Quote:
Originally posted by Pedr
Ok...so you've been here for nearly a month Jiffy.
Travelled a few miles,
Spent a short stint in one of our Hospitals,
Saw our premier military event for the year,
Worked and lived on a real farm,
Chased our native fauna and livestock,
Saw some of our sights,
Droolled over our excessive quantities of Blitzes,
Eaten our tucker,
Drunk our grog,
Smoked our durries and had a natter with some of our sheilas....
What is your opinion of this sunburnt country now mate??
What did you learn or what didn't you know before you came?,
What did you find?,
What did you like?,
What didn't you like?,
How do you feel? ( health wise )
What can we do to improve things here in our country? ( in your eyes )
Just interested to know what you thought?
We've / I've enjoyed your visit...sad to see you go...glad you came over anyway....looking forward to seeing you back here again, and hoping next time you might be able to stay a while longer. ( maybe for good )
Pedr
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Pedr,
OK, it's time to answer you, mate. First of all, thank you for your welcome and salutations. It was a pleasure spending even the brief time I had with you, and yes, it shall happen again -- whether 'for good' or not is anyone's guess at this point in time; as I told Howard in a PM, I do need out of this place for a variety of reasons, but we shan't delve into the details for the moment. Suffice to say my mind is pretty much made up. Where this is going to take me I have no bloody idea right now... first I have to find out whether I need a new hip (I suspect so) then after?
Oh piss on it, here are the details, aside from those already disclosed: the building I live in has now an application for rezoning extant for sale and/or demolition. My company is being sold to the Yanks, which means massive cuts in the near future, and a LONG strike which will bugger both the company and the union, never mind us poor working minions. In addition to that, if one retires after 2011, one gets NO benefits now. So... no place to live soon, no job despite 18 years-in, and perhaps major surgury. Never mind getting my teeth fixed. The latter two bits can be taken care of under the benefits I have now, so no big deal, albeit a bit of an ordeal.
Add that to the fact that this climate is slowly killing me, and yes, I want out. I'll be gone in less than a year, where I don't know, but I DO know this has to happen. And no sweat, as we say here, I can run my MLU 'empire' from anywhere.
Enough about me.
This is about you.
Before anything else, I'm in fine shape other than being unable to walk without a stick and even then not easily. There never was anything wrong with me beyond exhaustion and stress. That's gone now, so be done with it.
BTW, your medical system is about as efficient as ours - which is to say, state-run and bloody near useless. Sure, the people on the front line are wonderful, but they can't fart without written permission, and the last two days I spent in the system were totally pointless. The 'system' did nothing. Don't get hospitalized on a weekend is my advice.
We'll let that go now, OK?
On to more pleasant things.
Your 'sunburnt country' is magnificent, as are the people who define it. I only saw a corner of it, of course, but what I saw compells me to want to see the rest. What I saw was essentially a vast, unspoiled land sparsely-populated outside the big cities (which aren't terribly different than ours), and drought- aside, full of promise. I felt at home there. I was MADE to feel at home there, not just by you lot, but by everyone I spoke to. It's been a long time since I've had that experience.
We'll not get into the subject of your national blitz collection. My brain is still smoldering regards that.
Your tucker is good, especially the lamb, the amount of which I haven't eaten since a child. Kathy Hedges was especially good at that, but then I reckon that goes with the territory, eh? She would never tell me the name of whoever it was I ate, but perhaps that's for the best.
You pub grub is pretty good too, although a trifle pricey... no complaints from this end, though.
Speaking of pricey, while your schooners of beer are much cheaper than here (and better beer!), some of your bottle shops are what we might call 'highway robbery'. I saw price variations which ran from approximately what we pay to almost a half-again. Although I'm inherently against government intervention in the economy, considering the pernetage the government is taking from the sale of tobacco and alcohol, it seems unreasonable to hand the pricing to individual store owners who can decide how much they want to screw the working stiffs out of. 'Nuff said.
Your sheilas.... some of the most delightful ladies it's ever been my privilege to meet. I think I fell in love five times, but I'll have you know I kept my hands and my thoughts to myself. We'll say no more about this, either.
Pedr, for what little I saw, there was nothing I disliked about Australia, and other than getting the government's hands out of your pockets (a common problem these days), no improvements I can suggest.
These, sir, are just the first of my thoughts. Thank you.
Jif