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24th December 2021, 01:42 AM
#1
Emigration
More to answer Des request for Graham to ask for his 70 quid back either to the customs and excise officer or his dog will do , but mainly to keep that particular post clear for some lady looking for memories of her dad.
Many on site ex seaman or not will wonder what gets into someone who supposedly leaves hearth and home for a supposedly bleeding hell. ( circa John Masefield ) as a seaman I felt no remorse as had been doing it for a number of years in any case. If one emigrates into a Commonwealth country one has the advantage of fresh political faces and ideas , whilst still retaining the Queen as head of the country , so is a means of getting rid of the bad and keeping the good, to many of the same mind. Des on having to part with 70 quid for the privilege of leaving a country for a better standard of living , would and will be his last memory of a not too benevolent homeland. I have been out here only just over 30 years permanently .but knew Australia well before that , even better than a lot of dinky die Ozzie’s . Australia was like a breath of fresh air after the claustrophobiac experience of living in England under various governments of whatever hue. My everlasting memory of England in the same refrain as Des, was when I claimed 6 days unemployment benefit in 1986 and in 1987 they wanted it back. I told them to get stuffed , and they said they would reduce my OAP when I got to 65. Whether they did or not , I do not need to know and if they did maybe they need it more than me. When I read of all the bums from abroad feeding and living off the earnings of others it repulses me to the extent I am only too pleased I don’t live there anymore. This is not an advertisement to come live in Australia , for as far as I am concerned the less people who come here the better. But for me a better place to live and to die would be hard to find.. I think Des will never see his 70 quid again , but Des think of it as a probable promotion for some young aspiring custom officers pathway to glory , who knows he maybe today a member of the cabinet of some political party. Cheers JS
Last edited by j.sabourn; 24th December 2021 at 01:46 AM.
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24th December 2021, 02:57 AM
#2
Re: Emigration
However as regards the uk OAP , think I am still solvent . When retired was told if I gave them 3600 pounds they would upgrade my pension from 72 pounds a week to 72.80 pounds a week , these figures are an approximation , but at the time did sit down and do the arithmetic . That was twenty years ago. So instead over the past 20 years where have received 72, 800 pounds would have received 73,632 pounds a difference of 832 pounds for an outlay of 3600 pounds . So am at the moment over 2000 pounds richer than what I would have been. I assume the uk has had a number of Chancellors of the Exchequer , and hope they were better than the one in 2002, it is my intention to live as long as possible to rub salt into the wound. Cheers JS
PS that pension is static and evermore shall be so, that’s your wack Jack 72 quid. Bought and well paid for. JS...
Last edited by j.sabourn; 24th December 2021 at 03:23 AM.
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