Isn't Britan Great????

[Guest bookworm64]

HI

Sat her listening to the news whilst catching up on PIA and have suddenly realised why we are all deperately trying to vacate the UK, it's because it sucks!

 

the housing market is slowing down, the interest , interest rates are going up, cost of living i.e gas antd electric going up, but not your wage, and don't get me started on the lovely council tax!.and not forgetting the price of petrol and the general cost of living in general.

i am hoping we will get our visa to emigrate and i am even happy to give up a well paid job and chance my arm in Australia as i am convinced that this country is never going to get any better.

or is it just me??????

[Guest Upsy Daisy]

Er...I think you forgot to mention the never-ending pi**ing-down rain!!!

[Guest Django]

or is it just me??????

 

No its not just you. Loads of people have noticed. However its us few that have not only seen it but doing something about it.

 

Pete

[Guest bookworm64]

glad its just not me then!!!

[Guest sarahsmartiepants]

Please beware those things DO happen here too. Some things are expensive, some things are cheap, petrol goes up once a week by about 10c per liter, sometimes more then slowly comes down till wednesday when it goes up again. Potatos and broccollli gos up and down like a yo yo too!

sarah

[Guest bookworm64]

thanks for that. i suppose i am on a bit of a downer at the moment, its cold,wet and i am fed up with work etc etc.

i have been on another site where there is a very long thread re poms being homesick and all coming home so i suppose its nice to get both sides of the story, and not look at it through rose tinted glasses!

hasn't put me off though!!

[Guest sarahsmartiepants]

thanks for that. i suppose i am on a bit of a downer at the moment, its cold,wet and i am fed up with work etc etc.

i have been on another site where there is a very long thread re poms being homesick and all coming home so i suppose its nice to get both sides of the story, and not look at it through rose tinted glasses!

hasn't put me off though!!

Thats ok, I just worry when I see post like this that people actually do think this is paradise and every thing is dirt cheap, when in fact it isnt! The worst mistake you can make when emigrating is wearing rosy glasses, and believe me many do! I have lost count of the people who say I thought there was no crime..i thought the houses were cheaper and on and on!!

I have to also balance this out by saying the things in life that are free are much better here than the UK and would I go back there to live NO WAY!

sarah

[tina&steve]

Not to mention the intrest rates on mortages in Oz and there house prices are going up.

 

 

hurry up visa or I won't be able to live in Oz.

 

Tina x

[Guest stiffsimon]

Just to add something from my own personal perspective.

I live on the far North coast of Scotland and I feel financially Oz would be so much cheaper. Eg., locally petrol is £1.15 per litre!!, the nearest supermarket(and not a big one at that) is 45 miles away the weather is usually cold, wet and windy, you usually have to pay extra to get things delivered, the nearest cinema is 45 miles away, you are very dependent on your car as public transport is nearly non existant, the nearest taxi company is 20 miles away,the nearest train station is 38 miles away,you tend to drive everywhere because most things are so far away.

I could go on but you get the idea.

So all things considered Oz would need to go some to compete with the disadvantages of living in remote and rural in Scotland.

 

Simon

 

PS. Having said all that it is very beautiful up here with almost zero crime.

[Guest Django]

Thats ok, I just worry when I see post like this that people actually do think this is paradise

 

I can understand that Sarah, bu I think it depends on your circumstance here really. If you come from a place like Esher or Marlow then Oz might be a bit of a let down. I doubt if anywhere in Adelaide could compete with the place I was dragged up in. The Clash songs, 'Last Gang in Town' & 'Groovy Times' would sum it up. If you don't know the songs you can google the lyrics and you'll get the picture. The locals call it Beirut.

 

thought the houses were cheaper

 

They are by a long chalk. I was looking at a house last night for £127,000 40mins from the city centre. Here to by one just as big and 40 minutes to central London you are talking £450,000

 

That said you have no expectations of what living in South Australia is like. We don't expect it to easy. If it was easy it wouldn't be an adventure.

 

Pete

[Guest cornish Busdriver]

Totally agree with u si.

Were in Kernow and house prices down here ave reached stupid prices (good for us coz were selling)

and petrol ranges from £1.02 at tesco's to £1.25 at rural garages.

