ozzieeagle

I thought I'd post a photo that succinctly sums up one aspect of my locale.

These blokes (Senoirs) were sitting outside a coffee precinct... (about 5 'Authentic' coffee shops in one mall) Funny thing was everytime one turned their head they all seemed to do the same like Pigeons on a electric wire... The Wife and I cracked up. So much for one dimensional white Australia .... I love this..... Europe on my doorstep.. It might be a daggy picture, but hell it's authentic.

I've said quite often on these boards that when I go up to my local shops all I hear is Italian.... somedays it's only Arabic other days Greek sometimes Turkish....There's a language mixed amongst this that took me 20 years to figure out.... Macedonian.... Now we have plenty of Chinese moving in as well... Makes for great local shops.

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TiddlyPom

Cool shot Ozzie!

ozzieeagle

Only had my Mobile, Had to take it without the blokes noticing, they may well have objected, hence the Iron rail in the picture. I'm happy with it though as it really sums up daily life here.

TiddlyPom

It's nice. I like the fact that we're so multicultural here. I spent some time recently at a Serbian Australian wedding. That was interesting!

ozzieeagle

That would have been great. The bloke that did some cash work for me on my TV points, Aerial and Foxtel dish told me a great tale about his time playing for Partisan Belgrade... reckons he played at Old Trafford in a Youth Comp in 1965. Some very interesting Ethnic characters around. I really enjoy watching them mix.

I've been to Maltese and Italian weddings, nothing from Eastern Europe yet..

chris955

I can't say I have ever heard that said ? Why do some refer to it as 'multicultural' here but when speaking about somewhere else it's 'bloody immigrants everywhere' ?

moneypenny20

Did the chap in the striped polo smell?

koalakim

We've done a few eastern european weddings, Bosnian, Serbian and Macedonian. The Macedonian ones are mad with a capital M....it starts at 7.30 in the morning with drummers at the brides house, there is singing, dancing, much merriment and whisky, lots of traditional stuff like baking of bread, the best man barters for the bride and then at the reception heaps more merriment and dancing and whisky! Mad but fun and it's nice in a way to see these traditions are still kept alive. The music drives you a bit mad by the end of the day though!

I guess it what makes Melbourne, the mixture of cultures and we wouldn't have great coffee without the Italians!

I think it suits people to say multicultural is good when immigrants bring something good to a country, prepared to work hard, settle down, fit in, don't cause any trouble etc the other phrase used for immigrants is when they go to a country suck the benefit system dry, don't give anything back, take jobs by undercut on pricing or accepting lower wages, cause violence etc etc which obviously happens in the UK a lot.

A lot of the eastern european people here were refugees from the war and came here via Germany with nothing. However, a lot of business and trade is kept within their communities so we were very surprised when we were asked to do these weddings!

Grayling

Indeed...the double standards on here are staggering at times

jad n rich

I think the reason I feel 'comfortable' in melbourne is its like where I grew up, very multicultural or as some on here would say full of bloody immigrants - ( like us then! ).

However first time we arrived in melbourne my kids were expecting palm trees and beaches ( thanks to aussie father ) anyhow its its melbourne winter and they thought we were in Camden Town London

cresta57

Looks like he's just lifted his leg & dropped a fart.
Bloke in the checked shirt said "Christ che puzza!"
Bloke in the flat cap dropped another & the bloke on the end said "μυρωδιές όπως τους ναυτικούς".
To which the other bloke in the cap said "Don' la mirada de t ahora pero ese wanker inglés está tomando nuestro cuadro"

BadgeIsBack

Is it a double standard when both countries are good - like local doctors taking patients at short notice?

It's implied that Australia is one-dimensional, not in so many words.'The UK has more to offer; it has more dimensions'.

I see an injustice here; Ozzie is at least contributing, and positively, too. When people are whinging about migrants they are setting themselves up. Furthermore, Ozzie applauds the migrant population of S London.

One single, common standard is finding fault consistently at the expense of one country and many people do it. That is staggering, IMHO.

moneypenny20

It irks me that someone is unable to say I've just got back from xxxx this is my opinion without someone else whittering about the same thing happening in xxxx. Why can't someone just be allowed to voice an opinion about a specific time/place/event to them?

BadgeIsBack

Agreed. It's an injustice and otherwise ignorant.

Can't you just ban them? ;-)

I say: let's have some justice on this forum.

Can I put up a load of money for petty transgressions?In good faith.

jad n rich

Well unless its us having a a laugh at Badge saving his village