I think it's just me ... but for 24-hours there seemed to be an excuse for people to be jingoistic and buy crappy Australia Day paraphernalia and have noisy barbeques and flock to the beach ...
And then I cast my mind back to Christmas Day and the big spend-up for that, and then there's New Year's Eve and the big lead-up to that big fizzer. It's just another day!
And then Australia Day (we've discussed that) ...
And now there's Valentine's Day where people'll be able to buy all sorts of red devils and do red things and flock to florists to buy Carnations like there's no tomorrow and before you know it, it'll be Easter and there'll be more present giving, because it seems kids get presents for Easter now and public holidays ...
And then Mother's Day and Father's Day and then Melbourne Cup Day where women have to construct head wear with feathers, you get the picture ...
I'm now starting to think that these days are just turning into an excuse for Bogans to get drunk and do things and buy things, as they look forward to the next 'Day' on the calendar ... and things just spiral out of control until there's an officially-declared 'Day' to celebrate all the other Days.
It'll be called, 'Day' Day.
My Husband showed me the 'thingsboganslike' website.
He said it may make me feel better. ('Karl Stefanovic' is the password if you need it).
It did make me feel better and made me realise that Bogans like Days.
Karl Stefanovic as the password is brilliant. xx
ReplyDeleteI'm completely with you on this one. You'll be very pleased to know I'm not even crocheting a red heart or anything remotely resembling a valentine's day geegaw :)
ReplyDeleteoh MMMC I thought I was the only 'grumpy' that hated 'DAYS'.. thank you for your post♥
ReplyDeleteThe demise of religion? Capitalism? Or something 'post- post'? Lucky for you it's the year of frugality. And you're not a bogan. Well, I assume you're not a bogan. Who can tell?
ReplyDeleteWe have a neighbour that once a year, whipper snipers his jungle of weeds like a man possessed and erects a giant blue tarpaulin in preparation for what I now refer to as 'BOGAN DAY'. A day where ACDC can be heard from noon to night with the doof doof so loud I keep waking up thinking there is an intruder in my house. I usually crank up easy listening music in the house just so I can drown out the Fn this and Fn that which streams into our living area and has my 7 year old exclaiming that she can hear 'naughty words' coming from the back fence! I thank my lucky stars we only have to put up with it once a year. Where we used to live, it was a daily torture.
ReplyDeletemy sister forwarded me the link to the 'things bogans like' website the other day, very funny!
ReplyDeleteISometimes we just make stuff. There are red cardboard hearts in the sideboard with a word each, "Happy Valentine's Day" that I had the three boys wear with nappies as toddlers. We added a "Dad" card for Ella when she could walk. That's all he has received for 10 years with the occasional homemade card. They danced with their heart placards, it cost nothing and he felt special for 5 minutes. Now they are 11 and 10 they are reluctant to reprise the dance. This year I may hang them in the laundry where we sometimes bump into each other about 7pm. Most of those days are just American ones which commercial bogan trappers have adopted here. Halloween...A harvest festival in spring in Australia? Australia Day is just July 4th repackaged. They are really just themed headers for Crazy Clarks catalogues. Sorry to rant.
ReplyDeleteCarmel you grumpy old woman you...you sound as bad as me. But actually I think it is important for all of us to have things to look forward to and for some people it is days to dress up for etc. I think if we are honest there is a little bit of bogan in us all and that's not such a bad thing. My neighbours do all the "bogan" things above mentioned and to be honest they look and sound like they have a really good time.It may not be my thing but tolerance is needed. xx
ReplyDeleteKatherine,
ReplyDeleteyou are the voice of reason. I am just bitter and cranky.
Since I'm from away, I shall not comment.
ReplyDeleteHUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Haha, you so just got in trouble from Katherine.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you, boganism (that's a word now, apparently) has its place id just prefer it wasn't next door. Looking forward to 'Day' day. That website is priceless thanks Megan xx
Dear Comrade
ReplyDeleteI think it is time that you revisited your Marx and Webber texts. Do you not remember that the oppressive capitalist pigs have developed these quasi religious festivals and bank holidays to control the worker populous.
Drone workers aka bogons have brought into the control systems utilised by the elitist to create a work life balance which does not provide unitary value for the work that these drones undertake in the time constraining factories.
Review your doctrine
Comrade Grumpotimus
k, at the risk of sounding totally daft, what's/who's a Bogan?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm sick of days too.
and to Katherine above, I think I'm bitter & cranky too. pity.
I like Katerine's comment. I live in what can sometimes, ok, fairly regulary be described as bogan suburb, but I really like it. Yes, sometimes they give me the shits, but thankfully I have super respectable neighbours. I used to live in a very snooty suburb and actually like it more here. Let's just admit it, bogan can be fun and rather entertaining, but it's the consumerism that IS NOT FUN. That is what drives me crazy.
ReplyDeleteps I wouldn't remotely think of myself as a bogan, yet I do occassionally enjoy driving Lyn's ute like I am a racing car driver. I hope this doesn't ruin our 'blogship'.
