ProofReader

After living in Australia for almost 30 years and now suffering the north east/east-midlands Pommie culture, how the hell does one cope with living in Pommieland?

As if the weather wasn't bad enough and this 'excuse for a summer' ... ! :scared:

I feel like a sub-human. I'm having a really hard time adjusting to the closeted, claustrophobic life of UK after spending most of my life in Australia and living 'the good life' (though I've done it tougher than many would appreciate).

How does one cope with the cruel, bullying ways and the non-common-sensical, over-egoistical excuses for mankind which I seem to be encountering here?

I'm at a complete loss and, once more, have almsot lost my faith in humankind.

If anyone is interested, I want to die in my adopted homeland ... AUSTRALIA.

wmoore

There's no accounting for an English summer

What's going on though? What sort of mankind are you meeting?

Hutch

Oh dear - the piss-poor British summer seems to have got to you - imagine having to put up with this every year, then ask yourself why the brits turned out the way they did. I'm sure you'll get many people coming up with such helpful advice as "if you don't like it, go home" and maybe a few will question why you posted this on a site called "British Expats" - you sure you're a proof-reader? But me, I'll just suggest you push the chair back away from the computer, take a deep breath, get yourself a cold one out of the fridge and remember that things are only as permanent as we make them. Hope you find what you're looking for....

soapy©

come on SPIT IT OUT !!!!
tell us how you really feel

Storini

Er, well I think they cope by looking at the £££ accumulating in their bank balances in the UK which will turn into AU$$$$$$ at some point in the future...

ProofReader

Hi Wayne,

Glad someone came to my rescue! The mankind I seem to be encountering are cheats, liars, fraudsters, etc. I'm having a really hard time coping with the difference of the ethics which I was brought up to know as 'British'. This place has changed ... a LOT.

ozzieeagle

I dont suppose you would care to elaborate would you, As from my point of view, after my latest visit I thought the UK had improved a hell of a lot in the last 23 years plus ?? Or from when I last lived there.

A small example would be appreciated.

Blimey I thought I only had to travel a few 100 ks north to encounter the negatives your describing, (Only joking errrm 'pinkies')

eatstatic

Piss off then you whinging sod.

ozzieeagle

Oh I see, sorry Proof I understand

wmoore

That's a real bummer. I've seen my fair share of that sort of scumbag in the UK but don't they exist over here too? Haven't seen any yet but it's early days ....

They're normally trying to sell you double glazing or burglar alarms. When we were looking at double-glazing our house a few years back, we had one rep come in and start his bidding at about 8k and ended up at about 4500. Then to top it off he says "and take our finance and it will only cost you 3500". Needless to say he left with a boot up his arse.

Hutch

Haha. Played.

Vash the Stampede

I'm an Aussie - a Perth boy born and bred, in fact - and spent 31 years back home before coming over to the UK for a working holiday. Been here 20 months now, and there are things about this place drive me up the wall - but the weather isn't one of them.

Spent 15 years living in Tassie as a kid, so I became acclimatised to the cold and now prefer it to the heat; this summer is just my cup of tea, and I'll take it in preference to the deadly rays of the Aussie sun any day!

You have to remember that the average Brit (a) hasn't known any better (and therefore doesn't know what he's missing) and (b) has many natural advantages over Aussie visitors.

For example...

He's bred tough - to cope with the weather.

He's raised as a semi-repressed introvert - to cope with the claustrophobia.

He's hardwired for politeness and social courtesies - to cope with the interminable queues; themselves the result of overpopulation and inefficiency.

He's evolved the constitution of an ox - to cope with the binge-drinking which has long since replaced "a quiet evening down the local."

He's heavily muscled - to cope with Britain's violent culture.

He's blessed with an innate sense of his own position within society - to cope with the class system (something which comes as quite a shock to those of us from egalitarian societies.)

That's the gist of it, anyway.

ProofReader

Yes, there's good and bad wherever you may be in the world. In this instance though, mine's work related, Wayne. I think I've just had a gutful of DH's who think they know what they're doing (including one who *claims* to be ex-SAS {hmmmm, ex-SAS, my arse}), having been newly promoted to a 50p-per-hour-higher-position! It just seems to have been my experience over the last two to three years: people with over-inflated egos in management or semi-management positions who really wouldn't have a clue and couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery!

Storini

Well, yes, fair point, "The Office" is an all-too-true portrait of commerce in middle England...

spalen

Nice one - and pretty insightful after only 20mths hahaha