Boredom, according to many people, is synonymous with Canberra - or vice versa. A large number of Australians regard it as among the most boring cities in the world. Those who feel that way would also, I imagine, find this description of life in early Canberra (written by Meryl Hunter and taken from The Early Canberra House, ISBN 0 9598675 2 X) dull beyond enduring:
Not me though: I find the picture it paints strangely appealing. The calm, predictable order of the family's routines seems like an idyll to me.
It's appealing to me, too.
ReplyDeleteI spend a lot of time teaching my overseas students the difference between bored/boring and quite/quiet, which appear frequently in their essays about their new life in Canberra. Think how deprived students are in Paris, London or New York of these lexical opportunities.
What about jam making - who are these unenterprising loons? They just need to walk the streets of Ainslie to gather plums to last a decade, buy themselves a saucepan and some sugar and they will be able to have hours of fun and excitement.
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