Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK - Aussie Rules (3/?)

This is for you BJ I saw you asked for it on IRC, but I'd gone to make a cup of tea and missed your question.

Thanks,

Corrina.

No time to write much now, except that part three was wonderful. Looking forward to part four. :-)

cheers,
Lynn

Ooooo, more Aussie Rules. I went to pic of the goalposts and yep, those have always confused me. I'm just so used to a height bar and one set of posts.
That was a great way to get our footy lessons in. So there is a Superman around. I'd wondered. Wonder what would happen if he showed up down under? More soon.

Artemis

Now I have a few minutes to write a bit more.

Vegemite: Yum! Back in the 1980s, I lived in the Washington D.C. area and was in e-mail communication with an Aussie. He waxed poetic about the spread so I tracked some down. (In that area, one can find food from just about anywhere in the world if one tries.) It actually reminded me of a very salty, thick beef bouillon in texture and flavour. I can see where it might be considered an acquired taste, but I liked it.

Flinders Street Station photo: To quote Gilbert and Sullivan, "How beautifully blue the sky!" Does the sky really get that blue there, or have the colours in the picture been altered? I'm also surprised that such a young country would have architecture that looks so old. I love it!

Lois non-reaction to Dan's letter was intriguing. Perhaps there is less between them at that point than Clark thinks? In part one, Lois was sad when his name came up and said that she would miss him. She did NOT, however, say that the two of them were currently dating. Maybe they had just broken up? I guess I'll have to tune in to future parts to find out.

And speaking of Dan's letter, I love the description of Cat. I can't see how Clark could take offense at it, since it is so accurate.

I don't think I've ever seen a sports field that was not rectangular. (Well, golf courses aren't necessarily rectangular either, I guess. But they are so large that I don't usually think in terms of borders with them.)

Regarding other sports where one earns points for missing: How about darts?

I can't wait for part four...Lois and Clark sitting back and watching TV. This should be good!

cheers,
Lynn

Great part!

I wondered about Superman too and also about what would happen if he showd up down under? What does Lois think about Superman?

Cannot wait for part 4

I'm sorry I haven't commented on your story until now, but I just wanted to let you know how much I'm enjoying it. I love how you bring us into the culture of Australia, both from the viewpoint of an outsider (many of us reading this story) and a native.

I've had the good fortune to travel with Aussies, both in Europe and America, so much of the phrasing is not unfamiliar (I learned quickly not say "rooting for a team"). However, I've never been to Australia, so I'm greatly enjoying finding out more about it. We don't get much exposure to Australian movies and TV in America, so my experience is limited to "McLeod's Daughters" and "The Man from Snowy River."

In its early years while still trying to establish an audience, ESPN showed "Australian Rules Football." My brother and I watched it quite a bit, so I can easily picture the game and how it's played.

As for the characters, I can't say that I'm super thrilled that Lois has feelings for DAN, but there does have to be something that keeps her from falling for Clark right away (no Superman here to distract her...at least, not now). At least the object of her affection is not LEX.

I also love how generous she is in helping the new guy. American Lois was too busy trailblazing to help anyone. Flinders seems to be much more sympathetic--perhaps there's more standing in her way in the footy world?

At any rate, I look forward to more.

That's a lovely picture of the Flinders St Station. What a fantastically handsome train station building!

Hah! In Sweden they are called "apotek"! You know the delightful Shakespearian word, "apothecary"?

I spluttered my coffee as I read this! I visited the United States in 1971, when I was just a girl, and my visit took place during the baseball season. I remember reading a newspaper where the sports section started off with six pages of baseball before any other sport was mentioned! And guess what I found on page 7? An American high jumper, Pat Matzdorf, had set a new high jumping world record and broken the old record which had been held for eight years by a guy from the Soviet Union - and this wonderful piece of patriotic American news made page seven of the sports section!!!!

Dan Scardino's letter was wonderful, chock full of Australian words. Thank you for the glossary, Corrina! I don't see how anyone could take offense because of it.

And there is something about Lois's parents that makes her unwilling to talk about them. Well, that is almost canon, I'd say.

