Hi,

I have lived in Sydney for the past 14 years and am originally from Surrey, England. I am in England at the moment on holiday for a few weeks staying in N.E Surrey.

Some of the things that I notice that are different between Sydney and England are:

1. Everyone seems to be polite in England and friendly. It makes a big change from your average rude and stressed out Sydneyite.

2. It is so GREEN! I really miss the greenness of England and the lush vegetation. Sydney is brown and hot.

3. There is so much to see and do in England. London is short train ride away with all it's history, pubs, canals etc. Kew Gardens is near, Hampton Court, pubs abound.

4. England is at least 6 years ahead of Australia technologically! There are pay internet connection boots in the street; a bus stop with its own digital display that gives the status of busses and free email; trains that abound with safety systems, are clean and frequent etc etc.

4. Things are sooo organised. There is a street sign on each corner which is easy to read and tells you the names of the streets that lead off. Try finding a street in Sydney during peak hour traffic!

5. Taxi Drivers know how to get to places without you having to guide them.

Living in Australia is a bit like living in a remote country town in Britain - boring and isolated but you can buy a bigger house.

Australia is good for unskilled and semi skilled labour as they get paid more than their counterparts in England. However for Professionals and good Tradespeople, Australia does not represent an increase in the standard of living.

I get what you mean about driving in Sydney, lol not something I would want to do again. But as for the rest can't say I agree. On my day trips to London can't say I found anybody polite or helpfull especially not the staff on London underground grrrr. I found Brisbane a very easy city to navigate around, and it has a good vibe too. Maybe that is why we picked there as the place we want to move to, LOL did I mention the Sounthbank, lovely, 'nuff said.

From Katie

Sounds like someone trying to stir up another boring UK versus Australia thread to me.

Was thinking the same thing..........

Only 12 sleeps, I bet you are soooooooooooo excited. In fact, how do you sleep??????
Oh yes, it looks like it might descend into the usual, ho hum.....

Yeah....the sleeping bit has been a bit of an effort the last few nights....but thats ok, hopefully all the sleepless nights will accumulate enough that when I get on the plane and finally relax, I will sleep the whole way!!

Spot on!

Sounds like someone who posts under 2 identities to me.

Its probably MikeS....seems he is about the only one who reguarly agrees with his posts...

No how sad is that. The only way he gets folk to agree with him is to sign on as someone else! The expression get a life comes to mind. And clean, reliable trains - pleeeeease.

Will comment no further.

That's right. I suggest they take a journey to East Grinstead on one of the Connex trains. It's like a trip on the Hogwarts express, all slam doors and head rests yellow with about 30 years worth of hair grease.

Plus it will cost you nearly 20 quid.

Signs with names leading off? eh? maybe main thoroughfares - assistance with signs is something I love about Sydney - in a manner of speaking - cross streets, even fairly minor ones, are often/sometimes signed *before* the junction.

In the UK, often you have to get to the junction, and make a panic glance into the street to decide whether you should make a last minute turn..

Yeah it's got Mike's style. Anyhow dont want to feed the trolls..

The area of the UK where I used to live USED to have nice signs that had street names on.......now they just have the nice concrete posts to which the signs used to be fixed.........

I lived in Sydney too, and by co-incedence also for 14 years (in Total), and I would agree that Sydney is not a place I would like to live in, BUT, Sydney is NOT Australia !!

After my 14 years in Sydney, I also went back to the UK, and found it good for the first period of time, but after the holiday period, reality set in, and I returned to Australia, but this time I now live somewhere that is nothing like Sydney.

Just outside Brisbane

Remember people, Australia is a big place. Sydneys grass may be brown, but mine is green. Literally... I took a photo of it this morning for another thread

Some areas in Brisbane also have: bus stops with their own digital display that gives the status of bus. We also have trains that are clean and frequent, and run on time etc etc.
and you should see our "Silver Service" taxi drivers, uniformed and knowledgeable.

Get real ! Australia has Good and Bad parts to it, so does the UK.

Sydney is a City, same as London, is London really that green and full of vegetation ?
I've just been for a drive past a local banana farm, and seen people sitting out on the green grass at the local park, eating their lunch, others launching their boats into the water, and yes, this is Australia, but it is NOT Sydney.

It could end up being a Brisbane v Sydney thread though
Looks like Brisbane has some of the good parts that London has (technology etc) but with the better weather