Integrating into a foreign society

[Ms Piggy]

Just no TV to graphically publicise it eh!

I think it was a combination of that and the way "things like that" were never openly dicussed.

[merv]

I think it was a combination of that and the way "things like that" were never openly dicussed.

Yeah like girls had "just gone up North" or whatever when they got pregnant and no one admitted to it.

[scumdog]

Sure, the 'good old days' were not THAT good, they had their share of negatives, only thing is we now STILL have those same negatives (albeit more publicised) but now we also have an increase of violence,dishonesty and drug problems - and so called 'tougher' laws don't seem to be fixing THOSE! - society needs to look inwards for answers I think.

More liberalism = more problems

[MikeL]

The trouble with trying to have an intelligent discussion about the "good old days" is that young people have no experience of them and old people have very selective memories...

Some things were better, some things were worse.

One thing I'm fairly sure about is that burglaries and crimes of dishonesty were relatively uncommon, to the extent that houses and cars were routinely left unlocked. All the time I was living at home in Wellington as a teenager I was never given a house key. The back door was always left unlocked.

[Paul in NZ]

Pish! The old days were great but these days opportunity abounds!

I left my mostly red 1989 starlet in the big carpark the other day unlocked and with the drivers window wound down... Nothing got stolen (hey that broken cassette player is a priceless antique).

As for those 3 year old $39 seat covers (the pair), why, they are nearly new!

In fact... Instead of getting stolen...

A couple of rough lookin' street kids threw $5 inside. Probably thought I needed it worse than they did!

I love that car....

Paul N

[scumdog]

To illustrate a point: in 1974 my 3.3 Victor "failed to procede" at Franz Joseph, grabbed my pack and rifle and hitch-hiked to Wanaka, got a rental (a Mini!) and drove to Dunedin to drop it off, had a couple of hours to kill before the bus home was due to leave, left my pack at the bus station, threw my rifle over my shoulder and went window shopping.

Points: Depite carrying a rifle I got a lift from Franz tp Wanaka, despite walking around the shops with a rifle over my shoulder nobody 'freaked-out' and no A.O.S. call out, times WERE more laid-back in those days

[James Deuce]

but now we also have an increase of violence,dishonesty and drug problems -:

I have no idea what you're on but I want some. Alcohol and Nicotine are drugs and they have been abused at terrifying levels in NZ. Family and domestic violence used to be an institutional right, now at the very least it is OK for a woman to end a relationship with a violent man and expect some level of community support.

I respectfully submit that the older you get the more rose tinted your glasses get for some reason.

For me it is the other way around, and I am kind of disappointed to find that it isn't OK (Paul excepted) to say that the present is good, and the future full of hope. The worst thing that could happen to me, and I am sure I am not alone, is a return to my childhood.

[Ms Piggy]

For me it is the other way around, and I am kind of disappointed to find that it isn't OK (Paul excepted) to say that the present is good, and the future full of hope. The worst thing that could happen to me, and I am sure I am not alone, is a return to my childhood.

Do you mean that is b/c you had a 'difficult' childhood?

It's all relative in the end isn't it. I mean I think there are different challenges today - I guess you could never say that it's easier or more difficult now, it's just different.

[Motu]

It was very interesting to read the written account of my mother's early life,that she left us to read after she died - difficult would be an understatment,but it was all she knew...until she moved into the real world.I can understand why she cut her childhood out of her life and never mentioned it to her children,that was her concern and had no bearing on us - no way was she going to pass this onto another generation.Just incase you get the wrong idea - there was no sexual misconduct here,but the stock whip was not just used to get work out of the four legged animals.Her last words she wrote of her story were - I wonder what kids of today would of done,I bet they would of stood up to him,or maybe killed him...she obviously didn't have a happy childhood.

Lots of skellitons in my father's cupboard too - illegitimet children were often brought up in the family,and some of his uncles and aunts were really cousins,so much so that his grandfather wouldn't let his daughter take her child away with her - ''she's mine,I brought her up in my house as my own child'' ,common in those days.

[James Deuce]

Do you mean that is b/c you had a 'difficult' childhood?

It's all relative in the end isn't it. I mean I think there are different challenges today - I guess you could never say that it's easier or more difficult now, it's just different.

Everyone has a difficult childhood. It's all about how the people around you help you meet those challenges.

