When In Rome

Was meeting up with a friend last night and as usual, I was on time and they weren't, so I ducked into a bar to pass the time (seems they were running 30 min late!!!!!!!).

I was in Fulham. The bar I ducked into was called Belushi's (I think). It doesn't matter as I'm never going there again.

So I sashay up to the bar, order a drink, sit down and scan the joint. To my horror, I realised it was an Aussie bar. Oh, not a blatant 'Walkabout' pub, but a bar which lulls one into a false sense of security (from the outside), only to wallop you with the overt markings of patriotism inside.

You know. The telltale signs such as the Aussie flag hanging up over a window, a stuffed kangaroo on a shelf behind the bar (whaaaaaaaaattttttt!!!!!!!!!!!), and a room filled with Aussie's.

This is what I really really don't get. Why would you move to the other side of the world just to hang out with your fellow countrymen. Surely to experience and fully learn about a culture, means that the friends you make, and the people you live with, all mould and guide your understanding of that culture.

So when I first moved to London in 1999, I bought The Loot, and trawled the shared accommodation pages, looking for a shared flat, with an English person. Ok, I admit I was open to sharing with anyone really, but I did not want to share with a couple of Aussie's, or Kiwi's. I found Lynda, who lived in Clapham Common. An English lass who hailed from Newmarket (near Cambridge).As it turned out, after I harassed her solidly for about 5 days, she agreed to let me move in (true story that. After meeting me she was concerned I may be too loud - which of course, I am).

So, it's 7 years later, and I consider Lynda to be one of my best mates. Someone I meet up with regularly for dinner, drinks and gossip. Someone I go on holidays with. Someone I trust and love. She has shown me parts of London and England that I never would have known about if hanging out with antipodeans.

Oh, and that antipodean thing is a labeling nightmare as well. Australians, New Zealanders, and South Africans, all thrown in together. It's as if the only difference between us is our accents (which most people cant differentiate between anyway). Frankly, I don't care what the differences are. The fact is we are different. I don't possess the supposed resentment for Kiwis. I don't hate those who come from Melbourne (another assumption of domestic rivalry).

I do love the fact that I live in a multi-layered, multi-racial city that has less of a racist undercurrent than I'm used to. Australia tends to be quite narrow-minded in terms of immigration. I am constantly hearing the bleatings of others about immigration and how the foreigners are taking all the jobs. Blah, blah, blah. Well, I guess the same can be said about me in London then. I can hear it now. 'Send her back to where she came from'.

Speaking with my friend last night, they mentioned how they now worked in an office full of Kiwi's and Aussies. They mentioned how both never stop whinging. About work, about the weather, about anything I guess. And that's the problem. Get a group full of people together in a room, all from the same country, and some kind of group dynamic happens where they immediately feel superior. They have a sense of security because they're all reading from the same page. I've heard it before. Brit bashing that is. I've said it once and I'll say it again. If you don't like the place. If you don't like the weather. If you feel Australia or New Zealand (or any other country for that matter) is far superior in many ways........... THEN GO BACK THERE.

I admit. I'm guilty of the odd jibe. Am even guilty of a little patriotism. Just a little. But I love Britain. And when asked why on earth do I want to live here rather than sunny Australia, I answer 'The sum of a country is more than that of it's climate'.

Nuff said.