bullshit...what village is that then, i never seen that even in London, tell your friend she is mistaken as you have to put used needles into a special plastic box that cannot be re-opened.

You are funny....

'having a laugh at work'
I spent 180 dollars on a complete set of fools and horses dvd's from amazon- I think my USC wife laughed once throughout
Even when damien appeared at the foot of the bed and rodney said 'caz i locked the bedroom door' - and all the omen music started playing -
even that didnt work
Some comedy works transatlantic but not much - nearly all UK comics from Brucey on have failed in the US

Simpsons is the exception and that's universal
Stan Laurel and Bob Hope worked - and Python worked as they thought he was weird (without getting all the jokes)

Most PC place in the entire milky way is new zealand.
eg They have breath tests in little suburban steets - you lower your window and say your name to a microphone /sampler - it flashes green and they wave you on - they dont even check your name or license - mass testing and so quick - its done in 5 seconds
They have signs at the side of the road which say 'If you drink and drive you are a bloody idiot' - no mistaking that and it doesnt stop at drink/drive

I digress, yes the point that you will never really relax to the extent that you are in a familiar pub with a friend you have known for 25 years and who has the same accent as you, and worked in the same place and knows the same people as you - is true I reckon.

You can't just pick up friends like that in 2 or 3 years

Next week I will be in Harrogate and talking to a couple of buddies I have known since 1981. We will be drinking Timmy Taylor's championship ales and eating salt and vinegar crisps and talking about 'that woman fantasist , what was her name - she worked for you in 1985....'

That is power relaxing, and that is why almost all my holiday budget is devoted to return trips - I can have it all at the moment

box/bag whatever - the point is that most, even rural villages in the UK, have a drug problem. It's all over in all levels of society. It is in the US too of course.
My main point is that someone returning to the UK after a long absence might think that it is still how it was - but it isn't - and drugs is one of the things that have changed. Your reference to the special plastic box acknowledges that this is so. There were no such in 1969

A further indication is the money laundering regs aimed at drug dealers/terrorists - no such regs were needed back then but they are now.
The returnee cannot just quickly open an account any more.

The terrorists who killed 50 people in London on the underground were born and lived within 5 miles of me - a bunch of good old yorkshire lads... that would not be within the experience of someone who left 30 years ago

an awful lot has changed for such returnees, and yes they do need visit and check it out in depth first

and finally the biggy - they need a pound coin for their supermarket trolley at morrisons !

Being born and raised in NZ and starting my first job there, I was surprised when I moved to the UK at how much people stopped and chatted, holding full blown conversations when they were supposed to be working. I was happy to join in, and I think it makes for a more pleasant work environment. At my NZ place of work we did socialise after work (which is unusual in some sectors), but not actually at work. It was much stricter. Of course that was 23 years ago so it might have changed.

I think that is a bit of a sweeping statement. I work with teenagers (1500 at the last count ) and it is rare to find problems with drugs . When you say all levels of society I assume you must include people like me. I know no one who takes drugs. I work and socialise and drug taking is just not there. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but I think you are overly generalising. I have to say that I have never seen a syringe box or bag either, and I have travelled the UK quite a lot.

I don't know about NZ, but I don't think cubes help for a pleasant working enviroment. Personally I chatted a lot more and worked a lot harder in the UK, nobody finds it rude that you are having a conversation with someones back while they type away. Nobody ever makes you a cuppa here when your busy either.

It doesn't help that I'm a Yorkshire lass and therefore extremely sarcarstic, whats that I hear the Yanks say...

I've kept away from these boards for 16 months as I thought they would make me more homesick, this is actually cheering me up though.

I prefer the friendlier work environment here. I can't claim I work better or more efficiently but to honest it means a better quality of life for me personally. But each to their own of course.

ps, dragging it back to the original question, , I may well go back to NZ one day. Both countries have their positive points, although it may well have changed a lot in 23 years!!!

The English are sarcastic and derogatory and poke fun at everything and everbody, and it's all in good humour really - but 'they' don't know that. It's our style and we are really very nice but they will never know.
A Yorkshire lass or lad is that with nobs on times 10
When we call someone a bandy bald git it's amongst the highest expressions of love that one human being can have for another - but I urge caution when talking to the female human resources manager in those terms

Very PC and I believe the highest per capita suicide rate for young men in the world...

But a lovely country/climate

Auckland reminded me a bit of Toronto but with a sparkling warm sea and palm trees

My watch is at the bottom of the sea at the jetty at rangitoto island

add that up, and it comes to..... super for a visit but dunno about full time....
ok if you have dunroamin coz its a long way from anywhere except ...shhhhhh

The English are sarcastic and derogatory and poke fun at everything and everbody, and it's all in good humour really - but 'they' don't know that. It's our style and we are really very nice but they will never know.
A Yorkshire lass or lad is that with nobs on times 10


The fact that 'they' don't know that and never will leads me to believe I will never make true friends here, everyone probably just thinks i'm rude.

And yes I never get to say Yorkshire Lass, so will use it on every possible occasion.

I vote 10 bob and a pickled egg to that ! but there is more to life than friends...

there is ....lovers !

Got that one with me, and will have if we stay here or the UK. Nobody to complain about him to here though

As if you would

When I first got together with my missus she used get really angry with me if

I called her 'chicky chunky' or 'popsies'

Everyone knows those are terms of endearment ?

She is still doing the exercise bike 3 years later as she thought there was a hidden message

Men don't have enough brain cells to hide anything in - except motorbike specifications etc !

Once women realise that they will never be upset again

When she told me she was really pissed - I thought she had been at the sherry or something and she wanted me to drive

Seriously, for anyone who suffers homesickness (woops back to the thread subject), one HAS to develop a strategy to cope.

Anything from listening to BBC on the internet, watching cnbc europe video, buying 'little britain' dvd's from amazon or even getting 'tother half' to agree to do a few years in angleterre in a few years time.. everyone is different and so it's an individual thing

This motorbike gang of geriatrics that I hang out with are finally getting to like me after a year -- so me ignoring them looking at me like i am the alien that I am, will work out in the end i reckon

I was even friends with a Scotsman once