Did you know that where you were born the water goes down the plughole in the other direction? I don’t suppose you do know because you’re still rather small. And also, why would you have noticed?
Did you know that you were born somewhere with no reason to fear spiders? That although ugly their bites would cause no harm And also that you were born to a land with no koalas?
Did you know that the sun didn’t feel as much heat where you were born? That people wore wetsuits to go in the sea And beaches were more often walked down than lay upon?
I hope that this you do know And that now you’re there you know to play in the sand And feel your feet in the sea
Did you know that where you were born people barbequed only in the summer? And in winter where you were born snow fell and lakes froze? You’ve seen snow before, did you know?
Did you know that where you were born there’s no eucalyptus or kangaroos? What we do have is squirrels, badgers and bulldogs And a lot of cold rain
Did you know that you’ve been to the queens house? Have you noticed that the Queen makes you seem nearer? Because even with the distance our Queen is your Queen We can both call her ‘The Queen’
Did you know that when you were born Mummy was more worried about losing your woolly hat than wearing sunscreen? It was so cold where you were born that Mummy couldn’t feel her fingers And Daddy always wore jeans
I bet you didn’t know that where you were born people ate yogurt and pasta That yoagurt and parsta were not spoken of And people asked how you were, not how you were going?
Did you know you lived your first year in a country the whole world was looking at? You probably don’t remember the Jubilee or Olympics But you were here whilst the world was watching
There’s a lot of things you might not know But one day you’ll realise perhaps you did know For just because you’re upside down now We’re still here And we hold your memories of the land where you were born
But meanwhile whilst you’re there We’ll be loving you Which is really no different all the way over there Than it is here, where you were born
This is for my neice who was born in London and then moved to Brisbane with her parents when she was 16 months old