CARRY ON TUESDAY
The words in blue are the opening lines of the 1949 movie 'Adam's Rib'.
VIVE LA ?
I admit I'm part of the problem, so who is there to blame?
The world is becoming 'sameish', with everything the same.
It's been happening forever, but, in my time, it's gained pace,
And now a place that was unique is just every other place.
It happened with the Romans, when they madly 'Romanised'.
Their influence on Britain
It happened with 'The Empire' when Britain
Resulting in the cricket for which every Indian craves.
I've lived in different countries, adding a 'Pommie' touch,
Even though the natives didn't like it very much.
So this isn't an accusation; just a sigh for times gone past,
And a geriatric whimper for a mix that's come too fast.
I lived in the South of England, only twenty miles from France
And I longed to see that country. In my teens I got my chance.
As I stepped down from the ferry the Frenchness blew my mind!
Everything was different! Smells of a different kind!
Buildings looked exotic! Chatter sort of sang!
That wine, that sky, that elegance! That other-worldly tang!
It wasn't a case of better. It wasn't a case of worse.
It was just that everything I saw was England
Now if I take the ferry across that narrow sea,
I'm faced with Marks and Spencers, MacDonalds and KFC.
Everyone speaks English, eats sushi, or ragout,
Everything's pseudo-foreign; you must agree that's true.
Oh the monuments are national, but they are in the past,
They're just an ancient backdrop for an up-and-coming cast.
So when I see the photograph of all the different races
Who've walked the Bridge, having arrived from hundreds of other places.
I feel no animosity, for I'm an immigrant too,
But I kind of yearn for times gone by when the world was still quite new
And a trip to a foreign country, like my early one to France
Was enough to make one shout out loud 'Vive la difference!'
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(The climbers on the bridge represent the nationals who have made Australia their home.)
