Cup Final 1973

We arrived back in May and have been very impressed by how quickly our needs have been met on the NHS, including an endoscopy for my husband which had been postponed 3 times in Melbourne and hearing aids for myself.

That’s a bit rich coming from Australia!

Bonfire night!!!

Plus free NHS hearing aids - had mine fitted today and they are so neat. Also went to make a will on Monday and learnt that inheritance tax on a couple only kicks in when you reach £1 million of assets. That’s a lot more generous than I thought.

My husband stopped drinking alcohol 18 months ago. He has been very surprised at the variety and quality of non alcoholic beer available in England, both in the supermarket and in pubs, with some pubs even having it on tap. According to him the taste is excellent.

I don’t agree with the last part of your translation. After negotiable the French reads “ and there is more harm / damage in leaving the Union than in remaining.”

Just an update on our removal saga from Victoria to Yorkshire, which started on March 15th. The container arrived in London on September 16th and was moved to PSS’s warehouse on October 5th after I’d paid the demurrage charges. Since then, nothing. We are still waiting for our goods to be delivered to Yorkshire and the earliest possible date is the week beginning November 8th. That hasn’t been confirmed but it doesn’t appear to be a shortage of lorry drivers rather waiting to find something for the return journey to London. Meanwhile, we continue to camp in our new house. The Australian side of our removal, Palmers, have been absolutely useless, not even replying to emails. If you are returning to the UK make sure you ask about shipping routes (ours involved 3 ships and took over 12 weeks for the actual shipping), who the English partners are and ask for guarantees about delivery.

I’m assuming you’re talking about your pension estimate Blue Flu but it seems incredibly generous if you have only 16 years NI contributions.

Are you old enough to turn your super into a self-managed super fund? You can then transfer the money into your bank account. As it’s not an income it’s not taxed.

We went to NZ for a short visit a few years ago and landed in Christchurch about 5am. The rental car wasn’t available until 8am so spent a couple of hours dozing in the airport. I thought it strange that passengers were being asked to go to the chicken counter….but assumed that because it was very early morning the KFC staff doubled as airline staff.

I just assumed it was one of those taxes which had always applied but I wasn’t aware of it until it applied to me! However, I googled it and it only started on April 1 2021 . Apparently foreign buyers are the source of inflated house prices so the government thought a tax of an additional 2% would put some off. Thankfully it is refundable once we’ve been here 6 months.

Her accent may even be an asset if the kids watch Neighbours and Home and Away!

We bought our house in the UK in June having returned from Oz at the beginning of May. We had to pay a surcharge of 2% because we were classed as non residents and will be able to claim it back once we’ve lived here for 6 months. I wonder if there’s something similar for taking out equity.

My daughter’s a vet nurse and apparently they need to be vaccinated.

Although UK « Covid » deaths published daily appear very high compared to other European countries, it’s not clear that all countries count Covid deaths in the same way. It is always stated in the UK figures that the deaths have occurred within 28 days of a Covid diagnosis. However, this may include people killed in a car accident, a cancer patient, someone in their nineties with organ failure …..they tested positive for Covid but did not necessarily die from it.

« Superior »??

I think too much is made of the UK « pub culture » as though that’s all young people do. Of course they go to the pub, but they also play sport, watch sport, go to the cinema, play music, listen to music, cycle, run……

I suppose you should also factor in that OAPs in the UK pay nothing at all for any medication and also get free bus travel throughout the country.

Absolutely right Marisa. Our belongings were packed up on March 15th but the shipping journey didn’t start until June 20th.

In addition to anything quoted be prepared for demurrage charges - containers are having to wait at ports and this charge is passed on to the client. I’ve just paid £109 for our container and we were extremely lucky as we were one of 16 clients in the container. If it had been sole occupancy we would have had to pay the whole amount.

Don’t believe what you read….

Every time I buy something I get a text from one of my daughters telling me to stop spending the inheritance

22/09/2021 at 03:02, Wanderer Returns said: Getting back on track, one of the things I would miss about Oz (if I wasn't here already) is the general optimism that pervades Australian society. It's the complete opposite to Britain i think that must depend on where you are in the UK. We’ve moved back to Yorkshire and have found everyone very welcoming. Bus drivers always smile round here!

A bit of light relief…

I always choose the original language and then use subtitles