Happy Birthdays, Ma'am

Today is a public holiday in Western Australia, in honour of the Queen's birthday. The rest of Australia marks this event in June. Back home, too, the Queen has two birthdays - in April and June. I wonder how many birthdays she has in all? (I wonder whether she knows herself?) How many birthdays does a person need? What sort of gifts does she get from her family? And is she "Officially" 900 years old (like Yoda)?

I think a lot of Australians would prefer to live in a Republic; but when they have been presented with referenda, so far they have rejected the particular structure of Republic offered them. After all, why replace an unelected figurehead who never asked for the job and who simply has to make the best of it they can, with a power- and/or prestige-hungry politician? They don't have such a great reputation...Maybe Australians would vote to remain under a monarchy, but transfer over to the royal house of Denmark, whose Crown Princess Mary is an Aussie and, if the glossy magazines are anything to go by, pretty popular out here. Problem solved.

For the first time ever, my own birthday is going to be in the spring this year. Pretty weird. Worse - in her opinion - if we return here in the northern-hemisphere spring of next year, Jo's next birthday will be a winter one. It is strange to see Winter 2005 on Quarterly publications that came out in July or August, and to be entering into Spring 2005 for the second time. Who needs a TARDIS to travel through time? We are, at one and the same time, living six months in the past and seven hours in the future...

We had planned to go to the Wildflower Festival, which ends today in Kings Park, this afternoon; but Noah is a bit under the weather today, finding it hard to breathe with a congested chest, so I think that is that scuppered. Our days are starting to be filled, with regular activities or meeting up with folk. The schools here are on vacation for the next fortnight, and our hosts went off on holiday yesterday morning; so, we have a bit more space to ourselves. Hopefully we'll be able to sort out a place of our own for the rest of these next three months while they are away. So far there have been a few possibilities, but nothing concrete has come of them. Oh well. So long as we have somewhere we can unpack all of our suitcases soon, we'll be alright...