I personally don't like the idea of giving a child a gun under any(well almost any) circumstances. Also the idea they are marketing them to children by making them pink/colourful, makes me feel somewhat sick. I remember gruen planet showing an advertisement of this(I am trying to find the segment but I am unable to). Anyway on a slightly lighter note I assume a cricket bat would be the weapon of choice for an Australian being burgled. Though for me, some of the text books I have would knock anyone out. Imagine the the head line " A thief knocked out my a chemistry text book".

Talking about Darrell lee. I use to love the little jars of "pillow" shaped lollies one could get. Not sure if they are still available. I have a memory of my mother winning a Darrell lee vulture, and buying a supply which included some nice tasting peanut type chocolate.

No, I don't like the idea of people having unrestricted access to guns. It is too easy for people to lose their tempers and arguments can get ferociously out of control if guns are kept in the house. It is bad enough we have drive-by shootings, due to bikies and other "he-men" types who don't get licences, who have some unusual religious beliefs, and who are often part of our underworld of "well-known business men and colourful racing identities", as these organised crime figures have been euphemistically called.

Oh I do realise that people can behave badly without guns. We've had a spate of people dying or being seriously maimed due to being "king hit" which is now called "coward punches". And then there was the woman I used to know who wanted to hit the man with whom she was arguing, with a large pumpkin. But knives, fists and even pumpkins are more likely to injure one or two people rather than a whole group of people.

Years ago I used to drive a Hillman Minx. These vehicles aren't around any more. Some mornings when it was slow to start I could use a crank handle to start this vehicle. But I was not as au fait as I should have been with the bits and pieces that make up a car's innards.

When I first met my husband he took me up to the other side of the Blue Mountains at Bathurst, to a bee-keeping meeting, taking my car to give it a good run. But I didn't trust him then, so when he wanted me to take a different way to the way I wanted to go, I threatened that if his way turned out to be dodgy, I'd clobber him with the crankshaft. (Meaning the crank handle). Yes, that was my weapon of choice to defend myself. Not that it was necessary that time, since he was so helpless with laughter, he wouldn't have been particularly dangerous to anyone. He also said that by the time I dismantled the car to get the crankshaft he'd be long gone.

I have a memory of my mother winning a Darrell lee vulture, and buying a supply which included some nice tasting peanut type chocolate.

I vaguely remember those little jars with nice glossy brightly coloured pillow shaped lollies. But I don't know who made them. And now you mention them, I rather fancy them. I remember Columbines with the slightly shiny turquoise and pink wrappings in a long package with harlequins & ballerinas on them. And we still can get fantales, wrapped in yellow and blue twists of paper with short biographies of film stars on them. I think I remember the chocolate peanut sweets. But I did see bags of Rock lea road, and Peanut Brittle (Peanuts in toffee) at the local chemist the last time I was there. Unfortunately they didn't have those lovely slabs of golden butterscotch, sort of like chocolate, that you can break into pieces.

Ha that is a funny story. I once threatened to hit a guy with a shoe if he didn't stop bothering my sister. That is as threatening as I get.

I found them, by google searching "coloured bottled pillow lollies" and they are made my Darrell lea. They are just like rock candy(i think they are rock candy)....... I just thought the only time I say candy instead of lollies is for candy cane and rock candy. I know a lot of Americans think the word "lolly" is weird. A class mate(newly arrived) asked me "why the heck do you people call candy after a car". Haha she thought people had been say lorry.

I do understand both of your feelings towards firearm ownership. Believe me, I do. If someone from another country bragged about their heritage of juggling live hand grenades or intentionally getting snakebit repeatedly as a show of faith (there are places in the backwoods of the US where this is actually the case ) I'd think they'd have lost their minds. I don't want to try and convince you of anything and was really only attempting to sort of show you our mindset on the subject. It's very much a cultural thing here, along with love of foods that are bad for you and affection for automobiles and it is difficult to explain that kind of thing to someone who's not used to that kind of mindset. I can only ask to please trust us as most of us are not crazy people.

Speaking of food I've read up on this meatpie which is you guys' national dish of sorts and I was wondering if there was a recipe to make some here. It sounds almost like a chicken/beef/turkey pot pie but without the goopiness.

Yeah I can see it is a different culture. It has been passed down the generations. Though not as dangerous, you guys likely wonder why we add "ie" to the end of stuff or sometimes an o(I remember people use to call student services "studo's". I am not one for doing this regularly. I think it is funny we call motor cycle gangs, "Bikie" gangs. Makes them seem less threatening I guess.

I know the other states of Australia are not into big cars like the Americans, but Western Australia surely is. Off roading (four wheel driving) is a huge thing here. My mum gets annoyed when parents drive there kids t school in these huge vehicles(taking up two parking spots).

