Life

[Scotland]

Nope. Australia has a dry, clean and exciting way about our test side. Sure things may go South every now and then but we fight it out and take the Win.
I F#@&ing love Australian cricket mate!

On [device_name] using BigFooty.com mobile app

Our team is full of dickheads. Quite possibly the most unlikeable captain/vice captain partnership in our history. Smith has an even more punchable head than Michael Clarke and OLED Warner can't take a bit of stick about the fact that he married a bird that has already been through about a dozen other professional athletes.

 

[Catfish Alley]

Working a Canadian ski season sounds awful now. Even Niseko is basically Bali on ice. It's cool to go to places full of locals where you are the odd one out, and it's cool to go to places with people from all over the world. Places outside Australia that are 90% dickhead Australians, pass.

Definitely not 90% dickhead Aussies here. Where do you want to go?

 

[Scotland]

Definitely not 90% dickhead Aussies here. Where do you want to go?

I'm not planning to do a season, but if I go to Canada during winter it won't be to Whistler.

 

[Catfish Alley]

Even I’ve never been there in winter. It’s a fun little town though.

 

[perthblue]

He landed this dream of a job where every other week he's working in a different European city

Job title please. Is he a professional footballer?

 

[iluvparis]

England - both the country and the weather are HUGELY underrated. Don't believe the stereotype - go and check it out.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Can't find numbers for age, but I'm interested why you think young people are LESS likely to move overseas today compared to 15 years ago? Considering it's now cheaper and less complicated.

Economics, I'd say. Around 2000 work was easy to find for working holiday makers, the UK had a fairly generous points based skilled migration program which most grads could get into even if they didn't have ancestry rights, the Aus economy was going alright but Europe was generally ahead.
The HSMP has since been axed, a lot of "backpacker jobs" are needed by local Brits or according to UKIP eastern European migrants. I haven't seen figures recently but suspect there's no longer more Australians living in London at any given time than in Tasmania - as was the case 15-20 years ago. That doesn't mean it is rare now, but doesn't seem as common.

 

[Bostonian]

There is no point to life. It's just the hard wiring that keeps the species breeding. Outside of that there is no purpose or need for the species to keep existing.

 

[Gough]

Job title please. Is he a professional footballer?

High class escort.

 

[iluvparis]

escort.

EFA

 

[TheMightyEagles]

England - both the country and the weather are HUGELY underrated. Don't believe the stereotype - go and check it out.

Pros (speaking of London in particular):

- It’s the centre of the world. Cheap, quick travel into Europe, the US and North Africa.
- Lots of plays, concerts, museums and other arty/cultural events.
- Full of interesting, ambitious people from all around the world.
- Public transport is amazing (although expensive), no need to have a car really.

Cons:

- Shit weather. It’s cold and overcast for 10 months a year, with only a couple of days over 30 degrees. If you’re an office worker, you’re likely to have a vitamin D deficiency.
- Very average food. Yes you can in theory get food from all over the world, but the quality of it is generally rubbish compared to Australia.
- Class system still lives on.
- People are always coming and going. It’s a very transitory city.
- Rent is expensive. The secondary effect is that businesses play it safe, so everywhere now is full of franchises and real estate brokers.

London is a cool place to visit, but I personally would avoid staying there for too long. YMMV. Best advice I can give is to live there while you are still single.

 

[Silent Alarm]

- Rent is expensive. The secondary effect is that businesses play it safe, so everywhere now is full of franchises and real estate brokers.

This second point is interesting but very depressing. Probably why so many pubs in a lot of areas are chain pubs.

London didn't have the buzz to me when I went the second time. The first was unreal, but I much prefer the north I think. Everyone in London is perma-depressed in that New York way except there's less arrogance. People are hurried, tired, and mostly occupied with their own debt and frustrations. I found that really obvious and it got to me: wanting so much to live in such a cool place, working so hard to afford it, that you never actually get out and enjoy why it is you're there.

Food is indeed rubbish but Australia has it the best in the world. Italy, Spain, Portugal are all very good for food and as amazing as it can be, you're really limited to that cuisine. You can't really eat carbs all the time. In Australia there is cheap and average, middle price and fairly good, and expensive and awesome versions of just about every food. In the UK it's even hard to just grab a $7 tray of sushi; it's a restaurant there and the quality is much worse, the experience is a franchised one, and it's about 20 bucks for the same thing. Local stuff is stodgy and only good in small quantities. I went there as a big curry fan and found Brick Lane to be appalling... bland, no meat, just tasteless sauce and a frosty environment and I paid the amount I could have at some kick ass restaurant in Melbourne. British food is so so bad. Same as American. Scandinavia too. The concept of a breakfast there that isn't a fry up is weird, and the last time I went every trendy joint just looked like a café in Fitzroy and was shipping flat whites in latté glasses and smashed avo.

