Re: Why Do People Do This?
 

I am near tears laughing at cricket's description of the Gold Coast, it is indeed a paradise where the streets are paved with gold (shoes).

Re: Why Do People Do This?
 

LOL I was laughing at the Gold Coast description too! Most Aussie laugh when you tell them you are going to the Gold Coast for more than a week's holiday actually. It used to be the standing joke that you were going to win the lottery and move to the GC because all non GC Aussie know that it is BLING! personified. Cricket, it sounds like you are well out of it and heading back to normal life!

I think the Poms have a nasty tendency to self flagellation because the PC crowd have told them that they were naughty imperialists and they need to atone and atone and atone thus nothing they do or have will ever be worthy of any note.

My mum (in UK) was beside herself the other day because her appointment to get her pacemaker fitted had been put back 2 WHOLE WEEKS! Heaven forbid, she could be dead by then. Yeah right mum, and how much is this all going to cost you and how long have you actually been waiting for this? Two weeks huh. How much did you have to pay to go to the doctor last week ? Nothing huh? How much are they charging you to come in and insulate your roof space this week? Nothing huh? Oh yeah, really tough!

I come from a really nice place but I can imagine that if I came from the industrial midlands for example I could see that living in a holiday resort with sun, sand, sea etc could be a positive Utopia but similarly, moving to one of the "nicer" areas of England could be just the same.

I say good luck to anyone who has the balls to move back! Think of it as your mission in your returned life to spread the word that the UK rocks!!!!

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I say good luck to anyone who has the balls to move back! Think of it as your mission in your returned life to spread the word that the UK rocks!!!![/QUOTE]:thumbsup:

I too think that any of us returning to the UK should spread the word. From crickets description I think that non-believers should get sent to the Gold Coast for a few years until:
a) they realise the UK is great
b) like it so much they don't want to come back (we won't miss them anyway!)

ps cricket, how did you stand five years there? It sounds ghastly!
pps quote box not working. I don't understand why.

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here here, very well said, i agree with quite a few of the comments made on this thread, but I truly believe a lot of the reasons for leaving/returning to the UK are to do with your own background, the area/place you come from and oportunities and expectation that go along with it.

I find most people I have come accross that make comments like the UK is a 's***hole have either never left the place so don't haven't anything to compare it to or have never been there so go on heresay or reports or the there are the expats that came from not such nice areas of the UK and life has improved a great deal for them.

We are all so very different, for me moving has been a major learning curve it has been a one off experience for sure, but one, with hindsight I would have rather done with out. But 'hindsight' as we all know is a wonderful thing:unsure: if only we knew hey :confused: I for one would have appreciated what I had in UK and would never have left in the first place.

I am glad that I will get the chance to start again there....please house sell so I can go home:wub::wub:

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It's certainly true that some Australians are still very insecure about themselves in relation to Britain (and the rest of the world) and feel that they constantly have to justify themselves, often by making derogatory statements about others - it's a bit like the petulant teenager criticizing his parents!
Just be grateful you weren't born that way yourself and ignore the ignorant ones that are... It just says a lot about their immaturity as a nation. Hopefully it is something that will disappear with time.:unsure:

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I think there is a lot of insecurity and I think it comes from not being connected to a true identity. It's like they are scared of not being someone so they try extra hard to be important. I have never been to the US but I imagine it's similar.
I think it's because they are both relatively young countries still trying to lock into a solid feeling about who they are and where they've come from.
It's their own fault if they feel insecure. The War of Independance was all about cutting the apron strings with the parent country and in 1900's Australia, they did the same.
They've struggled ever since to emerge into a definitive culture. They are more defined by lifestyle and current trends rather than an individual nation of people.

Brits don't appear to have this identity crisis or lack of faith in their roots. Since the merging of the middle classes and a general overall sense of equality giving people better choices and standards of living, the Brits seem not to need to put on an act about who they are. A long history gives them a road map by which to define their origins and as we can't argue with history, it provides status and solidarity in terms of who we are.

So yes, perhaps with a few more 100 years of evolving and growth, things might change.

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The UK is great, I think it's just in our culture to moan and whinge about it. Maybe we could start a new movement and start singing the praises of the UK?!!!! Seriously, it is great here and sometimes I think it takes moving somewhere else to really appreciate how good it is. Also I often wonder about why so many rich and famous people from Australia don't stay there e.g Kylie/ Danni Minogue, Elle McPherson, Clive James, Dame Edna etc etc. Most of them move to London or NY. When I try and think of any famous people who have moved from the UK to Aus I can't hardly think of any- only Leo Sayer and I know Caroline Aherne did but then she moved back.

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Virtually every single person i've met since being back has asked me what I am doing back here, and then made negative comments about the state of things and the weather. Yesterday, it was my bank-manager. :) Maybe one day when i've given up the will to live I'll return to NZ.:rofl:

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This has long been the case(that OZ & Kiwi are the places to be) perhaps less so in London though as there is far more awareness of people from NZ and OZ hence not all have the wish to scuttle down under in what was considered by many i knew there as ok for visits but not to live. ,Being somewhat socially conservative was an often considered opinion expressed in various forms.

