking at foreign newspapers to see what sort of coverage this would get outside of Australia.  It was fascinating to see what sort of preference the story got: none.  


Like Rudd, Gillard is also a member of the Labour Party and the announcement came as a surprise to most.   Because of a few different reasons, Rudd's ratings have suffered.  There was a debacle about government-provided insulation for homes throughout the state; there were charges of inadequate safety standards due to some home fires and a few deaths during the installation process.   The emissions trading scheme was postponed indefinitely.  Then, came an announcement to add a "super" tax on mining companies; proposed headline rate of 40%.  The idea is to replace him before another PM election is called so the party can maintain control and beat the opposition Liberal party (which isn't liberal at all, by the way---and you think YOUR country's politics is confusing) who is lead by Tony Abbott.  Certainly Mr. Abbott would have preferred to run against Rudd. All eyes are on Gillard to see what direction she turns. 


Okay...so now more Aussie talk:
When Hugo, Cam and I were walking to dinner in an area called Rosalie, Cam said "it's my shout."  I blinked, my forehead scrunched up and I quickly went through my Aussie lingo dictionary in my head.  Was I supposed to let him yell out about something?  No.  It means "it's my treat" or "this one's on me."  


That same night, Cam was telling me and Hugo about a parent-teacher conference he had.  The mom was saying how she bought her son a "skivvy" and that he wasn't wanting to wear it.  I asked him what a skivvy is.  He started describing the shirt in detail with a look of disgust on his face as if he were reliving a similar thing happening to him as a teenager and said that they aren't cool.  I said, "oh, do you mean this?" and unzipped my jacket to reveal my black turtleneck.  He smiled and pointed at me and said "that would be it."  He made it clear that jumper-skivvys are okay.  (a thicker fabric like a sweatshirt/sweater)  A true skivvy is a thinner material, like what the Wiggles wear.  That's pretty much what I had on, but I'd like to think that I'm such a bad ass that I could wear a tracksuit made of burlap and get away with it. 


We've already gone over this one, but...
Brekky or Brekkie for breakfast
Brissy or Brizzie for Brisbane 
Tassie for Tasmania
Avo for avocado
Rego for a car's registration (said with a soft 'g')
Footy for Australian Rules Football
Esky for a cooler (comes from the brand Eskimo)
Trackie for a tracksuit
Uni for university
the list goes on and on....


It is almost high noon here; time for me to run along.
Have a wonderful, non-wintery weekend.