Originally Posted by Pit Bull.

I also used Dock leaves when I was in the woods and needed a crap.

Originally Posted by ukecadet

Wuss.
I used stinging nettles

Originally Posted by bcworld

I'm not sure I understand this point about the 'competition'.

The OP made many comparisons. So either, no one replies - not a competition. Everyone agrees - not a competition. People post opposing views or discuss those comparisons relating to where they live - suddenly it's a competition!??

Originally Posted by Beoz

Not sure what happen to him in Oz but there's some deep seeded bad feeling toward the place. As someone suggested take it with a grain of salt.

Originally Posted by debs1966

Thanks for your impressions of the UK.

To be honest I have now been back here 6 months and can honestly I don't miss Oz sad I know. Apart from the weather of course.

Interestingly, you mention about people swearing I found this really bad in Perth and my partner who worked as a tradie send the Aussies swear every other word who he worked with.

Yes, I agree the houses are smaller and there isnt much space but I certainly feel there is much more to do. I can't say I miss sitting in the local parks particularly interesting but we are all different thankfully.

Originally Posted by isgraham

with a short commute here and in Sydney I can't. That's the beginning and end of the argument for me.

Originally Posted by Beoz

Fair play .... though .... my commute is 20 mins in Syd on public transport .... is that considered long?

Originally Posted by moneypenny20

It is if someone else has a commute of 5 minutes.

Originally Posted by bcworld

I'm not sure I understand this point about the 'competition'.

The OP made many comparisons. So either, no one replies - not a competition. Everyone agrees - not a competition. People post opposing views or discuss those comparisons relating to where they live - suddenly it's a competition!??

Originally Posted by Dreamy

I think Chris is an easy target for people who think that the UK is a dive and Australia is God's Utopia, because he doesn't agree.

I have a great life in Australia, I had a great life in the UK - yet I spent and spend incredible amounts of time online - I don't see how the two are so mutually exclusive..

I never thought I'd say this but Chris doesn't run everything down in Australia (even if he does have a habit of trying to make every comparison a competition)

Originally Posted by chris955

It is water off a ducks back to be honest, a handful of members have an issue with me and what I post, seriously, big deal. I too had a really good life in Australia and a great one here, the idea that I must have been mugged by an Aussie wearing stubbies and a singlet and this has turned me against the country is of course laughable but maybe that thought brings comfort to others ?
It isnt so much a case of making everything a competition but if for instance someone says you have to pay for parking everywhere in the UK then surely as it is blatantly inaccurate I am right to point this out ? Im sure that if I said the very same thing about Australia I would be corrected almost before the ink was dry

Originally Posted by old.sparkles

And you chose to live in the country - there isn't a lot of paying for parking in the country and no-one was saying there was. Where I live, you can park for free in some residential areas, some require residents parking permits which have a cost to the resident, the rest is pay and display except for supermarket carparks who can clamp you if you are not shopping in their stores. Typical cost of parking would be £2 minimum for upto 2 hours, then extra £1 for each extra hour. Worst is paying at hospital carpark. A recent trip to A&E cost £4 in parking, but couple of years ago when young spark had peritonitis total bill was nearer £100 because he was in for 5 days. But what you pay for parking, like houses, comes down to where you live as with everything. I couldn't live where you do because I wouldn't want the commute to work

Originally Posted by Buzzy--Bee

OK, I appreciate that this post is in danger of becoming an Australia vs UK debate, however I would like to post my impressions of my first visit back to the UK since I emigrated from West London to Melbourne with my wife and twin 2 year old daughters over 5 years ago.

We just came back from 3 weeks visiting England and there was quite a lot that surprised me.

My very first impression was that I was astounded how many people smoke in England. Young, old, middle aged, rich, poor, so many people smoke it is really noticeable. And while the advertising in Australia is along the lines of “don’t smoke, it will cause death by cancer”, advertising in England is all about making sure you put your fag out so you don’t cause a house fire. One follow-on from all this smoking is the massive amount of fag butt litter.

