Toots

We've just come home after visiting friends in Caloundra and Noosa. We had a lovely time and the weather was just right. They retired there from Sydney. Next month we will be meeting up with them and other friends for a wedding in Sydney plus a big wedding anniversary. Looking forward to big city life for a few days also catch up with elder son then it's back to my lovely quiet life here in Tassie.

I have never wanted a kindle. I much prefer to read a "real" book. Our library is used a LOT and would be sorely missed if it ever closed. I am a regular user of our local pool except for the summer when I swim in the sea. Guess we are lucky we actually do have these facilities.

Some folk are just natural born haters.

I suppose you can do without a swimming pool but to close a library is a real shame.

She should have received an email with the visa grant number on it. You could try ringing home affairs and they may give you the visa grant number over the phone. I'm sure someone here with expertise will be able to give you more information.

I'm sure the OP is well aware of the different weathers and temps in Australia. They just have to find a place that suits them. Weather isn't the be all and end all though it is nice to be comfortable.

A fair percentage of retirees here head off to Qld for the winters. A neighbour has just returned. They go every year and love it. Even when I lived in the UK I didn't like the few hot days. The summer I worked in London was horrid. Week after week of hot weather (1976). It was lovely to get up to Mum's place in Scotland for the cooler weather there. I admit, I am a wuss. I have to state I have never been overweight so that has nothing to do with it. I'm just a cooler climate type of person. My sister adores hot weather and my brother who lived in Thailand for years never minded the heat and humidity. He'd go out and play golf and tennis in Bangkok. I'd be in the shade by a swimming pool.

Undoubtedly some people can tolerate, even enjoy hot/humid weather. Others of us can't. I am one of those people. I get a bit on the cranky side when it gets over 25C. I am very much an outdoors person and just find it tiring and uncomfortable to be active in that sort of weather. When we were thinking of moving to Tasmania people said "Oh but it gets so cold there". I suppose for folk who love heat they would find it too cold for them but I don't mind it at all. Where we live it doesn't get THAT cold. It's quite rare during winter to not have the temp in double digits during the day. It was 37 in Sydney this afternoon. Here it was 20. I know which temperature I prefer.

Yes, the rent was one of the main reasons why the new ferry berth is now in Geelong.

The ferries have been sailing from Geelong for a few months. https://www.spiritoftasmania.com.au/company-information/media/media-releases/new-victorian-home-for-spirit-of-tasmania#:~:text=Mr Grainger said Independent research,to and from the terminal.

The two new Spirit of Tasmania ferries are being built in Finland with 40% more capacity. They will be delivered next year. https://newships.spiritoftasmania.com.au/

I was thinking more of leafy Bearsden. it used to be one of the more posh suburbs of Glasgow but who knows these day ............. the druggies and drunks may have infiltrated there too.

I dare say you wouldn't see it in the more salubrious suburbs of Glasgow either.

She was probably "aff her heid" on drugs. Don't tell me it doesn't happen here too.

I'm old enough to remember Glasgow long before the 90's. When I was in my teens it had a terrible reputation all over Scotland for razor gangs, violence and unsolved murders. I never lived in Glasgow but everyone was aware of its reputation. I worked in Balloch for 6 months in 1970 and used to go into Glasgow shopping and on nights out with my pals. I liked the city and there were some really great folk there. Can't say we ever came across any trouble at all. Maybe we were lucky. I've visited Glasgow since then a few times and liked the atmosphere of the place so I'm sorry it's gone downhill over the years.

Totally agree. Add social media to the list.

Beautiful day for the 1st day of spring. Lovely walk this afternoon.

Georgia and Armenia are accepting tens of thousands Russian nationals since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

I can only speak for my relatives and friends in the UK all of whom live comfortable, happy lives. The only one who is a city dweller is my sister. All the others live in the countryside. Of course they notice things aren't perfect and the ones my age have lived through previous times of austerity e.g. constant strikes, the 3 day week to conserve electricity etc but they just got on with it. The UK will always pull through as it has done in the past.

William Blake who wrote Jerusalem was brought up in the era of the Industrial Revolution. I dare say the mill workers viewed the mills as satanic. I doubt they were pleasant places to work in.

We lived a few minutes drive from Macquarie shopping centre but not far in the other direction there was a strip of shops (Cox's Road) which had a deli, small supermarket, green grocer, butcher and a cafe. it was a handy place to live as our sons' primary school was a short walk from home then they cycled to Epping Boys High School. It was a good place to bring up kids. Also there were loads of green fields back in the day. Now they are all replaced by technology industries.

Ingtegra is the company in Sydney my son used for his double glazing.

We get younger people buying an older house here. They live in it for a few years while renovating then sell for a good profit. Like this one not far from us, built in 1910. They did a good job at renovating. The house sold in less than a month. https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-tas-devonport-140603403

@Amber Snowball probably means more modern houses that have been built on the cheap. Not made to last.

Our house was built 70 years ago. It has been renovated over the years but it's a good well built solid house and it would be a shame to bulldoze it and replace it with a brand new one. There are many houses near us which are over 100 years old. I think houses were better built then. An old weatherboard in the next street was bulldozed last year and the new house still isn't totally finished after 12 months. Watching it being built though, you can tell it's a quality build and it blends in with the older houses in the same street.