My Dilemma
Sep 8th 2009, 7:57 pm
#46
Bitter and twisted
Joined: Dec 2003
Location: Upmarket
Posts: 17,503
Re: My Dilemma
have you ever actually been to Sydney or Brisbane?
If you had you would not make such stupid staements.
Where, anywhere near central Brisbane or Sydney, is there free and plentiful parking or quiet roads?
....and I doubt if the other major cities are any different.
If you had you would not make such stupid staements.
Where, anywhere near central Brisbane or Sydney, is there free and plentiful parking or quiet roads?
....and I doubt if the other major cities are any different.
Sep 8th 2009, 8:09 pm
#47
Bitter and twisted
Joined: Dec 2003
Location: Upmarket
Posts: 17,503
Re: My Dilemma
As for UK produce coming from third world countries?? Utter rubbish! Yes, we might have to get bananas and other such tropical fruit and stuff not readily available in UK, we have no choice in that. He has obviously not done a lot of supermarket shopping in UK lately.
Ironic isn't it that the Iconic "Australian" BBQ food is prawns and most of them are imported from the Far east.. notably Vietnam
Sep 8th 2009, 9:01 pm
#48
Weirdo Latin Dude
Joined: Aug 2008
Location: Hotter than hell
Posts: 2,545
Re: My Dilemma
The real shocker for Brits is how much food and energy is going to cost there in 18 months' time when sterling bottoms out. Man alive you gotta see that one coming though, right? I mean buying food that has been imported on $200 a barrel oil, and paying for it with a pound worth half what it is now? You're going to be paying about £45 for a bunch of bananas soon.
I work in a business, which brings in clients from all over and not just from Europe. The main currency though is the Euro and 50% of peoples monies are in this currency, but the other 50% are usually in Sterling, Swiss Francs, Swedish Kronor, Norweigen Kroner and Russian Rubles etc. Most from time to time, usually complain about about their currency and its exchange rate along with prices in their own countries. The clients from the UK, complain no more than say someone from Sweden, point being, the current economic crisis has huge amounts of people seeing the grass greener elsewhere regardless of the country that they are from.
I`ve read a lot of stuff about the Australian economy on these threads, the good and the bad, but I imagine that its no probably no better than most other first world countries in this respect.
Sep 8th 2009, 9:03 pm
#49
I don't give a damn
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: In the arms of my family. Heaven...
Posts: 4,980
Re: My Dilemma
Sep 8th 2009, 9:10 pm
#50
Weirdo Latin Dude
Joined: Aug 2008
Location: Hotter than hell
Posts: 2,545
Re: My Dilemma
I'll say. London's reputation is sinking faster than the Lusitania! It also shares the dubious distinction currently enjoyed by a lot of Russian cities in that it is one of the few cities that is actually depopulating. What can be London's future but less of a city than it has been? It can't get better, can it? London and New York are yesterday's global cities. Tomorrow's are Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.
I`ll agree that the new financial centres of the future will most likely be out in the far east, but London and New York will always be the melting pots of the western world and therefore will always maintain their positions along with Paris as the three most important cities of the western world.
As for how a city improves itself, well that depends on certain criteria and being an economic centre is just one of them.
Sep 8th 2009, 9:12 pm
#51
Weirdo Latin Dude
Joined: Aug 2008
Location: Hotter than hell
Posts: 2,545
Re: My Dilemma
Its actually called clever debate, a ploy constantly used by politicians everywhere on a daily basis. Admittedly, things like honesty and integrity go out the door.
Sep 8th 2009, 9:32 pm
#52
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,848
Re: My Dilemma
The price of dairy products is outrageous (no cows here) and a pack of 4 small pots of Activia yoghurts costs - depending on flavour - between S$17 (GBP 7.23) and S$19 (8 pounds) - a Singapore dollar is very close to the Aussie $.
A UBS cost of living report came out a couple of weeks ago and Zurich is the most expensive city to live in, and Singapore is very high on the list too.
Sep 8th 2009, 9:38 pm
#53
Weirdo Latin Dude
Joined: Aug 2008
Location: Hotter than hell
Posts: 2,545
Re: My Dilemma
Well, I'm living in Singapore (also live in New Jersey) and it is extremely expensive to live here; being an island with no natural resources almost all food is imported and land/housing prices extortionate. Cars are the most expensive in the world here due to high taxation, although I see loads of Ferraris, Lamborghini's and Maserati's around, driven by the wealthy Chinese.
The price of dairy products is outrageous (no cows here) and a pack of 4 small pots of Activia yoghurts costs - depending on flavour - between S$17 (GBP 7.23) and S$19 (8 pounds) - a Singapore dollar is very close to the Aussie $.
A UBS cost of living report came out a couple of weeks ago and Zurich is the most expensive city to live in, and Singapore is very high on the list too.
The price of dairy products is outrageous (no cows here) and a pack of 4 small pots of Activia yoghurts costs - depending on flavour - between S$17 (GBP 7.23) and S$19 (8 pounds) - a Singapore dollar is very close to the Aussie $.
A UBS cost of living report came out a couple of weeks ago and Zurich is the most expensive city to live in, and Singapore is very high on the list too.
Eating out in Switzerland is not so expensive if you know where to go.
Sep 8th 2009, 11:01 pm
#54
Banned
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Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Somewhere dull. That'll be Australia then.
Posts: 648
Re: My Dilemma
I think people can like Australia for other reasons than the weather though, and this simplification is inaccurate and a little bit churlish. Yes, the weather is better and you get more land and house for your money, but there are other reasons. What about the amazing wildlife and scenery? The quiet roads? The free and plentiful parking? The absence of government spy cameras everywhere? What about the fact it has self-determination and the men and women you vote for actually run the country? How about the national pride in contrast to the tiresome self-loathing of the British? I think you are being too hard on Australia because you are trying to justify your decision to leave it.
