Like many countries, Australia does a nation wide census every 5 years. It's compulsory to participate and although I've never heard of anyone being clapped in jail for not filling it out - the census workers just keep visiting you until you cave in and hand them a completed form. I hear that the third time they have to come knocking they bring a baseball bat as encouragement for you to find a pen and start ticking.
I'm a brown noser from way back. I like to follow the rules. I live to do the right thing. I was always the first to finish my school work in class, the first to hand my homework in and the kid most likely to volunteer to stay behind to clap the chalk dust out of the blackboard erasers after school. I rarely lied to Mother of Pyjamas as a kid (she had a spidey sense about that stuff anyway), I didn't do drugs and I was scared and wanted to please any one in a position of authority including the police and the dude who drove the school bus and threatened kids with being chucked off if they got too loud. Back in my day it was still permissible for a teacher to give you a pancake (a whack on the arse with a ping pong bat ) or if you were really bad, to whale the stuffing out of you with the cane or a yard stick.
Where was I? ....oh yes- I'm a good two shoes ...
My point is - as an adult I haven't changed much. I want to be a good citizen and I want to return my census form for the greater good of the country. For an Australian that's about as patriotic as we get. If the people of this country had their way "Waltzing Matilda" would be our national anthem because we know how to poke fun at ourselves. We're all about beer and sheep and public holidays mate. It's not that we don't love our country - we do - we just don't talk about it much and rarely in terms of patriotism.
Where was I ....oh yes ...brown noser.
I still had those "wanna get this census finished first" feelings - so much so that I had to refrain from filling all 18 pages of that baby out when it arrived in my door step 10 days ago. I was hoping to get a "first place" ribbon for census completion but apparently there is no prize for filling in your form before the due date and in fact that might even nullify your results. Bummer. I was seriously crestfallen. How was the government going to know how seriously I was taking the census if I couldn't shine above every one else. And no prizes for finishing first? What the hell is up with that? If there aren't prizes half the people in this country aren't going to do it.
Yessiree Bob - I really wanna do my part to help shape social thingys and infastructure whatsits and blah blah blahs and be counted as part of this great nation of ours. I'll even write Jedi Knight on my return if it will help get Star Wars recognised as a formal religion. I'd love to pay higher taxes and for the government to use this information to work out how they can squeeze the remaining 20 dollars I have left after I pay for everything each week out of me. Bring it on. Let's fill in that census.
I must confess I felt relief after looking at the questions. I know all the answers. I know where my parents and grandparents were born, how much I earn, my marital status and my own address. Too bad this isn't being graded because I'm finally going to ace a test.
I worry momentarily about whether they can trace the fact my great grandfather jumped ship in 1896 and swum ashore entering Australia to start a new life without asking for proper permission to emigrate. Surely they wont deport me back to Finland after 110 years? Fortunately they have Maccas in Finland so I'll probably be OK aside from the minor detail of not being able to speak Finnish or Swedish.
So if Blogland is a bit quiet on the Aussie front tonight it's because we're all off dutifully filling in our census forms. I'd like to thank the Australian Bureau of statistics for giving me something to do to fill up an otherwise boring Tuesday night. You have my address to send me my gold star.
P.S. The "how many cars were garaged at your house on census night?" question became easier to count as of this morning when our little red rocket was written off in an accident by someone who wasn't watching where they were going. Please spare a thought for the little red rocket tonight lonely and cold in a car graveyard. It looks like we're going car shopping.
36 comments:
You forgot to mention one very important thing. That although Little Red Rocket is umm no longer with you, very fortunately no one was harmed during it's untimely death.
OMG my word verification is
TUMMICAT lol.
I always try to second guess the questions and give the answer that'll get my area better roads or bigger hospitals. Well done for finishing already! Someone really did a number on your car!!
I just had a quick look at the questions, I'm glad they dont ask how many projects on the go and ufo's are in the house. Phew!
Best to get it over with and not have it hanging over your head, right? LG's school sent out flyers and emails requesting us to complete our census...they wanted to ensure they got the govt funding allotted to them.
Red Rocket is in sad shape. Did everyone else fair well in the accident? What kind of car do you hope to acquire?