Saying that I would love to go live there and recently have been giving it some thought. How did people (who have done it) go about it? Did you just stay in a hostel and chuck resumés out most days? What's the go? How did you find getting a house?

 

[Rich]

This second point is interesting but very depressing. Probably why so many pubs in a lot of areas are chain pubs.

London didn't have the buzz to me when I went the second time. The first was unreal, but I much prefer the north I think. Everyone in London is perma-depressed in that New York way except there's less arrogance. People are hurried, tired, and mostly occupied with their own debt and frustrations. I found that really obvious and it got to me: wanting so much to live in such a cool place, working so hard to afford it, that you never actually get out and enjoy why it is you're there.

Food is indeed rubbish but Australia has it the best in the world. Italy, Spain, Portugal are all very good for food and as amazing as it can be, you're really limited to that cuisine. You can't really eat carbs all the time. In Australia there is cheap and average, middle price and fairly good, and expensive and awesome versions of just about every food. In the UK it's even hard to just grab a $7 tray of sushi; it's a restaurant there and the quality is much worse, the experience is a franchised one, and it's about 20 bucks for the same thing. Local stuff is stodgy and only good in small quantities. I went there as a big curry fan and found Brick Lane to be appalling... bland, no meat, just tasteless sauce and a frosty environment and I paid the amount I could have at some kick ass restaurant in Melbourne. British food is so so bad. Same as American. Scandinavia too. The concept of a breakfast there that isn't a fry up is weird, and the last time I went every trendy joint just looked like a café in Fitzroy and was shipping flat whites in latté glasses and smashed avo.

Saying that I would love to go live there and recently have been giving it some thought. How did people (who have done it) go about it? Did you just stay in a hostel and chuck resumés out most days? What's the go? How did you find getting a house?

I left for the uk 20 years ago intending to stay for a year and ended up staying for 8. I started working in hostels which was a great way to meet people and moved up to Scotland with friends I was staying with there. The world works in mysterious ways and I wouldn't be with my girl today if I hadn't made that particular move. I still am very good friends with the people I made that move with and you truly do make friends for life when you go through some tough times together and pull through the other side. MaddAdam is correct in what he says about moving into a sharehouse with likeminded people - you are way out of your comfort zone and again, it is a great way to meet a shitload of people from different walks of life. He's also correct about choosing different cities - London was the last place I lived in the U.K. and I've never regretted living in a few other places as I saw a shitload of the country as living in London you tend to head to the continent instead of other areas of the UK.

London is a ****ing great city to live in if you have the cash. End of story. Always something going on and you feel like it's the centre of the world. For the other half and I though, a close call in the 7/7 bombings was enough to get us to set up a plan to get out of there, we'd had enough.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I left for the uk 20 years ago intending to stay for a year and ended up staying for 8. I started working in hostels which was a great way to meet people and moved up to Scotland with friends I was staying with there. The world works in mysterious ways and I wouldn't be with my girl today if I hadn't made that particular move. I still am very good friends with the people I made that move with and you truly do make friends for life when you go through some tough times together and pull through the other side. MaddAdam is correct in what he says about moving into a sharehouse with likeminded people - you are way out of your comfort zone and again, it is a great way to meet a shitload of people from different walks of life. He's also correct about choosing different cities - London was the last place I lived in the U.K. and I've never regretted living in a few other places as I saw a shitload of the country as living in London you tend to head to the continent instead of other areas of the UK.

London is a ******* great city to live in if you have the cash. End of story. Always something going on and you feel like it's the centre of the world. For the other half and I though, a close call in the 7/7 bombings was enough to get us to set up a plan to get out of there, we'd had enough.

What other towns did you live in and what work did you end up getting into?

And what happened with the bombings?

 

[Rich]

What other towns did you live in and what work did you end up getting into?

And what happened with the bombings?

Got into the hospitality industry, lived in Bath/Bristol, Cumbria and Edinburgh.

Changed trains at Edgware Rd tube station 30 mins before it got blown apart. Mightn't seem so close, but the aftermath just traumatised me for some reason. Photos of that same platform I'd been at were all over the news and it just resonated with me. Was time to leave.

 

[iluvparis]

Cons:

- Shit weather. It’s cold and overcast for 10 months a year, with only a couple of days over 30 degrees. If you’re an office worker, you’re likely to have a vitamin D deficiency.
- Very average food. Yes you can in theory get food from all over the world, but the quality of it is generally rubbish compared to Australia.

