Cheery Thistle Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 (edited) 29 minutes ago, ramot said: I’m getting a bit fed up with you having nothing good to say about where I live. It’s a lovely place with plenty of interesting people, who don’t have tattoos or mullets, of course some people do dress as you describe, but not everyone has a lot of money here, and it is a hot climate so buying food is a priority. No one I know dresses anything like your dress code description. Of course your experience with a bottle thrown from a car was totally disgraceful, an awful experience, hooning does go on here unfortunately,, but seems to take place in certain areas, but I have never ever experienced anything like you unfortunately experienced, since living here. I completely respect that you love where you live and that it suits you, but everyone is different. With respect, you are reading through a filter and taking it personally. If you read parts 1 and 2 I have lots of good things to say about Aus in general and QLD specifically. The incident with the bottle was unfortunate, isolated and hopefully rare. I’m really glad you’ve never experienced it. That doesn’t mean I’m lying or make my experience any less valid. It’s one thing I dislike about the forum, people saying ‘well that’s never happened to me’, as if that changes anything at all, it’s as if somehow we deserved it or were ‘asking’ for it. If you came to my home town and someone launched a bottle at you while driving past at very high speed I would sympathise and I would also forgive you for being a little wary/put off, even though this has never happened to me. Totally natural. If you read my last post again are we really suggesting that people in North Brisbane out for dinner on a Saturday night in an area where average house price is $1.5 million plus are choosing between food and clothing? Doubtful. It’s just an observation of a cultural difference which I will have to get used to, it’s not a personal insult. It could be the way I was brought up, I am from a council estate and there were a lot of children in my house. My parents worked in the casino and were always very dapper, appearance was important and a priority regardless of our lack of wealth. My dad is 78 and still wears a shirt most days. It was very much ‘get up, dress up, show up’ for everything you did. I won’t apologise for that and I don’t see it changing, regardless of where I reside! Appropriate is the key word I think. Edited March 23 by Cheery Thistle 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramot Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 9 minutes ago, Cheery Thistle said: I completely respect that you love where you live and that it suits you, but everyone is different. With respect, you are reading through a filter and taking it personally. If you read parts 1 and 2 I have lots of good things to say about Aus in general and QLD specifically. The incident with the bottle was unfortunate, isolated and hopefully rare. I’m really glad you’ve never experienced it. That doesn’t mean I’m lying or make my experience any less valid. It’s one thing I dislike about the forum, people saying ‘well that’s never happened to me’, as if that changes anything at all, it’s as if somehow we deserved it or were ‘asking’ for it. If you came to my home town and someone launched a bottle at you while driving past at very high speed I would sympathise and I would also forgive you for being a little wary/put off, even though this has never happened to me. Totally natural. If you read my last post again are we really suggesting that people in North Brisbane out for dinner on a Saturday night in an area where average house price is $1.5 million plus are choosing between food and clothing? Doubtful. It’s just an observation of a cultural difference which I will have to get used to, it’s not a personal insult. It could be the way I was brought up, I am from a council estate and there were a lot of children in my house. My parents worked in the casino and were always very dapper, appearance was important and a priority regardless of our lack of wealth. My dad is 78 and still wears a shirt most days. It was very much ‘get up, dress up, show up’ for everything you did. I won’t apologise for that and I don’t see it changing, regardless of where I reside! Appropriate is the key word I think. I wish you nothing but happiness in your future life xM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 9 minutes ago, Cheery Thistle said: I completely respect that you love where you live and that it suits you, but everyone is different. With respect, you are reading through a filter and taking it personally. If you read parts 1 and 2 I have lots of good things to say about Aus in general and QLD specifically. The incident with the bottle was unfortunate, isolated and hopefully rare. I’m really glad you’ve never experienced it. That doesn’t mean I’m lying or make my experience any less valid. It’s one thing I dislike about the forum, people saying ‘well that’s never happened to me’, as if that changes anything at all, it’s as if somehow we deserved it or were ‘asking’ for it. If you came to my home town and someone launched a bottle at you while driving past at very high speed I would sympathise and I would also forgive you for being a little wary/put off, even though this has never happened to me. Totally natural. If