Angelwings, if it's any consolation, Winter in Australia doesn't really get any colder than 5 degrees Celcius (but the wind blows right through you).

Well, speaking of weather, I have moved to college and when I was hauling my luggage around moving into the dorms, it was -23 degrees Farenheit! I just went out again and it feels colder then that now which is not surprising since the sun just went down. It's nice! I would much rather be in -20 degree Farenheit weather than 118! Now, that's hot! I've never been in weather quite that hot but I've been in 102 degree weather and I about died. No actually, I just got heat exhaustion. Fortanutly, I recognized the signs and stood in the shade and poured water over my head to cool off. (I was in a poor country with no air conditioning.)

I have got use to hot days i don't really feel it much anymore. I live in WA it gets to around 40 c some times but usually 30-35 c.

For anyone in Ireland: Okay... yes, it's another music question... I just can't help it! Would you say that Celtic Woman:

and Anuna:

are pretty popular over there?

~Lady Fiona

I cringe at some of the temperatures you've mentioned, Warrior and IloveFauns! I'm much more suited for the cold (for example, tonight's low is forecast to reach -17F/-27C, which is far more common here than temps over 100F/38C). We have more nights below 0F/-17C than days over 90F/32C in an average year. Ahhhh....

On the other hand, summers here are really humid, which tends to reduce the daily high temperatures (the highest temperature I've experienced in Minnesota is 105F/41C back in 1988, though I've camped in hotter weather in the comparatively dry mountains of the Western US). My experience has been that hot humid air feels much more 'draining' than dryer, desert air that might actually give a slightly higher temperature.

As far as dishwashers and garbage disposals, they are fairly common here. I've lived in some houses that had them and some that did not. Dryers are pretty standard here, however; winter makes hanging your clothes outside really impractical for 5 or 6 months of the year.

Piggybacking on Jillhope's post above: for our Irish/UK members, which currently-popular Celtic musicians would you recommend as being most 'authentically' Celtic?

Hey I was just wondering... Is Wales part of Great Britain?

Also, I've been told that there is some kind of dislike between people of England and people of Ireland... Is that true? Or just some stereotype?

~Riella

Ithilwen, if you look at a map of UK you will find that there is a squarish bit jutting out from the rest of England on the left hand side (west), facing Ireland, and north of the peninsular that ends in Cornwall. That squarish bit is Wales. It isn't very big, and to pass it only takes a few hours on the M6, going from Chester in the North to Bristol in the south. On a good day that is.

Yes, there has been dislike between the Irish and the English, for historic reasons and because the Irish haven't always been very well treated even in more recent times. It is too complicated to explain here, and you will need to look up any information in encyclopedias etc.

It is said that there are more people in Australia who have Irish descent than there are Irish in Ireland, itself, due to immigration over 200 years. But not all of those with Irish, Scottish or Welsh descent came out to Australia voluntarily. Some Irish came out here on the convict ships after 1788, because they rebelled against English rule. Whilst others, as in America, emigrated due to the Irish potato famine in 1846. My grandfather's parents migrated from Donegal and Galway in Ireland.

On the other hand, summers here are really humid, which tends to reduce the daily high temperatures (the highest temperature I've experienced in Minnesota is 105F/41C back in 1988, though I've camped in hotter weather in the comparatively dry mountains of the Western US). My experience has been that hot humid air feels much more 'draining' than dryer, desert air that might actually give a slightly higher temperature.

Sydney, in Australia, can get very humid as well. Most summers, it is quite regular to have temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius, or even more, though it is often in waves. A year or so ago it even reached 45 degrees Celsius on a couple of occasions. However, we do get relief thanks to the Southerly Busters that cool the place down.

Wales is a part of the UK. I live pretty close to the Welsh border now, so it's very common to have people live here and work in Wales, or vice versa.

As Wagga said, the relationship between Ireland and England is a long, difficult one (it's also important to note that only Northern Ireland is a part of the UK, Southern Ireland is an independent republic). If you're interested in the subject then you could do some reading on the Troubles and events like Bloody Sunday, the rise of parties like Sinn Féin and so on.

