Gordon Barlow

Well, so far so good... I am mildly concerned about a weird lizard-looking creature the size of my hand that is loose in the house. I wonder which BE member put it there. Not funny, man!

Actually, I have several local enemies from the bad old days when I got on the wrong side of the local politicians. I was Manager of the Chamber of Commerce at the time, and we beat back an attempt to introduce an income-tax. Such a thing, in a famous offshore tax-haven! I'd like to say all is forgotten and forgiven, but it's not. Ah well, that's a story for another day and another place. Sigh...

Gordon Barlow

Okay. This will be my last post on this thread. I only started it to explore why this Forum lagged so far behind its Canadian equivalent. Are The Barbie's moddies less encouraging than the Maple Leaf's? Or are immigrants to Australia less sociable than those who go to Canada? Or what?

I'm not going to put my head in a noose by blaming either the moddies or the immigrants. I'd be on a hiding to nothing! Expulsion by the mods or cold shoulder by the members! Instead, I will blame the failure of The Barbie's thread-starters to nurture their babies. In forums like BE's, it's not enough to just ask a question or raise a topic. You have to follow up with additional questions or comments - as people do at real backyard barbies. This thread here attracted 130 comments and 11,300 visits in its first six months. That's good going, for what was a pretty boring title. Still, it seems to have run its course once my nurturing stopped, so it's time to close it down. The mods could do the nurturing, but they don't see that as part of their terms of reference. They exist to keep the sheep inside the ropes, and that's all. Maybe that needs to change, if this Forum lags behind once more.

I'll probably keep an eye on this thread, and this Forum; but probably not to contribute. Life's too short. Cheers.

Retirednow

Everybody has migrated to the ‘other’ forum.

Amazulu

Yes - and we can pronounce about properly

On the other hand, any country that would elect someone like Justin Trudeau is never going to be as successful as Australia - and then there's New Zealand and Jacinda Ardern.............

DeadVim

They are all just WEF puppets at this point, time for the proles to wake up.

Unless we want to collectively sleepwalk into the decline of Western Civilisation.

No pressure but your kids are ****ed if we don’t pay attention to lessons from history people.

Big Galah

Back in the day forums had places for social discussions that I guess have been replaced by social media now.

I joined BE as a 34-year-old (how young I was!) back in 2004 while living in a flat in London, putting my application together. (I remember Pollyana giving me advice on the police check that seemed to be taking some time.)

The main driver for my application at the time was a pregnant Aussie partner who wanted to come back. Today the baby of that pregnancy started her HSC exams.

We lived in Canberra for a short while at the end of 2004 and moved to Sydney in 2005 when I got a job, and we've been here since. I don't know what prompted me to come back here to BA today, the stat says my last login was Aug 13th 2015. I think it's about what I want to do next. I wouldn't completely rule out going back to the UK, or doing something else. I have a job, the first permanent one in years, and maybe that's given me a little more space to think about the future rather than worry how long my contract is going to last. Dunno, feel a change is coming, or at least needed.

Hutch

After you've found your feet and worked through the administrative hassles of moving to another country there's not much need for it, particularly if you view yourself as a migrant (permanent) rather than an expat (temporary). To be honest, the occasional visits I make here I'm always amazed it's still around - seems like a throwback - I guess most have moved to social media. After a while, a few years into the move, I used to only show up out of habit. Threads I posted in turned into punch-ons because most of the active forum users at the time I was most active here (more than a decade ago now) were right-wing or very right wing and I can't be done with vile hate-filled people in my life. So I dropped this site, just like I dropped social media, and it has worked wonders for my mental health.

Luthien

I used to post regularly but there were occasional petty nasty comments that were unnecessary.

Rainydaze

I’m pretty sure no-one remembers me, I plagued this forum when I was processing my spouse visa application 14 years ago.

But I have never forgotten the invaluable advice and support that helped me secure my PR. Pollyanna, you spring to mind especially.

I do remember many of you, and I just want to thank you and wish you all well on your journeys.

Social media killed the Internet forum star. But I am another one who prefers the anonymity and relative sanity here. Sad to see the smaller footfall, it’s like an analogy for the death of the High Street.

I’ll try to pop by more frequently x

Good luck to you!

old.sparkles

Good to see you both dropping by.

Rainydaze. Pollyanna is still around and posts fairly regularly.

Rainydaze

Thankyou old sparkles :-)

Yes, anyone who takes the time to help someone navigate emigration is a saint in my eyes. Saint Pollyanna!

I don’t think people appreciate the wealth of information and support that BE gives. I kept all my visa application paperwork as it was, hands down, the single most difficult personal admin I ever had to undertake. Personal highlight was surely trying to translate Arabic arrival stamps on my passport :-D If I had to compare it with childbirth, I’m not sure that the labour and the pain was any less. True story!

So sincerely thank you all.

Pollyana

Yep I'm still around though much less active now the forum is a shadow of its old self Always good to hear from people who used to post back in the day!
I recently shredded all the paperwork from all my dealings with Immigration over the years, an absolute mountain, and so much of it was duplicated as well.

Rainydaze

Familiar faces in forgotten places Pollyanna. When I posted yesterday, it was seeing some old names that drew me in.

Who knows, maybe things will perk up again, the world has been through some crazy times in the past several years, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more emigration from all directions.

I still have my visa paperwork, even though I don’t need it, it was hard-won! But yes, the duplication was ridiculous. I do believe we had witnesses to witnesses on some of it lol

Gordon Barlow

Last week, Hutch pointed out the distinction between "expat" and "migrant" (immigrant). It's an interesting point to make. Hutch, I've taken the liberty of raising it in my Rest of the World thread. I hope you don't mind; it seemed appropriate to put it under the heading "Back in the Day". Cheers.

abner

To my mind most recent "expats" on this forum have mostly been "migrants" or "migrants-in-progress", even if not necessarily landed in their final home, but not necessarily looking at getting back to their home country either.

There are still some colonial-model expats doing the rounds at executive levels to round out major MNC careers--my parents were neighbours of one recently, who worked for VWAG--but I doubt they hang out on BritishExpats.com.

I wouldn't worry about the distinction too much in practice. Transition from one to the other can be subtle, and perhaps unplanned.