going to be a ping pong pom?

[pablo]

As you might not be aware , i always " big up " the black country people .....the most genuine in the UK.......LOVELY PEOPLE

Worked in sandwell for a year 1981 (woefull winter,freezing!),stayed in pleck for the year we worked there,by the bridge with the big gas tank /whatever it is? your right ,the people down that way are tickety boo,sound:wink:

[Guest brooksey]

:policeman: WARNING***WARNING***HIJACKED THREAD***:biglaugh:

[Guest Joanna1]

God it is a small world........I love being from the Black Country but am looking forward to one day being an aussie!

[Guest Jasp]

That's exactly how we feel in almost identical circumstances. Spent a year in Adelaide - Job wasn't all that was promised, missed everyone back here - had a romantic notion about everything we missed (Match Of the Day, BBC programmes, Radio 2 :biglaugh:, my old job and friends there). But you sum it up well when you state that it's like it never happened. We're planning for Tasmania in the New Year and this time we'll give it a good go and we won't be blinded by romantic notions of friends who will love us and miss us. Sums it all up for us. Thanks

[Guest Demi60]

I went out to Sydney on a Prospective Partner visa with my 12 year old daughter only to discover that my fiancé Michael needed emergency surgery for removal of ear/brain tumour. The money we saved up for my spouse visa went to pay for all his medical bills although we did get married it was very brief as he still wasn't well from the surgery.

My situation was further compounded when I lost my lab job at the end of March soon after I got married. This was due to lab cuts announced in February this year. There was quite a lot of cut backs in the health system all over NSW so quite a lot of hospitals closed down as a result and amalgamating services in most of NSW. As for me I was on a 3 month probationary period of 13 weeks which is the norm for hospital scientists which meant I had not a signed contract. So when the cuts were announced in February it meant I was first out of a job.

 

So guess this was a good time for me and Michael to rethink our position regarding the spouse visa, his illness plus my daughter hated the school she was in, the schools are of a particularly low standard in comparison with the UK.

 

However I am hoping to rejoin my hubby Michael back in Australia as soon as I can but first I need a job, I have an interview in Clinical Chemistry tomorrow. If I get the position it will mean I can save up and send money over to my account in Australia.

 

Living apart is hard as I want to be with my hubby and he wants to be with me. He hasn't been given the all clear yet by his surgeon so he can't fly over to the UK. The Australian immigration could not do anything to help us such as extend my visa enabling me to work I had to be out of the country by beginning of April when my visa expired. if they had I would still be there and possibly been able to find work as there were posts going but time & lack of money was against us.

 

Demi x

[Guest siamsusie]

I went out to Sydney on a Prospective Partner visa with my 12 year old daughter only to discover that my fiancé Michael needed emergency surgery for removal of ear/brain tumour. The money we saved up for my spouse visa went to pay for all his medical bills although we did get married it was very brief as he still wasn't well from the surgery.

My situation was further compounded when I lost my lab job at the end of March soon after I got married. This was due to lab cuts announced in February this year. There was quite a lot of cut backs in the health system all over NSW so quite a lot of hospitals closed down as a result and amalgamating services in most of NSW. As for me I was on a 3 month probationary period of 13 weeks which is the norm for hospital scientists which meant I had not a signed contract. So when the cuts were announced in February it meant I was first out of a job.

 

So guess this was a good time for me and Michael to rethink our position regarding the spouse visa, his illness plus my daughter hated the school she was in, the schools are of a particularly low standard in comparison with the UK.

 

However I am hoping to rejoin my hubby Michael back in Australia as soon as I can but first I need a job, I have an interview in Clinical Chemistry tomorrow. If I get the position it will mean I can save up and send money over to my account in Australia.

 

Living apart is hard as I want to be with my hubby and he wants to be with me. He hasn't been given the all clear yet by his surgeon so he can't fly over to the UK. The Australian immigration could not do anything to help us such as extend my visa enabling me to work I had to be out of the country by beginning of April when my visa expired. if they had I would still be there and possibly been able to find work as there were posts going but time & lack of money was against us.

 

Demi x

 

Hi Demi, I wondered what had happened to you and your lovely man. I do remember a post of yours last year.

May I ask why you had to pay for Michael's hospital bills? Surely Medicare/Medibank kicked in?

 

I do hope your situation is resolved quickly and that you manage to secure your visa pretty swiftly.

:hug:Susie

[Guest Jasp]

i found a dvd that was set in the black country , my hubby couldnt understand a word , i loved it it reminded me of growing up with all my family as they were all from bilston ,wednesbury, west bromich and willenhall etc,

 

We lived in Halesowen for ages and Cradley Heath. God's Country!! Bostin!!

 

Jasp:smile:

[Guest Jasp]

Yom right there our kid!

 

Jasp

[moirclan]

My dad calls his brother our kid and my uncle calls my dad our kid as well, hubby cant work out which one is the kid !!! [ my dads younger ] ive tried explaining its nothing to do with age

when dad calls hubby ' me ol cocker" well you should see hubbys face , my girls are " our wench " they know no different so they just roll their eyes,

i had to laugh though when the youngest wanted dad to buy her a coke he told her " to get some corperation pop " [ water from the tap for any one that dosnt under stand ]lol

[Guest Demi60]

Hi Siamsusie,

 

My husband had private medical insurance and the company met most of the expenses but would not cover all his expenses neither would Medicare they refused. I didn't think they could do that but they did. Unfortuantely Michael had to have urgent treatment but was told by his surgeon Dr Melville Da Cruz that if he had to wait any longer then he would be dead.