Happy Tuesday night! ☺
It's 8pm and I'm DONE! Gotta love online census forms!!
Do you feel a sudden heavy weight on your head??? Oh! that would be the halo and gold star I just placed there!!!!! and you had better go steady when you walk through your doorways..... those angel wings are BIG!
Oooohhh, sorry about the little car and I do hope the person who shall obviously remain nameless came out okay!!!
Happy censusing!
We've done ours online too, so easy and quick! Did you know that you can be fined if you don't complete and hand in the form, $110 for each day you are late....it said so on tonight's news, and I believe everything I hear on the news. Oh dear, bummer about the Little Red Car. Will its replacement also be red?
oooh and thanks for reminding me about the census, all done and dusted by 7.45pm, yay.
Well done on getting the Census sorted - I hope they get that gold star out to you shortly.
So sad about the little Red Rocket - hope there wasn't too much damage to anything else.
Happy car shopping.
Thanks for the reminder!
Poor little red rocket, glad no one was hurt!
OMG is everyone at Maison Pyjamas OK? The little red car has had quite a whack so someone there has felt quite a jolt at the very least.
We did our census online. We're so technologically gifted in this house !!!!
Cheers
Helen
I took my horse riding buddy (almost my daughter) to Cairns today to have her wisdom teeth out....Ouch! So I am only now finished filling out the B census! Why doesn't the MOTH do it? Probably have to ask me for all the answers anyway if he did ;-) Bummer about the car, hope the insurance pays well and you get a nice new one!
PS My word verification was rasercur....isn't that what the other person was driving?
In the UK we had to fill out a census form earlier in the year and I'm like you, I wanted to fill it out too early and had to wait. We also had to sort them out at work for the residents as well - great fun!
I'm so sorry about the Red Rocket (here, the Red Rocket is the nickname for the new Toronto subway cars, lol) - I'm glad nobody was hurt, though - that's the important thing. PML @ your census tale - I hope you DO get an award, LOLOL!!! :)
I hope Red Rocket's driver and any passengers are all right. That's quite a big owie!
Gold star from me for getting your census done. I was a goodie two shoes in HS, but then it all fell apart in university, where they don't care so much about that and apparently neither did I (if I could be bothered to attend class after a late night, I was doing well).
My sweetie had one of those "personal" census, wherein the census bureau called in person. finally after six months, he was fed up with it. It was a call to duty, but what a pain...we are so alike here in Canda, we toe the line and answer all those stupid question. but what a dilemna.
And I've never been called to Jury duty, or the census. Jury three times for the sweetie...what's with that?
Although I've never seen the "long form", in the good old USA, there is the short form which is basically 3 questions starting with how many people do you have the house. The long form sounds a lot like yours and we aren't required by law to fill in information like income. It's considered private our Constitution protects us from having to provide such information. Yet, I bet many do.
Hahahahahahahaha! Love this post. We only do our census every ten uears in the USA, and it doesn't sound as interesting as yours. I'm always hoping we'll be one of the random families to get one of the long forms, but it never happens. Never been chosen for jury duty either, and it makes me want to cry. I'm so anxious to live up to my responsibilities as a citizen, I sometimes hang out at the courthouse begging anyone who will listen to let me serve on a jury. Sometimes I sit outside with a cup and a sign that says "will work for a jury summons". Apparently if you want to serve you might poison the jury pool. Oh well. I still have another few decades of life left. Maybe some day my prince will come. (Prince = jury summons.)
Hope no one was hurt in the red rocket! And what a better way to spend a day than car shopping! lol Could think of a couple of ways to spend time but one must do it in this big vast land of ours saying public transport is not a reliable or easy usable option! And did you know that there were 10,000 Jedis in the last census?
Hugs
Oh, sorry about the Rocket. I hope no one was injured.
I'll give you a gold star, not just for completing it, but for blogging about it, thus providing a public service announcement reminding your fellow countrymates to complete theirs as well, and providing entertainment to your non countrymates. I like that they ask for the birth places of your parents and great grandparents, and about the cars. A genealogists dream.
