A is for ... (Part 3)

Bloody hell, it's only taken almost 3 weeks for me to do A! (Here's Part 1 and Part 2)

[A] is for Australia

Quite appropriate seeing that today is Australia Day. I remember being at school in the mid-80's and they started showing Neighbours on TV during the summer school holidays after the 1pm news on the BBC. All the kids and the stay-at-home Mums were hooked. Even now I can't see what the appeal was. At the time Sons & Daughters and A Country Practice had been shown on English TV for years, but there was something about Neighbours which really caught the attention of the nation.

When school started a new year in early September, the kids missed the show because it wasn't repeated later in the day. I remember kids bunking off school just to see episodes. Eventually it was clear that it was popular and the BBC showed the new episodes at 5.30pm and the daytime show became a repeat of the previous day. One kid at school even had his pen-friend in Australia send over a weeks worth of episodes on video tape and we all went to the Drama Studio to watch it during the lunch breaks. Everyone was chuffed to bits because England was still 2 or 3 years behind Australia from memory.

So what does Neighbours have to do with me and Australia? It has a lot to do with why so many English got the Aussie bug and migrated. For me that wasn't the reason, but I do remember thinking how cool it would be to live in Oz (with the girl I fancied at the time I might add) and we could all walk into each others houses through the back door and help ourselves to a beer from their fridge, a shrimp from their barbie and then a quick dip in their pool.

When I met Jo we had originally planned for me to uproot and move to Oz first, but common sense took hold and Jo came to live in England for a couple of years, spending time with my family and seeing where I grew up. My job at the time was just picking up, was paying well and it really did make sense.

In 1998 after Jo became pregnant with Abbey we kicked off the procedure of applying for my spouse visa. All in all, it was 45 days between me posting the application (and a huge wad of cash) and receiving the phone call to say the visa had been granted. This was around March time. We flew out to Adelaide mid-May and I stayed for 2 weeks before leaving Jo at her parents house to return back to Blighty to work out my notice, pack up the house and say my goodbyes. Of course I somehow managed to time it so that I flew out the day after the World Cup final. Funny that. Pure coincidence, honest. That last night sleeping on my folks sofa was the most uncomfortable nights sleep I've had - probably more nerves than anything.

Leaving was just a case of going through the motions. The flight was booked and I had to be in places at certain times. The rest was a blur.

I don't regret coming to Australia, but there are times when I really miss home. I miss my family and friends although I am still in contact with most of them via the Internet. I miss stupid things like particular products. Worcester Sauce flavour crisps. Decent curry houses. Pubs with atmosphere. The thought of going back has come up in conversation numerous times and it's a case of never say never, but ... a big but ... at the same time we'd be losing out on so much here.

My job is good and it has allowed me to travel back to Europe and drop in on the folks twice in as many years. We have started to really feel settled where we built our house in 1999. Abbey is at a great school and the twins have been accepted there for when they start school in 2009. We've started to make some good friends in the area (Jo more than me, but I've never been the social butterfly type ;-). Hell, some of those friends we've met live not too far away in South Australia, but we still managed to meet them via the 'net!

England is where I was born and bred. I am English. Australia is my home, but I'll never be an Australian. Don't get me wrong though. I love Australia and feel extremely lucky to have the chance to live and raise my kids here. The people here (at least the vast majority) are so laid back and friendly. The "no worries" mentality really does ring true and while my hometown is pretty quiet and slow moving which suits me down to the ground, I feel more comfortable with the lifestyle here.

This year will be 10 years since we left. Almost a third of my life. We made the right choice.

[A] is for Angelina

Ok, I confess that I like a perve as much as the next person and this entry is pure self-indulgence. Please bare bear with me.

I remember me and my mate during school holidays being bored and talking about how we'd make the perfect woman. This was around the time of Weird Science and there wasn't much to do in the village we grew up in once you'd mooned the commuter trains heading down to London, knocked on a few doors and run away and yelled various abusive words at the grumpy old people before speeding off on our BMX and Tomahawk bikes.

We'd go through every body part and piece together the perfect woman, from cheekbones, to eyes, to legs, to boobs, etc, etc, Eg, the cheekbones would have been from Belinda Carlisle without a doubt, but I don't recall the other body parts. Of course, intellect and sense of humour didn't come into it when you were 14 years of age. Anyway, to cut a long perve short, if I did the same thing today I'd end up with a complete Angelina. Hubba, hubba. Blondes? I say Meh!

Ooo look, I might get onto B before Xmas!