olly Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I knew it.................. Aussies take it up the tail pipe. lol :wink: good post. Oi, you, Hoff, come 'ere and get a whack:laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I don't understand the British Identity protection league at all!!! What identity ??? Your male youth generation want to be gangbangers with baseball caps turned sideways, dodgy tracksuit bottoms sparkly dollar sign tee shirts and laces undone, often wearing jeans with the waistband around their knees showing off a dirty pair of calvin's....Your girls want to mums, mums, mums, pop stars, mums? Sorry ....just not getting it...Does it not worry you when you see drunken juveniles who'll become teenage parents, just what the next generation of Brits will be like? I blame the government, teachers, firemen, doctors, binmen, farmers, Mc Donalds, the clangers, (not the beano), Oh..fishermen...They should all be answerable to the loving caring absent parents of these children....Not all children..but you know they are out there in a shopping precinct near you!!!...or maternity ward, police station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest valleylass Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Sorry ....just not getting it...Does it not worry you when you see drunken juveniles who'll become teenage parents, just what the next generation of Brits will be like? I blame the government, teachers, firemen, doctors, binmen, farmers, Mc Donalds, the clangers, (not the beano), Oh..fishermen...They should all be answerable to the loving caring absent parents of these children....Not all children..but you know they are out there in a shopping precinct near you!!!...or maternity ward, police station. Joke, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I assumed the whole post was a joke :huh: Joke, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Chris. You're back !! Where you bin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Yes I'm back :biggrin: I've been on holiday, it was very nice to be honest but good to be back :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Welcome home :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chris955 Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menlow4 Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 Just been reading these threads with a glass of wine in my hand and a huge smile on my face. I have read accounts from all sides, all passionate and emotional, some misunderstood and some defensive. The art of a good debate has been lost over the years and it is good to see it alive and kicking on this forum. To have everyone in the same room would be eventful, what a night that would make! Different people with different opinions and naturally people being drawn together because they seem to be on the same wavelength as someone else. Thats life isn't it. I know where I stand and nothing will change that. I can read other's posts sometimes with total agreement and sometimes with a wry smile. To the person who wrote the first post...there's your conversation...unfortunately it's over the internet. Long live POI! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest abrewin Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 hi "miserable and bored" havent been on here for a while so note that your post is Oct 10 so i wonder where you are at now. ive lived in australia 13 years, just been back to UK for a year (long story wont bore you with) and have just returned to australia 3 weeks ago. i lived in sydney for a about 6 years the rest of the time quite rural, the strange thing about my life in sydney is i picked up very few friends there, the couple i have are great but not usually end up with more people from an area. when it came back to returning to oz i really didnt want to go back to sydney, shes a bit of a competative place and alot of wheeling dealing sort of culture. theres a saying "melbournes a lady, sydneys a slut" just before i left UK we invaded (sorry tried to help !) libyia. i was at work when this news came through and we were devastated, here its a world away, nobody or few think of that stuff . or afghanastan, my world in the uk was connected to the army, the aussies simply dont have wooton bassett with young boys coming back in caskets. i think life in the UK is generally harder, i find the press negative and defisive and a level of suspicion between each other, and they dont seem (im being generalist now) to help each other especailly strangers out as much. when i lived in cronulla the biggest worry was the surf (up until 2005 anyway) i use to find this refreshing and calming for my intense mind. i work in a political division of health, met alot of people in politics as well, people talk about whats important too them and what their world is. i hope you find your tribe and where u feel u belong, sometimes its an existential issue. im on fb under angie brewin if you ever want a pommie friend good luck with life. angie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fungi Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Unless you like the beach its so booooooooring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fungi Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Beautifull surf in Cornwall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stormgal Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 hi "miserable and bored" i think life in the UK is generally harder, i find the press negative and defisive and a level of suspicion between each other, and they dont seem (im being generalist now) to help each other especailly strangers out as much. angie wow, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were describing the US. :err: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjdrum Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 When you've lived in one place all of your life and you feel down/lonely/depressed etc, you accept it as part of life and try to make the best of it. When you've moved a long way from home and go through the usual range of emotions, it's so tempting to blame it on your new home and remember fondly the place from which you came. We could all move to paradise and still have the off day/week/month and chances are a good number of people (not mentioning any names... :wink:) would be blaming their new home instead of making real concerted efforts to improve their own situation... