Brisbane, week one
So, we came here via two big long plane rides. Daughter happily slept on the first one, but in spite of careful time scheduling, stayed awake throughout the entire second night flight, probably annoying everyone else on the plane. Oops. We tried.
Things I’ve learnt so far in Brisbane…
The view from the house at 5.00am is pretty amazingly good. (This is a rental, kind of, while we find somewhere).
“Manchester” is one of the items for sale in a supermarket. I walked down this aisle trying to guess what they meant by Manchester, but it required a deft Google to discover that it means “Bed linen”. Apparently it’s known as “Manchester” in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. None of the books I read mentioned this.
The local council, Moreton Bay, does recycling at kerbside (which is good), and is even better at telling you what can be recycled. I can recycle plastics with a recycle sign 1–7, which makes perfect sense and was something I wish Enfield Council would have said instead of vague statements like “plastic food containers”. I once asked them which plastics I could recycle. They didn’t bother replying.
Cheerios, made by Nestlé in the UK and General Mills in the US, are made by Uncle Toby in Australia. (Uncle Toby is owned by Produits Nestlé SA). They’re made here, too. Local brands are interesting.
Cheerios are also a type of sausage, designed to be eaten cold.
It’s interesting how old some of the radio presenters on the Heart-like music radio stations sound.
Mobile phone coverage maps, and DAB+ coverage maps, are very pessimistic.
Fly screens are the best invention known to man.
ABC Kids is just fine, and there is absolutely no need to pay to get CBeebies.
The most notable thing, though, is how friendly people in stores are. Smiling, happy, eager to help you and happy to answer questions. Whether it’s a mobile phone store, a library, a newsagent, a supermarket, a real estate agent, air conditioning engineers: all the folks serving us have, without exception, been great. Which makes me wonder why the UK is so appalling at customer service in comparison. Puzzling…