Our second month in Sydney and here’s what I’ve noticed:

1. It’s totally acceptable for full grown adults to walk around with parasols. At first I noticed Asian men and women using umbrellas for shade and I thought it seemed a bit stereotypical because Asians are more concerned with protecting their skin. Then I noticed others, white people more specifically, with giant colourful shade producing umbrellas. Amazing! I’ll take my sun block and a hat any day, thank you very much.
2. “Tasty cheese” is a real thing. We first saw it described in restaurants: jacket potato with tasty cheese, sandwich with tasty cheese. Huh? We laughed. Then I hit the market for some shredded cheddar cheese and all I could find was “tasty.” It looked like cheddar so I read the wrapping in more detail but no mention of cheddar anywhere in sight. I bought Colby cheese because I couldn’t bring myself to buy something as generic as “tasty.” After I left the store I googled it and, apparently, “tasty” is a description of flavour like “mild” or “mature.” Lesson learned.
3. Aussies curse in such an awesome way and I love every bit of it. My fave of the week is “We didn’t come here to fuck spiders!” Think of it like “Does a bear shit in the woods?”
4. I love the signs around town for “Aged” people. Look out for that lot!
5. An eraser is called and eraser not a rubber as in the UK. Make sure to get that one right.
6. There are so many “cute” slang words here it’s as if a toddler came up with it all. I’m wearing a “cozzie,” “sunnies” and will apply some “lippy” before we head out for “brekkie.” My husband has on his “trackie” and “runners.” He enjoys some “chockie” and “chewie” and a “coldie” in a “tinny.” The kids prefer “bikkies.”
7. The rain makes us giddy. One reason we wanted to leave London was the weather. We had had 12 years of grey, rainy weather and were done…sun was in order and a lot of it. After 6 weeks in Sydney we had rain and I felt like I took the deepest breath I had taken since arriving. It’s raining again tonight as I write this and it is refreshing and cleansing. What a treat!
8. Self-confidence oozes from the populace as g-strings and thongs on barely clad people roam the streets, not just the beach. Barefoot and strutting through town in all shapes and sizes. I’m impressed and thinking it will be a long awhile before I too resort to such antics. Too many years in the UK, I suppose.