Something that could have stopped me from moving here? If I knew I'd still have to hear about Jade Goody!

Quorn doesn't have a point. I have tasted mushed up paper with more flavour and texture. (it was a secret message and I had to swallow it before it exploded )

Give me a good bacon buttie any day

I actually don't miss it now, I used to live on it in the UK..... I don't eat pig cow or Chicken.....

Isn't that THE point, it isn't supposed to be meat, is it ?
Otherwise they may as well eat meat...

To tiddlypom. Your message in reply to this thread made me

To those that say things like this - why do you think you are not attracting, interesting, or meeting like-minded people? Genuine question.

Lasy night we were the only Poms on an 'all-Australian' table which represent some of the people we share our lives with..(etc etc). On the table were 2 Australian PHDs, infact everyone had a degree. Everyone has had a balanced life, a professional life mixed in with it's practical, hands-on application, and their sense of humour matches their intellectual and practical pursuits. Noone is so immersed in their personal fog of academia that they can't manage to get their noses out of a book. One bloke with a History degree is both an ambo driver and firefighter and also manages 20 acres. Another has a vineyard and is a senior administrator at Monash. One of the PHDs studied Computational Relativity but is a seriously good athlete and footballer and is the No2 in a finance company. He is also a wine buff and really knows his stuff.

A good night was had by all and the kids had a ball.

The day before, we were over at the house of a family we know who build custom bespoke $175k sports cars for overseas clients - their house is a watchword for creativity and certainly inspires my wife. Both really into aesthetics. All travel overseas for work and pleasure.

And - none of them are god damned hippies.

Why do I get all the luck? It effing beats me.

In my experience, it tends to be the better educated and well traveled Aussies that are the most intelligent and cultured - there are exceptions of course.

So he's a crook then.

The ease of travel to, and cultural diversity and scenery of Europe. It cannot be matched in Australia

Cynic

Good bloke. Been trying to make himself redundant for years but they like him too much.


What make the situation definitely criminal is that he works from home replying to a few emails a day in a consultancy capacity. They like to have him around.

No prizes there mate(!)

Couldn't agree more. In 2000 I ran an engineering company and we brought 26 Australian engineers over to the UK for a major infrastructure programme. They had a great work ethic and, when questioned why they were happy to work nights in the cold and rain the answer was simple - on their days off they could hop on a plane, travel for an hour and experience a significant number of different cultures and languages which was just not possible in Oz. However, in the same way it is going to take me a long time to get bored with Oz!!

IMO conversation doesn't necessarily have to be intelligent, but interesting.

A couple of examples. There's a dad at school who was trained, at a young age, to become a butcher at Queen Vic Market and he has some fascinating stories to tell. There's another dad who has a great insight into the arts and is gifted at photography - partly coming from interesting life experiences. To look at them, you might think they are bogans - and perhaps they are - but entertaining and enlightening most certainly.

Agreed.

Lighthearted answers please. No depression on this thread