I have to say, Backwoodsman, that in all the many years that I have read rich-joy's posts I have only ever seen courtesy, respect and thoughtful responses, so that's why I would have been very surprised to see a deliberate wind-up.

All's well that ends well.

Jon Freeman is right about the beer. No self-respecting Aussie would be seen drinking Fosters, and as for XXXX (known as 4X, not the same as the condom brand) only Queenslanders drink it and it can be compared with the other Aussie phenomenon Vegemite, in that unless you grew up on it, you cannot stomach it. (Sorry Queenslanders!)

I think we are the lucky country for a whole bunch of reasons relating to a society aiming for cultural inclusiveness and respect (despite the redneck push in the other direction), and escape from the UK social class system, and the wide brown land can be treacherous but also beautiful, and, and, and ...

But no country has it all on the positive side. There are pluses, and also minuses like our internationally embarrassing indigenous health record and indigenous social inequalities, but on the whole it is a good place to live for most people, in my opinion. Now that really is thread-creep.

Helen