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsindecision Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 When you've lived in one place all of your life and you feel down/lonely/depressed etc, you accept it as part of life and try to make the best of it. When you've moved a long way from home and go through the usual range of emotions, it's so tempting to blame it on your new home and remember fondly the place from which you came. We could all move to paradise and still have the off day/week/month and chances are a good number of people (not mentioning any names... :wink:) would be blaming their new home instead of making real concerted efforts to improve their own situation... mmmm simplistic perspective - if only it were true life would be easy and we could all just pull up our boot straps and pull ourselves together!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydney Posted May 29, 2011 Share Posted May 29, 2011 Put me in mind of this Germaine Greer quote; Australia is a huge rest home, where no unwelcome news is ever wafted on to the pages of the worst newspapers in the world. I know she's not everyone's cup of tea as social commentators go, but I still find the old girl entertaining :biggrin: Hi Ozsceptic. I honestly find Germaine Greer to be a bitter and twisted old boiler who suffers from some some sort of syndrome where she wishes she had been born and raised in the UK. Maybe if she was, she might be directing all her bitterness at good old Blighty. People who knew her as a student in Australia before she left for the "overseas experience" say she never showed the same attitude to the country, and are at a loss to why she appears to hate all things Australian. She once said she hated the fact she could never be accepted in the UK because she wasn't born there, unlike some of the undeserving buggers who find themselves in Australia and are welcome with open arms.!! The lady is well confused, and apart from being the author of one book, (40 odd years ago), which sold quite a few copies worldwide, I don't think she's said much of any consequence since. End of rant. Syd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scotinaus Posted May 29, 2011 Share Posted May 29, 2011 Sorry if this has already been said but I couldn't bring myself to read 27 pages! Sorry to hear you have not had a good experience here but I don't think you can tar all Aussies with the same brush. I am sure you have met a limited selection of the population after all... I have been here 7 years and have made many good friends slog the way, all of whom can hold a good conversation and talk about many things other than sports, utes, etc Wishing you all the best if you do, or have, gone back. But I don't think people here are vastly different from the Brits, Americans, etc. Some of them you love, some you don't! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunbury61 Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Ok ..firstly I am Australian born and breed...I have often made it clear that I adore the UK, and think it's the best place on the planet...I may joke just to josh folk, but it's just that joshing! Sad fact, and it is very sad, and there are lots of threads on the site to back this up, and I do not dwell on folks personal relationships dilemma's (had a few myself)....But if you have a problem in life in the UK, going off to the other side of the planet won't solve it. a problem is a problem in any country. it travels with you, and after a 'honeymoon' period is likely to re-emerge. Unfortunately many seeking a new life thinking a change will save a relationship head out to get away, and find new surroundings in Australia thinking sun, sea, lifestyle will solve the problem...Then not realising the stresses involved in making a complete break..crumble....Australia tends to get the blame for the break-up which was always probably 'on the cards'..But nope..We (Aus) take it right up the tail pipe...Some should think about it..wind back the clock a bit ...You were alone in Australia...I have friends here and in the UK and family in Aus who I can count on to tell me I'm acting an arse, I'm tense, I'm not myself, I need to relax....I didn't realise it myself! I needed a friend to tell me ..Tough love - positive-negetive what ever you want to call it. It takes a friend to guide you 'gently' through that....It's tough when you don't have 'life' friends anymore, friends yes, but not the ones you went to school with, you shared your most treasured secrets with, That's something that most miss, as did I when I first came to the UK as a 22 year old fresh from Uni, scared witless, with a backpack and two books, freezing in the middle of winter without a coat and my backpack lost walking backwards and forwards in the snow between the Heathrow terminals...Heading to London in the middle of the night and my lodgings had closed then walking the streets till 6 am till it opened ........Did I give up..no WHY ..I had always wanted to live in England and I