 

If he relied on Medicare then he would have been placed on a waiting list and Medicare would only get involved if he went into hospital as an emergency.

 

As it happened his private insurance paid the bulk of his medical expenses. My husband was in intensive care for three days and in a private hospital for a further eight days. In March my husband received a bill for $10,000 which neither Medicare or the private insurance company would pay for so we paid it using money saved for our wedding and spouse visa.

 

Because it all happened at the end of March there was little time to do anything else besides I still had to deal with my house in the UK which I left in the hands of my adult son. So this is where I am now living apart from my hubby.

 

Kind regards,

 

Demi x

[moirclan]

years ago both daughters had an op [ bi lateral gromits ] and private insurance knocked us back the specialist sent medibank a letter , and they ended up paying some of it , coulod your specialist write a letter and see if medicare or you health insurer would pay more towards it , regardless any money you have had to pay out medically after the first two thousand you can claim 20 % back on your tax , so get a list of what you have had to pay out this or last tax year from the chemist for prescriptions , from medicare for the gaps and from your private insurer for out of pocket differeces

[Guest Demi60]

Thanks Moirclan I will get my hubby to do that :biggrin:

[Guest siamsusie]

Thanks Demi, what a dreadful experience. I really do hope that you manage to get your life back on track. Thank you for the reply and I sincerely hope Michael is feeling better soon. Best wishes Susie

[Guest payne1]

Yep, knew it when we made the decision to come back, and when i handed my notice in at work, again when we packed up the house, and when i sat my ass on the plane (i actually cried) and now every minute of every day since being back! I can't wait to go back......just waiting for OH to decide if he's coming with me!

Worst mistake ever coming back but at least I know that for certain now!

joanna1 i know where your coming from, cant believe that i was absolutley fine selling house and packing it up didnt look back but omg am i paying for it now, cant eat, cant sleep, im like you every minute of every day cant stop thinking about our beautiful house that we sold it breaks my heart how could i of been so stupid. We just cant wait for our house to sell.

[Pumpkin]

Coming back into the Uk and seeing the patchwork fields was lovely but when we landed off the 24hour flight we were standing waiting to be processed and one old Ozzie had clearly accidentally joined the queue at the wrong point and was told so in no uncertain terms by UK passengers so he had to go all the way to the back which seemed miles as two flights had joined us - I was so ashamed at this point of the inhospitality to a visitor to our country and it really became obvious from this point to me just what a critical judgemental nation we are-you don't do this you should do that blah blah blah

 

 

 

Have you ever queued for a bus in Sydney CBD during evening rush hour? Oh lord I have never seen such dicipline before. I once, note once, joined a queue of ten remaining people from the wrong end, even though I noted where I should lie in that queue; the driver directed me off that bus. Actually I am the wrost English stereotype you can imagine when it comes to queues and I believe in queues, my experience is that Australians are far more obsessive and strict about queuing that I have ever been. But it is something I like. :wubclub:

[Guest arbers]

went to sydney in 99 returned to uk 08 now going back to perth jan 11 do fill alittle bit in no mans land.

BUT its warm there so do injoy a cold beer more

[Guest guest12791]

No shame in it .... you'll probably find you're not the only member of the ping pong club. You do what you have to do to be happy!

My other half and i are part of the ping pong club, we are damned if we do and damned if we dont, confused or what!!!!:wacko:

[Guest payne1]

went to sydney in 99 returned to uk 08 now going back to perth jan 11 do fill alittle bit in no mans land.

BUT its warm there so do injoy a cold beer more

Oh you lucky thing cant wait until thats us going. good luck

[Guest arbers]

Oh you lucky thing cant wait until thats us going. good luck

 

 

you heading to sydney?

[Guest payne1]

you heading to sydney?

no we are going to perth once we have sold our house

[Guest arbers]

no we are going to perth once we have sold our house

 

cool nor or sor , where abouts in uk are you leaving

[Black Country lad]

Bunbury were from sedgley nr dudley/wolverhampton, where about im brum u from?

Aah good to see another local, I am from Coseley originally but knew sedgley real well used to catch the bus on occasions from Doctor Bakers statue.. Small world..

[Guest Guest31881]

Aah good to see another local, I am from Coseley originally but knew sedgley real well used to catch the bus on occasions from Doctor Bakers statue.. Small world..

 

I do not think Joanna1 has been on in quite a while.... What part of Coseley, I lived in woodsetton... is that close enough to Coseley :biglaugh:

[Black Country lad]

I do not think Joanna1 has been on in quite a while.... What part of Coseley, I lived in woodsetton... is that close enough to Coseley :biglaugh:

That's close enough!! I used to live just down the road from one of the great iconic gas fire and cooker manufacturers " Cannon Industries" before they moved the factory to stoke and maybe India now who knows?

[Guest Guest31881]

I know the cannon, I used the storage units on there when I moved, It also had a decent cafe on there, but it was tragic to see such a big factory just close down...