You need a car to get anywhere and gas, electric has gone up by so-much.

Were not going to Adelaide for cheaper prices coz not everything is that cheep infact a lot of what we found was a bit more expencive.

Were going for the lifestyle and way of life.

[Guest lynne]

THE SQUIRREL

REST OF THE WORLD VERSION:

The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building and improving his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the squirrel is warm and well fed. The shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

THE END

 

THE U.K. VERSION:

The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the squirrel is warm and well fed.

 

A social worker finds the shivering grasshopper, calls a press conference and demands to know why the squirrel should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others less fortunate, like the grasshopper, are cold and starving. The BBC shows up to provide live coverage of the shivering grasshopper; with cuts to a video of the squirrel in his comfortable warm home with a table laden with food.

 

The British press inform people that they should be ashamed that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so, while others have plenty.

 

The Labour Party, Greenpeace, Animal Rights and The Grasshopper Council of GB demonstrate in front of the squirrel's house. The BBC, interrupting a cultural festival special from Notting Hill with breaking news, broadcasts a multi cultural choir singing We Shall Overcome. Ken Livingstone rants in an interview with Trevor McDonald that the squirrel got rich off the backs of grasshoppers, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the squirrel to make him pay his fair share and increases the charge for squirrels to enter inner London.

 

In response to pressure from the media, the Government drafts the Economic Equity and Grasshopper Anti discrimination Act, retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The squirrel's taxes are reassessed. He is taken to court and fined for failing to hire grasshoppers as builders for the work he was doing on his home and an additional fine for contempt when he told the court the grasshopper did not want to work.

 

The grasshopper is provided with a council house, financial aid to furnish it and an account with a local taxi firm to ensure he can be socially mobile. The squirrel's food is seized and redistributed to the more needy members of society, in this case the grasshopper. Without enough money to buy more food, to pay the fine and his newly imposed retroactive taxes, the squirrel has to downsize and start building a new home.

 

The local authority takes over his old home and utilises it as a temporary home for asylum seeking cats who had hijacked a plane to get to Britain as they had to share their country of origin with mice. On arrival they tried to blow up the airport because of Britain's apparent love of dogs. The cats had been arrested for the international offence of hijacking and attempted bombing but were immediately released because the police fed them pilchards instead of salmon whilst in custody.

 

Initial moves to then return them to their own country were abandoned because it was feared they would face death by the mice. The cats devise and start a scam to obtain money from people's credit cards. A Panorama special shows the grasshopper finishing up the last of the squirrel's food, though spring is still months away, while the council house he is in, crumbles around him because he hasn't bothered to maintain the house. He is shown to be taking drugs. Inadequate

government funding is blamed for the grasshopper's drug illness.

 

The grasshopper gets arrested for stabbing an old dog during a burglary to get money for his drug habit. He is imprisoned but released immediately because he has been in custody for a few weeks. He is placed in the care of the probation service to monitor and supervise him. Within a few weeks he has killed a guinea pig in a botched robbery. A commission of enquiry, that will eventually cost GBP10,000,000 and state the obvious, is set up. Additional money is put into funding a drug rehabilitation scheme for grasshoppers and legal aid for lawyers representing asylum seekers is increased.

 

The cats seek recompense in the British courts for their treatment since arrival in UK. The asylum-seeking cats are praised by the government for enriching Britain's multicultural diversity and dogs are criticised by the government for failing to befriend the cats. The grasshopper dies of a drug overdose. The usual sections of the press blame it on the obvious failure of government to address the root causes of despair arising from social inequity and his traumatic experience of prison.

 

They call for the resignation of a minister. The cats are paid a million pounds each because their rights were infringed when the government failed to inform them there were mice in the United Kingdom. The squirrel, the dogs and the victims of the hijacking, the bombing, the burglaries and robberies have to pay an additional percentage on their credit cards to cover losses, their taxes are increased to pay for law and order and they are told that they will have to work beyond 65 because of a shortfall in government funds.

 

The squirrel? He moved to Adelaide.

