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Treborlang
Australia
Roddy The Rooster & Friends
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Robert Treborlang Australia |
Roddy The Rooster & Friends |
| Search | Home | Contents | Books | A Hop Through Australia's History |
![[image]](agesofman.gif) I grew up in the traditional knowledge that a person's life consisted of Seven Ages: infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age, old age and dotage. It came as a surprise, therefore to discover that in Australia the Seven Ages described by Shakespeare have been reduced to two: Under 25 and Past it.Up to the age of twenty-five, being an Australian involves a lot of bloody hard work. Men must sport an all-year-round suntan, wear zinc cream on their noses and maintain a general air of inhibited aggression. Women must keep up with fashions, brush their teeth four or five times a day, and find a place to go to every night irrespective of climatic (or climactic) conditions. After twenty-five, however, come the good times. Now you can really let yourself go. This is a chance for the ladies to spend entire seasons in Target tent frocks and Carmen heated rollers, perched on Harvey Norman kitchen stools. For gentlemen it's an opportunity to let their stomachs hang over those tight King Gee shorts and play with their Taiwanese thongs while reminiscing with friends. Everyone can relax. Most importantly, stay exclusively within your own age group. After two centuries of experimentation, Australians have found that knocking around only with one's contemporaries is the perfect way to age badly without ever really noticing it. This way of all going down-the-hill together is the country's answer to the secret of eternal youth. |
|
Robert Treborlang Australia |
Roddy The Rooster & Friends |
|
| Search | Home | Contents | Books | A Hop Through Australia's History |