Do people say "mate" in London like they do in Australia?
Hey Laurita, Good question! I'm an Aussie living in London, and although I do hear the word "mate" in conversation every now and then, it's nowhere near as widely used as it is back at home. A very popular greeting over here is the phrase "hello, you alright?" which has a similar sentiment to "g'day, how ya goin?" I've noticed the people who do tend to use the word "mate" only really ever use it in this context, ie. "you alright, mate?" It's generally people with that working-class cockney London accent who use the word, and they tend to pronounce it more like "maye" ... "you owrite maye?" Hope that helps answer your question! I definitely still make use of the true blue Aussie variation of the word anyway :-) Dan
Attn: Straight People: When you say "I don't care if you're gay just as long as you don't throw it in my face"
What do you mean by this? I mean, I've never had sex with a guy on the sidewalk for a bunch of straight people to gawk at? I don't even really talk about my sex life except with my best friends. I'm really perplexed here.... So what do you mean that you're okay with me being gay just as long as I don't "shove it in your face"? Does that mean that I can't tell you I'm gay? That I can't hold my boyfriend's hand in public? That I can't root for the one or two gay characters that have ever made it onto network television? I'll be happy to respect your wishes, but at the same time, I think it would be only fair for you to stick by the same rules.. Wouldn't you agree? We all wanna have a level playing field, don't we? So shouldn't that mean, that from now on, you can't hold your husband's/wife's hand in public, that you can't talk about how great your spouse and kids are at work? I mean, isn't that basically throwing it in my face? I'll keep my humanity in the bedroom if you will.
What is the best way to meet new people?
We moved from country to country as modern nomads. For me the best way to meet new people and make friends is to volunteer at something I am passionate about. Sharing a passion creates a bond. When we moved to the Pacific NorthWest I wanted to volunteer at Fences for Fido. This is a group of people that build fences for dogs who live in a chain outside and who's owners don't have the financials to build a fence so the dog can run free. The group does not place a judgement on people as to why the dog is chained, they just want to provide a better option. But alas I became totally disabled so no building fences for me. Still I support them in other ways that I canVolunteering has given me some wonderful friends in many countries. If that isn't for you but you might be into or want to take up photography, look for classes. Join city walks where people gather and walk through the city shooting pics. There are many opportunities to take on a new hobby and join a class or a meeting. As for seeing the world, meet new people, I just sponsored a friend who wanted to travel backpacking for a year and hoped to make some money while writing travel adventures in his website. I sponsored his domain and website so he could be off to a reliable start.His way if traveling was very low budget but he met some great people and got invited to many other countries by people he met along the way.He use a hitchhikers service that matches up car or truck drivers with people who need a ride and he used Airbnb. Airbnb has given him the most fantastic contacts. He met some Australians in Spain and got invitations to Australia and is now on his way to visit them. To make some money he works as bartender in Spain's tourist area, also not a bad place to be. Before he went on this adventure he worked in IT and told me about his dream to travel. I encouraged him to do so. He jumped in with two feet and had the most awesome year ever. I noticed when we were traveling that even though I am an introvert when I'm traveling a whole new me appears :-) I'm just absorbing new cultures and new people like a sponge. I do miss it now we're more stationary.