[Guest sarahsmartiepants]

 

That said you have no expectations of what living in South Australia is like. We don't expect it to easy. If it was easy it wouldn't be an adventure.

 

Pete

You are right there Pete. But I still find it worrying that people do think everything here is fantastic, when it isnt, it is just another country with different problems. There are taxes to pay, petrol does vary in price from place to place and day to day! Not all food is cheap and GOOD quality.

Was I dishearted when I got here? NO , because I was not expecting paradise and certainly didnt have on rosy glasses! What troubles me, reading some of the posts from people waiting to come is they sound like they are under a false sence of security, thinking here has none of the problems the UK has.

I also agree that it depends where and how you live in the UK as to how you see Adelaide . If you live in a 2 up 2 down in an inner city slum area than everything here will look great. But it is when you hear the accounts of these people, it will lead those, who live in a nicer house and area of the UK to think they will get better when they get here.

[Guest dglamoore]

You are right there Pete. But I still find it worrying that people do think everything here is fantastic, when it isnt, it is just another country with different problems. There are taxes to pay, petrol does vary in price from place to place and day to day! Not all food is cheap and GOOD quality.

Was I dishearted when I got here? NO , because I was not expecting paradise and certainly didnt have on rosy glasses! What troubles me, reading some of the posts from people waiting to come is they sound like they are under a false sence of security, thinking here has none of the problems the UK has.

I also agree that it depends where and how you live in the UK as to how you see Adelaide . If you live in a 2 up 2 down in an inner city slum area than everything here will look great. But it is when you hear the accounts of these people, it will lead those, who live in a nicer house and area of the UK to think they will get better when they get here.

 

I completely agree with you Sarah. We have spoken to so many people that have been so disillusioned when they got here because of this paradise they had built up - wages are rubbish, houses are going up and some newer houses can be tiny (we were surprised at how small some of the houses now are thanks to developers and subdiving plots), food seems to have gone up quite a bit in the last few months along with numerous interest rate rises and they don't call SA the tax state for nothing

 

Having said that our overall family life is much better and we love it here 100% even if financially we are worse off than the uk but it all balances out in the end - just keep realistic

 

Lisa:o

[Guest Devon]

Totally agree with both Sarah and Lisa.

Way of life is great here and weather is obviously much better. However does depend which part of UK people live in to how different OZ will be. In UK lived 5 min walk from the beach anyway so here is no different to that for me (although couldn't sit on the beach in UK due to weather:biglaugh:)

If you're coming with ideas of 'rip off Britain' though Oz is just as bad! (Taxes for nearly everything just like UK)

Things do look much cheaper if you are comparing with UK. Don't forget though that if you compare to wages here (and some are finding it hard to find work at the moment) things cost about the same albeit some are cheaper or more expensive.

Does shock me though how many keep saying petrol is cheaper here. Yes it is but like Sarah says keeps creeping up and you do need the car more here than in the UK I find.

Has actually hit me more in the last six weeks as been travelling everyday down to Port Willunga and back from Hallett Cove and spent loads on fuel (and that is such a boring journey)!

Have seen some of the new houses that I think Lisa is talking about and agree they are tiny, on top of each other and have no gardens!

All that aside though yes it is laid back and great, and I love it here. Just don't come thinking you'll be so much better off though and things are so much better financially as like Lisa we are deffinately worse off in that area

[Guest soggy]

I doubt if anywhere in Adelaide could compete with the place I was dragged up in. The Clash songs, 'Last Gang in Town' & 'Groovy Times' would sum it up. If you don't know the songs you can google the lyrics and you'll get the picture. The locals call it Beirut.

Pete

 

Just read the lyrics, I did not know you came from Guildford.

 

Simon

[Guest bookworm64]

hi

thanks for all your views on this .

i am coming over in 4 weeks time, can't wait so i suppose that's going to be a big help in deciding if oz is for me. which i am sure it will be!

 

michelle

[Guest graandjac]

:arghh:And one more thing to add for all people who have left this once great country behind, today the government announced that some innercity schools are going to have airport style detectors . This is because of so many kids carying knifes to school , what a great country we live in, Bring on Adelaide. Cheers Graham