This is all getting a bit too Kafka-esque. I imagine an internet cafe in downtown Sydney, with a line of people, each waiting patiently for a chance to sign up for Able2Know just so they can ask the exact same question and thereby demonstrate their shared patriotic outrage at those Americans who display an insufficient amount of unquestioning awe regarding the legendary exploits of the Australian military. And this even though, in my initial response to the long-departed
Acacia, I specifically remarked: "... Australian units served with great distinction in North Africa, and Rommel certainly must have been impressed with them, especially at Tobruk."
To
msolga and any other Australians out there: I'm sorry for my somewhat intemperate remarks. Understand that I did so out of frustration, rather than any animus. To have three successive individuals, all seeking the same information and all responding in a thoroughly churlish manner to people (such as myself) who were merely attempting to answer their collective query -- well, it's enough to try anyone's patience.
As a penance, I will herewith sing "Waltzing Matilda," which, as national anthems go (unofficial though it may be), is a much better song than "The Star Spangled Banner," despite the fact that it is, paradoxically, not in waltz time and it is in a language that only vaguely resembles English:
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a Coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.
....................
Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.
.....................
Up rode the squatter mounted on his thorough-bred
Down came the troopers One Two Three
Whose that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.
Waltzing Matilda Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
Whose that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker-bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.
......................
Up jumped the swagman sprang in to the billabong
You'll never catch me alive said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.
Waltzing Matilda Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.
