Must be the booze, combined with tonights football loss. However I've found a fairly substantial negative in my otherwise very successful migration of 30 years plus.

It's the fact that the first 24 years uptil 1980 of popular culture and basic UK memories....from the bad..... Aberfan etc... to the good 66 world cup etc...has absolutely no relevance over here to the majority of people in my age group.

I still get quite excited when I can share decent shared memories pre 1980 with a kindred spirit.... Stupid things like Pirate radio etc.

The other side of the coin is Pre 1980 Aus means very little to me as well.... and thats probably even worse.

So whats the worst thing for you about being a migrant.

The separation of families is the worst thing about being a migrant imo.

Also, no matter how long you've been in Australia, every time you fill out some forms you have to identify yourself as a migrant and then explain the date you arrived and produce a citizenship certificate. I know it's not the end of the World... but it's annoying as a need for a never ending admission that you're not from around here.

Also, nobody gets it when you get excited about streams and crunchy snow and when you say "just like that" like Tommy Cooper said they just look at you like you're some kind of weirdo... so you try to explain about Tommy Cooper and Terry Wogan and how the blue tits used to peck the crap out of your milk bottle tops... and then they go on about how the trams used to run through Fortitude Valley and how the strawberry ice-creams at the Ekka have always been the same (and you think, whatever) and the paths of nostalgia are forever parallel.

That.

Hope this won't turn into a hate Australia thread... :-(

what I would say tho is I know how you feel re above having to show every piece of paper every time you do something. Also after nearly 12 years people thinking I've just arrived...ruddy accent! ;-)

Not until Chris turns up

Bernieboy did you see my thread about googling people's username and area where they're currently living? there were a few that made me smile

Yes,i am the Ace face Mod of London

You can't be, not enough mirrors on yer Scoot

Mirrors on a scoot do not an Ace Face make.

Thought that was all part of the image.......that and your green anarak

It's not an image,it's a way of life

I feel for the migrants 10 years ago + - an internet connection now makes every personality or TV star researchable in minutes - you don't even have to ask someone in the office. You can be up to speed in minutes.

I was never really into TV in the UK so I find I don't miss aspects of what people say - and I can choose whether or not I want to get into it here.

You're right.
When I first moved to Sydney I quite enjoyed getting up to speed. I pinned my ears back and listened to how both Rugby Union (rah rah) and Rugby League worked. I genned up on all the players past and present. Loved it.
My wife often asks me and I seem to know the answer - you pick it up.

However, I've always been a real believer in the international side of things - that is common to all countries. I find I don't have to rely on any one country's culture. Much of my interests seem to transfer across borders...like my aged collection of ahem magazines which I whisked through....

I've been here the best part of 10 years and I don't seem to have produce reams of paper - a passport, or a bill, seems to do the trick in the main.
My accent is fairly mainstream so no worries there.

The worst thing about being a migrant - can't think of one to be honest. I just see myself living here, in Melbourne, with ties to many other countries which I visit occasionally.

You really, really, must meet my husband he will definitely be your kindred spirit, there is nothing he doesn't know about football or music, you name the year!

Sausages.

Apart from family- not that I really miss them now dad is dead, the worst thing for me is the constant battle to get things to grow in the garden- I seem to have the worst soil, the messiest trees and the most destructive wildlife around! It is soul- destroying at times, and rather exhausting trying to garden in the heat. You just get your crop to within a whisker of being ready and the possums/cockatoos/fruit flies/rabbits/ hot sun/ torrential rain destroy it.

Having said that, the gardener's delight tomatoes have produced a small but delicious crop, only a few ruined, but having to water x3 per day.

I wish I knew more, was able to do the harder stuff like dig and mow - MS makes it hard to do anything for more than an hour. And I wish my OH could get a light lawnmower- the grass has not been cut for weeks- he is in work again today, and when he is off there are other things that take priority or it is too wet. I can't use the strimmer either or anything that vibrates, so it all has to be done by hand.

MEH.