Adjusting to being back

So, got back to Brisbane Friday morning. Warm welcomes from Ralphie and from Tall Guy. Somewhat jet lagged, but more due to lack of sleep -- very hard to sleep in those teeny airplane seats! -- than to the time change (seven hours difference, but a day ahead).

Went out and rented "Bride and Prejudice," watched it that night. Cute! Pretty good, worth renting; good dance sequences. Cultural differences that were intriguing.

Saturday, ran errands at the local mall. Forgot to bring the DVD with us to return (overnight rental), so that evening I got to drive it back to the local movie rental place. Surprisingly, I re-acclimatized to Aussie "on-the-left" driving remarkably quickly! But it was only a short hop, with two turns in each direction: I'll still let The Lady do the "real" driving for the next week or so.


Now that I'm back, the two things that I'm having a hardest time adjusting to:

(1) No free turns on red. Even if it's a near turn, you gotta wait for the light to change.

(2) Sales tax included in the sticker price. When I was visiting the Seattle area, I kept getting caught out by the total price being the sticker price plus sales tax. In Australia, sales tax is included in the sticker price -- so if your magazine is $2.35, you know ahead of time to get $2.35 out. A good sytem. More honest, less deceptive: the sticker price is what you actually pay. And it makes the lines at the checkout stand go slightly faster, in my opinion.


A good visit, but also good to be back. Nearly every day had a lunch appointment and a dinner appointment. Fun to be social, but also very busy, without much "down time."

Many thanks to all the swell people that spent time with us. :)


-GG