Vash the Stampede

Go right ahead.

Wife Beater

What the flip has that got to do with cultural diversity or lack of it?

Vash the Stampede

The Midlands.

ELLJAY

I've always been scared to talk to you before cos you seem ...err...scary :scared:

but i've been fishing now - i'm nice an chilled

It's 6am! when do you sleep?

No soz...that's not my question

Real question.....Where do you prefer living...and why?

Thanx

L-j

Vash the Stampede

Sorry, that was a post for another thread on another forum; I accidently copy/pasted it into the wrong window.

But it does make fascinating reading.

MikeStanton

This from a native of Oz - a country where even a certificate is required to break wind.

If UK is a nanny state, Oz is run like a kindergarten.

Vash the Stampede

I generally get to bed between 10:30 and 11. I usually wake up every morning between 4 and 5, with chronic back pain from my arthritis. The usual routine is to attach my TENS machine for an hour or so, and crawl back to bed in an attempt to catch a little more sleep before work.

Australia, without a doubt - though I must say that in the two and a half years since I came to the UK, I have really come to appreciate this country. I'd be happy to remain here for the forseeable future, but I would have to go home at some stage. I am half English, but the UK will never feel like home to me.

As to the reason why I would prefer to live Down Under... well, the easy answer is the obvious one: because it's home. I do miss my friends and family from time to time (haven't been back since I came to the UK) but I could still live happily in the UK with a visit Down Under every two years or so to catch up with everyone.

I'm not the sort of person who can't live without his friends and relations; we're very independent in my family, though our emotional ties are strong.

My little sister is currently in Japan, my twin brother is in Taiwan, my younger brother lives in Victoria and my mother lives in South Australia - yet we keep in contact via email and the occasional phone call, so the distances don't really matter to us.

The things that matter most to me are the things which tend make Australia attractive to so many ex-pats: wide open spaces; a slower pace of living, a massive country to explore; a small population with plenty of room to grow; a culturally diverse population (25% of Australians are immigrants or the children of immigrants); a diverse environment (offering arid, temperate; arctic and tropical regions); affordable property; an egalitarian society with a "have a go" attitude, a fascinating array of unique flora and fauna; a "firm but fair" immigration policy, a strong economy, and all the usual benefits of a 1st World nation.

I like the fact that Australia is a young country, still in the process of making its own history. There aren't too many places left in the world where you can watch a nation growing up and finding its place on the global stage, but Australia is one of them.

There are probably other things, but these are the ones which spring immediately to mind.

Now, I can't deny that the UK has many advantages over Australia, and there are things that I will miss once I'm gone (see here) but at the end of the day, it can never replace Australia in my heart.

jad n rich

But your on here 23.59 / 7 HOw can you have time to stick source all over another forum too

I think you just need to get out more

Vash the Stampede

It all comes down to an efficient use of time.

I work 9.5 hours a day, 5 days a week - and 4 hours on 1 Saturday every 4 weeks. Thankfully, I only have to drive 10 minutes to work.

I'd love to get out more, but right now I'm saving money for a 3-week holiday in August. No prizes for guessing my destination...

jad n rich

And may I be the first to wish you and the bride a lovely holiday, and may the bride enjoy australia as much as you enjoy the UK

phoenixinoz

Great post Vash.

Aus is in your blood ....and I can see why

touchingcloth

Mate..you have to compare like for like. If you wish to compare the cultural diversity of Sydney or Melbourne...then you need to compare it to London....and you'd find that London is THE MOST culturally diverse city in the world.

If I were to compare Canberra to ALL British cities of the same size , then using your methodology I could deduce that "Australia is not as culturally diverse as the UK"


With all due respect, I think you should explore the UK a little more. Scratch beneath the surface and you'll find out that Britain is not 90% english origin, 5% west indian, and 5% indian/pakistani.

MikeStanton

Strewth, mate. That nearly made me get back on the 'Roo special and head Down Under, except...


Wide open spaces. Yup, a few days in a 4x4 travelling from one bit of nothingness to another lack of anything, punctuated by cookioe-cutter one-horse towns will cure that little bug. Slow? For sure. Coma's a better word zzzzzzzz.


Perhaps not so much. Oz has a very fragile ecosystem and not a whole bunch of water.


The same rules apply in Oz as everywhere else, ie it's only cheap cos nobody wants to live there! Try Sydney house prices on a Sydney wage. Sydney has one of the highest price-to-wage multiples in the world.


Oh, please! This cliche belongs with Ozzie battler, mateship and all that tosh. Oz was a far more egalitarian society 45 years ago. Now, it has a huge split between have and have-nots. What does the Oz press say? is this the end of Oz egalitarianism? and

this. And it goes deeper fear and silence in Oz (copy of New Statesman article)


Good one; I last saw this in the United Nations' Joke Book.


I'm going out on a limb here, but don't the Aborigines have a history that stretches back some 40,000+ years? Still, given Oz is more like the 51st state of the US of A, I guess the Mid-West model that Oz has adopted is a good fit.

Hutch

I had the misfortune of spending a bit of time in the West Midlands, Vash. Wolverhampton to be precise. I lasted 9 months before I managed to get an inter-college transfer to Middlesex Uni. Ponders End (a complete shit-hole in north London) seemed positively civilised after that.

Tiggs+Graz

So if this is NOT the case then what is?!
It would be more helpful to the discussion if you posted actual figures (with a source).

Thanks