Why are there still Australians on this site?

Biathlon

LOL!!!!!!!

hey - we won a couple of things at the last winter olympics by not falling over! Wassamatta with that?

I was born in New York (north), but then lived much of my childhood in Virginia (south). I've lived north and south all my life. I never learned to ice skate or ski, because of my youth in the south, so winter sports have always amused me. For whatever reason, i don't suffer much from the cold . . . i've even seen Canajuns give me strange looks for walking around in winter in a jacket.

Not falling over is a crucial skill for the sportsman or sportswoman. I would congratulate you in honor of your fellow citizens, were i not obliged by the nature of the thread to show as much disrespect as is consistent with good manners to the Oztralians found herein.

And anyway - you should just see them at fly swatting!

Well, the US are only playing in 'Third Division' as well as the Canadians. (Europe Cup, that is called. ['World Junior Cup' would be 2nd, 'World Cup' first].)

Hee hee - Eve, I have a beeeeoooootiful Alessi fly-swat!!!!

It is a dark charcoal colour, and stands on 3 little legs. The holes form the face of a woman from a classic painting.

I was enchanted with the idea of making a fly swat a thing of elegance, and had to have it!

I'll remember never to challenge any Aussies to a fly swatting competition.

Fly swats as works of art

Nobody but an Aussie would think of that! That's culcha for ya!

In 'Merica, we say flyswatter . . . as a liddlie, i could make neither head nor tails of a the word. I knew, of course, what water is, but what the heck was "flice?" The word flice-water made absolutely no sense to me.

Alessi is NOT Australian....more's the pity...

Maybe the answer is here

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-959539,00.html


Australia looks for the ones that got away
Paul Ham and Maurice Chittenden



AUSTRALIA, once a destination for Britons seeking a new life in the sun, is facing such a large exodus of its citizens that its government has launched an inquiry to discover why.
New figures show that since the mid-1980s the number of Australians leaving for permanent residence abroad has doubled. Out of a population of 20m, about 1m Australians are living overseas, a quarter of them in Britain. Few are backpackers.



As well as celebrities such as Elle Macpherson, the supermodel, Kylie Minogue, the singer, and Natalie Imbruglia, the singer and actress, who have their main homes in Britain, lawyers, bankers, doctors and executives have joined the exodus, drawn by higher salaries and what they perceive as better career opportunities.

Figures compiled for the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) show that permanent departures have increased 146% since the 1980s. In 1985, 16,000 Australians left for good; by 2001 the figure was almost 40,000 a year. Britain is the most popular destination, followed by America and Greece.

At the same time the number of Britons emigrating to Australia as "settlers" has dwindled to 8,000 a year, 50% down in the past four years. In the late 1960s, 41% of immigrants to Australia were British; by 2000 the share had dropped to 10%.

Professor Graeme Hugo, author of the CEDA report, said: "It's only really been in the past couple of years that the (Australian) government has started to realise the significance of the diaspora."

Whereas British migrants to Australia have for years had to endure the nickname "poms", a derivation of POHMs ?- Prisoners of His (or Her) Majesty ?- the new arrivals in London are happy to be called Umas: upwardly mobile Australians.

Tracy Edmundson, 33, a private equity broker, left Australia six years ago to work in the City. Her Australian fiancé, Paul Lamb, 29, now a vice- presidentl at Credit Suisse First Boston, arrived in 1999.

Edmundson said: "Salaries in the financial sector are a lot higher than in Australia. Over the years my career has been one of the main factors which has kept me in the UK."

She intends to return to Australia "one day" because she misses the great outdoors.

Imbruglia, who starred opposite Rowan Atkinson in last year's spoof spy film Johnny English, also plans to return. However, her reasoning will be of little comfort to the government in Canberra.

"I'm still an Aussie girl at heart and I'll always go back," she said in an interview last year. "I mean, I want to spend time in Hollywood but I can't see myself growing old there. Hopefully, all my ambition will die at some point and I can just let it go for the simple life."

oak

It seems to be quite difficult to migrate to Oz these days, not like the old "10 pound Pom" days .... I know of immigrant friends (from the UK) who have tried to assist their relatives to join them here, without success. Quite strict quotas these days, apparently.

Never heard of Aussies being called Umas. Thought the Poms called us Jafas. (Just Another F'n Aussie.)

As far as I'm concerned, England can keep both Elle and Kylie. Don't really have an opinion regards Natalie.

Although opening up, it seems, according to an announcement today, for people prepared to settle in the regions - not sure if this means anything other than Sydney or Melbourne, or actual country centres.

The announcement I heard today was making more visas available provided they choose regional areas. I can tell you from my last couple of trips that Sydney is FULL.

Hey, as long as there seems to be an awful lot of Australians hanging around this thread, perhaps I can ask you a question.

I came across an Australian book at a second-hand book store. The book was entitled The Gangelhoff. A childrens book about a monster or a robber called Gangelhoff.

The reason the book caught my eye was because of the scandal that broke up in Minneapolis a few years back. Some of the basketball players on the University of Minnesota mens team were having the homework done by the woman who was supposedly tutoring them. Her name was Jan Gangelhoff and eventually she spilled the beans and the story made national headlines. People were fired, heads rolled, that sort of thing.

So, is there actually a creature in Australia called the Gangelhoff? It just seemed like a rather bizarre title for a book.

Yes.

It is a particularly ferocious subspecies of the drop bear.

I well remember the 10 Pound Poms adverts in the papers back in the Days of Yore. Also I knew someone who took it up & bought tickets.
I've never been to Aus., though during the 70s I did quite a lot of work for ABC TV whilst in London.
I was offered the chance of work if I wanted to make the trip. The time was wrong for family reasons, so I never made it.

I've known a lot of Aussies in living & working in London & never heard of them being called UMAS or JAFAS.
As for Kylie & Elle, well I have no concerns either for or against. Neighbors is still on BBC TV every day, not that I watch it, honest. David Campese & Steve Waugh are quite well accepted for various reasons