bundy

Not exactly, but then I'd like to see you try and catch one of ours to get close enough with a sword....

...and at least the red dot temporarily blinds them.

(no, don't panic, I don't shine it in their eyes, I know the laser warnings etc etc)

Grayling

G

BadgeIsBack

If you stay in the inner suburbs, ie in Melbourne's case, within 10-15k of the CBD, or the semi-rural areas, you meet seriously interesting people. They remind me of the people I knew in the Armed Forces - pragmatic, well educated, witty, enigmatic, good leaders, their total was more than the sum of their parts - but practical, and not at all materialistic beyond getting a job done and maybe doing it well. If they happen to have a good standard of living it's not mindless if that makes sense.

I get really fustrated when I hear another suburban hell story about how little culture there is here, or how there's nothing but hoons, and all people do is BBQ. I've had anther fantastic weekend where I've met again - some seriously talented people. I've met a bloke who is an IT director but also can play x no of instruments and sing well. At the same time he keeps horses. One guy has built an extension on his own home in a few months and just shrugs at the effort - and he's not even a tradesman. Breezy there are some seriously interesting people out here. One of the destractions on living on acreage or in a village is that you get to learn things that people don't - learn anymore. I like that - I like learning something new every day. One of the things I will teach my kids, is don't worry about being clever at school, just surround yourself with clever people, and they will teach you what you really need to know.

bundy

Do clever people only live in Australia? Just curious, since I am clever, and do not.

BadgeIsBack

No.My main point is that where I live now, there are some *interesting people*, I don't if truth be told, want to use the word 'clever', because that is a matter of opinion. I know clever people who have been to Oxbridge, and I know clever people who haven't. (I know you went to Cambridge lol). I also said that these same interesting people reminded me of the same in the UK. The difference is that I can afford to live here with some of these distractions, whereas I couldn't in the UK.

Surely being clever, you can see that?

bundy

Hmmm, I see your point. What made me laugh is that I also know someone who owns and directs a company, plays in a band and keeps horses. But he lives in Halifax, not Oz.

I meet interesting (and clever) people every day, wherever I am.

Are interesting people a distraction to you then (curious, not defensive).

Breezey

I find that Australia is full of high-calibre people-thats all. I imagine of a type that once existed in spades in the UK. I don't think the UK has "gone to the dogs"-but standards have dropped awfully-attitudes, manners are appalling.
Ironically I find Australinas more "British".

Hutch

Sounds like a line Death might utter in a Terry Pratchet book.

BadgeIsBack

Indeed. But noone said you had to live in any specific country to do those things - its just that we have our own 'fair share'...and that's why I like it(!) In the same way an Oxford undergraduate is excited by the company of his or her fellow undergraduates, (after all, why then go to Oxbridge), I am excited by the people I live with. Because I like learning. People don't go to Oxbridge to be average do they?! Or do they, I don't know - as I was not an undergraduate there but other family members did. This is the Australia lifestyle forum, and where I live, people live in a way on an income which would be very difficult to do in Western Europe. So I count my blessings.

Frankly the day I stop learning is the day I'd give up!

I say distraction to be funny as in 'not boring'. I *want* to be distracted by people.

BadgeIsBack

hmmm. Know what you mean. But as Bundy says, these people exist everywhere, in the Uk too. It's all what you can get out of life, wherever that might be.

To be honest, I find that the traits I admire in the English, I'm also finding in Australians.....its why I get so annoyed when people think all Aussies are hoons <insert sterotype>. I like my part of Australia because it is in its own way very like England - in some ways - the mind boggles. Yet there are people 20k down the road living in a nightmare by all accounts. Yet it is still good old Straya..

Margaret2

What about the Scottish, they're just fabulous aren't they

BadgeIsBack

they're good in a fight mate.

Wendy

Only when they are on your side, else they are very bad :scared:

Breezey

Seriously-the Scottish on the whole, do still have a decency and honesty about them that seems dying out in England.

millymog

I said
Maybe it was the wrong time or place to go but i didnt really enjoy it.
Then i mentioned i went to Adelaide.

Like i said before. People have read into it too much. I was just pointing out that i didnt like it and the reasons i didnt.

Before i went out there i was seriously wanting to move out there because my friend said it was so nice. But all i said, in so many words, dont embark on emigrating unless you have been there but that applies to ANY country not just Aussie..


Jeezzz!!!!

And thanks G