Would you emigrate?

[Padders]

I've been reading about a survey that has revealed that nearly half of British people would be willing to up sticks and emigrate with nothing more than what they had in the bank and a stick or two of Ikea furniture....

Doing a runner to Australia, Where's the Dunkirk spirit?

 

So, would I ever emigrate?

Well, if I were given limitless funds, the morals of Boris Johnson, a large house full of lesbians on the Italian lakes, a private jet to shuttle my friends back and forth, some skin that doesn't burn every time the sun appears, a sudden gift to speak foreign languages and a capacity to deal with extreme boredom, then, yes, I would be delighted to leave blighty and spend the rest of my days under some wisteria, drinking wine and eating cheese.

 

Of course, there are one or two minor irritations with Britain, but as a general rule it's a country that works pretty well..

We have a climate of such miserableness that we don't spend all day at work wishing we were on a beach, we have free health care, our friends are here, and, like any other nation in the World, apart from South Africa, we have mains sockets that don't zap us every time we want to charge up a mobile phone.

 

Is it because we are a country that raped the world in the name of greed?

We enslaved a continent, we starved the Irish, and we have often apologized for some heinous crime of two centuries ago..

US marine commanders don't do that, they don't spur their men on by saying "We got our bottoms kicked in Vietnam"

But that's what happens here though, what are the battles we remember most clearly?

Hastings, the charge of the light brigade, the American war of independence, Arnhem, notice a common thread? they're all battles we lost..

 

So what does it mean to be British?

For hundreds of years that was the easiest question of them all: we were polite, fair minded and aloof, we went to work on big red buses, we wore bowler hats, we had a Queen and Beefeaters, and when times were hard, we didn't grumble...

What are we now though?

It's pretty tricky, 

We're a nation of rich bankers, Simon Cowell, football hooligans, Royalist's, foreigners, tea shops, Elgar, benefit cheats, pearly queens and Polish plumbers..

The French work tirelessly on maintaining their spiritual history and their ways, which is why most people in France are proud of their country..

You don't get Emmanuel Macron campaigning for re-election by saying "We are the surrender capital of the World" 

It's the same story in America, where you can be black, white, rich, poor or Donald Trump, it doesn't matter because everyone subscribes to the American dream.

 

I'll bet you any money that at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in France, there's not a single thing we recognize as being typically British, we don't even know what "typically British" is anymore.

We're a country embarrassed by our past, uncertain about our present, and frightened by our future..

Which is why I presume, most people would rather be Australian........

 

[hackey lad]

8 minutes ago, Padders said:

I've been reading about a survey that has revealed that nearly half of British people would be willing to up sticks and emigrate with nothing more than what they had in the bank and a stick or two of Ikea furniture....

Doing a runner to Australia, Where's the Dunkirk spirit?

 

So, would I ever emigrate?

Well, if I were given limitless funds, the morals of Boris Johnson, a large house full of lesbians on the Italian lakes, a private jet to shuttle my friends back and forth, some skin that doesn't burn every time the sun appears, a sudden gift to speak foreign languages and a capacity to deal with extreme boredom, then, yes, I would be delighted to leave blighty and spend the rest of my days under some wisteria, drinking wine and eating cheese.

 

Of course, there are one or two minor irritations with Britain, but as a general rule it's a country that works pretty well..

We have a climate of such miserableness that we don't spend all day at work wishing we were on a beach, we have free health care, our friends are here, and, like any other nation in the World, apart from South Africa, we have mains sockets that don't zap us every time we want to charge up a mobile phone.

 

Is it because we are a country that raped the world in the name of greed?

We enslaved a continent, we starved the Irish, and we have often apologized for some heinous crime of two centuries ago..

US marine commanders don't do that, they don't spur their men on by saying "We got our bottoms kicked in Vietnam"

But that's what happens here though, what are the battles we remember most clearly?

Hastings, the charge of the light brigade, the American war of independence, Arnhem, notice a common thread? they're all battles we lost..

 

So what does it mean to be British?

For hundreds of years that was the easiest question of them all: we were polite, fair minded and aloof, we went to work on big red buses, we wore bowler hats, we had a Queen and Beefeaters, and when times were hard, we didn't grumble...

What are we now though?

It's pretty tricky, 

We're a nation of rich bankers, Simon Cowell, football hooligans, Royalist's, foreigners, tea shops, Elgar, benefit cheats, pearly queens and Polish plumbers..

The French work tirelessly on maintaining their spiritual history and their ways, which is why most people in France are proud of their country..

You don't get Emmanuel Macron campaigning for re-election by saying "We are the surrender capital of the World" 

It's the same story in America, where you can be black, white, rich, poor or Donald Trump, it doesn't matter because everyone subscribes to the American dream.

 

I'll bet you any money that at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in France, there's not a single thing we recognize as being typically British, we don't even know what "typically British" is anymore.

