The arrival of The Girl and Boy's Australian citizenship certificates brought a lump to my throat. I know Australia isn't exactly stealing my children but that's how it feels.
It got me wondering (not for the first time - I'm not that bad a mother) how this move will affect them. The Boy probably won't notice, I guess, though he may wonder why mummy is permanently covered in a thick white film (Factor 60) and keeps reciting How Now Brown Cow. But The Girl is nearly four, as she tells me fifteen times a day, and has a solid foundation here involving Very English Grandparents, Marmite and Mary Poppins. She is the happiest little thing I've ever known - what if our Big Adventure turns out to be a Big Disaster for her and she can't adjust to life Down Under?
And okay, she might be running around the house all day since she got her certificate yelling: "G'day! G'day! I'm an Australian!" But what if that's just a smokescreen for the trauma she's going through?
The trauma doesn't seem to have affected her love of asking me difficult questions. "What's a polka dot?" she asked earlier. Which was fine. "Yes, but why is it called polka? What's the polka bit? I know the dot bit." Anyone? Anyone? Maybe the Australian heat will slow her down a bit . . .
4 comments:
I wouldn't worry too much - I mean Tom left the UK when he was four.
Okay, bad example...
:-)
From Wikipedia: "While polka dots are ancient, they first became common on clothing in the late nineteenth century in Britain. At the same time polka music was extremely popular and the name was also applied to the pattern, despite no real connection between them."
I challenge Ross to a definition war!
Wikipedia sucks. The two are linked it comes from the dotted rhythm of the dance and the fact that way back when in Poland and Prague there were spots where partners placed their feet while dancing the Polka!
Australia may be stealing the boy and the girl but we will have our revenge by sending endless "exotic" care packages of marmite and rain and strict nannies who help the medicine go down.
Fear not.
Wikipedia rules! Why, just the other day I used it to find out what Julian Lennon has been up to. Now where else could you find that.
From "Ask Yahoo":
n the 19th century, polka dancing enjoyed an immense popularity that lasted over 50 years. Europe and America went crazy for the exciting new dance that featured actual physical contact between the opposite sexes. Polka rags were all the rage, and the "Rail Splitter Polka" was composed for President Lincoln's inauguration.
The result? Folks cashed in. There were polka hats, polka socks, polka curtains, and polka dots. Which isn't to say that the aforementioned hats, socks, and curtains were covered in dots. It was just a fun, popular word to affix to a product. The dots just managed to outlive the polka fad.
She says she prefers Sascha's definition.
What has Julian Lennon been up to?
Post a Comment