Bogans, Burgers and Other Shenanigans

I spent the day with Little Mishelle. We got up early (well, early for me at least. I got up at 7.30am. Little Mishelle apparently got up at 6am, the freak) and took a bus down to the city. We shopped in H-Town. We expected to see Meg at Cotton On but she wasn't there. I bought a (...nother) pleather jacket (for $15 though, my cheapest yet) from Cotton On, a poor (but cheap) substitution for Meg's beauty.

There was one toilet stop (quite a miracle for my pathetic bladder). Sadly, we went to a bathroom where most of the flushes weren't working. Three of the cubicles were taken. I looked in the empty one and it was jammed with toilet paper and a sweet yellow tinge. I decided to wait for another (who knows what was lurking underneath all that toilet paper that might spurt up and hit me in the face when I flushed...). As it happens, the one I went into had a broken flush and the toilet bowl was also jammed with toilet paper with a lovely yellow-ness to it. I pissed anyway. Little Mishelle got the only toilet with a flush (lucky as it is shark week for her).

We went to Grill'd on Beaufort Street. On the bus there, we saw this slightly overweight bogan guy (you could almost see the stench. I hope that helps you visualize the man in question) who proceeded to blow his nose into his flannel shirt (no seriously, it was flannel. He was like a walking/nose-blowing stereotype). We quickly got off the bus and Dettol-ed up before eating our delicious burgers.

I watched a couple of docos last night (one called "Dumb, Drunk and Racist" and the other about rape and female mutilation in Africa, can't remember the exact name but both were on ABC). I won't go into them much but it kind of pains me to see some of the attitudes existing in Australia. I love my home an insane amount and can't imagine a better country. I feel like Australia is legitimately the best country in the world. For some at least...

I was reading about the first doco, "Dumb, Drunk and Racist," on good ol' ontd the other day and some of the comments (mostly written by Americans) were about fears (as African Americans) of racism and racially instigated violence in Australia if they were to visit. It makes me sad. I don't think as a whole we are an overtly ("overtly" being the key word) racist nation but in some ways and in some population groups, we are very racist. Luckily, violence due to racism is pretty rare (as far as I'm concerned). I also think the newer generation is more aware and more tolerant.

J