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True. I'm not saying this is representative of the whole of kiwi-dom, but, a few years back I attended a David Grey concert in Wellington. I liked his music and had seen him play a gig in Dublin on dvd. I thought it would be a great night. I get there and it was all seated on plastic chairs, security around the stage, and when David sang a song everybody politely clapped - whilst remaining seated! It was more like going to a piano concerto or something. Really weird.
David Grey actually made a comment "Come on you wild and crazy Kiwis!". Yeah, some people are very reserved.

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:blink: what does it say about britain that everyone i meet over here, that hears we came here from australia, says "why would you want to come here? its crap, are you mad???"

i think people in all countries around the world use a universal language to bag places, because thats what people do, and it makes for conversation!

i know when we leave the uk, my husband will moon over our scenic photos, of castles, and quaint villages and the like, and will extoll its virtues to every man and his dog that will listen, but the reality of life where we've lived is not castles and quaint villages, they're for a day trip...its chavs, and grafitti, and our posh riverfront flats constantly getting broken into by the neighbourhood kids and vandalised, etc etc...and they're all the things i am sick of over here...but what someone else said above, is ,at the end of the day, whether a place seems great to you or not, is all down to yourself and where you're at really...we've done the castles and history and stuff, but what we want now is on the "gold coast":eek: (now you'll all assume i'm a leopard print wearing ,gold shoe-d , fake nails/tan person...quite the opposite really:D) we've got kids and our families are in australia, plus we love the rainforests etc...
but it is hard not to bag a place your self, once you are ready to leave...
i find i want to do it, as it helps me separate myself from the things that i am fond of and will miss, by bagging where it is i want to leave, but this time i am trying not to do that, as i realise that its not britain that is crap (although it certainly has its areas) but that it doesn't suit my needs anymore...

i find people ask stupid things about anything you do ,though...for example when e were having our first child, someone asked my husband if it was too late now too abort it:blink::curse::thumbdown:
um..yes, i was 22 weeks and what an offensive and dumb thing to ask..
and then you get the old "why do you want to have kids?" and all those type negative comments...

people sometimes just like to say annoying and rude things in general, i have found ,in all parts of the world....

i have found in those situations, if i make it a competition to find the rudest, most stupid comment i can, it becomes more fun than annoying!:rofl:

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so true....:thumbsup:

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I get it all the time from both sides of the coin, whenever i mentioned we are going back to England!...from family who live in the UK(and have never lived anywhere else) and Canadians, who have never lived in the UK..say "wow! its expensive there, and crime, and houses..." and so on.Or from the British person who choice never to go back!!...

It gets a bit maddening that i always have to SAY my piece so they can see where i'm coming from and justify it in some way... its just never changed, and people will always say something!! that's just life. If we all agreed about the same things. Then it would be heaven LOL..

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I had someone exclaim shock and horror at the thought of my leaving Beautiful Boring BC yesterday. A long tirade I got, in fact, about what damage I was doing to the children, by ripping away from this lifestyle of pine trees, lakes, drugs, ignorance and isolation. Yes indeedy. I was interested to hear her perspective, as she mentioned her recent international travel as her basis for being so happy with her lot in the Wack. She went to Seattle and then to Puerto Vallerta on an all in package trip. First trip ever, in fact. Never been to the UK. BITE ME.

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I guess it's all about perspective and what makes you happy. I live in australia but my heart never left England.
The problems a lot of people describe such as crime are now universal problems that are happening in just about every community in most parts of the world.
Like I said earlier, people focus on knife crime in the UK and judge the UK by this problem but no one ever mentions the lack of gun crime because Englands police do not carry guns. However gun crime in Australia is a problem as are muggings and theft.

I think the other problems people don't realise is that if you're unhappy in the UK, moving to another country won't necessarily fix the problem because often the reason many people aren't happy is in their head.
I can understand it if you live in one of the UK's black spots, but this does not and should not reflect on the rest of the UK. The only reason anywhere has it's black spots is because of the kind of the people who live there.
THIS IS EVERYWHERE and it's just as prevalent here in Australia. There are ghetto's, black spots, ugly people and difficult social problems that neither governments nor do gooders can fix because they are too deeply ingrained.

The Gold Coast, unfortunately, is not a family place. This has just been vigorously debated publically. The tourism board is desperately trying to promote the area as a great place for the whole family to have the perfect beach holiday. The truth is it's wider reputation for being the capital of sleaze and gambling has sunk the image of being the perfect holiday destination. Families have been shocked and appalled at what their children have seen and been exposed to during their holiday. Global business corporations keen to build some of the worlds finest resort apartments in order to encourage their business clientele to invest in their money, have walked away and built in places like Dubai and Indonesia instead.
I work here and I am shocked!

Anyway, for me personally, I have always missed my garden, the seasons, the warmth of solid friendships, the access to the countryside, the shopping and my own personal development in terms of my career and business.

I didn't choose to leave the UK, I stood by my Australian ex husband, followed him here, he did the most unimaginable thing, the rest his history. Now I'm getting ready to return home.