Grayling

'Ey up Fraser

Good to see you around.

....and I hate coffee

moneypenny20

Tea's feral. Even the smell makes me heave.

BadgeIsBack

G'Day everyone. Good thread this, different people are going to have different observations about different parts of the country. Although stats do count for something, in practise it does not mean much : but it's plain that lots of ordinary people live quite average lives anywhere: neither rich or poor. A suburban villa in Aus suburbs or a little 'brook side' estate in the UK provinces..both equally depressing...to be honest. Now a nice colonial in an inner burb or a listed building in the UK is a lot nicer, esp if there is an Audi outside; you notice these days that English people live in little houses, mostly, but they do portendly drive a nice car. And why not, as Barry Norman used to say..

Bit mean G, to say that Ozzie is trying to convince himself he likes Melbourne : he's been here a long time and has obviously given it consideration. It's an old tactic of curmudgeons to assume that this must surely be the case and it's how the old wars used to start out! It's a great place to live all round, probably better than the Qld that so often riled you. I know a surgeon who has moved to Qld and he's lapping it up, but then he's very multi-skilled so things don't trouble him. It is of course more than a slice of toast...

Coffee....I don't order coffee apart from after a meal out, a social thing, the best coffees are made at home with a perculator in my experience. Used to hate coffee until about 3 years ago now I enjoy and positively adore a morning cup when at home which is barely 3 times a week. I see it as a real simple luxury and by choice, would refuse to have Expressos from machines.
Nothing wrong with beer in Melbourne, stacks on offer. As a matter of fact I've gone right off booze the last few weeks. Can't work out why. training a bit harder so it might be the fact it dehydrates..

Melbourne...
I've developed a new connection with the performing arts this last 3 years and to be honest, I've now got domestic and international touring opportunities that weren't on offer in the UK, not that I checked...it's yet another little quiver in the bow in Melbourne. It's also opened up access to a section of academia in Melbourne that I find interesting, to me it's yet more proof that it's all about the individual and not a country thing.

Not that it couldn't be done in UK, but that it's certainly all good here in a package as served up...and that is all that matters. I can't live everywhere! I like weather in Melbourne, a winter tour stopping in E Europe with the wife accompanying now seems nice.

But one more thing, Swervo, what's the go with shooting in NSW. I want to hunt deer here but am put off by having to join a club and I also find it a bit redneck here in a way it wasn't in the UK. No rose tints for me. The thick scrub of the bush here (I've pointed this out before) also gives rise to the chance of an accident especially amongst people I don't know around wpns. I've been here for 12 years and I've finally got my first rules and regs whinge (about time!) : you can't even own an air gun. My backyard is a perfect range too.

Another tack I am considering is taking up biathlon, combining my most, to me, natural abilities / interests of skiing and shooting. You can shoot at a range in the high country and will involve a club, I'm a bit over clubs...but tough titty, (has anyone got experiences, might start a new thread)

Cheers

Swerv-o

Shooting here, and getting a licence is a pain - but not insurmountable, and certainly not completely impossible as the NRA would have you believe. In some ways the firearms laws are looser than the UK - such as semi automatic pistols being available - but in other they are not, such as air rifles requiring a full firearms licence.

Generally you need to demonstrate one of the few lawful reasons for firearms possession in order to qualify for a licence. For most of us, this will be membership of a club, however if you, or you have a mate, that owns vast tracts of land, then you can apply without club ownership, but the land owner then has to demonstrate that the land is suitable for shooting etc.

In NSW the shooters club maintain a huge estate that you can go and shoot wildlife on. They also insist that part of membership is completion of what amounts to CertIV in Hunting & Shooting, which requires quite a bit of time invested into it to pass all of the modules. Alternatively, you can join a range club for pistols and target rifles and a skeet club for clay shooting with shotguns. Once you are an accredited member, and have passed the inductions, you can apply to the registry for your firearms licence. I believe there is a medical and some background checks. After a months cooling off period, you can then arrange the purchase of your first firearm.

