Australia Has Voted

 On Saturday we as a nation girded our loins, stood in the queues for our ballot papers and pencil all in a COVID safe social distancing way, filled them in and posted them in the ballot boxes. Then we went out to enjoy our Democracy sausages. Then all that was left to do was to wait for the counting to start which it did as soon as the polls closed at 6:00 PM. 

If you haven't heard of a Democracy sausage you're obviously not from Australia. To bring you up date with this very Australian custom I should explain that polling places here are largely placed at schools and other community buildings. Because we have compulsory voting and there are consequently crowds the school P & C  (Parents & Citizens) associations and others have been taking the opportunity to fund raise with stalls selling baked goods and other things probably since Federation.

This all went up a notch in the mid 1980s. That's when we noticed our local primary school adding a sausage sizzle - a freshly cooked sausage wrapped in slice of buttered bread with tomato sauce. They weren't the only ones with that idea, of course, and soon the sausage sizzle had spread across the country and morphed to cater for just about everyone by adding vegetarian sausages, buns with a choice of condiments - and sometimes fried onion.  Yum.

Somewhere around 2010 we started to hear the term Democracy sausage being used and soon everyone was calling it that. Well, why wouldn't we. Australians take their voting seriously but we also like a bit of fun along the way. It wasn't long before there were websites showing just where you could get your Democracy sausage and which places had the best menu. From then pretty much everyone I know was saying they were going to get their Democracy sausage instead of saying they were going to vote. 

I missed out on mine this year. Due to my inability to stand for long periods - at the busiest part of the day the queues can mean you are standing for quite some time - I did a pre-poll vote. This is an early voting option - they are open for about a fortnight prior to election day and cater for those who are disabled or who for whatever reason will be unable to attend a polling place on polling day. Alternatively you can cast a postal vote and as well this year there was the additional option of phone voting for those forced into isolation by COVID. We do like to make sure everyone who is eligible is enrolled and can vote here. 

As Pisces took me to the pre-polling place he was able to vote there as well but there was a problem. He was so conflicted at missing out on his Democracy sausage he actually considered going to our local primary school and buying one. Commonsense prevailed sort of because while he stayed home he decided he'd cook sausages for lunch.

Ear Worm Songs

 After I found the clip for Right Said Fred a couple of weeks ago I seem to have unleashed a lot of memories of songs and other silliness that were mostly complete nonsense but which were very popular for a while and have stuck in my memory. Some were way before my time in their first iteration but would be replayed for a new audience when some DJ would take a trip down memory lane. Not all such trips were well advised but some were gems. Here are a couple you may have heard and enjoyed or which may be new to you. Enjoy.

The Thing sung by Phil Harris

Then there was The Ball Bearing Bird by Frankie Davidson

 

And how could I forget Star Trekkin' by The Firm

Update

 Did you miss me? I meant to be back much, much sooner but I still can't get to my Blogger Dashboard on any browser other than Firefox. This is annoying because I prefer to use another browser but, hey, I can work with this. So this is a catch up on what's been happening around here.

First of all there were the usual seasonal celebrations in our case mainly family oriented. The Thursday before the Easter break began we celebrated the Cambodian New Year with lots of yummy food and catching up with family. Then we had another family lunch on Easter Sunday - this is another tradition  for us all where we go to my artist niece's home. They live on a bush block about an hour from Perth and it's always fascinating to see what new and quirky and changes they have made. As well as this we have a bunch of family birthdays in this period so lots of family and fun.

While I seem to be the odd one out in my family having missed out on the visual art gene it is showing up in the next generation. Miss Nine and Miss Six visited during their school holidays and spent some of their time drawing - and produced some quite passable efforts. These now adorn our fridge. Master Two's drawings are a little more problematic although he insisted that his swirling green creation was a rainbow. We took the littlies to the park behind our house where a good time was had by all and they left with a promise of a baking session next holidays. When I suggested the girls think about what they'd like to make there was no waiting. "Cookies," they said.

We were lucky we could do that because then Perth was blanketed with thick smoke on and off for a number of  days. This means those who like me have a bad reaction to smoke can't get outside. It's a  pity because it's a real pleasure to be outside now the summer heat has eased. The smoke comes from preventative burning off in the bush and on country properties and is a frequent problem at this time of the year. I understand the necessity but hate the experience.

Oh, and I've been writing up a storm. With all my health problems I'd just about stopped doing anything creative - but here it is again with a succession of short stories ready to be edited and wrestled into something worth reading from their somewhat messy first draft shapes. It's been very satisfying I have to say and with luck some of them will end up going places.