This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the same?
 

I was forwarded this email by my Aunt. She's a Brit like me but has lived over here in Melbourne for nearly 35 years, since she was about 30.

Here it is:

"An American decided to write a book about famous churches around the world.

So he bought a plane ticket and took a trip to Orlando , thinking that he would start by working his way across the USA from South to North.

On his first day he was inside a church taking photographs when he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read '$10,000 per call'.


The American, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what the telephone was used for.

The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 you could talk to God.

The American thanked the priest and went along his way.

Next stop was in Atlanta . There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the same looking golden telephone with the same sign under it.

He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in Orlando and he asked a nearby nun what its purpose was.

She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 he could talk to God.

'O.K., thank you,' said the American .

He then travelled all across America, Europe, England, Japan, New Zealand.
In every church he saw the same looking golden telephone with the same '$US10,000 per call' sign under it.

The American decided to travel to Australia to see if Australians had the same phone.

He arrived at the Gold Coast, in Australia and again, in the first church he entered, there was the same looking golden telephone, but this time the sign under it read '40 cents per call.'

The American was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign. 'Father, I've travelled all over the world and I've seen this same golden telephone in many churches. I'm told that it is a direct line to Heaven, but in all of them price was $10,000 per call.

Why is it so cheap here?'

The priest smiled and answered, 'You're in Australia now, son this is God's country - it's a local call'.
KEEP SMILING

If you are proud to be an Aussie pass this on!"


This is just an email. I know it is not intended wholly seriously.

But I hear people in Australia echo these sentiments fairly frequently. You know, the whole 'why would you want to live anywhere else' thing.

It drives me nuts.

If housing here were dirt cheap, your groceries cost next to nothing, if there was never any violent crime, if the weather was perfect all year round, if the people were polite and friendly at all times, if your utility bills were negligible, if everything that was available in the UK was available here, if filling up your car didn't mean emptying out your wallet, if every trades-person did their job perfectly first time, if the streets and cities were spotlessly clean without mile upon mile of graffiti.....

......then I MIGHT be able to see where the Aussies who are in love with Australia and think it's better than everywhere on earth are coming from.

But (in my humble opinion at least) it is NO BETTER than most other western countries. It is NOT better than the UK. It has certain advantages over the UK (like GENERALLY better weather, but certainly not radically better if you live in Melbourne or Tasmania) but equally the UK has certain advantages over Australia such as proximity to the immense cultural melting pot and diversity of Europe, beautiful GREEN (as opposed to yellow) countryside and infinitely better television and radio programming and broadcasting. The UK rises and falls whereas in Australia you seem to have this relentless, single-storey flatness.

Anyone take my point?

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

I do take your point, but for some reason it doesn't bother me.

I've been here 30 years as well, I dont think it's gods own country. However if plenty of people think that it is then "Good on erm" It's better than negative negative negative.

Beleive it or not the whole country doesnt think like this, it just seems that way after the UK, which is a particuarly negative country.... and that drives me far madder than what we have here.

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

I hear you

But remember the old saying "ignorance is bliss"?

There are a hell of a lot of blissed-out Aussies, especially in Queensland.....if you catch my drift.

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

double post

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

Yes true and WA, but let erm get on with it in their ignorance.

I dont think I could stand living amongst the really one eyed mob. Melbourne is fine though, there is enough balance amongst most people here.

Tell you what really made me mad, was watching Notting Hill all those years ago, and realising how the characters were portrayed as weak cringing apologists, made my bloody skin crawl. I realise most in the UK arent like that, but hell there is an undercurrent of people that like to flaunt their weakness as a badge of honour.

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

More important do you get their point?

It may not be the right location for everyone but it is for them and good on them for being proud of it.

Maybe your fixation is on why can't everyone be miserable for the reasons you mention? Perhaps its because those inconveniences in life are not material to "them".

This reminds me of American friends who complain about the English countryside - narrow roads & roundabouts. They expect to see a 6 lane highway to get from point A to point B, whereas I prefer enjoying the journey. No right or wrong just different point of view.

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

Kind of. Pride in your country, though commonplace in America and even dare I say it, Scotland and Wales, isn't so common in England. The email's a round-robin modified and sent out to big up various different countries, such as Wales, Canada, India, Scotland, New Zealand, Yorkshire(!) and ermm, Tobago. So, yea, they have pride in their country - which is akin to admitting you're a paedophile if you're English.

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

It's nothing more than an excellent piece of jingoism of the highest order. This sort of thing used to irritate me at one time, but now I just shrug and laugh at it.
Ignorance is indeed bliss.:D

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

So why would we want to live anywhere else we is here aint we :D

I am pleased that Australia is getting an identity and people who come to live here are proud to be Australian, if that is not going to happen for people then they really should not come and use the country up. If I returned to Britain I would be proud too we have to love where we live otherwise what is the point nearest tree and hang ourselves.

:D

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

Why shouldn't they be proud?

If it wasn't a better place to live than say the UK, why would so many of us spend so much to get there and get away from here?

Good for them I say for being proud of there homeland. Maybe if the British had been the same our country would be a better place to be and we wouldn't want to leave in our thousands, and not just for Australia.

I cant wait to get to Oz and see for myself why they are so proud.

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

Something worth thinking about.... more Australians now leave on a permanent basis than ever before and in recent years the numbers of Australians leaving has surpassed the numbers of migrants returning home for the first time in Australian history.

They're not all so proud that they remain here.

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

I thought you were gonna say their driving!:lol::lol:

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

It mostly annoys me when it's people who have never been anywhere else - they don't know any different. (Ignorence is bliss again)

Re: This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts about Aussies...do you feel the sam
 

I get the point, but like Ozzie, it doesn't bother me and that applies to many of the 'stock' complaints, frankly.

Maybe ignorance is bliss sometimes. There are people who are ignorantly blissful in far worse places.