We're a country embarrassed by our past, uncertain about our present, and frightened by our future..

Which is why I presume, most people would rather be Australian........

 

No 

[RollingJ]

Appreciate the original post may be tongue in cheek (partly), but thanks for being a  depressive.

Edited July 12 by RollingJ

[YorkieontheTyne]

Hmm Padders. Those battles that we lost. Correct. But we won the war. We stood up for what was right and I for one am proud to do so.

I think most of us still are polite and fair minded, and I don’t mind being aloof if it means avoiding Simon Cowell and football hooligans.

I like the idea of drinking wine and eating cheese, but not under wisteria (all those spiders dropping in). 
Not sure I’d want the morals of Boris or a house full of lesbians, especially if they liked wine and cheese.

As for being Australasian no way cobber!

[Mkapaka]

I’d be off tomorrow. 

[YorkieontheTyne]

1 hour ago, Mkapaka said:

I’d be off tomorrow. 

Couldn’t you make it this afternoon?😜.

[gaz 786]

4 hours ago, Padders said:

I've been reading about a survey that has revealed that nearly half of British people would be willing to up sticks and emigrate with nothing more than what they had in the bank and a stick or two of Ikea furniture....

Doing a runner to Australia, Where's the Dunkirk spirit?

 

So, would I ever emigrate?

Well, if I were given limitless funds, the morals of Boris Johnson, a large house full of lesbians on the Italian lakes, a private jet to shuttle my friends back and forth, some skin that doesn't burn every time the sun appears, a sudden gift to speak foreign languages and a capacity to deal with extreme boredom, then, yes, I would be delighted to leave blighty and spend the rest of my days under some wisteria, drinking wine and eating cheese.

 

Of course, there are one or two minor irritations with Britain, but as a general rule it's a country that works pretty well..

We have a climate of such miserableness that we don't spend all day at work wishing we were on a beach, we have free health care, our friends are here, and, like any other nation in the World, apart from South Africa, we have mains sockets that don't zap us every time we want to charge up a mobile phone.

 

Is it because we are a country that raped the world in the name of greed?

We enslaved a continent, we starved the Irish, and we have often apologized for some heinous crime of two centuries ago..

US marine commanders don't do that, they don't spur their men on by saying "We got our bottoms kicked in Vietnam"

But that's what happens here though, what are the battles we remember most clearly?

Hastings, the charge of the light brigade, the American war of independence, Arnhem, notice a common thread? they're all battles we lost..

 

So what does it mean to be British?

For hundreds of years that was the easiest question of them all: we were polite, fair minded and aloof, we went to work on big red buses, we wore bowler hats, we had a Queen and Beefeaters, and when times were hard, we didn't grumble...

What are we now though?

It's pretty tricky, 

We're a nation of rich bankers, Simon Cowell, football hooligans, Royalist's, foreigners, tea shops, Elgar, benefit cheats, pearly queens and Polish plumbers..

The French work tirelessly on maintaining their spiritual history and their ways, which is why most people in France are proud of their country..

You don't get Emmanuel Macron campaigning for re-election by saying "We are the surrender capital of the World" 

It's the same story in America, where you can be black, white, rich, poor or Donald Trump, it doesn't matter because everyone subscribes to the American dream.

 

I'll bet you any money that at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in France, there's not a single thing we recognize as being typically British, we don't even know what "typically British" is anymore.

We're a country embarrassed by our past, uncertain about our present, and frightened by our future..

Which is why I presume, most people would rather be Australian........

 

During slum clearance in 70’s some of our neighbours went to Australia they called them the £10 poms coz that's all it cost a tenner ....wish my parents had taken the offer Britain has had it now !

[echo beach]

Never really contemplated a move. Too many close family ties.

Britain has changed over the years but so have all the other places. I’ve always been proud to be British and have had a relative happy life here so why would I want to move.

Too old now in any case. Nobody would have me/us!

As a youngster at primary school in the ‘50s I used to play with the children of a family across the road and they applied to go to Australia under the £10 passage scheme but their father failed the medical. They eventually made it abroad buying a bed and breakfast guest house in Cleethorpes.😆

My sons have talked about emigrating and I’ve tried in vain to persuade them; one in Canada, one in Australia and one in New Zealand. That would be the relatively cheap holidays sorted.😀

 

echo.

[The_DADDY]

I'd emigrate in a heartbeat if I could. 

[Slighty batty]

I did emigrate. My husband came home from work one day with the news that the factory and office where he worked were to be closed and all jobs transferred to the Netherlands. He had the choice: be unemployed in an area of already high unemployment, with small 3 kids and a mortgage, or accept a relocation package. Guaranteed minimum price when we sold our house, all removal expenses paid, and the company would pay for all the children to go to International School.  So we moved.  Seeing less of mum and dad was the hardest bit. The kids ended up getting a brilliant education out of it and they've all done well and are happy, that's the most important thing.