How can they tell??

I was cooking fish last night (red snapper marinaded in garlic and chilli, yum...this followed my weekend experiment with a dish I call "Chilli con Kangaroo"...) when I decided I needed a lemon. Stepping through the French doors which lead out onto our fairy-lit patio, I plucked one from the lemon tree.

I love my house. It's a pity we've just been given notice that we have to move out in three weeks.

To address the title, concern has been growing recently about the speed in which the average Perthian can assess Laura and I as backpackers. What is it about us?? Obviously the English accents are a giveaway (though I met an English family a few weeks ago who didn't recognise me as a fellow countryperson: I had to tell them where I was from and the dad responded "Well, you've really picked up the accent in 7 months, haven't you?" What? As if). However, we don't wear (much) shell jewellery from Thailand. We don't wear sunglasses everywhere or t-shirts that say "The best Australian states to be in are Queensland and pissed". So what is it? We went to a gig on saturday and the guy on the door asked straight off if we were backpackers. A woman at the bus stop the other day asked me if I'd been waiting long, and no sooner had I responded with "No" than her next question was "Which hostel are you staying in?"!

At this point I'd like to confirm the rumour that Australia is so friendly that you can make friends at bus-stops. This same woman chatted to me for a while until we both gave up on the bus and walked in the direction of my house/her car...together. Not to mention the charming friend Vic and I made at a Brisbane bus-stop back in October...Dani. It's sad but true that I would almost certainly label anyone talking to me at a London bus-stop insane/sleazy/a criminal. (Or an "artist", judging by the recent insane non-bombing news from London).

Living in Perth is currently a bit of an up-and-down affair. I hate my job (down) but it's finishing soon (up) but I don't have another one lined up yet (down) but I'm going to a crazy hippy festival on saturday (UP!). Also I'm learning to do Poi. I know those of you from university will be VERY excited at that news. The car hunt and travel planning continue, as does the quest for an office temp job that doesn't leave me lurking in a corner, typing angry rants on things I hate about Australia.