I was slightly bored by all the footy talk, but I loved the interaction between Clark and Lois, and I loved seeing Clark deal with the cultural differences between the United States and Australia!

Ann

I have actually seen a bunyip,thank you.

so the theme is a lunkheaded clark i see, already assuming dan and lois as a couple. sheesh.
and "paul" brown, is that significant?
can't wait for more!!!

Oh, I forgot to say how I laughed when Clark looked to the left before crossing the street!!! That would have been amusing to see the car crunch into him. Lots of car damage, no Clark damage.
I laughed because that happened to me more than once in Sydney. I kept forgetting to look right and Hubby pulled me back.
BTW, you'all race the wrong way around a horse race track too!
Looking forward to more
Artemis

FDK!!!

Lynn Thanks! I was a bit worried about the early parts because, by necessity, there needed to be some explanation of footy - which I know will be of varying interest to the readers.

Vegemite - my theory is that if you haven't tried it before your first birthday, you probably aren't going to like it. If you liked it, you must have eclectic tastebuds!

Flinders St - yeah, it is kind of beautiful. If you look carefully, you can see a row of clocks above the steps (they tell you the time of the next train to various locations). Melbournians meet 'under the clocks at Flinders St'. I have waited there for friends and there are always others doing the same thing. (It's kind of a fun game to look for people approaching and try to 'match' them with one of the people waiting!)

The sky - it may have been touched up, but I didn't notice that it looked unrealistic. The sky can look like that.

/ whistles innocently.

Lois didn't know it was accurate, though!

Good point re darts. Sorry if this offends, but some Aussies struggle to see darts as a sport!


Artemis I'm glad the pics were helpful. I decided to keep most of the explanations sparse and fill in with pictures.

Re - crossing the road. I realised when I was in North America that I *cannot* step onto a road without looking right. I would approach a road muttering 'look left, look left' and I would look left, but as my foot stepped onto the road my head would jerk right. The habit was just so ingrained, I felt ridiculously unsafe stepping onto a road unless I was carefully checking to the right even though I knew the cars were coming from the left!

Melbourne and Sydney go in opposite directions! You went to Sydney, so probably us Melbournians go in the 'correct' direction (anti-clockwise).

Thanks, Artemis.

DW Thanks for your FDK.

Maybe Clark will have to find a way to ask her!!

Queen of Aces

Ahhh!!! ... The Man From Snowy River ... date movie?!?!?

I really didn't want angry me-against-the-world Lois, because I think she would have struggled to make it in the footy world with that attitude.

Thanks for your FDK!

Ann Thanks for you FDK. In winter here, it is pretty much footy, footy and then some more footy.

Thanks for sticking with me through the footy talk. There's a bit more to come, but consider it setting-up for the A-plot.

SJH

Really? Where?

I have too actually, but it was a special effect ... you know, like Superman?

Thanks!

Sarah

Lunkheaded Clark - he's been there one day! He will get around to asking Lois about Dan.

Yes, but not in the way you're thinking. I went through several first names before I settled on Paul. It has nothing to do with Lois's past, but it appealed to my sense of humour that a large man is called Paul, which AFAIK means 'little'.

Thanks, Sarah.

Thanks, everyone,

Corrina.

I don't know whether it will offend anyone else, but it certainly doesn't offend me. As I mentioned before, I am not into sports at all, so I can't get myself worked up over whether or not darts is considered to be a sport. Would archery be any better?

Are you familiar with Paul Bunyan? He's a mythical lumberjack of gigantic proportions. He and his giant blue ox Babe are parts of the legends from the US and Canadian West.

cheers,
Lynn

Aww, thanks!

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting fdk comments regularly, but RL has been getting in the way of my obsessio.... I mean, has been really demanding lately, so I've fallen into lurkdom a bit. Forgive?

I am really enjoying your story. There's enough b-plot, relationship building woven in with the footy explanations that it doesn't get too confusing or tiresome.

Learning Aussie vocabulary has been fun, too. It's taking me a while to absorb it all, but I was a bit surprised that Clark (Mr.-I-can-order-dinner-in-347-languages) is confused by the manner of speech. Maybe if Clark wasn't being so thoroughly distracted by 'Flinders', he would pick things up a little quicker.