These are both myths - in London especially the food is AMAZING and apart from Asian cuisine you can pretty much get close to the best in the world of any other dish. I concede if you live in Hartlepool the food may still be terrible.

The weather is great for half the year - 30 degree days in Austrlaia are generally flipping awful - in contrast England will have lovely 24-25 degree days with a nice light breeze and it will still be light around 10pm.

The winter can get annoying but personally I like the fact you get four seasons, and a few months of dark, cold, wet weather gives you an excuse to stay inside and eat and drink warm hot food.

 

[Silent Alarm]

These are both myths - in London especially the food is AMAZING and apart from Asian cuisine you can pretty much get close to the best in the world of any other dish. I concede if you live in Hartlepool the food may still be terrible.

The weather is great for half the year - 30 degree days in Austrlaia are generally ruddy awful - in contrast England will have lovely 24-25 degree days with a nice light breeze and it will still be light around 10pm.

The winter can get annoying but personally I like the fact you get four seasons, and a few months of dark, cold, wet weather gives you an excuse to stay inside and eat and drink warm hot food.

I really don't think London food is really that good, granted I've spent about 20 days there or something but it was disappointing. The best thing about Australia is it's not a big ask to feel like a certain cuisine at a certain price range and walk in. There's also a plethora of places open at all times. It seems like food is dictated by time there and at 8am being able to get a decent coffee and anything more than grilled sandwiches (that aren't chain food) is rare. Chains are absolutely everywhere which just ruins it. You can't feel like a pizza and go somewhere like say even Bimbos in Melbourne, it's either corner store stuff or one of those big chains. I love the UK and will defend a lot about it as a holiday but food, amazing? Pssh.

Most of the time I was there the idea of getting a £8/$15 lunch that wasn't fried chicken or fish and chips (which I love in the UK but when you're travelling it gets old fast) was rare. Like, what if I feel like a café meal with a heap of salad and some chicken? Or some breakfasty sort of thing? The issue is you have to pay about £20 for the privilege of it. In Australia I can get a banh mi, a bowl of noodles, some Indian, whatever at a pretty good quality for 10 bucks or less.

Australian weather also isn't that bad. I love the cold and can stand the heat and as lovely as mid-20s days are, when you can wear jeans and a shirt and be suited for night and day, it's only really good for six or so weeks twice a year. Who wants that for a summer? It's nice being able to get the pins out and wear some shorts and a t-shirt and drink in a beer garden.

Plus 30 degree days in Australia are awful? Maybe if you live in Mount Waverley or Northcote and it's just bitumen, trains, and trams and no sea breeze or swims but they're generally pretty comfy. They're even great near a beach. Even still, a lot of Victorians are seemingly idiots when it comes to weather. All my jobs there have revolved around chatting to customers and the amount of people walking around at 2pm on a 39 degree day on a Saturday and complaining about how hot it is well... do your shopping at 9am! Feeling cold? It's Melbourne ffs and not North Queensland: maybe invest in something warmer and better looking than a hoodie and some jeans with ankle socks. Like, dress for the weather.

 

[iluvparis]

I really don't think London food is really that good, granted I've spent about 20 days there or something but it was disappointing. The best thing about Australia is it's not a big ask to feel like a certain cuisine at a certain price range and walk in. There's also a plethora of places open at all times. It seems like food is dictated by time there and at 8am being able to get a decent coffee and anything more than grilled sandwiches (that aren't chain food) is rare. Chains are absolutely everywhere which just ruins it. You can't feel like a pizza and go somewhere like say even Bimbos in Melbourne, it's either corner store stuff or one of those big chains. I love the UK and will defend a lot about it as a holiday but food, amazing? Pssh.
.

Sorry mate - but having lived there for 2.5 years previously this entire paragraph is filled with utter garbage and falsehoods (even by your standards) so much so that your opinion on the matter is virtually worthless.

- Where are you going to get good French anywhere in Australia for a reasonable price?
- If you think food is available at a greater variety of times in Australia than London then you are completely taking the piss
- Admittedly I didn't eat too many pizza's but if that is what you are judging London food on you are doing it wrong - a foody mate of mine thought Franco Manca in Brixton was better quality than you could get in Italy

Ok - maybe your average corner store Burger with the Lot is better in Australia and the fish and chip shop doesn't do fried dimmies but on what ****ing basis do you use that to judge food in a city!

 

[Pykie]

Sorry mate - but having lived there for 2.5 years previously this entire paragraph is filled with utter garbage and falsehoods (even by your standards) so much so that your opinion on the matter is virtually worthless.