was going to give her my very best shot...I put my head down, bum up and got on with it, I didn't expect all of England in all it's pageantry To fall before me, I worked hard at relationships and eventually won folk over, it took time, It took a lot more than a few years to be truly accepted in the UK...WHY because I discovered something!!! To live as English, you've got to forget all the things you had, and look at what's on offer and make your way in England as an Englishman!. We're not the most wanted race in the UK, folk find our ways a little different, we talk straight, and folk here found that offensive, I stopped doing it, We don't do small talk, I started doing small talk, We brag a little, I stopped doing that! Why because I truly wanted to be part of my society, my new society, my new life! I'm sorry but you cannot stand on the sidelines in Australia waving the Union Jack or Georges Cross and expect everyone to believe you are seriously looking for a new life! It doesn't work that way. My partner has made a self vow to keep well away from Ex-pat functions and meetings, not that there is anything wrong with that, but he wants to fully immerse himself and become a fully functioning understanding Australian Citizen and never look back at old blighty! This has probably bored the life out of all of you, But I'm just getting a little fed-up with the constant swipes at my home country, by folk that set out there for the wrong purpose or reasons and got smacked in the face by life...So blamed Australia..I'm done here here well said ......i have only just read this post . We didnt hang around with the poms ,all our mates were Aussies when we were in OZ . We didnt talk about HOME , either . Its not the hokey cokey ......you are either in or you are out. Iam back in the UK now , and happy with my lot , but i fully agree with your sentiments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JackyJax Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Interesting topic. For those of us who think that Oz conversation can be a bit lacking, it's not about superiority/education, etc. Back in the UK I recall having great repartee with the bin man, the old lady who ran the second hand shop, the newspaper man, etc. Always there was a bit of 'bounce' in the conversation. In fact conversation in the UK seemed more of a tennis match with the ball being bounced back and forth over the net. In Australia it often seems to stay on one side of the net. When I first arrived here- 13 years ago- I noticed that I would say something funny, the other person would laugh and that would be it. In the UK, my experience was that I would say something funny, the other person would say something funnier, then I would respond to that and so on. It is rare to have that sort of conversation here. Australians (huge generalisation of course) don't seem to have that sort of sense of the absurd in conversation and the humour is definitely different. Aussies are very friendly but I agree with the poster who said they don't often invite you to activities at the weekend. I remember when I first arrived and knew no one and people at work would ask me what I was going to do at the weekend. I don't know anyone, I thought, what do you think I'm going to be doing. Similarily, in Sydney, most of my Aussie friends are friends with people they went to school with or that they met at Uni. One of my good friends here said at her 40th that she was really glad she met me as she hadn't expected to make any new friends at her age! I was flabbergasted as I just assume that life is a process of making new friends. I had a child a few years ago and most of the times I met up with Aussie mums I was the one who instigated things. These women- who are my friends- were more than happy to meet up sometimes as often as weekly. We've always had great fun hanging out but I never understood why I always have to instigate things. Also at the weekend they always do stuff with their family and are never around. There are lots of things I love about Australia and I have lots of great Aussie friends. However, there is a real difference between the type of conversation you have with an Aussie and the type you have with a Pom. For those of you getting offended, I don't want to add to that offence, but I do want to say I understand the views of the original poster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpodom Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Jacky I totally agree. Your description of the difference between Poms and Aussies fits exactly with my experience. I honestly think Aussies do more and say less, Poms are the other way round, on the whole, obviously with exceptions. Obviously other people's experience may be wildly different, depending on who they've met and what types of person they are. Your description of a conversation being like a tennis match is so apt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARYROSE02 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 I must have been here too long because I don't know how to distinguish between 'Aussie' and 'Pom'. And, if anything, coming from the south of England, I feel more in common with 'Aussies' than people from Yorks, Lancs, NE England, etc. Listening to a Scouser or a Manc or a Geordie, am I really from the same country? