Australian Sensitivity

[andrew]

Three Aussies were working on a high-rise building project - Steve, Bruce and Bluey.

Steve falls off and is killed instantly.

As the ambulance takes the body away, Bruce says, "Someone should go and tell his wife."

Bluey says, "OK, I'm pretty good at that sensitive stuff, I'll do it."

Two hours later, he comes back carrying a carton of beer.

Bruce says, "Where did you get that, Bluey?"

"Steve's wife gave it to me," Bluey replies.

"That's unbelievable, you told the lady her husband was dead and she gave you the beer?"

"Well not exactly," Bluey says. "When she answered the door, I said to her,'You must be Steve's widow'.

She said, 'No, I'm not a widow.'

And I said, 'I'll bet you a carton of beer you are'."

[Doug]

Dear Andrew-

In the USA, this same joke substitutes Minnesotans (Ole, Sven and someone else of Norwegian descent....) for Aussies. I guess in this day of the Internet, the provenance of any given thing becomes problematic. Regardless, it's funny using Aussies, too, though in a different way. I mean, Sven, Ole, and what's-his-name are Lutherans on top of all things, and.... Well, explaining the joke doesn't make it funny!

[andrew]

Haha, yes, I see several versions of the same jokes pass through my inbox. Perhaps I should have kept an archive. I could have launched a joke encyclopedia by now.

[Doug]

Google "Carhenge" and you'll find a joke (or is it art?) that's about 4.2km up the road from where I type.

[andrew]

Haha, definitely art. Love it!

I saw Stonehenge in England many, many years ago. It was in the middle of winter and no one was there. Not a soul. I got to walk through it all by myself. Really really cool and a tad creepy since it was almost dark. Brilliant.

Carhenge though may be a tad different!

[Doug]

Carhenge attracts a different sort of tourist. Summer Solstice usually is celebrated there, but who doesn't take off all his/her clothes, stick a flower in his/her hair, and dance in wild abandon on that day any way?
(Uh oh. You mean I'm the only one?) Haw!

[Luce]

I live quite close to Stonehenge, only a 45 minute drive away.

Lovely place but I don't go in for the pagan celebrations )

[Doug]

Dear Luce-

Quite what I'd expect from a- duh, duh duuuh!- "bunny lover"! Sorry about that! I agree with you on the paganism or New Age razzmatazz surrounding the site. I think it tends to trivialize the significance of the people who put it there and the limited knowledge we have of that time. As I understand it, the whole druid thing is some Victorian construct, Though there were druids who may have been shamans. Lucky you though, living so close! "There's one in Nebraska like it, you know". Jim Reinders, the fellow whose family put it up, lived for a time in UK and was very impressed with the genuine article. You live in what I think must be among the loveliest parts of England. (Not far from Strattford-on-Avon, either!) Maybe I better not go to Google Earth right now, though, or I'll miss church!

[Luce]

Well it's actually a lot smaller than you might expect and unfortunately the National Trust have now erected a fence around the circumference so you can't touch the stones any more.
What is probably more impressive on Google Earth is Sailsbury Plains, the huge mass of land surrounding Stonehenge that the army like to drive their tanks over.
As for Stratford-Upon-Avon that's a few hours drive away but in Nebraska terms it's practically next door!

PS: The avatar is my wonky eared bunny, Barley.

[Doug]

=True. We are used to thinking in terms of "hours to". "Oh, it's only four hours to Denver." Or, "If you take I80, you can make it to Lincoln in 7-1/2 hours....if you drive the speed limit!" By a curious twist of history, I'm closer to the capitals of three states (South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado) than I am to the capital of Nebraska, Lincoln. I am going to Google Earth as soon as I finish this! You have me intrigued.

(p.s. Barley looks like a lovely rabbit! No pathogens or evil eye beams in that sweetie!)