you read my last post again are we really suggesting that people in North Brisbane out for dinner on a Saturday night in an area where average house price is $1.5 million plus are choosing between food and clothing? Doubtful. It’s just an observation of a cultural difference which I will have to get used to, it’s not a personal insult. It could be the way I was brought up, I am from a council estate and there were a lot of children in my house. My parents worked in the casino and were always very dapper, appearance was important and a priority regardless of our lack of wealth. My dad is 78 and still wears a shirt most days. It was very much ‘get up, dress up, show up’ for everything you did. I won’t apologise for that and I don’t see it changing, regardless of where I reside! Appropriate is the key word I think. I had a lot of friends in the Logan area, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Lots of vests, grubby shorts, mullets, drugged up hoons. It used to amaze me when going to a pub down that way with friends - we would never have dreamt of going down the garden dressed like some of them, never mind the pub! I also had some Aussie mates in a couple of places up the Sunshine Coast near Gympie, and they were the same when it came to going out. "Dressing up" for one guy consisted of putting on a baseball cap I have to say that I've really enjoyed your reflections on your trip, and think that by doing them this way - the good, and the not-so-good, it does show quite a balanced outlook. No rose-tinted-specs on show here. Obviously everyone sees things differently, but as you say, the whole point of forums like this is to allow everyone to give an opinion. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheery Thistle Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 8 minutes ago, ramot said: I wish you nothing but happiness in your future life xM Thank you I really truly appreciate that and I hope your life continues to give you the joy you are getting just now - must be getting something right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheery Thistle Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 4 minutes ago, Nemesis said: I had a lot of friends in the Logan area, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Lots of vests, grubby shorts, mullets, drugged up hoons. It used to amaze me when going to a pub down that way with friends - we would never have dreamt of going down the garden dressed like some of them, never mind the pub! I also had some Aussie mates in a couple of places up the Sunshine Coast near Gympie, and they were the same when it came to going out. "Dressing up" for one guy consisted of putting on a baseball cap I have to say that I've really enjoyed your reflections on your trip, and think that by doing them this way - the good, and the not-so-good, it does show quite a balanced outlook. No rose-tinted-specs on show here. Obviously everyone sees things differently, but as you say, the whole point of forums like this is to allow everyone to give an opinion. Haha indeed! Can well imagine this. That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what the trip was about - seeing which areas might suit us (or not) and also to see what the compromises and ’make or breaks’ are and deciding if the positives outweigh the negatives for us specifically. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheery Thistle Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 To be honest I haven’t told my near and dear about the bottle incident. I think they’d be really quite shocked and I don’t think my Dad would want us to move if he knew about it. So mum (or dad)’s the word! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InnerVoice Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 12 hours ago, Nemesis said: I had a lot of friends in the Logan area, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Lots of vests, grubby shorts, mullets, drugged up hoons. It used to amaze me when going to a pub down that way with friends - we would never have dreamt of going down the garden dressed like some of them, never mind the pub! I also had some Aussie mates in a couple of places up the Sunshine Coast near Gympie, and they were the same when it came to going out. "Dressing up" for one guy consisted of putting on a baseball cap I have to say that I've really enjoyed your reflections on your trip, and think that by doing them this way - the good, and the not-so-good, it does show quite a balanced outlook. No rose-tinted-specs on show here. Obviously everyone sees things differently, but as you say, the whole point of forums like this is to allow everyone to give an opinion. The poor reputation of the suburbs halfway between Brissie and the Gold Coast proceeds them, although I don't think they're quite as bad as they used to be. The nicknames always give me a smile though... Logan => Bogan Shailer Park => Trailer Park Browns Plains => Brown Stains Rochedale => Cockroachdale Slacks Creek => Slags Creek Capalaba => Crapalaba Bethania => Methania And a few from the north side of town, just to be fair... Deception Bay => Depression Bay Morayfield => Moronfield Redcliffe => Deadcliffe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InnerVoice Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 13 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said: To be honest I haven’t