Excuse me, which way is your euphemism?

Ok, seriously. Why else would we have crossed the ocean, flown all the way to the exact opposite side of the world, sat in cramped airplanes for 24 hours of travel time, etc., if not to see a toilet flush the wrong way?

All the toilets here are fantastic and neat - very modern design, very efficient-looking, and for the most part (I'd say 95%), spotlessly clean. There are even two "flow" options: a half flush for ...um... how to be delicate here... and a full flush for ... uh... the other one.

All this is well and good, environmentally responsible, etc. However, with all of their benefits, there is one very important thing missing? A circular draining, which would clearly show me that I'm on the other side of the world (and not in some oddly-constructed Truman Show reality, in which people talk kinda funny and eat kangaroos), is simply not there. It's more of a whooshing-straight-out kind of flush.

Let me just say that I am grieviously disappointed, and will be filing a formal complaint with the Embassy on my return.

And another thing - no rest rooms, no bathrooms, no washrooms, no ladies' rooms, just a toilet. How indelicate.

In a similar vein, we watched an interesting bit of Aussie culture last night: a documentary called "Kenny". A mockumentary, actually, but well worth viewing... or just looking up in imdb.

We've been visiting with Shane and Kylie and their cute-but-three-year-old twins here in Melbourne - lots of good clean family fun! The kids really ARE adorable, and like their cuddles. Who couldn't love that?