freedom for Tooting!

OK, the title is a bit of a stretch, but it appeals to me. A quick run through of my citizenship ceremony. It was held at the council chambers in Chatswood. A fairly dull fairly typical council building. There was a bit of a raised stage for the assembled dignitaries who, apart from the mayor in his mayoral robe (all a bit Santa Claus) were not especially dignified. There was a picture of the queen on the wall. That is rather quaint and, I don't know, seemingly irrelevant. The word seemingly does carry a bit of weight.

The room was arranged with two long tables stretching out form the raised stage/table to form an enclosed, square cornered U. Behind that were three rows of seats, facing the stage. We stood when the mayor came in. He acknowledged the aboriginal heritage of the area before an Asian belly dancer arrived to give a shimmying dance to a crackling CD on a small cheap stereo. I knew I looked confused and Sal later confirmed that I'd looked very confused. I initially missed the point of how this was anything to do with Australia, but soon worked it out. Australia is now a land of migrants. Even your true blue Aussies (not the original folks) are relative newcomers. You could put on pretty well any display and it could be said to represent some aspect of modern Australia. Anyway, apparently the dance was Thai or Cambodian or something. It was easy enough on the eye. If a little odd.

That said, I looked at the names of the mayors of Chatswood dating back over 150years and all names looked somewhat Anglo. Maybe the office appeals only to Aussies with a bit of old mother England about them. Don't know.

After the dance we pledged. Two lots stood to pledge, the first ones under God and outnumbering those who left the God bit out by about 2-1. Which I thought was odd.

From this time forward, under God,

I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,

Whose democratic beliefs I share,

Whose rights and liberties I respect,

and whose laws I will uphold and obey.

I left out the God bit. You are allowed to pledge on a Holy Book and I had been tempted to see if I could find a Tom Cruise biography, the Scientology New Testament. After we'd pledged it was a matter of, one at a time, walking up to get our certificates presented by mayor Pat Riley. Of around 40 people I think 5 of us seemed Anglo, maybe 8 Indian, about 4 "others" and the balance Asian. Which is a pretty fair reflection of the Chatswood demographic. I think. Eah of us had a picture take, and these will be emailed to us. Sal and AJ were in mine and AJ, of course, stole the show. She went on to try and disrupt te show with some of her poltergeistesque gutteral gurgles and Sal too her out for a snack of left boob.

After we all had our certs the stereo was once again crackled into action and we sung the national anthem. In a moment of un-Australian-ness I managed to remember all of the words, though we did only sing the first verse.

And that was it. I signed up to vote and left for Yum Cha. I walked AJ back to the pub where I proceeded to have a couple of (Australian) beers, about a bottle of (Australian) wine and then I tottered home where, after AJ was in bed, I had a couple of (Australian) rum and cokes. I did feel a bit dusty this morning and should have thrown a (very Australian) sickie.

Anyway, this is a very dull post as it contains nothing of my thoughts and feelings on taking out Australian Citizenship. That shit takes brain power, and it is late (for me) and I am flat out of grey matter. Time for bed, maybe I shall ponder what it all means and share that later. Best not hold your breath.