Galahad

Well, the day is finally here..... 'Furry-Flight Day'...... Am sitting up in bed with them all draped around me - Purdy (as usual) sitting on Abby's head..... Have a friend driving up to Heathrow with me......shall need the company on the way back ! Not toooooooo worried about the dogs - they will have a shared pen the other end - am certainly more concerned about Purdy, being without her beloved Abby for thirty days....... It's also her birthday today - she's 13.......Happy Birthday Purdy......! Ah well - can't put off the moment any longer - must get up & admit this long day has actually started..... I've just read an update from DAFF in another thread saying that there's no guarantee that the shorter quarantine time of 10 days will be implemented any time soon - like for the whole of 2013 - so for those of us taking animals to (or back to, in my case) Australia, it's just a case of somehow getting through it..... Dinky - I'm so sorry to hear that Ozzy is doing it tough at the moment.....my thoughts are with you..... Yes - you'll probably have a lot of 'making up to do' as will I - cats do 'you're goin' to be so guilty' SO well !

.......Off to the vet later this morning for the final check-up & then to Heathrow tomorrow to deliver my three...... They fly at 9.25pm.......into Sydney...... I have sold a couple of large items of furniture on eBay & asked the winning bidders not to pick up until Wednesday.....I don't want any other 'changes' until they've gone..... I hope the buyers understand - tough if they don't..... !

Yay Memmy ! So glad to hear this - so pleased for you ! :ssign19: Lav06 - sorry didn't mean to 'hi-jack' your thread - but Memmymooch has 'done it tough' with a lot of determination so any advice she gives you will be worth listening to.... Good luck on your journey..... :yes:

Bingo - took the words right out of etc........ !!!!!

Oh Hec - NOW you've started something ! Skippy & Abby Purdy ....... And all flying into Sydney next week !

I agree with everyone here - continue with the process.....keep your options open... You may not feel as if you care at the moment, but there will be a day when the pain will not be so great......honestly. As for going alone - of course it's possible - many of us have 'gone it alone' with the 'raw' times now in the dim & distant past.... Do we remember how it felt ? Absolutely. But it's now reviewed with a feeling that we've come a long way since then.....& achieved so much we never thought possible then. Once you have 'activated' your visa (with due diligence concerning the visa process, as others have advised) you have a long time to repair..... Go for it.....I wish you all the best.....

Yes, a gelding with a break would not be given the option. Sad, but true. Mill Reef was a stallion & therefore 'progeny' was taken into consideration..... A high quality mare such as Black Caviar would also be 'considered worth saving' because of the value of future foals she will have as a broodmare when put to the 'right' stallions..... More often than not a galloper's break will be canon bone (front shin bone) & if the suspensory tendons have blown & the pastern has collapsed, you have a six-hundred kilo animal which can't stand..... "Mill Reef was being trained for an Autumn campaign and a return to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October when tragedy struck during a routine gallop where he stumbled and shattered his foreleg. Only veterinary skill saved him. Charles Allen, a veterinary specialist was flown in. Mill Reef's fracture was a complicated one. A triangularly shaped piece of bone about two and a half inches long was broken from the lower end of the cannon bone and was considerably displaced. The inner sesamoid bone was completely shattered, and the rim of the top of the main pastern bone was damaged. It seemed likely that the inner sesamoid bone was the first to break, with the result on the next step that the fetlock was not braced and the foot and the pastern were pointing outwards. The sheer pressure of the horse's weight caused the crumbling of the rim of the Pastern bone and the breaking of the cannon bone. It was decided that an operation would be performed in a building in Ian Balding's yard. A six-hour period was taken to place a simplified stainless-steel compression plate held by 3 screws to pin the broken pieces to the cannon bone. The injuries on the sesamoid bone or the rim of the pastern were avoided. The operation was successful. Professor Edwin James Roberts performed the operation, and Mill Reef's life was saved. His stable lad John Hallum, played a major role in nursing him for three months. After the painstaking operation, Mill Reef's racing career was over and he became a stallion at The National Stud in Newmarket." So - it can be done....but not many are given this kind of opportunity because of sheer cost.... Most of the others, whether injured or simply 'not fast enough' go down 'the other highway'....

I don't like racing at all - I've had to nurse several OTT (off the track) horses carefully back to health - mental & physical..... But - given that it is not going to end - then flat race only..... The Grand National is barbaric - the height & construction of the fences is far too great - a combination of height & speed kills horses..... Generally, Scottish Stacey, horses can't stand on three legs.....particularly if the broken leg is a front one. The front end of a horse is the heaviest end & the horse would have to be 'slung' from a large sling for however long it took to heal..... However - there are a couple of horses who have survived & I believe there is actually a three legged horse in the US....with a steel leg..... Needless to say the costs & care involved are astronomical.....only the richest of the rich could contemplate.... Yes, horses are a 'flight animal' - they run instinctively, but if there is to be racing, it is our responsibility to make sure this instinct is used, not abused.... Horses don't design the courses....

