I always seem to spend January 26 by myself.

During Uni because I was the worst student ever I was always doing courses over summer and since I’ve been working I seem to find myself not ever doing anything with friends.

This year I’m alone in a city I love but am not in love with. I usually visit and enjoy it in small bursts but have been here too long for my liking.

Even though it is totally Loner Boy 5000, I feel fan-bloody-tastic. I have access to copious amount of excellent coffee, the countdown for the world’s most voted in music awards is on the radio (which besides listening to the hotness tunes for the 11th year in a row I half think I get off on hearing everyone else’s fab parties sort of like why some people read the social pages), I have a stack of weekend newspapers to really get into and I am savoring the quite satisfaction that with a three day weekend that has no distractions I will clean up my inbox, write some articles and finish a couple of business plans all of which have been neglected over the last few weeks.

OMG!!!! The Fratellis’ Chelsea Dagger has just come in only at #59 on the countdown. I voted for that and Flathead. Hmmm….Triple J proves once again that democracy doesn’t work.

To all the big brown land inhabitants and expats: Have a Happy Australia Day, Invasion Day, unAustralian Day, Hottest 100 Day, Whatever Floats Your Boat Day. Enjoy!

Last Australia Day, the man sitting in front of me on the bus peed on my foot whilst singing songs about how he loved fucking and ranting about how Asians didn’t know the true meaning of the holiday.

As you might imagine, I’m not exactly a patriot.

And yet, I’ve been asked to write a column for a certain Melbourne paper about what being Australian means to my peers. I could (and will) talk about my own experiences, but I’d like to talk about people who aren’t me too.

What does being Australian mean nowdays? And who identifies with that? Do you think it’s changed with the election of a new Government last November? Is national identity even relevant anymore, or are we more international in our allegiances?

— miss-r

Will give this some thought and respond tonight when I have time but I don’t think there is anything that is uniquely or exclusively Australian that can be identified as being part of our national identity.  The mateship thing that people  always trumpet as ours alone is truely a delusional concept for anyone to think it is as strong as the people build it up to be as well as being something that only occurs in the big brown land.

I know it is vacuous in this sort of discussion to talk about our sense of humour but  I do think one thing we (as collectively we as it can ever be) do which I genuinely love and but haven’t lived enough in other countries to know how much others do it is the extent and breadth to which everyday people satirise society. There’s this great quote by Greig Pickhaver (aka HG Nelson) in A Big Ask: Interviews with Interviewers which sums it up perfectly where he says of our sense of humour that “Australians make the serious trivial and the trivial serious”. And I really like that about us.