Saurer Pfirsich Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 2 hours ago, Gbye grey sky said: Isn’t it odd that so many of these returnees live such a madcap busy life away every weekend, jetsetting around Europe multiple times per year, amazing social life with many lifelong friends and relatives. One has to wonder why on earth they ever left such an amazing life behind in the first place........or maybe they didn’t. This thread got me casting my mind back to this time 10 years ago when we were preparing to move to Australia. I certainly think we did more in those days in terms of the things you described, although we learned the hard way that taking a 2 year old with us on a mini-break to Croatia was probably a mistake! Living in London we had a good circle of friends to catch up with who also had young children, but my family all live in Yorkshire and the North-West, so whilst weekends away were certainly plentiful we were often tired from being the ones making the effort to travel to them. Living close to central London, we felt a certain degree of complusion to access the sights on a regular basis, which, whilst fun, could be expensive and meant navigating public transport with a toddler in a buggy (less fun!). Since moving to Australia I think that we've become lazier really. In mitigation, we've both just turned 50 and now have 2 kids and less energy than we did in those days. Our kids really dictate our movements nowadays - annual leave is strictly rationed to cover school hols and weekends are a blur of pick-ups and drop-offs at their various sports and social activities. Where we live (Melbourne) the population has a similar transience to London and my wife has 'lost' numerous friends to interstate or overseas moves and so her social circle has shrunk somewhat. New people come along of course, but she's found it frustrating having to 'start over' as it were in terms of building a network. I've never been good at making friends as I'm a terrible introvert, but I don't find it an issue really. I have a small number of close friends back home whom I'm in regular touch with, and besides, 2 kids, a house full of pets and a fulltime job doesn't leave room for much else! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 On 15/01/2018 at 05:43, Marisawright said: Again, this is an experience many have BUT it's not an Australian thing. It happens in cities all over the world. My sister has had the same experience in places in the UK. I had the same experience in Sydney but at the same time, the friends I made in Victoria 30 years ago are still friends today. And I'm already feeling that the friends I'm making in Melbourne (and I'm thrilled how easy it is to make friends here) will be around for the long haul. But like Toots, I don't need a big circle anyway. I do wonder if it's an age thing too ... when younger I had loads of friends, out every weekend meeting new people, would chat to anyone and everyone ... as I got older I valued a much smaller circle of friends and probably stopped putting the effort in .. kids came along and without babysitters the socialising became less .. kids started school and I re-established newer friendships ... my friendships have come in life cycles - childhood/school/work/kids/migrating 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndoe Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Like the rest of Australia, there's really no vibe and nothing going on in Brisbane. I'd give your right arm to be back in Blackpool https://blog.queensland.com/2018/01/30/18-new-queensland-hotels/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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