BadgeIsBack

I see the threadcount has gone skyhigh and now I don't have time to read all the comments!


To be honest the people in the article are precisely the sort of people who move to Australia, but shouldn't. It's a sad, self-fulfilling phrophecy. Of course, though, there's nothing wrong with just feeling a place is wrong...if nothing clicks - but people like this cannot execute a plan, or ever really do well in life past their own little bubble.

They are 'Supermarket tragics' silly people - whatever. That bloke is the sort of bloke who if he had stayed would have said things like 'Aussies can't drive' to which we would all have said "But you are yourself a **** Sir'.

I see the Mail was right to say that grocery prices are high in Australia but they listed a GBP price from which I infer they used an FX rate: which we all know is guaranteed to end in disaster. It would have been better if they had listed the dollar price, and a typical salary for the couple.

Wendy

What a stupid question!!



Tis cos I live here

BadgeIsBack

hmmm...that sort of how the tabloids probably work in the UK.
The Mail does it well as it attracts a whole mob of people all trying their damn hardest in life.....

KJCherokee

Unfortunately they didn't stay long enough to have an Australian salary - they were buying goods at Australian prices from UK savings, so it obviously seemed expensive. Hopefully most would-be immigrants read forums like this before coming and get a dose of reality (or what passes for reality in the minds of BE members).

I didn't know any more about Australia than they did before we came over in 1983 - but I did know that I was going to stick it out and not give up just because I couldn't get a particular brand of squash/cordial.

BadgeIsBack

hmmm....the Mail could have researched the sort of salary 'a biff' gets

There will be people who will tell you that supermarket brands are just the tip of an iceberg in a far larger sea of unfamiliarity (sympathy in other words)- but the fact of the matter these are not clever people by any means. The Mail mentioned that the woman thought 'he would miss his Mum'. It's fine to miss your family of course but it is a biff's lot to talk about it like that in public....(he is probably the sort who 'took his washing home' etc etc)

Pollyana

What's wrong with talking about missing your family? And why do you have to be thick to be baffled by the unfamiliarity of supermarket brands when you are using a shop you hadn't even heard of two days before?

the troubadour

A beat up story by The Daily Mail. I would think a number of reasons perhaps impacted on their decision to return. Those reasons would hardly be newsworthy. Things like sky hot costs and the probability of not the high wages as expected. Easy to focus on the petty things and give their readers a bit of a laugh. Could say a non story.

ozzieeagle

Baffled equates to to being kind of dumb IMO.... To go on a learning curve re tastes is more of adventure rather than a daunting prospect as as I'm concerned. Which probably sums up one aspect re the attitude between people that are likely to be sucessful migrants and those that aren't. Half the brands are the same as the UK anyway, so there is at least some base for people that don't see new brands as an adventure. God help erm if they ever ventured into their local Aldi.

As time goes by I realise more and more that people really do reap what they sow... This family are just living the way they have to live. I'm not going to knock them, It's just their nature. Just personally thankful that I dont think in a similar fashion to them.

the troubadour

It does appear to be rather easier for UK immigrants to get in than others though. The fellow in question was going to be a stay at home dad, while there's nothing wrong with that, seems unlikely her skill set would have been to the standard that would allow any great degree of comfort with modern day priced Australia.

old.sparkles

Damn - didn't realise that being female and sole wage earner in Australia would mean I couldn't afford any comfort

Wendy

I managed perfectly well for a little while after I left my first husband. Well I didn't starve or anything anyway!

old.sparkles

He didn't take all you money then

Wendy

No, I made sure he gave me half. I call it compensation for living with an moron wrapped in an idiot for 20 years.

old.sparkles

BadgeIsBack

Read my post again. I was sympathetic to people missing their family. (Read it!)

It is the sort of biff where his wife talks about him 'missing his Mum' who is a...biff. What about his old man, besides?

It is certainly not thick to be baffled about brands but it is; after x no of weeks, and to give it as a reason to a newspaper.

Of course if the Mail made it up they were only doing it to play into the hands of other like-minded biffs...this is what journalism is about - targeting your demographic!