told my near and dear about the bottle incident. I think they’d be really quite shocked and I don’t think my Dad would want us to move if he knew about it. So mum (or dad)’s the word! You're not the only one to have experienced an unpleasant bottle-breaking incident. A number of years ago I was parked up in the shopping centre at Victoria Point (south-east Brisbane). It was early evening, about 6pm, and I'd just returned to the car with my shopping. There were some hoons in a ute a couple of parking spaces away from me, talking loudly and drinking. I should've just driven off straightaway, but I'd received a couple of messages on my phone which I started to read first. The conversation these guys were having was typical 'locker room talk', but at a volume anyone within half a mile would hear. I gave this guy a disparaging sideways glance, to which he replied "WTF are you looking at". I said nothing and just wound up the window, at which point he threw the empty bottle so it broke right in front of my car. Fortunately, I was able to reverse out of my space without having to get out to remove the broken glass. On another occasion I was gardening and some P-platers came hooning up our street which is rather rare given that we life in a cul-de-sac, so they must've been visiting someone. A couple of hours later my wife and I were watching TV and we heard the familiar sound of engine revving and loud music playing, followed by breaking glass. Two bottles thrown out on either side of the road and glass everywhere, which took me quite a while to sweep up. I've often see broken bottles in the vicinity of the pub at the weekends when I'm out jogging, so unfortunately what you've experienced isn't just an isolated occurrence. The government could easily stamp this out by making throwing a glass object from a vehicle a far more serious offence than littering, but they can't even effectively legislate against kids riding eScooters, not to mention having sufficient police to actually enforce it afterwards. I'm sure this type of thing happens in the UK just as frequently too, but because the boundaries between good and bad areas in towns and cities are more clearly defined, if you're fortunate enough to live in a good area then you won't experience it as much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 13 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said: To be honest I haven’t told my near and dear about the bottle incident. I think they’d be really quite shocked and I don’t think my Dad would want us to move if he knew about it. So mum (or dad)’s the word! To be fair, how common would that be? I've lived in Australia for most of 70+ years and never had a bottle thrown at me or anywhere near me or even witnessed it happening. It would be similar to my family worrying about me going to Glasgow because someone had been stabbed there. If hooning is a problem in a certain area/time of day you would learn to avoid it just as you would learn to avoid areas in the UK where chavs/gangs hang around and cause trouble in certain places/times. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 (edited) 15 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said: It could be the way I was brought up, I am from a council estate and there were a lot of children in my house. My parents worked in the casino and were always very dapper, appearance was important and a priority regardless of our lack of wealth. My dad is 78 and still wears a shirt most days. It was very much ‘get up, dress up, show up’ for everything you did. I won’t apologise for that and I don’t see it changing, regardless of where I reside! Appropriate is the key word I think. I think I get what you mean. Apart from the bogans (our version of chavs), I don't think you mean the average Australian dresses in slovenly or dirty clothes. It's just that we have a different, and far more casual, dress code. Go to a restaurant in Double Bay (Sydney's poshest suburb) in summer, and you'll still see guys in shorts and t-shirts, and women in loose cotton dresses and flip-flops -- the only difference is that the t-shirts are Ralph Lauren and the flip-flops are Balenciaga. I think our appearance is one of the reasons for the myth of the 'laid-back lifestyle' in Australia. In terms of work pressures, I don't find that we're any more laidback than the Brits, but we look as though we are, because of the way we dress. You'll probably feel a similar sense of culture shock when you start work and see how people dress in the office Edited March 24 by Marisawright 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Jones Posted Saturday at 07:12 Share Posted Saturday at 07:12 On 22/03/2024 at 20:49, Cheery Thistle said: 3) Time warp effect. Being on the cutting edge in QLD especially means something completely different than it does in the UK. This is also part of its charm and could also be viewed as an upside. I once filled up my car with petrol in QLD. I was the only one standing there who wasn't barefoot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted Saturday at 08:18 Share Posted Saturday at 08:18 On 22/03/2024 at 19:57, calNgary said: but throwing glass bottles is on another level and not something ive heard of happening much. I doubt many of them can afford to waste the 10 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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