scrubbedexpat098

that goes without saying

Lorna at Vicenza

Aw come on - most of you lot are still arguing the toss between yourselves and have forgotten the TV programme.

What about those people, the street, what they say, what they do, their attitudes, their life, their kids?

bcworld

It doesn't work like that...each time you log in or post they reset the clock...it's very difficult to leave BE!

Besides, you shouldn't leave over what was merely a difference of opinion...and a pretty minor one in the BE scheme of things!

Grayling

Indeed.....it can get a lot worse than that

Molly Coddle

Well it wasn't so much the difference of opinion that bothered me. I mean I know I'm right and you're wrong!
I'm a woman remember, we are always right you should know that!

At the time I just felt I was getting persecuted for my opinion and you lot weren't. You know there's two sides to this battle, why did I have to get the beating?

Injustice was done! It naffed me off.....Anyway it's over and done with, time to move on.

paulry

You need to not use your account for a week/month too for it to work. As said before, it's a bit like Hotel California in here

Juicing is on pause for Australia Day and today - it being my eldest son's 19th birthday so we're going out for dinner tonight. Which reminds me, Swmbo's at work right now and it's my job to bake the cake

paulry

You should know by now that G never misses an opportunity to say it

paulry

There was a TV programme?

BadgeIsBack

When are people just going to realise that it all depends, and there is more than meets the eye. When someone tells me that their personal life in a location was not the best I tend to believe them. This is because we are all born in to different circumstances.

Chris cops it, but as a matter of fact I don't dispute Chris's happiness or the place he lives in because I am also somewhat shielded from the worst of Australia - in the way he is shielded from other parts of the UK but he also tells us that Australia was not the best start for him.

All this talk of right-wing/left-wing is cobblers.
A person's politics or even views can be a range of hues.

BadgeIsBack

Some people seem to politicise their migration more than others - some keep it to strict economic boundaries, others neither - just another opportunity.

British stewards have come up twice for me over the weekend in conversation - we had a bit of a laugh both times. I was actually talking to a 6th generation Australian today whose life is completely indistinct from the equivalent life he might have led in the UK. Some of the people who say Australians are very different to people in England, or would even level scorn would be pleased to meet him.

cresta57

I think you'll find it's not so different over here. Sure the sun shines & there are nice beaches. That's nice for holiday though not conducive to long a term commitment like migrating. Sun & sand don't pay mortgages & before Badge jumps in, neither do dolphins!
You were taken to task because, as any perspective migrant does, you need to justify your move. Running down the country you're leaving is one way of doing that. I've just come back from 7 weeks in Cleethorpes, well just outside. All the lads I grew up with have good jobs, nice homes & their kids have done very well employment wise. The town I left 11 years ago has changed quite a bit, it wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe though. Sure the demographics have changed somewhat. There are Poles, Afghans & many other nationalities in the shopping centre now & it's common to hear foreign tongues. Rather like Australia in many ways, it's become more culturally diverse. Refreshing in some ways particularly cuisine wise lol.
I was very happy living there before we came out here, I could be just as happy if we chose to return. Calling the country a 'cesspit of a mess' won't endear you to many of us who were quite content living there. Especially when you realise that no matter what the country it's the same sh!t, just a different bucket!

paulry

Yes, everyone's life stories are different which lead to one persons perception of a country being different to another's while both can be equally valid. My view of Australia is very Canberra-centric but I'm acutely aware that it's not at all representative of Australia as a whole. Likewise with Chris's little English paradise.

Whether we admit it or not, politics frequently plays a large role in emigrating, and because Western politics is largely confrontational right versus left politics , a left driven transformation of a country will alienate the right enough to make them want to move, likewise the opposite. And especially true if it's a permanent transformation such as those inflicted by the Thatcher and Blair/Brown eras. But maybe you see that as bollocks because it played no role in your emigration story?

cresta57

Politics played no part in my decision to migrate. It would be a bit silly to say "let's go live there because little Johnny H is a good PM'" Especially when you have no say in the govt for at least 4 years & they have these silly things called elections that put the mockers on who runs the show. just sayin'

paulry

That seems to trivialise it. I don't know your story but maybe it was trivial for you and you were lucky enough to be able to do it just on a whim.

Our situation was a little different to that. We'd often thought that we'd one day like to move to Australia but there was no strong driving force to do so and in any case I wasn't qualified enough to apply. But after two terms of Labour rule and into a third, the area in which we lived had changed drastically and irreversibly for the worse, the country was overspending and we could see the metaphorical train crash coming. Then there was the EU - whether we liked it or not, and the not very democratic future that it promises. So given the state of play, my wife and I decided to put the work in to enable us to take our family away from it and move to Australia. It was quite a mission to qualify for our visas (I had to study part time in the evenings for nearly 4 years to get the degree we needed) and it wasn't an easy move but now that we've settled we have no regrets at all. It was the best thing we could ever have done

chris955

Its never made any difference to us which party has been in whatever move we have made.