Cam1977

Well actually it was neither Melburnians nor a bunch of economists who rated Melbourne - it was a survey of expats (i.e. foreigners). They were asked to score the city on a bunch of criteria - weather, crime, housing, healthcare, transport, cultural and sporting events, education, etc.

Always21

15 years is a long stint here! I know what you mean about feeling you have come home every time you visit the UK. However, last time I ended up looking forward to getting back to the US because I knew the UK WASN'T home and it was too unsettling being around everything that was familiar but knowing I couldn't stay (bawling my eyes out in Tesco's car park, etc).

How does your OH feel about the possibility of returning? Do you think if your daughter moves it will seal the deal? Do you have other kids in Florida?

Taffyles

Yep if my daughter moves back with two of our grandchildren it will seal the deal, I'm sure. Hubby intends to work till he drops (or so he says now) and he doesn't mind where we live but he doesn't think we can really afford to retire here and maintain our lifestyle- the way medicare etc is going etc. I have two adult sons here as well, one married with one child. Having grandchildren here is a dilemma, but if we keep a small place going we can come out for visits etc.
I see UK getting more Americanised every time I go home - apart from that I don't see many changes. Food I see cheaper in Wales than in Florida. Petrol is more expensive at the pump but cars do more than 19 to the gallon- and you don't drive the distances in UK, so I spend a heck of a lot less on petrol than I do on gas. Family and friends are irreplaceable and its still home.

SJR

Hi there,

Going back to children. We have 2 daughters aged 9 and 10. We moved across to WA 6 months ago and although we worried about how they would settle they've been absolutely fine and love it here....it's the oldies who have suffered!

The girls were one of the main reasons for coming here. We found that for more than half of the year they couldn't play outside due to the weather and it being dark in winter. It's winter now but because it's so mild they play out more than ever...they love it! At weekends we go to the beach and they have their girlie pink fishing rods determined to catch the big one.

BUT!!! We had the family support when our girls were small and I'm not sure I could have done it without my parents around. We still miss them so much but they are coming for 6 months at the end of the year. They miss the girls too but they are very positive about the whole thing. Even though they admit their life seems empty without the girls they said they would be disappointed if we returned as they've already been out for 2 months and can see that the lifestyle is much better for their grand-daughters.

I was wondering if you have or can apply for citizenship? That way you can go back to the UK whilst you have a family and then if you want to come back in a few years you can do. Nothing is forever!

Lord Pom Percy

What are you worried about, Your main reason for moving was for your kids
and they love it down here, if you move back your parents would feel guilty that you deprived your kids of a better lifestyle just so they can be with them, stay in OZ.

SJR

Sorry I think you mis-understood. We're not going back! I meant going back to the subject of children. I just read what I wrote and it didn't make sense. There's no way we are going back, things are going well here

ShozInOz

Sorry, I'm a social scientist and can see right through such surveys, whoever it is that is surveyed. E.g.

Population size and sample size
Return rate
Profile of respondents
Motivations of respondents
Choice of criteria
Rating scales used
Question phrasing
'Compensation'
Auditing of data
Data analysis techniques
And many other things which are usually not reported unless the study was done by a social science department of a good university.

And what are the chances of things changing hands for better (very lucrative) ratings I wonder...? Many, many competitions are fixed from the start (various Miss ______ competitions as examples) or extremely biased (consider how Bush was elected).

There are good surveys, but many are nonsense.

Techno Freak

Whether it is a good or bad survey, would it not be the case that as long as its the same survey carried out in all cities then the results are relative to each other - therefore still a good indication?

Geordie George

Not if the above factors mean that the questions and answers were skewed in favour of one place or the other.

northernbird

clutching at straws now saying that surveys are crap. what it boils down to is one mans meat is another mans poison, simple as, end of.

Techno Freak

Surely though, any survey that had questions that were so skewed to favour one place would then be obvious to anyone from outside the survey agency looking at the validity of the results?

Besides, the company that carried out the survey ( The Economist Intelligence Unit ) do not have an office in Australia so why would they want to influence a particular result? They have offices in London, New York, Hong Kong and Vienna.

Below is an excerpt from the BBC website regarding the poll:-

If you want to live abroad, Vancouver and Melbourne are the places to do it, a survey has revealed.
The best...
1=: Melbourne, Vancouver
3: Perth
4=: Geneva, Toronto, Vienna, Zurich
8=: Adelaide, Brisbane, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Oslo, Montreal
Source: EIU

The cities came top of 130 surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit for the level of hardship they pose to expatriates.

And Australian cities overall scored particularly highly in the survey, with all five the country's urban centres surveyed ranked near the top of the table.

Europe was also well represented among the top 10 places.

The top US city, Honolulu, ranked 21st, with Boston, at 28th, the highest ranked city on the US mainland. Canada, in contrast, sneaked three cities into the top ten.

The UK cities of London, 44th, and Manchester, 50th, gained only a mid-table rating, with Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea bottom of the list.


I am not saying that Australia is great and for everyone just because a survey says. Just saying that surely an across the board survey must give a fair reflection of like-for-like.

northernbird is spot on with the one mans meat statement.

Geordie George

Agreed on the final point.

And, as I'm not sure that hijacking this thread is the place to debate the use of surveys, I'll be brief. But my inital reaction to that poll is:

Level of hardship is a bloody hard thing to quantify. How are they defining it?What are they using as a baseline?
How are respondents selected? (Those most happy are perhaps most likely to respond, thus skewing which places are listed. Plus, all these places have enormous expat populations. Relatively speaking, somewhere more obscure might be the best place ever for exapts, but it doesn't get a look in due to the small numbers there.)

Surveys (even good ones) should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Shellfish

Well, that's your mistake right there

Cam1977

Well as arguments go, this one is pretty lame. You list a bunch of things which could make the survey inaccurate and seem to regard this as proof that the survey is inaccurate.

It's like saying to a kid who's just done a maths exam, "Well you could have smuggled in a calculator, or you could have cheated off the kid next to you, or you could have had the answers written on your sleeve. Therefore I think you cheated!"

It is totally meaningless without any evidence. And you don't have any evidence.

Emmaline

we are currently renting in Mornington and have been here 7wks and counting and feel very disappointed with Mornington very surprised with the graffiti, broken glass on the pavement, abandoned shopping trolley and hoons ripping up grass verges and using the roads as a race track. Not really sure whether Oz is for us and feel we have moved over the other side of the world for the same shit
We have moved from Lincoln and realised everthing thing we was hoping to find we already had. We dont find the pace of life any more laid back here peoples attitudes here are different and not that friendly. When do you plan on going back to York we never had the chance to visit it but went to Scarborough a couple of times and loved it there.

Hope it all works out for you