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albelite Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Dave, I posted on the Considering returning to UK thread yesterday and talked about parochial newspapers and media generally. My wife and I have similar situations to you. We are introduced to an Aussie and they start to talk about themselves non stop. I have never been asked about my family, where I come from and what I think. I am talked at about their family, their problems, illnesses and other woes. I have tried to bring conversation round to something topical - even footy - but the talk returns to the Aussie's opinion, their life history and themselves. As such, we have introduced ourselves to neighbours but not one has come and introduced themselves to us or come and spoken with us. I don't know if it is the isolation of this place but they just talk and ignore the other person and talk over one another. It is frustrating as they are very friendly people but I long for a good old chin wag without having to know someones deep medical history within 5 minutes. 123...etc I will be interested to find how my son will fair in OZ when he moves as you have described him to a tee, loves talking about himself and his woes, bragging what he can do, never hardly listens to what you have to say and talks over when he wants to wipe your convo out, very racist, pig headed and stubborn and opinionated the list goes on, OZ will find him a challenge I'm sure, but will they let him get away with this type of OZZy behaviour if they like talking about themselves so much we his family know him and make allowances but others might not be as 'understanding', wish I could be a fly on the wall lol, would appreciate some feedback as a Mum I do worry they might think him 'different', one thing they might appreciate is how much he hates the UK and constantly slags it off and is not proud to be british, I personally think he will miss a little when he finally moves in October! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zoolisa Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 I will be interested to find how my son will fair in OZ when he moves as you have described him to a tee, loves talking about himself and his woes, bragging what he can do, never hardly listens to what you have to say and talks over when he wants to wipe your convo out, very racist, pig headed and stubborn and opinionated the list goes on, OZ will find him a challenge I'm sure, but will they let him get away with this type of OZZy behaviour if they like talking about themselves so much we his family know him and make allowances but others might not be as 'understanding', wish I could be a fly on the wall lol, would appreciate some feedback as a Mum I do worry they might think him 'different', one thing they might appreciate is how much he hates the UK and constantly slags it off and is not proud to be british, I personally think he will miss a little when he finally moves in October! Ha! I have a sister who would get along just fine with your son! If she can't find a natural gap in the conversation she just talks LOUDER over everyone! I'll admit that I did sometimes struggle with my aussie friends, who I loved dearly, but having a southern English accent, and a quieter voice I struggled to get a word in edgeways and often they would talk over me. Worse if we were in a group, but easier one-to-one. I don't think they mean it in a nasty way, as they demonstrated their love in so many other ways. I often felt you had 2 types of aussie- those who are a little shallow and false, and those who are genuine and (sometimes brutally) honest. For me, the latter were more common I'm pleased to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albelite Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Ha! I have a sister who would get along just fine with your son! If she can't find a natural gap in the conversation she just talks LOUDER over everyone! I'll admit that I did sometimes struggle with my aussie friends, who I loved dearly, but having a southern English accent, and a quieter voice I struggled to get a word in edgeways and often they would talk over me. Worse if we were in a group, but easier one-to-one. I don't think they mean it in a nasty way, as they demonstrated their love in so many other ways. I often felt you had 2 types of aussie- those who are a little shallow and false, and those who are genuine and (sometimes brutally) honest. For me, the latter were more common I'm pleased to say. He wont take kindly if HE gets talked over or they appear not to be interested in what HE has to say...I think he will put his mask on to begin with but will slip I am sure, one thing is he speaks what he thinks a lot even if it offends, maybe he will fit in especially if any Ozzys agree with his racist comments, he especially likes the N word....now you know why I worry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest57588 Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 I will be interested to find how my son will fair in OZ when he moves as you have described him to a tee, loves talking about himself and his woes, bragging what he can do, never hardly listens to what you have to say and talks over when he wants to wipe your convo out, very racist, pig headed and stubborn and opinionated the list goes on, OZ will find him a challenge I'm sure, but will they let him get away with this type of OZZy behaviour if they like talking about themselves so much we his family know him and make allowances but others might not be as 'understanding', wish I could be a fly on the wall lol, would appreciate some feedback as a Mum I do worry they might think him 'different', one thing they might appreciate is how much he hates the UK and constantly slags it off and is not proud to be british, I personally think he will miss a little when he finally moves in October! He'll be fine I'm sure. It sounds like he's got all the strengths necessary to be a hit with the Aussies. God knows, it's worked for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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