".......and the moon is made of blue cheese......." Ah well - if that's what it looks like to you Flathead - so be it..... I was sort of agreeing with Gomex's post which said that " .....the more I look the more I read stories like hers....." & taking it a step further.....in that if you don't like it you don't stay 'and make a go of it'....there is, nowadays that option more easily than previous times..... So you end up with those that don't like it 'going back' & those that do like it 'staying' & discovering things about Australia - & themselves - which they could never have gleaned from all the 'research' in the world..... Previously 'going back' was not an option, or so easy.....so the emigrants just had to 'get on with it' whatever they felt..... And sometimes there's a lot to be said for that attitude.....

.....And that accounts for why Australia is populated (to a very large degree) by outgoing, pioneering, gutsy, brave & opportunity taking people who (in many cases) couldn't go back either because they didn't originally go of their own free will, or in later times because of financial restrictions.... But they made a go of it anyway - because they had to. And found serendipity worked with them....

Oh, thanks Chellywell....much appreciated !

One of the places I loved - though not strictly in Liverpool itself.... (but what a lovely excuse to take a ferry across the Mersey) - was Port Sunlight.... I remember a Parian ware sculpture in the Lady Lever Art Gallery which was soooo beautiful - but I can't find it on any of the gallery's websites.... It was of a woman & either one child or two - can't remember....but if you looked at it from one side it was the picture of idyllic maternal beauty & serenity & as you walked around to the other side the woman looked stressed & disheveled....like a woman who'd looked after children all day... (!!) All done with the most subtle changes, like the lightest stroke of a brush - but in marble.... I last saw it in the early '90s & have never forgotten it..... Perhaps someone from the area will know the one I mean.... I think it was a permanent piece & not part of a 'visiting exhibition'... Great place for a day out.... :yes:

Hi Candygirl - sorry didn't know you were having a 'pressure break'....just assumed you were very busy.... Enjoy your holidays....how are the Hooligans ? :hug:

"....Abuse and mistreatment of children is just as bad in oz, if not worse...." Oh, here we go again ! 'Same old same old' & 'same old' posters trying to bring the UK versus Australia agenda into every blinking thread...... ! Pu-lease, this is a thread about how British bosses bonuses, British price hikes for heating, even more proposed price hikes for heating, compared to those British bosses bonuses & imminent British benefits changes are affecting & are likely to affect many British people living in Britain in a particularly harsh British winter..... Threads do wander & meander, that's normal - but "well anyway it's as bad in Oz" is irrelevant in this instance & really, really boring now..... :SLEEP: The abuse & mistreatment of children is a serious, tragic issue - where-ever it occurs....I do not mean to imply that subject is boring - in context....

".....There is plenty of social help out there and no one needs to be cold these days, no one dies of hunger in the UK, no kid goes to school without shoes, there are tokens for free school meals, everyone gets free healthcare, everyone has a color tv, every child has access to an inside toilet, compared to 50 years ago people are well off....." Sadly this is simply not true - some people can just not afford to use their heating since the recent price hikes, let alone after the imminently proposed further increases.... And we shouldn't be comparing to standards of 50 years ago - the fabric of society is different with more fragmented families & more isolation so that more people slip through the net....for many the shame of 'not coping' is paramount.... As a society should we not be 'closing' this gap between the 'business barons' of industry or have we moved no further forward from the 'mill barons' & 'mine owner' scenarios of the last century...? This thread was initially about the fact that the bosses were receiving these enormous bonuses while many of their customers were struggling to pay the over-inflated fuel bills during this particularly severe Winter.... Many will go into debt & some people would rather die than do that.... My mother was in her 90s & received good fuel concessions...but I, (like millions of others) am considered 'too young' to receive these.... I'm fortunate - I'm going back 'home' but for many pensioners, in colder places than Devon & in inadequately insulated homes the UK Winter (especially a harsh one) is a very bleak time indeed.....& to see these 'captains of industry' reaping the benefits off the backs of their 'once-more-hiked' heating costs is galling - to say the very least.....& is causing dire hardship at worst....

".....has it ever been different though, people struggled far mre in the 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s, I would imagine those people struggled far more than today...." There have always been those who struggled of course - & the reasons would need several forums to debate.... war, strikes, recession etc..... But what is different today is that because of the 'perceived' veneer of affluence, many suffer in silence.... We are all familiar with the scenes of excruciating poverty of people living in slums, kids playing out in rags.....no shoes.....but there was a 'tighter knit community' in those days - everyone was the same if in those circumstances.... Now there's such emphasis on 'doing well' bombarded at us through the media & I think also a greater greed.... Many people just can't achieve the basic necessities of life, let alone the luxuries....& heating has become a luxury to many.... I don't want to get into a political debate....but it is næive to deny that 'many people are struggling' at the present time & the injustice of it is exacerbated by these gargantuan profits & bonuses being 'creamed off' by the barons of business.....

