wagga. I believe Lewis taught at Oxford, and later at Cambridge.
As for pickpockets. I have never had the displeasure. Though I have never been overseas, yet. My older brother was in Europe several years ago though, and related a rather amusing run in with one. I think it was in a train station in Hungary. Not another soul around as my brother walked across the station when this teenager lumbers by, and "accidently bumps" him. My brother didn't know whether to be angry, or laugh at how absurd it was.

Sounds like the thief was new at his "job".

Sounds like the thief was new at his "job".

Very possibly that thief was new at the "job". When we were at the Louvre I did spot a group of beefy looking teenaged boys, all dressed in scarlet red T-shirts and blackish pants. One particular broth of a boy had the wildest black hair I've seen anyone wear. The group looked like they were on a school excursion, except that mid-August is still school holidays for many in France and England, I believe. And except that the day we went there happened to coincide with a public holiday in Paris. We were told by management and the police that they had seen groups of "Gypsies" in the Louvre that day. However, we didn't see many of these people outside of Paris, apart from at Versailles, outside the gate, on the way back to where the buses were parked.

I had a similar experience the last time I went to Paris about three years ago. My friend whom I was travelling with was targeted by pickpockets at the Gare du Nord. I think Paris has a particular problem that you don't often find anywhere else.

You could be right, but the Gare du Nord is the station from where the Eurostar departs back to England. This would be a good place to access for anyone trying to get to England illegally.

Going to the police station in Paris was an interesting experience, since their one English-speaker staffer was at lunch or something. So it was fortunate that we had enough French between us to make ourselves understood and to make a statement. But then the Police couldn't understand my writing, so the final copy of the statement was interesting, to say the least. They confused '7's and '1's, o's and a's and much else.

My brother was nearly attacked in paris. He was just sitting on a chair waiting for me and dad and some guy came up and tried to punch him. Though this has happened to my brother in Australia to. He must be a target for such people.

Question for you Australians on here. I love your licorice. No, strike that...I adore your licorice. My Maternal Unit also loves your licorice and between she and I and my sister Liz we'll sit at the kitchen table eating Australian licorice until are tongues are ready to fall off. The vast majority of folks here in the US don't care for licorice at all, although those of us that do make up for it in the increased volume we consume per annum. Do you guys eat licorice by the plateful or something? I can't imagine living with licorice that good and not having some almost everyday if I could help it. We really only have access to Darrell Lea brand and that only at a few select places that only sometimes have it. Are there other brands over there that you guys might enjoy more? And what are your thoughts on Licorice Allsorts?

I love Allsorts. And now to the true purpose of my post. Is there any way I can get any of the Aussies on here to send me bulk licorice, perhaps in a giant crate or 55 gallon drum, overseas to me so I never have to look for it again? I will name my next child after you if you do and erect a giant statue in your honor in front of my home.

I am not a huge fan of the stuff myself but if you are serious about the posting think pm me(though that would mean calling your child Danyelle, Daniel or Danny...ha). My uncle is a huge fan of allsorts, and my dad/mum happily ate the black jelly beans when I was a kid. I think this like for liquorice has skipped my generation(none of my cousins or siblings like it).

Bringing the conversation about tipping back over here.

I checked our prices against yours. It isn't easy because we use metric and not imperial. A gallon is 3.78541178 litres. USD $2.50 for a gallon of milk is therefore cheap besides our AUD $2.00 for a 2 litre container of milk. This is a cheap rate from Coles. Other providers might charge more. We'd be spending $4.00 AUD or more for the same gallon of milk you get charged $2.50.

Petrol is also expensive. Thanks to the latest Iraq situation, it has gone up to $1.69 per litre of petrol. Multiply that by 3.785 and you get $6.39775 AUD per gallon. It is worse outside the big cities as in the countryside the chain of supply has to factor in the price of petrol or diesel that is needed to transport goods to some places. I don't know how you calculate your income tax, because tips down here can go through the cash register, along with the payments, and therefore the true picture is reflected in the night's takings, when they are compared with the cash register receipts.

There is a further difficulty in comparisons. An Australian dollar is currently 0.938 of 1 USD.

