Canberra, welcome to graduate politics. An observation rather than a whinge.

There's an interesting social dynamic here, and two distinct and in many cases mutually exclusive cliques have emerged. This became obvious in the beer garden at Old Parliament House last night, where the two groups sat entirely independently of each other and made no attempt at even basic civility.



In one corner was the group made up exclusively of 2007 entry grads, specifically those who were in Canberra on the last rotation. The other group, to which I belong is of people who have just moved up here. It is a mixture of 2007/2008 entry people.



I've been informed by the incumbent Canberra grad who I live with that their team isn't interested in the new people. They have their own thing going and don't want new players. It's a typical old school/new school divide.



The divide is exacerbated by one one of the girls in my group being specifically disliked by a lot of the girls in the other group. Mind you, one of the girls in the other group was on probation in high school for bullying, so I'm happy to back my own people.

Canberra. It doesn't matter how much you think you're paying in rent. You're still in country NSW.

Or so it would appear, judging by the fellow in the pub last night, who looked as if he was on the way to some kind of rodeo type gathering. The Lee Kernaghan playing in the background and god forsaken people caring about rugby completed the picture.

I still have not found a decent reference point from which to assess Canberra. If I think of it as Adelaide, but one third the size, I miss the point. Canberra has nothing like the puritanical laws and pov that Adelaide has.

Canberra has the highest average income of any capital city in Australia. This is not because there is immense wealth here, there isn't. It is because nobody has any reason to come here unless they've got a job. Even so, I have seen a few people struggling, the odd lady pushing a shopping trolley full of her belongings, a fellow washing people's windscreens at intersections.

This is a bad place to be poor. Accommodation is expensive and hard to find, and sleeping outside during a Canberra winter is lethal. The local policing here is performed by the AFP, who don't seem that concerned about most things that aren't Arabic. Hence there is no kind of hobo cleansing that has obviously been performed in Melbourne.

Various other things are unsurprising. The toy section of Myers in Burke St. Melbourne is almost as large as the whole Myers at Canberra Central. I went shopping for a new suit today and difficulty finding my size in my preferred colour. This is unthinkable in Melbourne, or even in Adelaide. In the end I found a charming sub-continental homosexual chap who sold me a fine suit.

For some reason, I still quite like the place.

For example:

Hell if there ain't the caucasian tang in The Man's home town. Indeed, the entire city looks to have been built to Anglo-Saxon specifications, although not the kind you find in Elizabeth, more the kind you find in Burnside.

In other news: Sharing a house with a lady means various things. When I lived by myself it was normal to step out of the bathroom bollock naked. I should not do this now.