G’day..ex-Nottingham now in Oz.


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When we emigrated in 1975 the only practical way of communicating with family and friends back home was by letter which took a week to get there and another week for a reply if they wrote back straight away. Phone calls had to be "booked" and were prohibitively expensive for just a few minutes. I remember one Christmas we spent $50 on a phone call, almost a quarter of my weekly wages. Telegrams were a no, no as they only brought bad news so when we had our first baby it was another expensive phone call.

Nowadays it is a snip, video calls, e-mail for videos and photos, social media and phone calls are essentially "free" as they are included in your phone plan.

I am sure that many who returned home in the sixties and seventies due to homesickness would not have done so today as communication has become so easy.

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When a kid we were all ready to emigrate to Christchurch New Zealand, Dad had a job offer & everything was sorted. But Mam backed us out as she didn't want to move away from her family, thing is we hardly ever saw them. Auntie Hilda & her family emigrated to Ottawa Canada in the 60's but came back after 3 years. Cousin Ellenor emigrated to Sydney in 1981 & is still there. I have friends in Brisbane, Gold Coast & Perth. We were planing to go over to Oz in 2020, but covid 19 bu**ered that up. I wasn't sure how I'd be on a long haul flight with having ischemic colitis, so went to Florida USA in June 2019 for 2 weeks to see how  it went & I was OK so thought "right that's it, we're on our way." Wrong. But when international borders are open again I want to be off down under....

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Second chapter for BK. 

 

No need for dog food. Lol. I like human food too Reading over this I realize it has little to do with ten pound poms.  I have no wish to bore anyone with my life history, neither is it my purpose to bragg. So if you think that may be so please read no further. In reading over it myself I hope what it does show is that Canada, as Ian said, was good to me. 

 

I failed the 11 plus and pretty much saw myself as sealed into one track for the rest of my life. Canada showed me that I could pass exams and even change careers. It built up my faith in myself and care for others. If you are still with me please read on.. We stayed in Toronto four years. My kids grew up there. My eldest was 18 months when we left the UK. Her sister was born there. She is fond of telling us she's the only real Canadian in the family. We took out citizenship after the required five years. After a couple of years in Toronto I got a job with Air Canada as a maintenance electrician at Toronto airport. I loved it. A steady 40 hr. week. Working on all airport systems, lighting, conveyors, and into the hangars. Didn't touch the planes, they were left to aircraft mechanics. Best part was eight free passes a year to anywhere A/C flew. First trip back to England in 74 on an A/C 747. Wife said, "Don't ever quit this job," as we were eating dinner somewhere over the Atlantic. Went by road to Niagara and the East coast, came back through the US. So much to see and do. 

 

The one problem remained, high housing costs. We read an item that said housing costs were much cheaper out West. So one morning at the end of my night shifts I hopped on a flight for Calgary and had a look for myself. Calgary by lunchtime and a couple of days to look around before flying back for the dayshift. Really liked it there so on my return put in an application for a transfer to Calgary airport. They said they would consider me if an opening came up. I figured by the time that came up, Calgary would be as pricey as Toronto. It was growing by leaps and bounds then. So, reluctantly I gave my notice and started packing again.

 

I was later proved right. House prices shot up within a year or two of us moving there. Four day drive alone with a lot of our stuff. Mrs. flew with the kids a week or two later. I easily rented a house and was waiting at the airport to pick her up. Landed a job at the Firestone Tyre plant in electrical maintenance. Not as nice as the airport but it paid the bills. We only rented three months before we bought a house which we lived in for fifteen years. Calgary is a lovely city. We could see the Rockies from the end of our street. Banff was an hour and a half drive away. We often used to drive there for a fancy lunch at the Banff Springs hotel right in the Rockies. Went to the Calgary Stampede the first year. Temps were over a hundred F. Now I know why they all wear white stetsons. 

 

Didn't stay long in the factory, too dirty, smelly, and noisy. Went back to house wiring. I liked being out in the fresh air, except when it got to twenty below in winter. I decided I would like my own electrical contracting business. So, back to night-school at the tech' college to get training for a master's cert' which they required to run your own shop. Passed in 1977 and opened my own shop working out of my car. Put ads in the local paper and soon had as much work as I could handle. Started working with some local builders and they kept me so busy I didn't need to advertise anymore. Soon had enough money for a van and more equipment and never looked back. 

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Thanks for chapter two Loppy.

But it's the first time I've ever had to scroll sideways to read it. Were you typing on a toilet roll sideways.

Still, managed to read it OK. Must say, I'm a wee bit envious as I would have loved to travel. Considered it when we first got married in '65, but when the kids came along that put the brakes on that. Because they were both disabled, we wouldn't have been allowed and if we were, I would have been bankrupt within a year !

By the time they both passed away, (1978 &1990) it was too late for us. I was diagnosed as type 2 diabetic mid 80s so that would have been another block. So, for the last 33 years we've been on our own down here in East Sussex.

Looking forward to chapter three LL. Take care and can I  be the first to wish you, Happy Easter !!