That being said, it doesn't mean that people from the two countries never get along on a personal level.

I honestly can't remember any specific examples of Celtic music at the moment It's been a while since I spent an extended amount of time in Ireland so I couldn't comment on what local music is popular.

My younger brother Matt went to Wales with the Boy Scouts many years ago and loved it. How to put this? The spelling of words/towns is eye opening to say the least...he brought back a picture of a town that purportedly has the longest name of any town on Earth (the name stretched on and on and on, as I recall ) and native Welsh language uses a different pronunciation system from standard English, so there's lots of consonants stuck together with few vowels, or vice versa.

They have a great flag too. My brother brought one home and it hung on his wall for many years.

I believe you're talking about Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoc, SL? A Welsh friend enjoys trying to teach me to say it properly - so far, I have not succeeded .

I'm generally not great at Welsh pronunciation, it's the 'goch' sound I really can't do (which is how the end of that name is said). My friend persists in trying to teach me though, I think I might have improved a little The 'll' sound also evades me a lot of the time. It's similar to 'th' or 'thl', but my poor English tongue can't do it right half the time.

In High School, my choir was competed in a festival in Llangollen, Wales. No one could really tell us how it was pronounced. Some people seemed to pronounce the "ll" the way Shantih wrote, but others seemed to go for more of a "ch" like the German "reich;" I think they may have been wrong. Now that I know phonetics, I wish I knew the sort of little equation for it.

It's so interesting that various languages have different sounds.

Edit: Ok, so I find this very interesting, so if you don't, skip this. Thanks to Wikipedia's phonetics, I have discovered how to say "ll" in Welsh.
The first thing is tongue placement. This sound is alveolar, so the tip of the tongue goes on the ridge behind the upper teeth. The sound is voiceless, so there's no vibration of the vocal chords (for example, 's' and 'z' are the same sound except 'z' has vibration and 's' doesn't. Other than that, they're made the same way. Try it. ). And finally, 'll' is a fricative which means that it's made by pushing air out over the tongue. "S" and "Th" are also fricatives, so if that doesn't make sense, just make those sounds with your tongue in the correct place.

When I make that sound it's sort of a mixture between "th" and the german "ch," which is really super cool! Of course, I'll never really be able to do it as well as a native speaker.

Didn't a lot of the Irish imigrate to Australia because of the potato famine?

Indeed that is true.(I actually listened to soemthign in s and e).

Edit: Ok, so I find this very interesting, so if you don't, skip this. Thanks to Wikipedia's phonetics, I have discovered how to say "ll" in Welsh.
The first thing is tongue placement. This sound is alveolar, so the tip of the tongue goes on the ridge behind the upper teeth. The sound is voiceless, so there's no vibration of the vocal chords (for example, 's' and 'z' are the same sound except 'z' has vibration and 's' doesn't. Other than that, they're made the same way. Try it. ). And finally, 'll' is a fricative which means that it's made by pushing air out over the tongue. "S" and "Th" are also fricatives, so if that doesn't make sense, just make those sounds with your tongue in the correct place.

When I make that sound it's sort of a mixture between "th" and the german "ch," which is really super cool! Of course, I'll never really be able to do it as well as a native speaker.

This is exactly why I can't do it! According to the previously mentioned Welsh friend I can't even say the 'th' sound properly (as in I say 'teef' instead of 'teeth'. Personally I can't tell the difference, which I guess is where I'm going wrong), so I stand no chance with 'll'. Every now and then it comes out right, but it's probably just chance. I imagine you could make a far better attempt at it than me

Some of my family moved to England during the potato famine, so I have some distant relatives floating around England. I think the reason the more recent generation moved here was because of the Troubles, and the economic situation (which is only getting worse).

Shoe time for the Aussies:

Why is it that converse are cheap in America but expensive in Australia...
Along with that, why are Uggs are expensive here and cheap there?