- Where are you going to get good French anywhere in Australia for a reasonable price?
- If you think food is available at a greater variety of times in Australia than London then you are completely taking the piss
- Admittedly I didn't eat too many pizza's but if that is what you are judging London food on you are doing it wrong - a foody mate of mine thought Franco Manca in Brixton was better quality than you could get in Italy

Ok - maybe your average corner store Burger with the Lot is better in Australia and the fish and chip shop doesn't do fried dimmies but on what ******* basis do you use that to judge food in a city!

I agree with a lot of what he said.

Having spent a good 6.5 months in Europe recently (not working at all, purely a holiday), as a big foodie myself, and at a relatively cashed up time in my life, compared to my early 20's when I spent 4 separate trips in Europe backpacking

I went to 20 of the top 40 restaurants in Europe based on the 17' Michellin guide, as well as another 200 of the highest rated medium and low cost restaurants all throughout Europe and particularly the UK.

I can say without a doubt, Australia, pound for pound has just about the best food in the world (irregardless of value for money, im talking purely quality of the food).

It absolute kicks the ass of the UK for the most part, including Italy and Spain. The top top restaurants between these countries are all similar, but your average restaurant in a Richmond/South Yarra/Malvern/Elsternwick vs South/North London etc etc consistently beats the hell out of even the best culinary areas of most of these countries.

France is the only place that holds a candle to Australian major cities when it comes to consistently good restaurants.

I think you underestimate how good quality even outer suburban suburbs of Australian cities have it (let alone blue chip restaurants and cafes in CBD's) particularly the cafe scene.

Australia is the undisputed king of breakfast food, I mean it's not even close, kind of embarrassing how Europe is compared to the quality of breakfast cafes in Melbourne and Sydney especially. Melbourne is one of the coffee capitals of the world as well. I'm not even a huge breakfast person either.

It's just a cultural thing that has developed over here in the last 30 years and it's noticeable compared to most of the rest of the world.

And I've travelled ALOT.

 

[kickazz]

I agree with a lot of what he said.

Having spent a good 6.5 months in Europe recently (not working at all, purely a holiday), as a big foodie myself, and at a relatively cashed up time in my life, compared to my early 20's when I spent 4 separate trips in Europe backpacking

I went to 20 of the top 40 restaurants in Europe based on the 17' Michellin guide, as well as another 200 of the highest rated medium and low cost restaurants all throughout Europe and particularly the UK.

I can say without a doubt, Australia, pound for pound has just about the best food in the world (irregardless of value for money, im talking purely quality of the food).

It absolute kicks the ass of the UK for the most part, including Italy and Spain. The top top restaurants between these countries are all similar, but your average restaurant in a Richmond/South Yarra/Malvern/Elsternwick vs South/North London etc etc consistently beats the hell out of even the best culinary areas of most of these countries.

France is the only place that holds a candle to Australian major cities when it comes to consistently good restaurants.

I think you underestimate how good quality even outer suburban suburbs of Australian cities have it (let alone blue chip restaurants and cafes in CBD's) particularly the cafe scene.

Australia is the undisputed king of breakfast food, I mean it's not even close, kind of embarrassing how Europe is compared to the quality of breakfast cafes in Melbourne and Sydney especially. Melbourne is one of the coffee capitals of the world as well. I'm not even a huge breakfast person either.

It's just a cultural thing that has developed over here in the last 30 years and it's noticeable compared to most of the rest of the world.

And I've travelled ALOT.

The bar has been raised here, no doubt.

It's actually hard work finding a shit pub meal.

The average / median dish is really good quality, even in the burbs or regional areas.

We have got to a point where a business that serves up crap simply won't survive.

 

[Jack Stevens]

Job title please. Is he a professional footballer?

No, something far more exciting than that; he services coffee machines. I can't remember the name of them, but they're these big integrated bench things that look like they'd only be in restaurants or hotels rather than people's houses, so they can base their servicing ops for all of Europe out of London. They flew him to Seattle for a week for his training, I had my training for my current job in Dandenong.

 

[Reynolds Number]

Meh I prefer a good appetite satisfying English or Irish brekky over some wanky St Kilda cafe attempt at the same thing.

 

[Scotland]

Coffee outside Australia just isn't the same.

 

[JackOutback]

Meh I prefer a good appetite satisfying English or Irish brekky over some wanky St Kilda cafe attempt at the same thing.

Was thinking the same. I could buy two or three proper English breakfasts for the price of smashed avo on toast here in Perth.

 

[Scotland]

Not sure if 1984 qualifies as millennial but smashed avo on toast sucks.

Toast with good bread, bacon, beans, eggs, spinach. Please and thankyou.