Originally Posted by Ozzidoc

Oh all right then, u can give it to me....I'll even pay the stamp duty

Originally Posted by arkon

The house and land has been up for sale for nearly a year now and still no luck selling it and that’s after reducing it in price by quite a large amount. I can't seem to even give it away. Believe me when it sells you won't see me for dust. As for all the reasons we left the UK, with hindsight and the benefit of living here for 2 years now. I've come to realise they were all rubbish reasons and mostly not really true. It's also amazing how much greener Australia was made to seem to us before we left and there was NOTHING anyone could have said bad about the place to stop us coming. Some of our misconceptions were:-

The heat, No problem its only for a couple of months a year. WRONG it is unbearable to go outside for between 4 and 6 months of the year. Exactly how much of the year in the UK is it unbearable to either go outside or work outside?

The Flies, No problem its only for a couple of weeks a year. WRONG it's for a good 3 or 4 months and all the swatting and being careful not to leave doors open does no good what so ever and plastering yourself in chemicals seems to do nothing more than make you unattractive to the opposite sex.

The mossies, No problem you just don't go out at dusk and dawn. WRONG there is no dusk or dawn, the sun falls from the sky faster than a whore drops her knickers. and as for dawn who want to be up at that early anyway. The only moderately mozzie free time of day is for about 5 hours a day and still you get bitten.

The poor shopping and choice, No problem as I don't like shopping anyway. WRONG sometimes you have to buy things and it would be nice to be able to buy them without hassle and have them last more than a few days before having to take them back.

A better place to raise children, WRONG, the education is substandard and there are more things to do them harm here than there ever was back home. 80% of 10 year olds have retina damage and I couldn't even guess at what damage the sun does to their skin. Then there is the huge rate of teenage suicide and depression. Then what future do they really have? I don’t feel I’ve done my boy any favours by being here where any future career is involved.

I could go on but it just depresses me to think that when all my friends back home were trying to talk me out of coming here by highlighting all the negatives I just ignored them and was convinced I could live with all the little negative niggles. How wrong I was.

Anyway thanks again everyone for your support and believe me we are trying as hard as we can to buy our way out of the mess we got ourselves into.

Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede

80% of ten year-olds in Australia have retina damage? First I've heard of it.

A source for this bizarre statistic would be nice - but seeing as it's arkon, I won't hold my breath.

Originally Posted by Ozzidoc

Vash -there's really no need to sh*t stir!! Naughty vashy, now bend over so i can spank your botty.

Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede

arkon comes out with "80% of ten year olds have retina damage", and I'm the one stirring?

Look, arkon's posts are renowned for their bizarre statements (not to mention downright untruths, such as "front loaders are frowned on because they save water"; yeah, they're so "frowned on" that the government gives you a rebate if you buy one! ) but this time he's really excelled himself.

I just wonder if he actually believes half the stuff he comes out with.

Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede

Look, arkon's posts are renowned for their bizarre statements (not to mention downright untruths, such as

Originally Posted by rugbymatt

He is probably talking about Solar retinopathy. It is usually brought about by staring at the sun too much! But that would effectively render 80% of all Aussie 10 year olds partially blind! Wouldn't the Government have done some thing about it by now?

Originally Posted by jad n rich

Retina damage is very high in australia, vash has disputed this before so there is a thread on it somewhere.

Best bit of advice and one now on most sun safety websites, is to get kids and adults to wear proper protective sunglasses. Even the old aussie slogan for sun safety has been changed to slip slop slap and wrap, as in sunglasses. Some schools are now considering sunglasses as compulsory too.

Originally Posted by rugbymatt

Its like that old urban legend that 1 in 5 guys can blow themselves! Really?

Originally Posted by rodders39

Guess you're one of the other 4 then...!



Rod

Originally Posted by rugbymatt

Believe me! If i was i wouldn't be on this forum!

Originally Posted by rugbymatt

I dont dispute that it would be high, it makes sense that it would be, but 80% is a massive figure dont you think?

(/QUOTE]


I made a deliberate attempt to answer the question without getting involved in % arguments because it is a very serious problem here and medical waiting lists (7 years in some places) reflect that.

More important that people are made aware it is a serious problem and one that the government is trying to educate people on, simple measures like protective glasses.

Originally Posted by rugbymatt

He is probably talking about Solar retinopathy. It is usually brought about by staring at the sun too much! But that would effectively render 80% of all Aussie 10 year olds partially blind! Wouldn't the Government have done some thing about it by now?