My main thing is I have a psych disorder bordering on complusion, in that I have to fill my idle time with reading and digesting information. There's never been more access to information in human history. It's a good time for mental cases like me to be alive.

[scumdog]

I have no idea what you're on but I want some. Alcohol and Nicotine are drugs and they have been abused at terrifying levels in NZ. Family and domestic violence used to be an institutional right, now at the very least it is OK for a woman to end a relationship with a violent man and expect some level of community support.

I respectfully submit that the older you get the more rose tinted your glasses get for some reason.

For me it is the other way around, and I am kind of disappointed to find that it isn't OK (Paul excepted) to say that the present is good, and the future full of hope. The worst thing that could happen to me, and I am sure I am not alone, is a return to my childhood.

The pertinent word is INCREASE in violence,dishonesty and drugs.

The older I get the more cynical I get (so everybody keeps telling me, the only 'rose-tinted' glasses I wear are the ones my wife tells me I must be wearing when I pay her a compliment).

Women use to end relationships in the past too - vis my mother-in-law, walked out with four kids, oldest barely a teenager and no DPB then. :disapint:

I don't have to wish to return to my childhood - hell, I'm still there!!

Seriously though, life WAS cruisier 30+ years ago and down here it is still not too bad

Stay cool dude

[Gixxer]

Classic Gixxer!!!
Admit it... theres a few of us ya love!!!

Mmmmm South African Beer! :love2:

Yeah, got lots of SA mates, love that boerewors NZBEER, or that Canadian moosehead. never tried any SA beer

[Paul in NZ]

Hmmm... It appeared cruisier in that certain aspects of life were OK such as the rifle thing. Used to do the same thing myself. Went hunting on my Norton once and got pulled over for a wof check and never a word about the .303 Jungle Carbine over my shoulder with mag and bolt in place (unloaded but how could he tell).

However, Jim2 has a point. For some people (ie ones that didn't go hunting and drink beer) life was not very nice at all!

Go back a bit further and life was anything BUT cruisey. My mother grew up in a tent in a scrub work camp during the depression. She wore the family boots to school when she was big enough.

Experiences of the depression, the war and illness (antibiotics date from the war) scarred lives for a generation. Chronic drinking and smoking were part of everyday life as well as violence towards anyone that was different or unable to defend themselves. Gay men for one. (let's not hijack this thread down that track OK)

I had a shit hot childhood with loving parents (mum even helped me put the barrels back on my 5T when my arm was in a sling from crashing my BSA!

We had a ball doing stuff that would have me arrested today BUT a hell of a lot of people didn't. We should not loose sight of that I guess. If only there was a way to combine the best of the 2??

Paul N

[jrandom]

THREAD HIJACK ALERT!

***

Went hunting on my Norton once and got pulled over for a wof check and never a word about the .303 Jungle Carbine over my shoulder

Drool. I still don't have a Smelly of any flavour. There was a Mk 5 like yours, wot I particularly fancy since I plan on *using* it, in the T&E a while back for $180 or so, didn't last long, I'm kicking myself.

If you ever run out of space for the old Enfield and want a good home at a fair price, let me know first...

[Edit: Actually, based on the bike you were riding, that was quite a while back, wasn't it? The meaningfulness of my comment therefore becomes predicated on whether you still happen to have it somewhere, of course...]

[Gixxer]

Bugga... will see if i can talk one into gettin on here for you... the bastard was here on monday/tuesday tooo
(i'm still recovering)
I will endevour to sort something for you when he gets home...next thurs i think.. he lives in boronia
Have you been aroung the great ocean road or up the hill behind warburton yet? (cant remember its name)
some fun roads!

It has been pis$ing down over here, my wife wants to do the Great Ocean 'Together' what ever that means, so that counts out the bike ride down the great ocean unitll we have done that little 'bonding' 'doing things together husband and wife cr@p'

As for intergrating into a foreign society, I think the wife and I have done ok. yeah sure Oz and NZ are not that different.
I watched every AFL game when I moved over hear and found it quite a good game, I have choosen to support St Kilda, as they are the local team in our area. (still tossing up about supporting Collingwood) I go around calling everyone 'mate' which my wife thinks is funny. and I have taken up wearing 'Thongs'. intergrating is easy, you just need an open mind.