pob

Thats a nice idea.

Funny. But I don't fancy driving my Golf back to Germany.

Leaving Australia

We are making plans to move back and we obviously need a car. We purchased an older Golf it's about 20 years old, nothing seriously wrong with it. We got it thinking that we would only use it a few months, maybe a year and get something newer. We never got around to buying that new car and have just driven around the old golf. It's tatty, got plenty of dings, a few scratches. But it runs great, starts on the button and gets us from A to B. The thing is we need a car until the end of our stay, so what should we do with it? Selling it is a hassle here, I REALLY hate all the haggling!!! Sell it for scrap? And then pay for an Uber to the airport? Just park it at the airport and forget about it??? Gumtree? Ebay? What do we do with a 20 year old cheap car? Any suggestions?

That is the kind of place I like to visit! I know it would not work for their tourist board, but that makes me want to go there.

@Toots I'm in Sydney NSW. From what I hear everything sounds quite nice in Tasmania. I should go out of my way to visit one day! @Marisawright We used to live in America. The healthcare system is quite disgusting! Everything is clean and nice and the care is very good. But people die due to lack of healthcare. Did you ever go into Wallmart? They usually have a greeter, a older person smiling and saying hello, lots of amusing badges on their waistcoat. I always wondered why you would have that job in your 80's? They have the job so they can get part of their healthcare/copay paid for. Being a surly kind of person I usually nodded or grunted hello and went about my business in the store, but after finding out why they have that job, I always smile and greet them nicely, pay them a compliment, try and make their day a little easier. The best place I had healthcare was the Netherlands, I paid my ZAO fee every month and everything was free after that. Fantastic hospitals and doctors. I have nothing bad to say about their system. But I am sure it is better somewhere else, but that is the best I have seen and used.

I would guess a lot of people compare Australia with where ever they come from. Lots of people join poms in oz for information, even down to their favorite variety of potato chip. It's a comparison, what do you prefer Twisties or Wotsits? Twisties win it for me, but neither are good for you. Ive lived in a few places and one of the things that really upsets me is the lack of or restrictive healthcare. I personally believe that healthcare should be free to all. I think it is a basic human right to free healthcare. After all, why pay your taxes if you don't get something back from it. Charging people for an ambulance and then what ever they do in the ambulance is added onto the bill, is wrong in my opinion. But that is just my opinion. I am clumsy though! Always breaking bones, getting cuts and what not.

Every time we see the doctor it costs us $100! When my wife needed pain medication she was denied it and told that pain is only a state of mind by the doctors. What she needed was a couple of days on morphine due to her injuries, what she got was a couple of paracetamol instead. In the hospital there was over flowing bins of bandages with puss and blood on them. I asked nursing staff if they would like me to remove the needles in my wife's arm because the way they were doing it was causing her pain and injury. Yes the NHS is far from perfect. But you do not need to pay to see a doctor do you. You would be given pain medication if you had shattered your leg and were constantly crying and the only time you stopped crying was when you passed out due to pain levels, which is dangerous.

I lived in Cornwall 20 years ago, Newquay, St Austell. Don't suppose you know a guy called Jason Lockett do you? Into his music. Summer is horrible full of tourists, but as soon as the kids go back to school and it is great. I would even enjoy the bad weather, I used to head to a pub called the walkabout and watch the storms through their big glass windows. You would feel the whole building shake!!! We lived in Australia ten years ago and returned a year ago. It's changed so much over the past ten years. I also have changed so much over the past ten years. It was always insular, now more so. There is a lack of foreign goods here. I'm not talking about mushy peas or prawn cocktail crisps, you can still get those if that's what floats your boat . It's other stuff like Quality Italian olive oil, I went to grab a bottle of Evian from the supermarket and only then realized hat there was only Australian water, the list goes on. The quality of day to day food items seems to have dropped. The Australians as a nation seem to be more nationalistic, there seems to be less foreign goods. We have been told that when covid hit this happened and it has stayed that way. My wife got sick and I saw how the healthcare system worked. It was then we realised that Australia as a country would fail us if we ever got sick here. When opportunity arises, we will leave. Would you like to swap places?

Why not try Bangkok? Take the family to Thai boxing one evening, it's great fun! The next night book a nice restaurant and go to a fancy bar. I like to wander the markets during the day.

Don't let the removal guys unpack your chest of drawers, pack it full of socks, t shirts, bed linen. They will say they have to, because your socks might damage the chest of draws. Then throw a pair of socks at it and examine the damage.

I'm a ping pong pom. I realize I don't belong anywhere really! Traveled too much, lived out of suitcases for too long. But we have decided not to stay, Mrs Pob had a little accident and I don't know if it was a particularly bad hospital or if the care is just bad here. But we made our decision not to retire here and get old. It's not the kind of country that you want to get sick in. It will be fun for a year or two in the sun, but we will eventually move on. I had given up and accepted England as my home, then the chance to go back to Australia was sprung on us and we took it based on our memories. It's funny how you remember things, or misremember things.

Toilet paper, toothpaste, shaving cream, gravy browning.

Sorry Parley I was asking about Christmas not my spelling. You probably have found in life that some people do not spell as well as others. It's kind of rude to point that out

Christmas didn't feel the same this year. The sun was out for a start, how wonderfull! Hawian shirts were worn instead of wooly jumpers. We still ate turkey, but it didn't feel right, the paxo that we purchased especially for me, didn't agreee with me. I'm thinking sticky rice and a baked fish with aromatics next year, a nice citrus salad too, Hawian shirts again, I seem to have become VERY attached to mine. We had a few drinks in the house, but these is no pub near by. Beer and whisky didn't feel right in the heat either, but a glass of St Germain hit the spot nicely. How do you guys celebrate? Do you keep the old traditions or have you started new ones?