Like IlF I can see what you mean by the need for tipping. But wages as low as $2.13 an hour would still be considered slave labour here. I've earned more doing letter box drops years ago. And with that there is a chance to bundle up your deliveries to increase the money earned. Do "waitresses" earn the same as "waiters"? Because both men and women are called waiters here. You see, I wondered if the bad attitudes displayed by churchgoers at Sunday dinner were due to sexism. Would they treat a man the same way?

I agree with ILF that wages here can be as low as $16 or $17 per hour, but less is taken out for a casual or part-time worker, such as provisions for sick leave and annual leave. Many university students depend on such casual or part-time labour to pay their way through university, so at the rate of pay you mention they probably would look elsewhere for work. If the Sunday diners can't afford tipping for weekend service, why don't they go home & cook their own Sunday dinner?

Australia is one of the fairest countries in the world. In all honestly as much as some of us complain it is one of the best countries. Our minimum wage is decent compared to most countries. Though our system is not free of loop holes. I am not classified as independent because I didn't earn enough money during my gap year, but yet I have not borrowed any money from anywhere, paied for everything myself, but yet my youth allowance is still based on my parents wages. It is a complicated system. Anyway I am searching for a part-time job because my savings will not last forever and the little I get a fortnight won't cover everything forever.

And back to liquorice. I enjoy it in small doses. I think I prefer liquorice Allsorts to regular liquorice. I only found out about raspberry and mango versions several years ago. They're not true liquorice, but I enjoy them.

I honestly find the gun culture in the USA very frightening. On the gruen transfer(an Australian television series about advertising) I saw an advertisement about guns for young children. Often when I see these debates about gun ownership the person for it often has a very flawed shallow argument(honestly these people make piers Morgan look decent). I know that some Americans don't think that other countries should have an opinion about there countries laws.

Anyway I do not understand the whole gun culture thing in america. Honestly us Australians, and I would say the British get on better without them. So we don't start discussing politics I should get to the point of my post. I find the gun culture strange about America. So what do you guys find strange about other countries? culture-wise?

I will say that firearms have been an integral piece of American culture since before we were even our own nation. The vast majority of people either collect firearms, hunt with them, or use them for self defense, although their nature is such that you'll find them unfortunately used for bad things like crime as well. The right to own a firearm is one that's guaranteed in our nation's Constitution and that for a variety of reasons I won't go into here, suffice it to say that hunting is not the sole purpose of gun ownership. I purchased my first rifle last month, an old Mosin-Nagant 91/30 WW2 Soviet battle rifle. My goal is to eventually get at least one of each firearm used in that war by each nation (and a few WW1 weapons too, and if I can swing it I'd love a Kentucky long rifle as well), but most collectors never achieve that level and end up with a dozen at the most . The vast majority of gun owners here are law abiding citizens who follow the rules and regulations for gun ownership, but as is the case with almost any people group you'll find a few bad apples tends to give the whole bunch an image problem. More than this I cannot say without the conversation steering into political waters, but if you wish to discuss it further I'm always willing to talk about it via PM.

I honestly find the gun culture in the USA very frightening. On the gruen transfer(an Australian television series about advertising) I saw an advertisement about guns for young children... Anyway I do not understand the whole gun culture thing in america. Honestly us Australians, and I would say the British get on better without them.

I will say that firearms have been an integral piece of American culture since before we were even our own nation. The vast majority of people either collect firearms, hunt with them, or use them for self defense

When it comes to the US, gun culture varies a good deal. I've never been to the South or the East, but I've heard that guns are much more popular there.

Here in the West, they are not popular. I don't know anyone here who likes or owns guns. In fact, I don't think I've ever even seen a gun in my life. If I did, it would have been in a museum display or something.

I've been to the Midwest multiple times and know a lot of people there. I haven't seen any guns when I've been there, but I do know of one person who owns one that he uses for hunting.

California is one of the more heavily regulated states and so it doesn't surprise me that there's not as many to be found there, although out in the more rural areas I suspect there would be more owners. I think I read the highest gun ownership rate is Alaska owing to the frontier life that state offers to its denizens, and where firearms are as much a necessity for daily living as is water. The largest pocket of gun owners I personally know seem to be concentrated in Pennsylvania, but much of the southeast is fairly open to them too. Some states are a bit more restrictive than others, but I imagine the rule of thumb is that the more rural the area the more likely it is that you'll find a gun owner of some type. I suspect most of those are probably shotguns or rifles at that.

