Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

neverdespairgirl

At my school, we had to do English language, English lit, Maths, and a modern language. We then had to do either physics or chemistry, geography or biology, history or RE or Classical Civilisations, music or art or CDT, and 1 or 2 others. So a minimum of 8, max of 10.

Generali

Kennyboy66 wrote: »

What has changed in her opinion ?

Is you wife from Sydney ? When I first went to Australia (for a year in 1990) I hated Sydney. Melbourne on the other hand I though was fantastic.

Mrs Generali is from Sydney.

I think the problems are 2 fold: Sydney has changed a lot from the city she grew up in and she's changed while living for 13 years in London.

I think the trouble is, Sydney isn't really at ease with itself at the moment. The people that live here can't decide whether they want to live in a modern, international city to be compared alongside the likes of New York and London or whether it's still a collection of quiet suburbs. The two things don't really sit well together so it's sort of become !!!!!! at being an international city but too big and unwieldy to be just a big collection of towns that have all joined up.

It sort of reminds me of England in the 1970s and 1980s when the Empire was clearly finished but nothing had really taken its place. England couldn't really work out her place in the world. Sydney is the same at the moment, not really one thing or another.

Also, we really have done emigration the hard way. I struggled to get work that paid and we watched as other Brits gave up and went home. It hasn't been the best introduction to Australian living.

I think Melbourne has much more of an identity than Sydney does although I've only been there for 2 days so it's hard for me to say.

Also I think that we have the same problem NDG does with New York: too much family.

PasturesNew

So far I've had 500 miles from my tank of diesel - and the needle's a smidgeon under the 1/4 full .... however, I can't stretch it as far as I can due to local events overtaking me So, on Thursday I definitely need to fill up, rather than ekeing it out and taking risks. I've only got 100 miles to go on Thursday and I figure I could possibly have just braved it out and kept going before filling up on Friday morning, but there are other people involved now and I can't upset scheduling by me driving as far as I dare into the red.

So, I'll have my first "reading" on Thursday as I'll know how far I've gone and how many litres the tank takes to re-fill. But I figure it'll take 3 tanks for greater accuracy.... so still another 2-3 months to go

neverdespairgirl

Generali wrote: »

Also I think that we have the same problem NDG does with New York: too much family.

"Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city."

Masomnia

I just want to get out of Sheffield. I suppose it's a bit like Sydney (but obviously not on the same scale), it wants to be a vibrant, modern, metropolitan city, but really it is just a collection of villages filled with odd-bods and I'm getting a bit sick of it.

I think I'd emigrate if it wasn't for my mum, I need a fresh start. There really isn't much here for me now.

lostinrates

Generali wrote: »

Also I think that we have the same problem NDG does with New York: too much family.

That's me....the family in NYC. But ndc hits my feelings on that entirely in her response.:D

misskool

Generali wrote: »

Also, we really have done emigration the hard way. I struggled to get work that paid and we watched as other Brits gave up and went home. It hasn't been the best introduction to Australian living.


Also I think that we have the same problem NDG does with New York: too much family.

Chopped a bit off the quote but as an emigre, I'd like to say that some family would be nice. I have many good friends and it's been years but sometimes, it still does feel a bit lonely.

I'd love to move back but it's not feasible and also practically, I know I wouldn't be able to cope having been away for so long.

And back to languages, I'm trilingual. Almost all my friends from "home" are. It's common to be able to speak multiple languages.

JonnyBravo

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I once watched him spend hours struggling through a passport renewal form in Hebrew. He got to the end, and the final words were something like, "If you want this in another language, apply to your local consulate". He was an Unhappy Man.

In Hebrew? Very helpful.

neverdespairgirl

misskool wrote: »

And back to languages, I'm trilingual. Almost all my friends from "home" are. It's common to be able to speak multiple languages.

We had Swiss Au Pairs when I was a child - they were all bilingual or trilingual.

neverdespairgirl

JonnyBravo wrote: »

In Hebrew? Very helpful.

Yup! And he'd struggled through page after page about the colour of his grandmother's eyes, or whatever it was.