As for the food. I couldn't stomach some of the American dishes I have heard of. Most of the Australian "national" dishes are not to my tastes either. I much rather go Asian, Indian or Italian. Though pavlovas using coconut essence(rather than vanilla) are the best.

Ha I am the last Australian you want to ask about meat pies. The last time I had one was likely around 2001(about the only time I had one). I have had hardly any red meat since 2006( I have had to on occasions when I don't want to offend someone's cooking or what ever). I hope waggawerwolf can help.

@ ILF & Shadowlander. I did go through my recipe books, but found the best one was this Donna Hay recipe. Another good one was this Reader's Digest recipe. Some others were weird since they include ingredients like a teaspoon of vegemite. No wonder IlF doesn't care for meat pies.

The Donna Hay recipe is the best one because of the conversions she put into the recipe, since we use Celsius in Australia for oven temperatures, quantities etc. 180 degrees Celsius is 350 degrees Fahrenheit it seems.

I don't like minced meat much, though I use it for speed and prefer it as lean as possible. I usually prefer chunks of meat with as much gristle and fat sliced off as I can. I can then dust with either cornflour or plain flour before cooking which I do with a basin lined with glad wrap or a plastic bag containing the flour in which I can roll the meat around to cover it lightly.

Meat pies can be varied. They don't have to be beef. Chicken, bacon and fish, even vegetables on their own, can be done in a pie, though you would have to change the stock and sauces to match what you are cooking. Chopped tomatoes, frozen peas, corn, and carrots, sliced mushrooms and capsicum strips are all ingredients that can be combined with meat fillings to give a more tasty pie.

Curried powder or the various Indian curry pastes can substitute for worcestershire sauce, and tomato sauce, our equivalent of tomato ketchup for a curry pie. Shadowlander, do they have Worcestershire sauce in USA?

I think it is funny we call motor cycle gangs, "Bikie" gangs. Makes them seem less threatening I guess.

On the contrary, it at least distinguishes them from motor cycle riders who may be perfectly innocent people who prefer a motor bike as a cheap and reliable means of transport. Not that I like motor bikes, myself. Saturday afternoons were usually the times when teenaged boys, having dodged helping Mum & Dad with the morning shopping rush, would finish off their tinkering with engine innards, clean themselves up - hopefully - and then, about 4pm, they would very noisily ride these monstrosities around the emptied streets, in an attempt to impress the girls. Or more likely, other petrolheads.

Some blokes can be just as offensive with automobiles also, except these ones were called surfies when they took along surfboards strapped to their vans (called sin bins) and station wagons. They are the ones whose descendants still take off noisily to show off when in the vicinity of a girl learning to drive.

I can agree that bikes may be of real interest, eg BSA, Harley Davidson, Isuzu, Kawasaki, etc. There are also motor bikes so laid back their riders look like they are lying down to ride them. And don't forget the trikes and the quad bikes. But even in the past, bike riders could earn themselves with this noisy showing off a lot of names like larrikins, louts, hoons and, originally, bodgies, thereby making life harder for themselves.

It's very much a cultural thing here

Of course it is a cultural thing for you, and many people in USA would agree, I'm sure. But it depends on exactly where you are what sort of cultural "thing" one has in mind, I guess. Our modern day bikie is often someone who is so extremely far gone that he joins bikie clubs where the uniform is black leather, tattoos, metal studs, biker helmets, beards etc. Some "milder" ones may do good in the community for PR. Until the powers that be find out what they have been actually up to under that "innocent" exterior. They may be Hell's Angels, Comancheros, Bandidos or Gypsy whatevers. Or they may have other more local names, like Brothers 4 Life or the Bra boys.

The trouble is, that these types of bikies are more into vendettas against each other, rioting, causing violent incidents, like drive-by shootings, drug pushing, gun-running, and in some of these vendettas and in the localities where they occur, the words "jihad" or "MEOC" (Middle Eastern Outreach Council - a police unit) may also ring a good deal more than a bell. All cultural, I guess, but it is sometimes hard to separate cultural and religious beliefs in places where forced marriages of girls younger than 12, segregating men and women, and other strange ideas like routinely breaking the law are considered okay.

This is another cultural thing I must do. Happy 4th July from Down Under.

And from ol' Blighty also. I have a question to the Americans: what time of day on 4th July do you do your firework displays? At this time of year there are not many hours of darkness in the northern hemisphere, so do you wait until it's dark (after younger children's bedtimes) or do you have them in the daytime - and if so, how good do they look?

The main firework night in Britain is Guy Fawkes' Night, November 5th, by which time it's dark by about 5.30 pm, so it's not a problem having a firework display against a night sky and then getting the kids off to bed at their normal time.

@Waggawerewolf Vegemite??? that is strange. A meat pie with Vegemite in it would be my worst nightmare(since I dislike both). Well not my worst nightmare but you know what I mean.

