My Mum likes it - I think it's the pretty colours. She has a "Kenny" moneybox

Good job you put some smilies on this otherwise it might have been insulting.

You really are sanctimonious. Oh and here's the obligatory smiley

Sorry - i know some of you are too old to see past the fact that its a cartoon

No

Come on Rob dont beat around the bush now.

So that bit about Jesus....wasnt real??

I knew what it was, I just questioned your assumption. Somebody said it was satirical, I think ironic would be a better description.

Actually I said it was Satyrical....as in a woodland creature depicted as having the pointed ears, legs, and short horns of a goat and a fondness for unrestrained revelry.

so easy to get confused ,...now if you had said snotty cow .. I would know who you mean't

Sergio Garcia's Mom?

Not a golfer ........

South Park has the same appeal as the Howard Stern show: that of a bad traffic accident.

So you cant stop watching then?

The standard of living all depends on where you live, what pay you get and the relative price of housing etc. Here in the back of beyond, with hubby in a managerial position and housing cheap, we have more disposable income than I ever had in England – but with two teenagers requiring a car each and the insurance that goes with it – ouch!

So not true in our case.

It’s only the English people I know that moan about and take their vacation time. So many Americans we know only take a few days per year, around Thanksgiving etc, and are so proud of it!

Absolutely spot on, Elvira. Especially if you have to make trips for family illness/funerals, like I had to this year. Not a nice reason to be going back.

Again I wholeheartedly agree. I have found a few people I hit it off with, but only saw them at work. Even though I felt some rapport there, either they didn’t, or had other things to do when I suggested we get together outside work. Even English friends, once they’ve been here 5 or so years tend to get into that ‘other’ mindset. Of course, living in the Bible belt, I could always start going to church, I hear that’s a great way to make friends. But unfortunately it’s not for me.

Are you and I living parallel lives, Elvira? One of my daughters (14 at the time) moved over with me, the other daughter (17 at the time) stayed in the UK with her dad. She was about to finish school and head off to university, and I was hopeful she would come over and fall in love with it and move over – didn’t happen. She decided against uni, her dad got cancer and died this summer. Very sad, and my younger daughter (almost 17) decided to stay there. It’s terrible being away from both of them with no real safety net (i.e. parent) there, although there are other family members, but still. And I miss them so much. So what’s keeping me here now? My American hubby won’t consider moving over there, he feels he took 30 years to get to a good position in his company and doesn’t want to start over, plus he loses a good part of his pension package if he leaves. So I am high and dry, missing my girls and other family and friends in the UK and trying to decide how long I want to stay here, because if I leave, it looks like I leave alone.

There are other things to consider, too. I had hoped to travel but there is precious little vacation time as others have said. Living in a small town there is very little entertainment. When my daughter started at Junior High when we were first here, she said we must come to the high school football game on Friday nights. I should have guessed when everybody in the town was there – there’s nothing else to do! I love walking, but there are no sidewalks where I live, so I take my life in my hands if I walk along roads; and as for public footpaths across fields, in woods etc, they don’t exist where I live. We have to drive 90 miles to get that kind of walking. I love the countryside but it’s so inaccessible. On the positive side, we do have a lovely big house and open view but to me, that doesn’t make up for everything else.

Would I do it again? I would certainly think long and hard about it. I was generally very optimistic and very much encouraged by others around me, saying, “What a fantastic opportunity” etc etc. I think I didn't consider circumstances changing in the way that they have done.

Not just you and I, by the looks of things. Our kind of situation must be quite common. I know that children will leave home at some point, but when they move a continent away at such an early age, it is really tough. It must be infinitely worse for those in Oz, though - especially if funds for trips home are limited. So I try to count my blessings.