I had forgotten the visual impact of every house having white plastic windows.

I was surprised how clean and nice the kids playpark was near where we were staying. There was no broken glass and no outwardly visible graffiti. Unfortunately this was spoiled by one of my daughters stating she was upset by some writing she had found on the playpark. I asked her what it said and she replied “it says – Casey you are a ****ing bitch”. My daughter has never used this word before and we have never seen such explicit graffiti in Melbourne, just meaningless tags. Very disappointing.

Supermarkets in England, as we all know, are way cheaper and have far more choice. Or do they? They have far more choice in prepared and processed foods certainly, I didn’t see more choice in fresh food though, I think Australia definitely has the edge there. But supermarket shopping in England is hell on earth. You are bumped and jostled and banged by the sheer number of shoppers, people bashing you with trolleys, queueing for ages, wait for people to get out the way before you can choose something off the shelf, driving round and round to try and spot someone just coming out of a parking space. I would not choose to shop in an English supermarket again in my life.

Shopping for clothes is phenomenally cheap in England when you are converting from AU$, we did a lot of clothes shopping. Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush is incredible.

The cost of Transport is an art, not a science. We were given prices by National Rail Inquiries, TFL, the ticket machine and the man behind the counter of 60, 40, 18 and 12 pounds respectively for the same journey so we took the cheapest offer! Then we had to pay over 7 pounds to go a couple of miles on a bus! The trains are much faster, quieter and smoother in England, they swoosh instead of “clackety clack”.

Driving in the UK – 100kph does not feel as fast in England as it does in Australia, and we did go much faster at times, but we were very aware of how many more fixed speed cameras there are now than there used to be, and how people seem to be obeying the speed limits much more in England than they used to.

My kids were very surprised when I had to “pay and display” – “but why do you have to PAY to park the car Dad????”

Weather – mainly OK, although I never had that much of a problem with London weather, it was the winter early dark that used to depress me. But what was weird was the finding that 15 degrees in London didn’t feel as cold as 15 degrees in Melbourne. And people in England wear shorts and short skirts in 15 degrees. Nutters!

It was funny having to teach the kids not to touch stinging nettles, and seeing how enamoured they were with squirrels.

London was looking surprisingly clean and done-up. Our English friends said that this was just for the Olympics, even so, it was looking pretty good. And people were friendlier than I remember, people offered us seats on trains, talked to our kids, were generally very good-humoured.

But I did notice a lot more shouting and swearing in public. My children were upset by overhearing a man on the bus shouting into his mobile phone that he was going to “smash someones ****ing face in.” I heard several other instances of people shouting aggressively in the street.

Weekends - in Aussie we might take the kids to the beach, or to the park. In the UK people seem to take their kids to expensive theme parks of various sizes, pay a lot of money to get in, a lot of money for food/drinks etc and then come home and moan about the cost of it.

But I felt the only massive downside to life in England, one of the reasons we emigrated, and the biggest item to stop me wanting to live in England again, was the lack of space. There is just not enough room in English houses to live the lifestyles people live now. If you bang your elbow when you turn round in the shower, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. If you have to move the dining room table to eat a meal, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. if you have to sit on the toilet diagonally this means there is not enough room for you in your house. You have to squeeze your car in between others – I found I had forgotten how to parallel park with any degree of accuracy! People in the UK seem to put in an enormous amount of effort to build an extension that actually gains them a very few square feet more of space, like a porch or something.

One of my daughters summed it up well when I asked her if she thought she would like to live in England. She said “I don’t think so Dad, it’s too squashy!”

BB

Originally Posted by LINZI

I have been here 7 years and going back to Yorkshire for the first time at Christmas I am so looking forward to seeing family/friends (not all I will say) But I am hoping it concludes these feelings that have crept there ugly head up for so long is this really home? Will even the uk be our home anymore? I think we will learn that maybe its not that bad here or maybe it is? Who knows? I do know one thing we all have different ways of living our lives and what works for one may not for another.
Its like paying for the parking for some reason that does not bother me one bit
Linzi