Only you could make filling out census forms funny. Love it! I was a rule follower, too, but got crazy somewhere along the way. I can't believe this post because we had our census last year and... I REFUSED TO FILL IT OUT! Just because I was being told to. I refused! It took a man coming to the door multiple times and Brett finally had to do it because I wouldn't. Why? I HAVE NO IDEA! I think I need to post about this to work it out!
And your poor car! I sure hope none of the Pyjamas family was in the car when this happened. Everyone OK?
Oh god you could have been writing about me I was the goodie 2 shoes too. I filled mine out online, doesn't feel like such a chore that way. Poor car.
Poor little red rocket. I hope your new car doesn't crowd her out of your hearts as it crowds your garage and pocketbook.
I was a goodie two shoes also, but I did kicked off the bus one time - out on the highway no less. Think that would get a little attention there days? lol
It's too bad filling out the census doesn't have some kind of reward, maybe more people would do it.
I was so excited about the census, because I'm kinda obsessed with the size of the statistical base (and with the census, it's 100%, and it doesn't get any more comprehensive than that) but then I worked till late, and when I got home mum had already done it. Damn you, contracted Tuesday night shifts!
The little mangled number plate in the corner of that photo makes me sad. They hit her so hard it flung off her identity :(
Yep did mine online pretty boring questions I thought they should really try to think of some curly ones for 5 yrs time...
Oops meant to say hope all is well re: little red car...who was driving ?
Gold Star to you. I found the whole thing annoying and hated the fact that I have supplied them with the information to make it even easier for them to find another way to nail us middle income earners to the wall....And they didn't ask any important questions like 'do you need a fabric allowance'????
Your poor little 'red rocket' looks so smooshed. I hope you are all ok!
Poor little red rocket (RIP) :-( hope no-one was hurt. We had our census a few months back and I did fill mine in way too early - all ready to post... then realised and had to sit on it for a few weeks (but all of the info was the same anyhow). Have fun with your form... I can already tell that you will ;-)
Thank you for the chuckle! You described me to a tee; a brown-noser by the rules sort of person! Most of the times it's good, sometimes not so good.
Ours didn't have that many questions, as a matter of fact last time I wondered if pages were missing because it only asked us to confirm that we had 'x' number of people living at our place yet and that we were still at the same residence. I seem to recall some really annoying questions in the past that I felt were pushing the privacy envelope, so imagine my shock when it was two pages and the few questions that were on it were multiple choice!
I'm with ya, Leslie!!! I made them hunt me down, too :) My feeling is that our government already spends more of our money than it has. I've always been a rule-breaker. Shay, you disappoint me :)
your poor little car! looks like most of the damage was far enough away from the legs of the driver - thank goodness! show us what you buy next, please!
Oh no, poor little red rocket. Will there be a memorial service? Hopefully no one was injured? You are a good little doobie and you will have good census karma coming your way. I guess that is your prize. Do they have vegemite in Finland? Just curious.
Poor little car. I too was tempted to fill in the census form before Tuesday, BUT I thought it might be playing with fire. What would happen if I was admitted to hospital and wasn't at home, I would have to cross out my answers and it would be all messy. LOL.
So, everyone fills out their census on the same day? I was really bad at our last census. I didn't fill out the paperwork. They came to the door and Mr. Bug filled them in. Glad they didn't haul me away in chains.
Sorry about your car.
xo -E
So glad nobody was hurt! Hope you enjoy the new car. We are so much more alike than I ever could have thought. Except for the quilting thing and the cool accent. Yours of course, not mine. I too have always been a brown noser, see, there I go again, and I have to fill any type of form out immediately. Unless they are for my soon to be 9th grade daughter's registration for High School. Those papers can wait.
Ha Ha! I too love filling out stuff - giving my information and opinion and being counted. In the US there is the 'short form' and 'long form', I dream of a long form, but always get the short one - sigh.
Every one does the census on the same day? wow. We had like three months to do ours, I did the short form the day I got it and then the came back at me with the long form. I figured it was because I was so anal and got the short one in so quickly.
What happened to the little red car? looks so sad. I hope you have more than one in the mean time.
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