Marmalade

I suppose with every kid, what they are used to is where they want to be. I know even when I moved to another part of town when I was 12 really upset me, and I wanted to be with my old friends, neighborhood etc. Didn't like my new house and lack of good friends at the other end of town. So, I can see where they are coming from with all of what they have had to put up with in a 'foreign' place to them. Interesting comment from your daughter, though. Being a kid and moving as a teen would be quite hard, I would imagine, no matter where you came from, and where you were moving to.

Exciting news about your dog

Exile

In the case of Perth, there seems to be social segregation in the suburbs. If you live in a nice area, your kids go to nice schools with other nice kids and you shop in the nice shopping centres.

Here, every town and many villages seem to have their posh bit and their rough bit. Everyone meets on the High Street on a Saturday. Then it really is in your face.

I live in a very rural area in the Cotswolds, very affluent. The primary school is full of aggressive, unruly kids with no respect for anything. They are a reflection of their parents.

The worrying thing is, this is now considered normal here. In the school survey, we were the only family to say that we disagreed with the statement "children are well behaved". I couldn't believe it.

USAGypsies

2p from me.
I've enjoyed reading Ezzies account. It's like peeking into another families life and who doesn't like doing that? Why else would wifeswap and supernanny etc...be so popular Has it altered my own plans to return the the UK in any way? No. Not in the slightest. I personally would slash away at my wrists before I lived in a rural and isolated location. I love quaint little villages with only 1 pub and a post office... to visit. Still I appreciate this is a kind of heaven for others.
Another point I ought to make is that I would not want Ezzies 'Australian life' either. It sounds very nice indeed, no doubt, however it's not for us. I'm sure there's plenty of others who would run screaming if I offered them my life lol

Part of the reason we are going back to the UK is that we want and need a broader plethora of things to do, so quiet country living would not suffice.... we may as well stay here. We need to speed back up, we need our minds stretched and we need to give our children lots of experiences and opportunities that the various locations we have lived in across the USA have not/will not ever provide. We're London/Herts people and we want to take our children to the theatre and museums, we want them to grow up with history surrounding them, we want to show them where their family is from and give them a strong sense of identity, belonging and background. We want to drive to France and Spain and introduce them to other cultures etc...... We've done these things with our eldest and truly believe he is a well balanced, compassionate and interesting human being for it.

Thank you Ezzie for sharing your viewpoint and allowing us to nose in.... and to everyone on here that is open enough to share and give us returning expats so much food for thought.

ezzie

That sounds really similar to where we are Exile! I watched some young kids pull over a large sign advertising the village pantomine the other day outside the primary school. All the mums just stood there watching...I couldn't believe it. Before I could say or do anything my kids said 'don't even think about it here mum'. They know in Oz I'd say 'come on kids, pick it up' but I figured they'd quickly hooked into the level of the kids in the area and knew it would be more trouble for me if I dared say anything. Very sad as this village is affluent, although it does bus in kids from local industrial towns for the high school.

So I don't know whether this behaviour really is worse than it was or whether I'm just getting less tolerant as I age! Adults here seem incredibly polite and thoughtful out and about - it reminds me of that letter written about 'youth of today being ill-mannered, lazy yobs and what's going to happen to society'...it was written in Roman times, so maybe it is me getting old!

I do want to be clear about my previous mention of 'underclass'. This does not refer to those living in poor areas, in council houses or whatever - I meant it to describe those who live permanantly off social benefits, have multiple children from multiple partners, spend money on booze rather than the kids, have no idea where their kids are or what they're doing...you get the picture. I've worked with smashing parents who are from the poorest areas and from the worst parents yet they worked hard to ensure they themselves did a better job for their own children. I have so much respect for these people. Then there's others where the hardest thing I've had to do was to hand their baby back to them, because to be honest, they really shouldn't be caring for a child when they couldn't care for themselves.

Well, sidetracked as usual...sitting up with a panting dog. Daughter who wants to be a vet has buggered off and gone to bed - her twin sister has taken her place on the night vigil. It's going to be a looooonnnnggg night!

cricket1again

So let me get this right. It's official. The UK has the worst reputation for schools being the source of corruption en masse and that this problem is unique to the UK.

I think I am correct in saying that most of us were shocked and saddened when we read this article just recently here in Australia.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...76-952,00.html

northernbird

Where does she say it is unique to the UK. If she doesn't have exposure to that kind of thing in Australia to suddenly have exposure in the UK must be quite shocking. She isn't actually saying to doesn't happen in Australia just that she doesn't see it. There is a huge difference. FFS its about time you got off your high horse and stopped picking holes in everything she says just because you don't have those experiences.

fuschiagirl

As he/she said

cricket1again

Did I say she said it was unique to the UK? In fact she hasn't. But she has suggested it is much more prevalent in the UK and this is her reason for considering a return to Australia.

As it's Sunday I'll go back to my naughty corner right now and practise my muskateer skills. I know I'm one of three that has challenged Ezzie's findings. I think Flea is the other. Can't work out who the other is.

BTW, the Sheffield forum has some much more positive posts on the more upbeat side of British life.

rabsody

She's said plenty of positive things about British life, as well as mentioning the things she doesn't like. Nowt wrong with that. 'Balanced' is the word!

Nu-Shooz

Hey it might be me LOL, but i'm not bothered it's all about free speech, we tend to forget that i suppose. I can take it on the chin, i've experienced worse, my MIL infact

I still enjoy reading these posts, we can all still argue and disagree, but what will be will be and i like that too

Bevm

Okay, I'm curious. If a pub was regularly serving underage drinkers, would no one report them? Or is it that nothing would be done if it was reported?

Bev

rabsody

There used to be one pub in town where we used to go that we knew pretty much would serve us underage drinkers. The rest of the clientele were of our generation so unlikely that anyone would report them. Not sure if it's the same now of course (this is going back 20 years ).

rabsody

p.s. i think a lot of people have enjoyed your posts over the past few months too Cricket. you have had some very interesting things to say and I admire the way you've pulled yourself up through some really sh*tty times don't want you to feel like everyone is against you. you are a great contributor to this part of the forum, just like ezzie.

St.Georges Girl

I'm still waiting for an answer as to who is in this 'pack'.

Fleaflyfloflum

Dont waste you time on it G. You will never clear things up with people who have passive aggressive tendencies. They will never resolve issues by being direct and open.