Indeed most motor cyclists are innocent people. I had a weird encounter with a motor cyclists group(I won't call them a gang because they were not committing any crimes), but a group of 4 of them came through my checkout when I worked at IGA and bought a nerd lolly rope and a pear. It was a little strange, but it is a great story.

Never ever drive past building sites during work hours when you are on your L's. I stopped going to the same driving instructor because he thought it was funny to make me drive pass them several times in the same less. With them shouting at me each time I passed. I couldn't drive a different way, because he likely would of used the breaks on his side and told me off for driving the wrong way.

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.

It's probably true about Alaska, even in Anchorage the largest city in the state, there are bears and moose in the city. Keep in mind that Anchorage is about the same size of city as St. Louis, Missouri, so that's kind of crazy thing. I remember living in Fairbanks, and being outside our apartment and there were moose in the woods across the street. And that wasn't at night usually! We had a moose walk right through our yard on post once too.

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.

Well said, Puddleglum.

Where I live in the US (eastern time zone), the big fireworks display last year started around 9:15 PM. It was cloudy last year, and it's not this year. So, when it's dark enough for the fireworks to show up they will start, probably 9:30 PM.

Last night, one of the neighbors did some big night fireworks, and they didn't really show up very well until after 9:30 PM.

SnowAngel

*Has this picture of IlF at the Dark Island, being pursued by a giant meat pie laced with Vegemite*

That is the problem with having national holidays in the summer in the north--the fireworks are generally so late at night. There is a really decent display near us on Canada Day, but it makes for a late night because of the drive home. So I don't get to go most of the time.

We were in the States for only one Fourth of July, and the fireworks were at night, but maybe some places they are done during the day. Wonder what they do in Alaska?

We were in the States for only one Fourth of July, and the fireworks were at night, but maybe some places they are done during the day. Wonder what they do in Alaska?

In Alaska, they have fireworks on New Years Eve instead the 4th of July.

SnowAngel

Oh, that makes sense!

Around here, people send off fireworks at New Years also, but it's mostly small stuff done privately. And late at night

When I was young, the fire department used to put on a good show at Halloween. Sometimes we would go up on the hillside above the valley to watch, as we could only see the very tallest ones from our house in the forest.

Fireworks are very common here in the north central US on New Year's Eve, set off around midnight to welcome in the new year. As I recall, this seems to be a relatively recent thing, becoming really popular only in the last 30 years or so.

So, when it's dark enough for the fireworks to show up they will start, probably 9:30 PM.

Around here it's still very light at 9.30 and it's closer to 10.30 before the fireworks start.

(It depends not only on how far north you live - the farther north, the later the sunset - but also where you live in your time zone. The farther west you live, the later the sun sets - and rises - all year round. I remember camping in Upper Michigan's Porcupine Mountains State Park. The time zone line is near the park. From the right spot, the sun set around 9.05 but if you walked a little ways east, it was suddenly setting at 10.05. )

Around here, people send off fireworks at New Years also, but it's mostly small stuff done privately. And late at night

That's also true here, though the fact that it can routinely be -30C here on New Year's Eve tends to dampen that a bit. This time of year, it's another story. There always seem to be the popping of "personal fireworks" for a few weeks centered on July 4.

It's probably true about Alaska, even in Anchorage the largest city in the state, there are bears and moose in the city. Keep in mind that Anchorage is about the same size of city as St. Louis, Missouri, so that's kind of crazy thing.

Bear sightings are becoming more and more common in the suburban areas of the Twin Cities (metro population about 3.5 million) as urban development spreads north towards the bears' natural habitat. In fact, just the other day a man in a town just northwest of the metro area shot and killed a bear in his backyard because he feared for his daughter.

I love fireworks although it's against the law to fire off airburst types in North Carolina. You can do all the ground ones though, mostly sparklers. They're not quite as much fun though . Across the border in South Carolina they have enormous fireworks stores that you can purchase any kind of firework imaginable, and it wouldn't surprise me if they stocked some of Gandalf's inventions too . They can get *quite* expensive though. Last time we were up in Wisconsin we bought $50 for 12 air bursts and a few whirligig fireworks that spin around on the ground, but it was a great time and we loved it.

Thank you SnowAngel.
Fireworks are all the rage around here in the midwest. Minnesota does have some restrictions as to what kind though. I myself do not fire off any, so I don't really know what the limits are. as some have commented already there are more than a few who hop the border, say to Wisconsin, where laws are a little more liberal, and bring them back.
Many are the noisemakers now popping off around the neighborhood as I type this. the festivities will continue well into the night, and as I have one bad ear I shall be sleeping on it so as to get a good night's rest. Unfortunatly there will also be those who will continue this for the next couple nights.
Which is the drawback of such merrymaking. There are always those who seek to push the boundaries, and so make the regular folks look bad.
Almost every year there are reports of someone injured due to such mishandling.