Oh, and if you're still on that Kerth high and feeling generous, you can go ahead and post part 4 for us right away.

BJ

Hi Corrina,

I'm thoroughly enjoying this story and having serious flashbacks to my time in Melbourne. However, it must have been "non-footy season" since I didn't see footy everywhere I went.

This part struck home: Except that it wasn't Lois that pulled *me* back. I swear the drivers get points for tagging Americans that make this mistake.

Bob

Delightful as usual!

No, really? Yeah, Sydney went English style and Melbourn goes American style? I didn't know that. I'm surprised there isn't a country standard. I know the horses don't care, because we get English/Irish imports coming here all the time!

Artemis
A great fan of the Sport of Kings!

Okay, got to tell you this. Here in Sweden we basically don't play football because it is not part of our tradition, and when we talk about "football" (or "fotboll" in Swedish), we refer to the sport which you call "soccer". Surely the game where you are never allowed to touch the ball with your hands should be called football, not the sport where you carry the ball in your hands and throw it with your hands all the time?

Ah, but listen to this. This morning, my local newspaper reports that my hometown of Malmö is going to be one of eight European cities where a European indoor American football league is going to be played next year! (Yes, we call your football "American football", since you call our football "soccer"!) So we are going to see American football here in Malmö, Sweden, after all! But, Corrina, I really don't think it will be Aussie Rules footy!

Ann

Okay, you may now commence with posting EOD. It worked great for AMH, and I’m sure people will enjoy it here, too

News anchor: “Hawks smashed Eagles into oblivion in today’s finals. It has been a well-deserved victory brought about by […] And in international news, confirmed reports have been received on the complete destruction of several major US and Russian cities, including Washington, Metropolis, and Moscow.”

Ooo, now this could be fun

Loved Daniel’s e-mail. And I’m not going to quote the entire bit.

Oh, and let’s blame tiredness for this being two parts late:
“The Sheila and the Yank” would make a great title for something, too. And a fun homage to “The Lady and the Tramp”.

Huh, interesting that Lois is referring to Clark as Clark even in her mind. So, either she hasn’t heard the nickname yet, which is doubtful, or she really likes calling Clark ‘Clark’. Same as with ‘Dan’. Does thinking of someone by their given name indicate special fondness?

The whole Superman bit is also interesting. Who invented him, since there was no Lois? And will he show up in Down Under?

Now, now, Lois. If she’s prowling, she’s either just friends with benefits or not his girlfriend. Or openly cheating.

So, Lois is thinking about it. And not noticing Clark hiding his pining. Very interesting. They do keep crossing their signals but hiding everything. This could be very interesting indeed.

Hmm…

Okay, I’ll stop quoting now and just mention the EOD thing again.

Michael

Lynn I think I might have heard of Paul Bunyan, but it's very vague.

Thanks.

BJ Thanks for letting me know you're reading

Re - language - my take is that even if you're good at languages, you still have to be told things. Clark will pick it up quickly, although your point about being distracted is also valid.

Part 4 is up ... though it wasn't right away. I have a nice big buffer and I'd really like to keep it that way so I'll post twice a week until I've finished writing the fic, then we might speed things up a bit.

Bob Thanks. I'm glad this is ringing true for you.

I'm sure if Lois had been there, she would have helped you cross the road safely

Iolanthe Thanks!

Artemis Strange, isn't it? I'm not sure which way the other states go.

Ann Interesting that American football is about to hit Sweden. It will be very different to Aussie Rules though.

Michael

That was 1991!!

Though thankfully the rest didn't happen.

The whole Hawthorn-Essendon rivalry is intense. Iolanthe thought more in the fic might be good, but I'll probably leave it alone. Without a lot of history, you won't understand the depth of feelings anyway.

Suffice to say that Hawthorn fans have a name for Essendon that is less than complimentary!

Interesting that you picked up that Lois thinks of Dan as Dan and Clark as Clark.

EOD - not yet Michael - once the fic is finished, maybe, but not yet. Thanks for asking, though!


Corrina.