australia is abba-country with a capital A

i have been to australia for work and leisure probably a dozen times before. i can recall in most times, when i had the telly on, there will be some kind of music program on abba or musical tributes to them. it was after a colleague told me that aussies are massive abba fans that i came to appreciate australians devotion to this swedish band. if they could be anyone other than australian, they would be swede.
little wonder when i switched on the telly on new year's eve, there was yet another abba tribute program showing during the prime time hour. as a closet abba fan, it was my best ever new year's eve in aussieland.
i proudly told my children about how abba was the biggest band in the universe during their heyday. only the bee gees rival them in cassette sales. none of them were impressed, not especially when i `robbed' them of their viewing of `spiderman 3' in a competing channel.
my eldest daughther was slightly bemused by my teen-like enthusiasm. when the program showed Björn Kristian Ulvaeus in a white space jumpsuit with his 6 inch high white platform boots gyrating and lip-synching to the song 'does your mother know?', she turned to me and asked, "are you seriously a big abba fan?" my curt reply was, "yes, and jonas brothers is crap!"
......now i can't wait for 2009 new year's eve to come.