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I'm not sure how you've managed that Loppylugs !   I've never seen that effect before. I've tried to reformat everything but I don't want to dig too deeply.

 

The text initially seems to run off the edge of the screen, but I found I could read it by scrolling left-to-right ....which enabled me to see the words which had disappeared.

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This is very odd because, although in a different font, I had no problems reading Loppy's post, nor did I need to scroll right or left.

 

This update seems to be swings and roundabouts. I can read Loppy's post without problems but can't read my own PMs without considerable difficulty. Nul points, methinks! :wacko:

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Read it before CT. Did the same as you and went west to east. What do you suppose caused that? I blame Brexit.:faint:

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7 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

I'm not sure how you've managed that Loppylugs !   I've never seen that effect before. I've tried to reformat everything but I don't want to dig too deeply.

 

The text initially seems to run off the edge of the screen, but I found I could read it by scrolling left-to-right ....which enabled me to see the words which had disappeared.

Thank you so much for doing that CT.  I know it must have taken some time.

I think I know how it may have happened.

As I've posted before, I can no longer post to NS from my Ipad.  I always liked to sit in my easy chair and post from the Ipad.  I have to sit at the table with the laptop.

As that was a fairly long post I hit on what I thought was a smart plan to have my comfort and post to NS from the laptop.

I wrote the post in the email app' on the Ipad.  Then I e-mailed it to myself.

Got on the laptop opened the e-mail and cut and pasted it into the NS text editor which still shows up on the laptop.

It looked fine so I edited it a bit and started some new paragraphs. When satisfied I hit 'submit reply.'

It wasn't until after I did that that I realized something went badly wrong.

 

I suspect what may have happened is that somewhere in the process the carriage returns and other formatting got erased making it a big one liner.   It wouldn't let me edit or delete it so I had to let it go and hope for the best.

 

What I can't understand is how some machines display it ok.  Eg. Jill Sparrows, and others like  BK's show it as typed on toilet paper.  :biggrin:   Loved that one BK.

Part of the unexplained I guess, but thanks again for unraveling it.

Will do the other parts over the next day or two if that is ok.  Next time just use the text editor in NS.

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Loppy the edit facility...on my Laptop is 3 dots on each Post..press that it gives you options one of which is Edit........

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Of course Loppy, it goes without saying. Using the three dots only gives you an edit option on your own post, and that for a limited time. Then becomes like everyone else's, just 'report or share'.

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It took me a couple of days to figure out that edit was behind the three dots.

Also.. I have discovered that my return key on my keyboard is not working..so it's not a fault of the site. Luckily..the enter key is still working and does the same thing.

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Seems to be some posts missing now that I saw earlier today re. CT's communications with Invision. I'll try to respond from memory.

 

#1  I am definitely using an older version of IOS on my older Ipad and it is correct to say that Apple no longer seem to be supporting it.  That said I don't really see it being the problem.  It works well on any other site including a couple of forums I am on.  The Internet should be pretty open otherwise it's like saying my twenty year old car can't drive on any highway built since 2000.  There are also other issues like Linux on the laptop which doesn't get on well with the downgrade.  No problem with any other site as far as I know.  Don't surf much anyway.

 

#2   It is in Invision's own interests to make sure that any website they host is easily usable online because if not that can cost the site owner members.

 

I'll make do as best I can because I like NS and it's members but it certainly limits my posting

 

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/2/2021 at 11:00 PM, Beekay said:

Thanks for chapter two Loppy.

But it's the first time I've ever had to scroll sideways to read it. Were you typing on a toilet roll sideways.

Still, managed to read it OK. Must say, I'm a wee bit envious as I would have loved to travel. Considered it when we first got married in '65, but when the kids came along that put the brakes on that. Because they were both disabled, we wouldn't have been allowed and if we were, I would have been bankrupt within a year !

By the time they both passed away, (1978 &1990) it was too late for us. I was diagnosed as type 2 diabetic mid 80s so that would have been another block. So, for the last 33 years we've been on our own down here in East Sussex.

Looking forward to chapter three LL. Take care and can I  be the first to wish you, Happy Easter !!

Your post, Beekay, seemed to get swallowed up in the effort to put Loppy's problems with posting right.  But it touched me.  I think when you get older you do get more reflective and feel you should have done things you didn't, but you have to remember that circumstances at the time and indeed one's own self-confidence were very different 40/50 years ago.  And East Sussex is a very nice address to have.  It was good to hear that you and your Mrs weathered your own particular storm; it's not easy in difficult circumstances.  Be proud of yourselves.  Wishing you both the very best. 

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Thank you very much for your kind words Unmade Marian. They are most appreciated. It's great to make new acquaintances through N.S. it keeps me in touch with the land of the living. I see from your profile youre in the Sherwood area. We started our married life there, on Upton drive, off Valley Road. I'll look forward to conversing again. Meanwhile, kindest regards and best wishes from the both of us.    B.

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  • Cliff Ton changed the title to G’day..ex-Nottingham now in Oz.

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