:)
MMMC it's a valid point, consumerism is rife. My mother lives next door to what she calls 'cashed up bogans'. They drive V8's (very expensive ones), and have every conceivable noisy, petrol guzzling boys toy known to man, from leaf blower to boat, jetskis etc. I think her biggest gripe was when they moved in and massacred the lovely old tropical garden in favour of concrete and a very large shed to store all the noisy guzzlers.
ReplyDeleteI love Katherine's comment. She is a wise soul, and quite right.
Personally the flag wearing stuff I find OTT and nauseating. It reminds me of when I lived in Sydney and there was the Cronulla riots. In my memory that felt like the first time I'd seen flag wearing, and now it's everywhere. It's certainly a different culture to what we had growing up, and probably yes it's largely fuelled by retailers. It's just drunken, swearing, flag wearers do not make you want to have that same flag. Embarrassing.
I can always recall though feeling the same when I was in the UK as a backpacker, and some of the drunken Aussie behaviour was out of control, and these were Engineers and otherwise seemingly intelligent people.
R&S,
ReplyDeleteSometimes your comments are the best. I don't know how you do it ... such a deep pond.
I really think what bugs me is the 'new' money that gets spent and people trying to out-do each other, possibly on days that were once heavily religious, and now they're being cashed-in on ... and it seems people lurch from one 'Day' to the next. Annie reminded me of Halloween ... that's another one. It all lacks substance for me ... maybe I'm a bit old school.
Katherine is right ... tolerance, of course.
Loved reading through all those comments. Such fun. As for my camera, here are the details: Canon EOS 450D. The Lens I used was a EFs55-250mm. The camera is superb but costly. My brother in law has a penchant for all things squeaky clean and new so was bored of this after a couple of months and sold it to me for less than half price! I was very lucky indeed. The camera without the extra lens retails for $1,400!!!
ReplyDeleteCrickey Mmmc ....I thought I was in agreement with you but trying to say that I needed tolerance etc. I think from now on I will just shut the hell up in this commenting thing lest I offend anymore .... Oh and I may have said before but I will never wear a flag or fly a flag or do anything with a flag on any day until all Australians feel it represents them. I think I may have just offended a few ...I know SHUT UP KATHERINE who cares what you think...xx
ReplyDeleteI've just read a very enlightening (and quite amusing) page on Wikipedia about bogans, so now I know what they are.
ReplyDeleteMy view on Days is that it's just retailers desperate for the next hook on which to reel us in. They need stepping stones across the year to get them from Christmas to Christmas, so now Easter is marketed as a shopping opportunity, Father's Day has been invented, etc, etc. I think they'd like a Day a fortnight, if they could. I noticed that Chinese New Year was being marketed much more vigorously as a buying opportunity this year -- absolutely nothing to do with authentic Chinese culture (in the shops doing it, I mean), just an opportunity to sell us something before they change the window displays to Valentines Day. Sad. I just try to ignore it all as much as possible.
I rather like the idea of Australia Day from this safe distance! My Aussie family seem to enjoy a picnic at the beach, though mainly the hard-working adults are just grateful for an extra day off.
ReplyDeleteAs for 'Days' - couldn't agree more. Valentines is the next Big One here in the UK - though not a holiday. Shops full of red trash. And for those like me on a post-Christmas, pre-summmer diet, SO many chocolate filled shop windows and aisles that we have to pass with eyes strictly 'front'.
OBH,
ReplyDeletewe'll all just assume you're a bit tired, how's that? I like your comments. I'd never be offended by them.
Jane,
spot on. I think you may have nailed it.
MS E-V,
(I'm so used to calling you MS E-M). I love your eyes strictly 'front'. I'm always reminding my lot, as we walk into stores full of red trash, that we 'look with our eyes not with our hands because Mummy's not prepared to pay for what you break!'
And when we're at the supermarket checkout often we all have to 'put your hands on your heads' so we don't grab at the chocolates and magazines ... that makes it hard for me to get my credit card out to pay for the groceries, but we manage.
I had to look up "bogans".
ReplyDeleteI come from a family full of bogans and I didn't even know it.
this same commercial plastic-dipped form of patriotic ritual is why i pretend im a 300 year old Scandinavian woman at Christmas in the U.S. Our 4th of july is equally as obnoxious. Where is the love? (black eyed peas...) :)
ReplyDeletebahaha! Great post!
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with having fun! Something looking a bit silly and not taking yourself seriously is the most fun of all.
ReplyDeleteBut spending money on ridiculous stuff isn't just about being a bogan I don't think ... valentines day is the most stupid day of all (and I'm not even single). I feel obliged to participate even though it's so cheesy, but I never buy anything or expect anything, I just bake.
So true ... bogans do enjoy their 'days' ... I'm currently living in a rather bogan neighbourhood, so I'm learning more and more about these strange creatures with each passing day ... while at the same time madly researching a new home to buy! ;)
ReplyDelete