shinny

Yeh that's true. They are still part of the commonwealth.

Did you know that Queen Elizabeth II is also still the Queen of Australia and they also remain part of the commonwealth?

shinny

Yeh she is. Sorry, I should have elaborated. It's just that Australia recently (within the last 6/7 years) had a referendum on whether or not to stay part of the commonwealth or be an independent republic, cutting all ties with the monarch. They chose to stay part of the commonwealth, I believe by a small margin.

shinny

What's the weather like in September? I've been threatening to go to Canada for years now and we're thinking about this year. Just wondering what September is like?

shinny

Thanks Barb.

shinny

Thanks all. I'm going to look into flights. Air Canada fly directly from Dublin.

shinny

Thanks for that. There was €200 difference in total.

Air Transat only fly to Toronto or Montreal. Which would be best? (Same price)

Thanks guys.

shinny

Which would be better for shopping?!! Lol. I think I'm preferring the sound of Toronto though!

shinny

I love watching Seconds from Disaster which is a show about plane crashes etc. It's on one of the Irish stations at the moment and guess which Airline it's about today?............
Air Canada !! Another reason not to fly with them, lol.

Although, it was 1983 when it happened.

shinny

Thanks so much for that. Thanks for the comparison to Grafton Street, as I can visualise it now. Sounds lovely.

Don't talk to me about Dublin Bus or Bus Eireann. I used to get the 7am bus from Wicklow to Dublin every day when I started working, well, when it decided to show up. It's not as bad now, but it's not as good as it could be !

shinny

It's really good and I love Australia, if you haven't picked up on that before

shinny

It depends on the time of year and where you are too. Melbourne can be colder than here during their autumn/winter months, but it can be as hot as hell too. Sydney generally tends to remain a nice steady heat in their winter months (similar to here) and can be very warm in the Summer. I've only been to Brisbane during the Autumn months and it was like here also. One day we were there it was cool and cloudy, but most of the time it was sunny and just a nice warm day.

shinny

It's about the only thing this guy will probably ever do, look!

The 40 year old virgin

shinny

Doesn't take much courage to sit behind a monitor Bala !

shinny

Hehe, what part are you in? My brother is in Melbourne and he said it's freezing there too. They normally come to Ireland during our summer months so they get two Summers ! Not fair.

shinny

Ah yes, I've heard of it. We flew over (or at least near) Wagga Wagga on our way up to Brisbane. We fly with Virgin Blue.

shinny

Yeh, Soda would be more of a American/Canadian thing. In Ireland we'd call them Soft Drinks, sometimes Fizzy drinks. But I'd know what someone meant if they said Soda or Pop.

shinny

Bala, Canada is not part of America !! It's a separate country.

*edit* well I should clarify that it is not part of the United States of America, but is part of North America or part of the America's. However, it is a separate entity.

[ Last edited by shinny at 5-31-2008 15:36 ]

shinny

Bala, I don't think there was a tone in Studio's comments. It's a common misconception people have and I think Studio was just reflecting that.

We have the same problem here in Ireland, with the whole UK thing, as does Portugal with Spain, New Zealand with Australia to name but a few others in the same boat.

shinny

Lol, we've many different accents Bala so you're obviously talking about some of our more lyrical ones. Northern Ireland, Cork City, Dublin City. The rest are quite neutral actually.

And, we were voted as having the best accent in the world in a MSN survey !

At one point Ireland was the only place outside of the US that call centres would locate to.

shinny

I suppose the same could be said of a scouse, jordie or brummie accent, you know. Any lyrical accent is always harder to understand, but then that's what makes it unique. I think.

I do agree that we, in general, talk fast. However, I've learned to slow myself down from years of dealing with non Irish people!!