Cultural Learnings of England to Make Benefit.... Oh, sod it.

I haven't been anywhere exciting since my trip to Wales, but I figure that doesn't have to stop me from updating. There won't be any further trips until my mate arrives in February, so this should tide over my masses of adoring fans (thanks Mum!).

I thought I'd do a bit of a 'separated by a common language' post. This comes up a lot in conversation; more so in teaching as we frequently have to translate what we're saying (I translate for the kids and they translate for me). I'll write in Standard Australian English, and put the Essex/South-East England/London translation in brackets.

1. There is a severe weather warning issued for heavy rain (Oh dear God! Move to higher ground! There will be approximately 15mm of rain!). ** Note that we had this particular warning at the same time as Bowen and Prosperpine received 180mm in 15 hours.

2. I am going to sit on the couch (sofa) under my doona (duvet).

3. I wear pants (underwear). I wear thongs (underwear). What we mean when we say pants is what they call trousers. What we call thongs, they call flip flops.

4. You are an annoying person (lairy git).

5. Put the rubbish out for the garbo (binmen) to collect.

6. I am in grade (year) 10.

7. I am going to drive to the Lake District in one day (I am going to do something that is considered superhuman and virtually impossible without it taking at least 4 days to travel in each direction). **Note that it was a 300 mile trip.

8. I do not like zucchini (courgette).

9. I would like to have a social life (have more meetings, set more targets, work harder and longer).

That's all I can think of for now, although I know there's more out there... In the meantime, I'm going to go and have a shower (bath).

I went up the mountain

Just after Christmas, I jumped on board a train (and a bus and a train and another train) and headed over to Wales to see some of the family. The weather was pretty damn awful, as it rained all the time and was just a little chilly. It was good to meet family that I'd heard about, and to catch up again with those that I'd already met. I didn't have a lot of time to go site-seeing, but I will do that next time I go back.

I went to the Rhonda Valley in South Wales, not too far from Swansea. I stayed in a village that was once a mining town, as the pictures of the houses below show. There are rows and rows of terraced houses, which used to be cottages belonging to the miners. They're all built into the sides of mountains - amazing to think about how miners used to walk up to 10 miles a day to work backbreaking shifts underground in the coal mines.

My grandmother's ashes are buried there, beside the graves of her mother and father. It was the first time I'd been able to see where she ended up, and I have to say, I'm jealous of the view!

One of the mountains had a Welsh dragon on the side of it. There's some dispute as to whether or not it's actually a dragon, as some claim it to be a pegasus. What the reasoning is behind that I'm not sure, but hey, they're Welsh!