"....Do you personally know many people that are really struggling?......" Yes I do....

"......its the people who make my city......" You are so right Pablo.... When I was there I hit hard times for a while & needed to get rid of a lot of 'stuff'.... The 'good' stuff went up to Charnock Richard antiques market but the 'ordinary' stuff was piled high both in & on my little car & driven at an ungodly hour through the tunnel from the Wirral to do the 'market' under the Cathedral in the underground circular car park.... You had to be there really, really early to get a space 'inside' & I was rigged rotten for my (perceived) 'plummy' accent.... ( "Yes that's right - I thought I was born with a silver spoon - but it turned out to be E.P.N.S & now I'm selling it 'cos the servants are revolting" ) ( In Liverpool this has to be delivered dead-pan.... ) I don't think I ever had to lift anything down off my roof-rack ever again.... At least three burly 'scousers' would appear by magic to help me unload.....you'd go a long way to find such generosity of spirit in a city....

".....but very few places have there own defined spirit ......liverpool has it ....." I agree with this totally... I lived in Liverpool (& subsequently in the Wirral) for over a year & absolutely loved it.... The city is vibrant, the wit of the people is legendary - it has a 'buzz' all of its own.... Extreme wealth (& fame) & extreme poverty - this city has seen it all & the architecture & atmosphere exudes that.... If you're the kind of person who likes hard-working people with a tendency to take themselves not too seriously & have a razor-sharp sense of humour, you'll love it....

"......Im living here and most of its residents arent struggling......." I am really so tired of your constant blinkered contradictions from your 'plateau of indifference'..... I live in the South West where we have not had the snow & ice problems of the North - but many people down here are struggling with the constant price rises for gas & electricity....which are nothing short of criminal given the 'profits generated'.... Many people, those on a fixed income & the elderly, are making daily decisions about whether to pay a heating bill - or eat.... Apart from the few who hit the headlines there are the rest who simply, silently 'do without' to keep warm..... You need to get out more.

When I used to drive regularly along Mundoolun Road, near Jimboomba Queensland, there was a large sign on a property announcing 'Kitomes' Made me smile - so Australian in its economy of description, but said everything it needed to say..... According to Google they're still around & all over Australia..... The company that is, and the omes.......

"..... she has her own DVD collection ......" Love it ! Mine loved Crufts this year..... !!!! :laugh:

I think the value of this forum is that the interests & aspirations of its members are so disparate.... It is called 'Poms IN Oz' after all...but has a section called 'Moving Back to the UK' where people who are genuinely unhappy or feel so dislocated that they can't cope can share with other who feel the same.... Then there are the 'Serial Sluggers' who will slam a right hook into any new emigrants over-enthusiastic gushing nævity.....they add bite & balance....sometimes more bite than balance....! And the funny, genuine people who make us laugh.....you know who you are..... Over time it's occurred to me that those who emigrate with less, seem to achieve more - & it's age irrelevant - it's attitude.... And of course it depends where you go..... The big cities - yes - very expensive - I lived in Sydney once...in my first years in Australia.....I loved it, but could not afford to live there now - & probably my lifestyle wouldn't fit any more.... I moved to the country & found the 'real' (for me) Australia.... And I did work 80+ hours a week - I ran a riding school & people want to ride on their time off & high days & holidays - so no time off for me at weekends....& I wish I could say I'd been greedy enough to make a lorra-lorra money, but that's not the case! We did a show a fortnight - kids in full riding gear in 40C unless the judges said it was OK to 'remove jackets'..... The long rubber riding boots came off on the ramp of the float, after the show, the contest being 'who could empty the most water out' .....! I could not have stopped any of those kids, they didn't need 'sending' out in 40 degrees...wild horses could not have pulled them away, let alone nicely plaited, shiny tame ones..... The point is - you have to find your own Australia - what makes it work for you - but you need to do that where-ever you are anyway....you can't plan everything, you can't foresee every eventuality & sometimes you make wonderful discoveries about a hidden place, a different way of life.... Or not. PIO is a tapestry full of all these opinions, but not delivered in a comprehensive list, infallible & able to be installed like a handy 'app'....but all the pros & cons are here if you look for them & every now & again you'll catch yourself going 'YES - that's how I feel'..... You can't bottle that.

Oh L-S - what a cutie ! Wishing her all the best on her journey*...... :hug: I'm glad I'm not the only one.....like I have a choice ! * Just realised L-S, your photo of your little furry-person in your car would have been taken a while ago........DOH !