Australian accent

There are Australians who lament the fact that Australian youth are losing their accents,  due to exposure to American movies and television shows.  I  have made the point that the American accent they fear is not an American regional accent,  but a sanitized and more elocuted version of English spoken by television announcers that regional Americans can understand,  and that true regional accents of the US are disappearing as well,  in favor of this bland national version that can be universally understood. 

G'day mate: 'Lazy' Australian accent caused by 'alcoholic slur' of heavy-drinking early settlers

Vinnies

Vinnies is 'stralian for St. Vincent's.

Watching my phone drive across town

Crap. I know exactly where my Android phone is... the recycling guy wouldn't take my bin because it had wood in it. So I ran out and removed the wood, in the process, dropping my phone from my shirt pocket into the bin. The guy wasn't happy because I slowed him down, and now I can see that my phone is in the truck on the other side of town, headed towards the recycling center. The Council is going to try to track it down; meanwhile I either buy an new phone or have none. (called Council using Skype).

Stranglehold of bureaucracy

Below is something you would never see in Australia, due to the overwhelming political influence of its TAFE (Technical And Further Education) system. While the TAFE system is very good about training non-university citizens, its political clout means that there are a huge number of jobs for which it is the gatekeeper - no one gets through the gate without first paying their dues to the TAFE system and getting a specified certificate. The Australian government likes to pretend that in a rapidly changing economy, every job category can have a TAFE certificate program up and running, and sign off participants before they engage in the given economic activity.

Meanwhile, in the United States:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

EDUCATION: Sufficient to perform all tasks and read and follow standard operating policies, procedures and regulatory materials.

Earthworm

Back home, we have earthworms and we have nightcrawlers - the big ones. I haven't seen many nightcrawlers in Australia, but this one was living in the bottom of a potted agave plant.