Geez, I only went away for 36 hours and the forum is quite as all buggery.

U guys all have the weekend away too?

yeah must say i was working most of it.
wish i had of gone away lol

No, looked several times. and nothing new posted. It's you taking time off like that, that's what does it! lol

ok ok ill take the blame for it.

Its the start of school holidays here in qld, so we decided to go to Sea world nara resort for the weekend and spent sunday at sea world. Was a nice weekend with the family

Faz, I am only pleased that you had a good time; you deserve every minute of it because you work so hard, between the kitchens and Fleshlight...

There is never so much activity on the forums at the weekend anyway.

Any signs of banking troubles in Australia? Maybe we are at the bottom of the financial dip; probably the next week will tell whether it will get much worse. I tell you, I am glad I have no mortgage: electricity and gas have risen more than 50% this year so far, local taxes are up. and petrol still about £1.20 a litre. Now food prices are soaring - the weekly supermarket shop was over £100 this weekend - for two people, with a few meals for visitors. Unfortunately, neither my pension nor my investments have risen, and the latter are down about 15% in a year. At that, I'm more in luck than many...

Ive got things happening on the next 2 weekends now. Wedding next weekend, so fazchicky and I are staying at a nice motel in the city, got rid of the kids woohoo. Following weekend is drinks and dinner at a friends and then dream world on the monday.

One of these days ill have to find time to mow the lawn though

Wow Jonny, 1.20 pound a litre is crap loads over there, we are at $1.48 per ltrish. Food has definitely sky rocketed. I bought a loaf of bread yesterday, cost me $4.55 and I freaked. It's been a long time since Ive done that since fazchicky does all the shopping, but now I can see why she is always complaining that shopping is costing alot more.

As to the banks, I think the whole world has seen troubles from what happened last week. I think I heard something about one of the smaller banks here closing up.

I think Australia has been largely unaffected - costs of living have gone up a bit, but it's nothing unreasonable considering all that's happening overseas.

I can still get a loaf of the best bread in town from the bakery at the end of the road for $1.70, and petrol has been up and down around the $1.50/L mark.
The property market certainly isn't as strong as it used to be; a few local real estates have closed down, but it's an incredibly crowded market anyway. For a while it seemed every second shop-front was a real estate agent, so it's no surprise the weaker ones disappeared the moment the market slumped a bit.

Other than that, my business is still running very nicely. I'm enjoying the higher interest rates through my savings accounts too, so I guess it's not sour times for everyone.
I haven't heard of any banks closing here, or mass foreclosures on mortgages. There's certainly nobody living in tents.

Yeah, I could whinge about share prices going down but I don't have them there for short term so it will bounce back up gradually and dividends are always a nice bonus too with annoying monthly pay from work. Sure, petrol is annoying but I haven't actually noticed it effect my day-to-day living too much. I do hate traffic though and Melbourne has become significantly worse in recent years. I start at 8:30am and don't have to drive very far to work but it's such an effort. That's why I love school holidays - the road is so much quieter!

Sounds as if the monetary problems are not so bad with you in Oz. Perhaps your banks were more careful in extending credit, especially mortgages. If that's right, good for all of you.

So, Lordoth. you suffer in Melbourne from the "School run". Here, the difference in traffic between 8.30 and 9.00 during school holidays is enormous. Maybe it's different for you, but here many children are driven a kilometre - or less - to school. Mothers are too protective to let them walk, and say they "haven't got time" to walk with them!

When I was nine years old, I walked 4km to, and from school; home in winter after dusk, (with the wartime black-out ) and no-one thought anything of it. A different world...

Ten miles to school, barefoot, in the snow, uphill, both ways.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

Yeah, seen it before. I only had to do that for one school year, then changed to a school where I could go 12 km on a bus. Great, that was.

I suppose even today, there are many, many places where long walks to school - or to everything - are the only way, but not in England, I think. Africa, for sure! Would it be the case in some rural parts of Australia?

In rural Australia some children don't even get the option to go to school - things are so far apart out there that they have to work by correspondence through a CB or the internet.
Country towns I imagine would have a quite a few kids commuting fare distances. I know along parts of the eastern coast where the population is sparse school buses only travel along the main roads, and the children have to find their own way to the bus stops which can be a several kilometres away from home.

I had a quiet weekend home with no kids, and sorting stuff out as now I am madly packing to move....... again but as expected. My time on cocks is short-lived. lol I was looking to buy, but timing is just out at the moment so moving into another rental.. hopefully a house that im looking at tomorrow which seems promising and is 2 mins walk from the high school the kids go to. I mean even if its raining they can still walk its that close. lol

I hate moving but its so nice to clean up and out all that crap and refresh again.......