This is hardly possible when I have not yet made a decision to leave it. And in any case, are there not PLENTY of people who are overly complimentary and effusive about Australia simply because they are there right now?!??! Possibly including your good self??!??!?
Sep 8th 2009, 11:06 pm
#55
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Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Somewhere dull. That'll be Australia then.
Posts: 648
Re: My Dilemma
I think people can like Australia for other reasons than the weather though, and this simplification is inaccurate and a little bit churlish. Yes, the weather is better and you get more land and house for your money, but there are other reasons. What about the amazing wildlife and scenery? The quiet roads? The free and plentiful parking? The absence of government spy cameras everywhere? What about the fact it has self-determination and the men and women you vote for actually run the country? How about the national pride in contrast to the tiresome self-loathing of the British? I think you are being too hard on Australia because you are trying to justify your decision to leave it.
Far from me seeking to run down Australia and promote the UK, I think you are a little too generous and glowing and trusting in your assessment of Australia.
Sep 8th 2009, 11:13 pm
#56
Banned
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Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Somewhere dull. That'll be Australia then.
Posts: 648
Re: My Dilemma
hereandthere is absolutely convinced that all the world's evils are more evil when they happen in the UK.
There was an article on A Current Affair, supported by an article in The Age, about how Australian produce is sold abroad cheaper than it is sold to Australians. It also mentioned how much produce (a lot) is sold in Australia that is actually from all kinds of countries and it is not necessarily at all clear from the labelling and packaging that that is the case. Naive shoppers assume it is Australian.
Australian produce is not always produced in very good conditions (in terms of soil) and so even ''fresh'' Australian produce is not necessarily that good.
There was an article on A Current Affair, supported by an article in The Age, about how Australian produce is sold abroad cheaper than it is sold to Australians. It also mentioned how much produce (a lot) is sold in Australia that is actually from all kinds of countries and it is not necessarily at all clear from the labelling and packaging that that is the case. Naive shoppers assume it is Australian.
Australian produce is not always produced in very good conditions (in terms of soil) and so even ''fresh'' Australian produce is not necessarily that good.
Sep 9th 2009, 3:47 am
#57
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2008
Location: Back home in Devon!
Posts: 45
Re: My Dilemma
We came back to UK in April. I can honestly say that all the doom and gloom peddled about the UK has affected us very very little. OH has secured a good job and is STILL being hassled by recruiters for other jobs. So unemployment doesnt touch our radar thankfully. Not saying its like that for everyone, but to blanket the whole UK job market as gloomy is untrue. It depends what you do.
The recession is actually saving us money and giving us the opportunity to buy up new goods on the cheap!!
Bought a fabulous 40 inch full HD Samsung TV last week for less than half the price it is in Aus!
The recession is actually saving us money and giving us the opportunity to buy up new goods on the cheap!!
Bought a fabulous 40 inch full HD Samsung TV last week for less than half the price it is in Aus!
I am really looking forward to the dark witner evenings and curling up in OUR NEW HOUSE which we have exchanged contracts on and move into 17th September.
I also work in recruitment and I have seen thigns picking up over the last month and I have also found a lot of the doom and gloom is just people repeating what other small minded people are saying!
Its all about positive thinking and taking opportunities that come up! We were so unhappy in Oz that we decided we were coming home no matter what and if we both had to work night shift in sainsburys - we didnt care!
Good luck with everything!
Claire
Sep 9th 2009, 4:10 am
#58
born to be mild
Joined: Apr 2009
Location: listerby,sweden (the back of beyond)
Posts: 177
Re: My Dilemma
I just got back from a month in the UK and would be back there in a flash given the opportunity. The doom and gloom is a fiction created by the media and adopted by people who have never lived anywhere else so have nothing to measure it again. They don't realise how lucky they are.
I read an interesting article on this site once that advised one to consider the reason one left in the first place before considering a return. Do these reasons still apply? If so, then it's highly unlikely that going back is the answer. If they don't then seriously consider it.
For us the reasons for leaving was for my husband to find a new job in his field and to be able to afford to buy a house. We couldn't consider going back until these are resolved no matter how much we miss it.
But our day will come and then we'll be back faster than you can say 'cup-a-tea and a slice of cake'.
I read an interesting article on this site once that advised one to consider the reason one left in the first place before considering a return. Do these reasons still apply? If so, then it's highly unlikely that going back is the answer. If they don't then seriously consider it.
For us the reasons for leaving was for my husband to find a new job in his field and to be able to afford to buy a house. We couldn't consider going back until these are resolved no matter how much we miss it.
But our day will come and then we'll be back faster than you can say 'cup-a-tea and a slice of cake'.
Sep 9th 2009, 5:07 am
#59
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 2,294
Re: My Dilemma
My son has just returned from Australia. He said the more he saw of Australia, the more it made him realise what a great place England is. He even tried living in different places in Oz, but said that Australia is boring.
He was shocked to find how expensive it is in Oz, yet the wages were much lower. He was earning nearly half of his London wage yet was doing the same job, although they worked at a much slower pace in Oz.
He too made a comment about how Brits would crowd into a bar to watch the real sport.
Perhaps the aussie life style suits older people more?
He was shocked to find how expensive it is in Oz, yet the wages were much lower. He was earning nearly half of his London wage yet was doing the same job, although they worked at a much slower pace in Oz.
He too made a comment about how Brits would crowd into a bar to watch the real sport.
Perhaps the aussie life style suits older people more?
Last edited by formula; Sep 9th 2009 at 5:25 am.
