6 years ive been in Australia and although it comfy and familiar my heart strings are easily tugged for the bonny bonny banks etc etc,,
now if your not Scottish you have no comprehension of why the identity and culture of the Scots it so deeply entrenched, but trust me it is,,
its a strange thing to be displaced from your home, i often think akin to the convicts and settlers who colonised Australia, and when im driving i often see very Scottish street names, like Glenelg terr, or dalkeith, or corrie linn st in perth, thats the name of the falls of Clyde in new lanark, and there is a tiny wee village inland called stonehaven,, these names made gby sad weary for home expats a long time ago, they of course had little chance of returning so must have felt worse than me,,
ands its something i never thought id feel, i always imagined id just transplant into Australia with no problems, but i think im too hostile to it all as its so different to Scotland. too different to Europe so very very foreign to me.
i recently downloaded a programme about brits relocating to Australia and was quite appalled at the overly optimistic rosy glow they put on it, not that moving to another country is always a bad thing, and i am certain Australia would be a good move for some,, but the downsides are hard to miss,, no nhs here god help you if you get disabled or chronicly ill, life is not too pc over here.. getting about in a wheelchair nigh on impossible, disabilities are not incorporated into mainstream education or employment to the same degree as Europe, and indigenous people are marginalised beyond belief,
these are a few of the elements that i struggle with,, but along with the high brow reasons there are super duper simple ones like shops and crap overpriced supermarkets with terrible food selection,, an example of very below par facilities are.... stuff like in the supermarket half way round lulu decided she needed a pee, i asked if there was a toilet i could use, no was the answer, i had to leave my trolley with my shopping in it remove two small children one in desperate state of pee, and leg it down to public toilets,,small examples of everyday niggles,,and there are many more where that comes from, but my husband is Australian and my children are too, but i cannot think of them as anything but Scottish, a small insignificant country but it means the world to me ,,
so to sum up my ranting and raving this evening /// above and beyond it all my main issue with Australia is,,, its not Scotland,, happy burns night
