when as a state age pensioner returning at age 70+ you suddenly find your state pension doubles immediately because living in the colonies it was frozen (not indexed) from when you reached pension age

You know your in the UK when........ you get the feeling that you belong.

I talked to 'my guy' yesterday, but had to stop. I bought him coffee and we sat in the watchers area! His circumstance is not something I will discuss here. No matter how anonymous he still has his pride. He was genuinely without resource-and in fact it was nothing that he had done per se, it was an enduring set of circumstances that caused his fall from his personal grace.
He told me about so many others and how they coped, but he started to cry when I referred to the scum who use the system for their own ends.

He asked me 'do you think we're all like that?'. How do you answer? He did say 'you'. So I said no.

I know we all enjoy recreation at different levels. (I mean how much money our leisure pursuits cost). However for me, there is no interest in men in boats rushing around, then hugging each other, and being referred to as heroes.
Today (Aus) we have respite from boats. It is 'footy'. There is a cup? grand? final on today or tomorrow. We are enjoying the spectacle of coloured scarfs/woolly hats/painted in team colour faces/cakes baked in lurid team colours, blah blech.
It goes on in any country I'll grant, but the world can go to hell in a handbasket whilst this raucous spectacle goes on.

Domani or the next day, peace will break out. (And I DO know that in this pressured life we have to find a way to relax and enjoy, but nothing else seems to matter. It is all consuming).

That came as a bit of a shock, until I realised I read excitement as excrement!!

Just filled in the bit you missed kiddo!

There seems to be a marked reluctance to acknowledge this. The focus seems to be on those who realise they made a mistake and return to Australia. (I was going to put to 'wherever', but see this as a particular Australian trait...)
Some DO return. Others....are actually happy to be 'home'.....
(You know you're in Oz when....)

I would love to add to the thread title, but agree that I won't know until I get there.
I'll give it a while, then post obs.

Yep, I can go along with that one.

when the whinging poms have returned back from the UK

Naughty boy...

Its that simple, isn't it

Yes, forget about all the Daily Fail nonsense, the bedroom tax, the pavements alledgedly covered in canine excrement, it really is that simple.

Mine rose by seven pence a week . . . from 18 to 25 pence a week in small increments!

You should have made full NI contributions instead of opting for the married woman's reduced rate !

when wearing rose coloured glass

I can't wait to get there in three weeks time, I shall make sure i am wearing my wellies though, to protect my feet from the sea of dog poo that will no doubt greet me.
Funny how things must have changed in the last 6 months, I don't remember having to play "jump the turd" last time I was home.

you promise to post your first back in the UK whinge experience

Yep, but I wouldn't suggest holding your breath.....my UK whinge list is usually millions of lines shorter than my Aussie one!

IF (a very big IF) you can afford it initially, it makes sense to defer your pension at the outset when you live in one of those colonies.

You will still get the indexation until you claim and get a 1% uptick for every five weeks you defer.

If you think you are going to live to a hundred and ten then so much the better.

Better to do it legally than get somebody to create the illusion that you live in the UK when you don't .