Hunting game is probably the toughest to get into unfortunately, and is nowhere near the same sport that we have in the UK. No Hooray Henrys in Range Rovers showing up for a day's grouse shooting - hunting in NSW has a very very bogan/Wolf Creek feel to it.

I have been planning to join a skeet club and improve my clay shooting, and gain my licence this way, though some of the places have the shotguns wired into frames so you don't get full range of shooting motion, which is frankly pants. I need to shop about and find a decent club - there is one out in West Sydney that is run by Suzy Balogh, who is an Olympic and Commonwealth Games skeet champion, so I think that may reduce some of the bogan element of it.

Welcome to Sydney's most EXHILARATING, EMPOWERING & EXPLOSIVE experience! - Hitting Targets

I'm a pretty experienced skeet shooter, but there's always room for improvement, and it will also improve my game shot when I go home as well.

I'll let you know how I get on - or let me know if you fancy it - could be a fun day out.


S

moneypenny20

This is why the husband sold all his guns before we moved out. Sucks but for him just not worth it.

ozzieeagle

It took 4 different people, 3 departments and 5 months to sort out this situation. Only yesterday was it finalised. Swapped my LSL back to Carers leave successfully... The red tape involved for this issue was unbelievable.

Says a lot about Aposts problems in implementing new future systems eh

Anyway good news about this is.... It is definitely possible under the award system to take paid carers leave overseas...... Just not many people try and claim it.

Beoz

Put that down HR. HR everywhere are useless bureaucrats.

Swerv-o

Yup. HR Departments are like a virus in an organisation - they have their influence everywhere, and are quite capable of growing on their own with no supervision...


S

Amazulu

I'm doing an HR unit at uni at the moment - you wouldn't believe the amount of shite that is/has been written on the subject

A profession that keeps inventing nonsense in order to stay relevant

the troubadour

A rare case of agreement with above posters, although possibly for different reasons.


Human Recourses, barely human and rarely resourceful. More about protecting and less likely to in any way challenge the company or management line.


Hardly neutral, more often arriving at a predetermined outcome, just getting the legal requirements into place to prevent as best as possible a tribunal challenge.
Dot the i's and cross the t's in a manner of speaking.


Very unlikely to support employees or show empathy at least without union participation in the background.


Rather useless, hardly attractive vocation to smart people, but may well appeal to those liking a bureaucratic type work role with a highly over rated degree of status.

scrubbedexpat098

I always get in trouble with HR, always end up ranting at them about them being a company overhead who are only employed because of the work force they look down on. It's not an age thing either, I've been ranting for years

the troubadour

HR came into being a couple of decades back in what was considered a great idea at the time, in creating a neutral umpire and oversee fairness in the work place.


There was talk of taking on work place issues like bullying for example as well as grandiose ideas in others features that would bring among other things a humanising of the work place.


All nonsense of course. More often than not centred on their own careers, as such unlikely to tackle the difficult issues, apart from ensuring the company doesn't stray too far from legal obligations.


For a worker, little protection. Unions and Fair Work usually only resort.

ozzieeagle

I'm fairly sure it was HR putting in all the blocks and obstacles as well.... So for once we have unaimous agreement.... Just when that looked impossible.

Just to go into a bit of finer detail..... about 9 weeks back Shared services credited my LSL back, which left me with all of my LSL and all of my sick leave. Whereupon HR started to email my local managers saying that they couldn't credit my LSL without their written application, which no one had heard off before...... on top of the usual forms.... in other words they chucked a wobbly because Shared Services acted first. Not sure why Shared Services handles LSL and HR handles sick leave..... but there you go. So for the past 9 weeks I was expecting large pay deductions to pay for my LSL credit as it hadn't come out of my sick leave as carers leave.

So you guys are 100 pct correct on HR.

Beoz

Spot on Swervo. HR needs a new thread on its own. There could be pages of the dirty deeds these guys get up to.

And why are they almost always women? Manipulative, calculating, women?

GarryP

Human Resources - first against the wall when the automation revolution comes....

Let's face it, from the jobseeker's perspective - they are a hurdle to get past

From a manager's perspective - they are red tape merchants.

From a worker's perspective - they are part of the enemy.

A cost centre nobody would mourn the passing of.