FLIES

You know the great Australia wave? Undertaken as we shoo away flies. Well, with rare exceptions, I haven’t had to use that gesture for over 30 years, since moving to Melbourne. But now I’ve had to start practicing it again in Perth. Usually, it’s just one per room and some of the flies are so dozy that one can catch them with a slap of the hand. Although that is rather yukky and we are now proud owners of three fly swats. I suppose I should be grateful that they aren’t as bad as when we were kids.

https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/are-perth-s-flies-getting-worse-yes-but-they-re-not-nearly-as-bad-as-they-could-be-20251107-p5n8mi.html

I might have to resurrect the fly protector that I wore on trips up north.


I could have done with my fly protector on Hindmarsh Island this week. Susan and I flew to Adelaide to spend Christmas with Sebastian and organised a mini holiday first. We’ve rented a house near the mouth of the Murray River with its own jetty. As I type, Sebastian is out on the river adventuring amongst the pelicans and seabirds in a kayak. On our first day, we went for a walk to the beach where the Murray meets the sea and I was reminded of why I prefer water to bush. As we hiked through the scrubby landscape, we were surrounded by flies but the moment we walked over the dunes to the water, the flies disappeared in the fresh sea breeze.

I don’t know where I first heard it but I love the story of why we Australians speak with a flat drawl. The answer is that when the colonists arrived with their rich and varied  British accents, the flies took every opportunity to fly into their open mouths. So they learnt to keep their lips as close together as possible to keep them out. You try it – and you’ll find your accent getting flatter and flatter with the vowels blending into each other. I have no idea whether the story is true but it feels right.

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