Life was simpler when we were kids - and we hold those memories dear. I reckon our wishes for an ideal federal election result are pretty simple, too
Shaking off the post-election blues has been easier than usual this week thanks to the Twitter hashtag #GrowingUpAustralian. It's a delicious, nostalgic rollcall of Australian childhoods from the 1970s, 80s and 1990s.
At a time when politicians are seeking to divide us, it's a reminder of the common identity, history and culture many of us share. Think Women's Weekly birthday cakes, Mr Squiggle, TV Hits posters, glasses of ice-cold Milo, buying mixed lollies, lunch orders on brown paper bags, and watching shows like Round the Twist and Simon Townsend's Wonder World. 
For a while let's forget all about identity politics and political skirmishes, and have a bit of fun. Australia sure was a unique place to grow up. We weren't racist, but we did have lollies called Redskins and Chicos. We weren't sexist, but for decades our TV screens were filled with men in white coats giving advice to overly-appreciative women with bouncy hairstyles. And we did care about politics, but for decades the best thing about election day has been the piping hot sausage on white bread soaked in sauce courtesy of the local primary school.
Indeed, something as simple as a squeezy communal sauce bottle sporting crusted-on remnants of other people's pastry takes me back to a simpler life before sauce cost 50c extra. So what are your memories of #GrowingUpAustralian?
For me it was the summer days spent drying ourselves off at the local pool by lying on the boiling hot concrete. We also spent countless hours watching wonderful Aussie TV shows such as The Sullivans, Cop Shop, Sons and Daughters, A Country Practice and McLeod's Daughters.
When I grew up, my family members had no choice but to watch the same movies and TV shows at the same time on the same screen. These days the only thing family members with screens have in common is the same wi-fi. This meant some of the famous - and infamous - household names from my childhood were characters on TV commercials. Remember Professor Julius Sumner Miller extolling the virtues of Dairy Milk chocolate and asking: "Why is it so?" TV commericals also explained why, as we grew up, our friends would be classified by their drinking habits as either Cadbury's (glass and a half) or Dynamos (third in the mouth, rest on the clothes).
Back then, state borders meant something. For instance, a deli in South Australia was a milk bar in Victoria. Now they're all called convenience stores, and are run by employees paid sub-minimum wages rather than families sitting out back watching TV and listening out for the bell over the shop door. Back then, you could buy milk without having to worry about whether it was organic or protein-enriched or dairy-free.
And when you ordered coffee, you only had to choose between white or black, and one lump of sugar or two. No one had heard of a deconstructed soychino.
Australia today is a much more complex, multicultural place, and yet there is much that continues to unite us. Sometimes it's the simple things, such as shouting "taxi" when someone drops a glass. Or having endless fun with visiting Americans over words such as root, thong and fanny. Or having a pair of thongs and tracksuit pants for good and a pair for wearing around the house.
This week's federal election has dragged on, with two frontrunners no one really wants and a ragtag mob in the middle.
All most of us want is going to see a doctor without it costing a bomb and involving a 12-hour wait in emergency. We want a ready supply of modest houses first-homebuyers can afford to buy in places they want to live. We want schools that are good places to learn, retirement that is secure and teachers, nurses and cops who love their jobs and feel valued. And we want the same carefree childhoods for our kids that most of us enjoyed.
So who's going to create the GrowingUpAustralian party and give us something worthwhile to support?
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