Magnums & button ups

There are two fundamental parts of Australian culture that you need to understand for this story: Magnum ice cream bars and low-buttoned shirts.

The Magnum ice cream bars are the nicer aspect of this story. They are crazy popular here. In my experience, they always seemed to be "around" in the States. But here, I would almost say that say that they are interchangeable with the words "ice cream bars" - they seem to be the go-to portable ice cream. Stores put up signs advertising that you can "buy Magnums here!" And I've seen a fair number of people walk out of convenience stores eating them, like you might see people walking out of a gas station eating a Snickers or bag of chips.

On to the shirts...

Disclaimer: this is from the Internet, and is not someone I know

In addition to the lack of shoe-wearing and skinny jeans, another thing we've noticed about Australia fashion is the tendency for men to stop buttoning their shirts when they've reached four or five buttons from the bottom. Like left open enough that it would be considered downright scandalous on a girl. I'm not sure if this is just a nod to Australian casualness, to stay cool, or a misguided attempt to trick people into thinking they're Bondi lifeguards, but it ranks right up there with the shoe-less look for how much I like it. (Let me interject that this style isn't the approach for men in business-wear - they always look nice.)

It's a common enough sight that Toby and I both noticed it separately and it somehow came up in conversation. Now we have a running joke that comes up when he gets ready for work in the mornings: when he's just got one button fastened on his shirt, we say he's going "Australian-style."

So although I don't love this fashion quirk, I find it tolerable. That is, until this week at work. That's when our ice cream sandwich drawer and low-buttoned shirts collided in the worst possible way.

I was sitting on a couch in our lunch area working during the afternoon when a co-worker came by for a snack. As it was about 70 degrees that day, he had dressed for the weather by wearing a button-up that was at least halfway buttoned. He lounged down beside beside me, propped his feet up, and proceeded to start eating his Magnum while he chatted to me. He was a little bit inside my personal space bubble while eating, but I wasn't going to let it get to me. Then, the worst happened. A huge chunk of chocolate shell fell off the Magnum and right into the chest hair left so horribly exposed.

Not to be one to let some good chocolate go to waste, he rummaged around until he'd fished out the majority of it. He then balanced it back on top of the ice cream bar (I suppose so as to maintain the shell-to-ice cream ratio) and then proceeded to finish it off while making small talk to me.

Not my favorite experience with the button-up shirts.

Posted with Blogsy