I think it's the pace of life and engagement. Even in Sydney and Melbourne people walk slower I notice. I can say that as a Londoner.

People DO rush like f*** in the UK. Head down, furrowed brow. I find that people looked strained. Better skin, healthy complexions, yes, but older in other ways. Australians - skin in a shite state - but younger in other ways.

But engage, and some lighten up. Not all.

Simply, I find Australians far more friendly that Brits.

However, I think Britain has become a frightened society. I'm sure that Brits are potentially just as friendly as anyone else. They've just forgotten how to engage.

I don't live anywhere near Melbourne but we get up there a few times a year. We don't just stick to the CBD either. I find smiling faces from people who have no cause to smile or nod or say hello to me but they just do. Maybe it's because my head isn't down, eyes half shut like it was in the UK.

I read with interest the posts from people who have been back to the UK for a holiday, or who have returned for good. How wonderful it all is etc. If they are happy then I AM pleased for them BUT, is this just another honeymoon period? Just like the one they enjoyed in Oz or Canada or anywhere else when they first came out on hols or when they first came out to live?

Absolutely fascinating - I dont find that at all and spent 5 weeks there on and off earlier this year. Cambridge isnt really a hurry place except at lecture change time and then you do need to stand with your back to the wall or be killed in the rush. As I dont work when there, I find it really laid back - lovely places to have tea, super every day market, good open spaces and far less mobile phone engagement than central Canberra. I did get yelled at one day by a bloke on a bike because I was walking beside friends in the bike lane because the path wasnt wide enough for us all but that was a one off (I think he was an Aussie).

Not working might explain a lot. London is a plain swan when you are ambling down Regent Street with the excitement of a visit to Hamleys the hardest thing of the day.

Canberra is the nation's capital. Cambridge isn't I suppose. I like Cambridge but I prefer Oxford. I am massively biased. We spent alot of my childhood in Oxford when we weren't in London.

Oh that is so very true.

When I used to get the trains to Holborn where I worked, it would take one overground train to Marylebone, a tube to Oxford Street and another tube to Holborn. It only actually took an hour but it was stressful as you tended to rush to get the next tube and would go to all lengths not to miss it even if you knew there was another one a few minutes later. By the time I got home or got to work my asthma would be awful and I had to blow my nose to get the black stuff out and I would cough up nasty stuff as well.

It got to the stage where I hated Covent Garden and the supposedly popular tourist attractions because it meant going on the underground or using London buses to get to them and I had enough of using London transport during my commute to work thank you.

Some people get bored of beaches and the scenery in Australia, and whilst I still love 'my London', I can say that honestly, the usual attractions do not float my boat - give me beaches any day, or perhaps a camping trip somewhere.

Perhaps if I went back for a holiday I might love going to the usual places in London, but I seriously doubt it. I hate crowds, I hate the hustle and bustle of it all - it does nothing for me, I personally feel that I don't have to be on my guard quite so much here. Sure to a certain point I am wary but not to the degree I was when I worked in London.

And talking of shop assistants, there was a lovely girl in Big W on the checkout this morning, just a short chat but I prefer that to being ignored.

When will people get it that even though Australians speak English, this is a foreign country, a culture which separated from Britain and established itself separately from England? It's foreign. They're not meant to 'get us'.

We're the immigrants. We're the interlopers.

We are meant to be fitting in, embracing the foreign culture, adopting their way of life whilst bringing bits of our culture with us and adding to this melting pot..... otherwise we're exactly the same as those who live in England and complain that people who were immigrants didn't fit in with us.

It's the same in Melbourne. My little commute (one transfer, or one pleasant walk) would be ten times better again if I was with my family ambling the same route. There's no need to rush as an office worker - noone clock-watches in my offices, but invariably I walk briskly. I just have my workhead on or am thinking about a particular problem.

Have to admit, though, there are times when I am just winging it for the day...

Yes. Have to admit one of the little things I like here is the way I have found that I have integrated but haven't had to give up every last morsel of everything I have ever did or done - and in fact, the longer I am here, the more common things I find. Whereas for other people it gets worse and more confusing for them.

The problem I see TP is not that people can't integrate. They just don't understand what they see. They don't get 'them', far from expect them to get 'us'.