[pf] Christmas and January in the southern hemisphere.

At 14:16 23/09/99 -0500, Diane Fitzsimmons wrote:
> ... think of the word "January," ...  The word "Christmas" ... 
>Does a southern Hemisphere resident get different images in mind when
>he/she thinks of those words (perhaps a hot, sweaty day at the beach)?
>
>
**  Got sidetracked about spring.

**  Yes, the main focus at Christmas is children; they've finished school
for the year and are racing around getting in the way and being noisy at
the beginning of the summer holidays.

**  Traditionally they are completely free to roam where they like and take
whatever risks they and their friends feel like. There are the odd broken
arm or leg, a spike through the (bare) foot, and of course sunburn. And as
the sun is getting lower in the sky, they usually roar into the house
calling out: "What's for tea?".

**  Christmas involves getting in the car (note that: the car doesn't
figure in their lives) and going to see grandma and the aunts-&-uncles,
after opening the presents in the early morning (sometimes the previous
evening).
    Then coming home again to a somewhat special tea (the evening meal)
with Christmas cake indoors after the main meal has been cooked on "the
barbie" (the everpresent barbecue) in the back yard.

**  January is -freedom- FREEDOM !! for weeks at a time. Getting out in the
boat, going fishing, surfing, tramping (=hiking/trekking), going to the
beach (swimming and exploring), etc. The last three could involve the whole
family, and usually the use of the car.

**  What I've described is what it was like for just about everybody as I
was growing up, and is still true for the majority, but in cities (where
more than a third live now) the availability of outdoor activities is much
reduced, and the risks for kids are somewhat but not greatly more.

**  From memory, girls would have the same freedom but would be less
willing to take risks and more likely to go play at a friend's house. Some
would do as I've described, but almost certainly two or three together,
while a boy out on his own was by no means uncommon. That's when I got my
good legs. The rest of me's very skinny - I was a bookish young feller, but
I've always loved wandering through the bush on my own.

**  My earlier life in eastern Ontario Canada was quite similar (regarding
summer activities), but that was in the 1940s. I wonder how much freedom to
explore, enjoy, and take risks on their own, kids in N America have now.

David.
(David MacClement) d1v9d @ bigfoot.com (remove spaces)
http://www.emucities.com.au/member/davd/index.html#top
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