In the end, as I’ve said to SL before, I am heartily glad that my forebears came here (or were transported here, as the case may be). Otherwise, I would be stuck in an Irish peat bog somewhere, or in Scottish slums or in a Manchester housing estate. At least my family got a chance in Australia. When I lived in the UK some 15 years ago, I found the class system to be incredibly rigid. As an Australian, I was outside the class structure, but many people would not allow me to forget my “colonial” status. That being said, once I made friends in the UK, they were very loyal and true friends, and I am still in touch with many now.

Just to let you know Helen, old Blighty is indeed blighted.

The whole city of Hull (near your parents old post-industrial stamping ground
of Scunthorpe) has been flooded with most homes so damaged some may not be inhabitable for years. You just dont hear about it, the same way New Orleans was just not talked about.

Record rainfall in many parts of this rainy country.

Tension and racism on the street is at a high level.

Civil liberties are at a minimum, whilst drink prices are at a maximum.

Oxford is one of the most expensive place in the country to live, even with a scholarship and a stuffy college room. The whole country is twice the price half the service (if the service is available at all). Trains are the most pricey in the world, traffic is gridlocked and there are no bike paths like Holland.

Oxford is full of yahs and yobbos, neither of which groups you belong to as an aussie with a brain. The teasing of Australians is relentless at Oxbridge. When I was kid in Cambridge, big bronzed Aussies were bashed for no reason and could not wait to get home.

If you think you don’t feel an attachment to Australia wait and see how attached you feel after a few months over here. You will remember the reasons your parents and so many others over the centuries have left. Even you if you feel like you have found your place here, it wont be a place in the sun.
There is no escape, it actually means term of your natural life and garden shears for the poppies who dont make it over the fence and attempt re-entry.

Also the other side run things over here and you have been pitching for the wrong side downunder.

LE