Cup Final 1973

If AstraZeneca is so ineffective how has the UK death toll reduced so dramatically ?

What I can’t understand is why 20 degrees in Yorkshire is so much warmer than 20 degrees in Victoria!

Arrived back in the UK on May 1st. Apparently it’s been a really dreadful month weather wise but today was lovely. Fingers crossed it continues.

Central heating radiators and airing cupboards.

It is very sad that the presenter died but the mere fact it has made the headlines shows how rare it is.

Certainly coffee. You might be able to get good coffee in London but here in Yorkshire it’s dreadful. They insist on serving latte in a huge glass which reminds me of what you used to get ice cream sundaes in. Even if you ask for double or treble shot it doesn’t compare to coffees in Oz.

I was in the same position as Loopylu, having to fill in a passenger locator form to show where I would be staying and provide the proof of the 2 Covid tests. As far as I recall the only people allowed directly into the UK were those from the Isle of Man, Channel Islands and bizarrely Myanmar! We had a visit from a NHS track and trace official on day 5 who asked for our passports to confirm who we said we were. He did say the visits were very random. In one case he had to check on 2 people who were actually in a group of 4 but his brief was just to check the 2 on his list!

I absolutely agree Tulip1. I’m disappointed this has become a p###ing contest. My original post was never intended to imply one country was better than another; I was simply pointing out things I’d forgotten. Adding to my list, after a dreadful car journey from Yorkshire to Warwick, I’d forgotten how fast and dense the traffic is on the motorway.

Something else I’d forgotten...the word murky in the weather forecast!!

I think the army are testing rather than vaccinating. The second dose is being brought forward from 12 weeks to 8 weeks so I shall be getting mine in 4 weeks.

69% of adults have received their first dose and 38% of adults are fully vaccinated. I haven’t seen any news on the the army being deployed to vaccinate - there’s an army of volunteers.

First coffee! Unfortunately they always confuse quantity with quality in Yorkshire!

I was surprised to see how strictly rules on mask wearing are followed here in Doncaster. It’s obligatory on public transport and in shops but there are lots of people who wear them outside. I’ve only been out of isolation 3 days but loving being back!

Although some of the younger generation call their vacuum a Dyson!

Given the rather sluggish vaccine roll out in Australia, I don’t think the international borders will open anytime soon. We didn’t wait - applied for permission to leave, had the negative Covid test, filled in the passenger locator form and booked the days 2 and 8 Covid tests for when we arrived in the UK. We are now out of isolation at our daughter’s house and reacquainting ourselves with life in England.

I taught in Bendigo Victoria for 10 years and all the students called pencils greyleads. Crisps were called chips but when I queried how you knew whether it was crisps or chips in the English sense the kids would say potato chips. They also called their PE jerseys gurnseys which made me laugh.

And just as interesting as the different pronunciations of words are the different names used in Australia. I always liked doona instead of duvet but struggled with greylead instead of pencil, and chips instead of crisps is just confusing. Clarifying the latter by adding potato chips always made me ask what the other chips were made from.

My phone deal is £5 a month ( half that for the first 3 months) unlimited calls and texts and 100 international minutes. Not a lot of data though but I don’t play games or watch films on my phone.

I didn’t know that. I always thought Weetbix was a poor copy of Weetabix...much nicer taste!

But why would you use a bank to transfer funds? The rates are usually dismal.

And the money always arrived in my HSBC account the same day the dollar was sent to Sendfx.

I’ve just posted on another thread on this subject. I’ve just arrived back in the UK after 15 years in Oz. We sold our house and emptied the superannuation fund before leaving and I used Dylan at Sendfx to transfer the funds usually in batches of $100000. There are no fees and his rates always beat XE and Torfx. I did what rammygirl suggested, opening accounts with 3 companies then ringing each in turn for their best rate.

I was worried about such a large sum arriving in our UK bank account so informed HSBC of our circumstances but just got a rather snotty reply that any deposits would be subject to their usual checks!

I’ve moved money the other way having sold our house and emptied the superannuation fund in Australia. I used Sendfx based in Queensland and found them to be excellent. There are no fees and the exchange rate was better than XE and Torfx. I typically sent $100,000 at a time. You can use them from the UK to Australia.

I think the UK take up has been fantastic.