While I will also try to stay out of the political side of this, I must bring up the historical aspect of the argument, at least as it is made in the U.S.
the 2nd Amendment freedom to bear arms was, and is seen as a deterrent to an overreaching government. The founding fathers of our nation saw the abuses of such a government before, and during our war of independance, and saw the possibility of our own country's leadership doing the same. So they wanted the citizenry, both then, and now to also have the power to deter said abuse.
That being said, there are those who abuse these rights, and those who act irresponsibly. But that can be said for almost everything, be it drinking alchohol, or driving reclessly. Even the Freedom of Speech has been abused to such a degree by some as to cause personal harm to others.

Shadowlander. Good luck with the collecting. Not about to try such a quest myself, looking mostly for hunting. But, I do have a reproduction Kentucky for the Rendezvous I attend.

...suffice it to say that hunting is not the sole purpose of gun ownership. I purchased my first rifle last month, an old Mosin-Nagant 91/30 WW2 Soviet battle rifle. My goal is to eventually get at least one of each firearm used in that war by each nation (and a few WW1 weapons too, and if I can swing it I'd love a Kentucky long rifle as well), but most collectors never achieve that level and end up with a dozen at the most

.

Even in Australia, people can still get licensed to use rifles etc if they have a recognised occupational use for them, or for activities like hunting or sport. I don't know about collecting antique guns, though there are plenty in museums. The whole thrust of our licensing laws is to stop access to military-style weapons unless one is actually in the military or in the police, where such guns are meant to be kept. And to ensure that all legal weapons are properly stored, in club houses for example, away from domestic premises, if possible, adequately locked up when not in use, and to deny access to unlicensed others.

I'd imagine that there is still some hunting going on, mainly of feral animals, like the foxes and rabbits introduced by 19th century "landed gentry" wannabes. Or feral pigs, cats, dogs, goats etc. Years ago, a neighbour whose occupation was as a prison officer was killed on a feral pig hunting trip. His daughter was carrying his gun the wrong way, and tripped over a fallen tree or branch. The gun discharged as she fell, and the ricocheting bullet went right into him as he turned to see what had happened.

Now back to liquorice. We not only have Darrell Lea, a well-known firm based in Kogarah, but also Ricci, an Ingleburn firm. But Ricci is only available through Woolworths, which also supply their own brand of liquorice, as does Coles, the other major grocery retailer. I don't know how you would get liquorice from Australia, and the sources you would have to go through. All that importing and exporting is over my head, I fear. Ricci's address is 3 Brooks Road, Ingleburn. NSW 2565. Their online address is www.riccilicorice.com.au & their telephone no. for further enquiries is 1300 669 405. The area code for Australia is 61+

Years ago, a neighbour whose occupation was as a prison officer was killed on a feral pig hunting trip. His daughter was carrying his gun the wrong way, and tripped over a fallen tree or branch. The gun discharged as she fell, and the ricocheting bullet went right into him as he turned to see what had happened.

It is sad to see anyone get killed, be it by a firearm or a drunk driver or plane crash or the thousand other ways it may happen. A firearm is a very dangerous thing when in untrained hands and that's where accidents of this type happen the most. When my daughter hits around age 6 I plan on getting her her own rifle. Not much really, probably a dinky little .22 Crickett rifle (they even sell them in pink ). And I plan on teaching her to respect the weapon. It's not a toy, and whle one has great enjoyment in firing one it's not something to be lackadaisical about when handling it. It's a thing that if you don't respect it it can turn around and hurt or even kill you, like electricity or a car. It is a huge responsibility to own and carry one and she'll be taught to understand that and adhere to safety rules.

As for licorice the stuff they make over here is very much inferior to what you folks have over there. About the best I've found was Jelly Belly brand licorice jelly beans. The Aussie-style licorice is catching on though and now I can go into a store and find it on the shelves in the candy section, though I'm not so sure about getting it unless it's made in Australia. You people seem to have a very good grasp on making delicious licorice and I kind of think of the stuff they make here as "fake" licorice