Hope you're high and dry, Malc!

[Joan]

Just checking to see you're okay and your feet aren't wet.  I think the worst of it is further South from you, but we're being buffeted by wind and rain here, so could be affecting you badly as well.

South-East Queensland have had really bad storms and flooding in the last couple of days.  It's moving down here, but nowhere near as bad.

[Malc]

I'm ok, Joan, thanks for your concern.
All football training has been cancelled all week, and our fields at Capalaba are under water, halfway up the goalposts. One of my Pom kid's parents has never seen anything like it. I know that because he phoned me in his broad Brummie accent and said "Oi've never soin anything loike eet!"

We have a game against Ipswich Knights (away) and they haven't given any indication yet as to how their fields are, but I went to our own pitches today and the waters have been completely absorbed.

It's not about football, of course, many people have had their homes ruined, and some areas still have power disconnected, but in Queensland there are blackouts even in good weather, and when you see people walking to get the local paper wearing only a singlet and shorts, with water up to their knees, you just can't take it all seriously.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

You two need to emigrate to a country with a better climate...

[Vulture]

only a singlet and shorts

This word has always puzzled me, Malc. Is there a 'doublet'? 

[Malc]

Vulch, I had to learn the hard way that (like the US) Australia and the UK are two nations divided by a common language. A singlet is a vest in English, and a vest is an undergarment, whereas in the US it's a waistcoat.

Aussies don't wear vests, they wear singlets, nor do they wear flip flops, they wear thongs. This leads to curious questions when you attempt to describe how gorgeous a woman is wearing nothing but a thong. An Aussie will come back with "what, just one"?

[Malc]

Here is a picture of the grounds as they were yesterday afternoon. The tiny blue thing in the distance is the top of a 9ft wall which is my team's goalkeeping practice wall. That marks the spot where we train Tuesday and Thursday nights.

[Joan]

Good to hear you're okay, Malc.  We're getting the odd downpour, but nothing too serious as yet.

Having been here a wee bit longer than you, I'm at the stage where I'm never quite sure what's Aussie, Scots, English or Irish.    Sometimes they can be both, or all four.  I do know the difference between a thong, g-string and flip-flops.  Oh, and jandals.

Which country would that be, TT?  You couldn't possibly mean the UK ... anyway, I wouldn't be emigrating, I'm a split personality. 

[Tom]

OK, what's a jandal / what are jandals???

Will I regret asking? 

[Vulture]

OK, what's a jandal / what are jandals???

Will I regret asking? 

-ditto-!

[Malc]

Jandals is the NZ name for flip flops.

[robbie62]

the aussie name for flip flops are "thongs"

[Joan]

Talking about words, my husband (2nd generation Australian from Scottish/English heritage) loves the word "oxters".  Since I used it once, he never calls armpits anything else.  Not that he mentions them very often.

[Malc]

Ochsters! That's how I've always spelled it, but having said that I don't think I ever wrote it before.

Oddly enough I was just talking about ochsters to my youngest, last week. He is 14 now, and beginning to smell a bit, especially after football. I advised him to wash his ochsters specially. He raised a quizzical eyebrow, as you might suspect.

Isn't it odd how these things happen? A word I had not used in thirty or more years, and now it comes up twice in two weeks. Synchronicity, indeed. Are there any REAL coincidences?

[Joan]

I was unsure of the spelling myself, Malc, so I looked it up and it seems to be oxter.  Funny, whenever I think of oxters, I think of Hen from The Broons.  There must have been a story centred around his oxters at some point.  I'm pretty sure my father used to say oxters, but then they're not a frequent topic of conversation really, are they?

There must be something in the air, because I had a similar experience myself this week.  Last Sunday afternoon, I thought of a couple I knew in Edinburgh about 30 ahem years ago.  Hadn't remembered them for a long time, and actually at the time, thought it was a bit funny that they suddenly popped into my head.  On Monday, an email arrived from a friend saying that he'd spent a lovely weekend in Elie with old friends and flatmates of ours, including Alan and Amanda, who are the couple who popped into my head.  They must have been sending vibes.  My friend is very bad at staying in touch as well, so the email was a real surprise.  One of our other friends wanted to get in touch with me, so that was the reason for contacting me.  These things don't happen to me very often, but I've had a couple of odd "coincidences" lately. 

[Tom]

Joan, you will probably have more coincidences than you are aware of.

I couldn't tell you how many coincidences I experience each day (some days more than others!), but I love experiencing them! I've opened myself up to them, which is why I am more aware.

Here's one which really sticks in my mind: I was at my parents, about to leave, and there was a quiz show on TV. The question asked was "What is brontophobia the fear of?" when suddenly a loud noise came from the fireplace, as though something had fallen down the chimney. We paused the TV, and ran outside to see if anything was the matter. There was nothing out of the ordinary, the chimney looked fine, and two people were chatting in the street. I said that it must have been thunder, but it was a really strange noise. We went back in, and started the TV again. The answer to the question was thunder.