Paul1Perth Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 2 minutes ago, Marisawright said: He's a paramedic. So? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Kash Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 (edited) On 18/02/2020 at 08:17, Chortlepuss said: Anyone topping up their NI contributions be sure to contact NI to ensure that any contributions/years made will count towards increasing their state pension. Some years count and some don’t. I paid the cheaper years, then found out these didn’t make a jot of difference to my state pension - they will not tell you if this is the case and they’ll just bank the money. I only found this out by chatting to a financial journalist! I’ve managed to get payments made re-allocated to years that will increase my pension but not without a huge amount of effort and complaint. Don’t just get an online statement like I did and pay off amounts but check first. I do wish they would tell people this - it seems almost fraudulent. Were you topping up class II or class III in your case? I cant see how they wouldn't count or register if you've paid the relevant top ups but sounds like you ran into some issues. I know of a few expats whove topped up at both classes with no dramas but were dealing with government here so its never straightforward Edited February 20, 2020 by Johnny Kash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bug family Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 On 18/02/2020 at 07:05, Paul1Perth said: So? Paul, ......drumbeat was questioning me somewhat on my knowledge of autoimmune disorders and I replied, having studied medicine for a number of years, I helped inform drumbeat on a possible causative link between stress and an autoimmune disorder, using credible sources which I can reference for you if you are really bothered...... as i am not ....anyway you are probably to busy going for your swim or golf or surfing or playing basket ball or hand gliding or skydiving or scuba diving or flying a commercial aircraft or hunting for big foot to read this and be on poms in oz 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Home and Happy Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 (edited) On 17/02/2020 at 10:10, Marisawright said: @Bulya, have a read of what Proud Preston says here. For people who suffer from this terrible type of homesickness, finding the right part of Australia will never make any difference. They just feel like a piece of them is missing if they're not in their homeland. It's not logical or sensible or curable. I feel sorry for people who have this sickness and I'm very glad I'm not one of them. Often yes, that is certainly very true but..Not always about a part of them which is missing or feeling homesick. In our case Perth felt like it was just a disappointment from the start for us and fell way way short of our expectations. Having spent some time in Singapore on the way out probably made it feel worse on arrival. Edited February 20, 2020 by Home and Happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 8 hours ago, Home and Happy said: Often yes, that is certainly very true but..Not always about a part of them which is missing or feeling homesick. In our case Perth felt like it was just a disappointment from the start for us and fell way way short of our expectations. Really? Why on earth did you stay for 20 years then? 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 9 hours ago, Home and Happy said: Often yes, that is certainly very true but..Not always about a part of them which is missing or feeling homesick. In our case Perth felt like it was just a disappointment from the start for us and fell way way short of our expectations. Having spent some time in Singapore on the way out probably made it feel worse on arrival. If you liked Singapore better than Perth there was no hope. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Singapore is great- I prefer it to Perth myself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumbeat Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 23 hours ago, bug family said: Paul, ......drumbeat was questioning me somewhat on my knowledge of autoimmune disorders and I replied, having studied medicine for a number of years, I helped inform drumbeat on a possible causative link between stress and an autoimmune disorder, using credible sources which I can reference for you if you are really bothered...... as i am not ....anyway you are probably to busy going for your swim or golf or surfing or playing basket ball or hand gliding or skydiving or scuba diving or flying a commercial aircraft or hunting for big foot to read this and be on poms in oz I hate to disillusion you but you didn't inform me of anything. I was a Nurse for 25 years in addition to doing my own research into autoimmune diseases. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proud preston Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Sad to see that this post has got to be almost a war of words! Surely it doesn’t have to be this way. If we’re looking at this part of the forum we’ve all got something in common - let’s be nice to one another! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bug family Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 7 minutes ago, proud preston said: Sad to see that this post has got to be almost a war of words! Surely it doesn’t have to be this way. If we’re looking at this part of the forum we’ve all got something in common - let’s be nice to one another! Totally agree proud preston 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s713 Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 2 hours ago, starlight7 said: Singapore is great- I prefer it to Perth myself. No hope for you then apprarently . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toots Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 2 hours ago, starlight7 said: Singapore is great- I prefer it to Perth myself. We are all different. 7 days tops is enough for me in Singapore. I don't much like the oppressive humidity either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumbeat Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 1 hour ago, proud preston said: Sad to see that this post has got to be almost a war of words! Surely it doesn’t have to be this way. If we’re looking at this part of the forum we’ve all got something in common - let’s be nice to one another! You're right, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and find some joy wherever you are living. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortlepuss Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 On 18/02/2020 at 08:23, Marisawright said: This is why I always say, contact the International Pensions Centre and ask for a pension forecast. They'll send you the pension forecast and give you details of what contributions you can pay to improve it. Yes - I had a list of years where there were ‘gaps’ in my NI record from my statement. I paid the cheapest years. The pensions centre acknowledged payment but didn’t tell me that these wouldn’t make a jot of difference to increasing my state pension. The only years that could increase my pension were post 2017 gaps! So you have to call them and ask them ‘which payments will contribute to increasing my state pension’ and then pay those years only NOT just the cheapest years! (If you’re lucky these MAY be the same). After A lot of work, I got the non contributing years reallocated to contributing years. I found this out from talking to a financial journalist after wondering why my forecast wasn’t changing. I personally find it outrageous that they take payments for years that don’t count and don’t tell you! I remind people to chat to Pensions directly and not just rely on the statement so they don’t make the same mistake I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 On 21/02/2020 at 16:12, starlight7 said: Singapore is great- I prefer it to Perth myself. Busy, polluted, expensive and either humid and hot or raining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 When we come back to Australia after being in Singers it's like we are coming home to a third world country! Got to admire them but I wouldn't want to live there permanently, too small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Home and Happy Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 On 21/02/2020 at 08:12, starlight7 said: Singapore is great- I prefer it to Perth myself. Correct.... me too. They probably saw Singapore from their inside hotel rooms. Some people will never admit they are just stuck and live in a dead place so isolated from everything and so far behind the times. When I first got there off the plane, it was a culture shock....like I had stepped back into the late 1980s. Most of the men were still sporting mullet hairstyles and wearing T shirts with Ford logos on the back. Trust me take that stopover in Singapore, get down to Clarke Quay and party hard, it’s the last bit of civilisation you will see before you get blasted back in time living way out in retirementville with all the old fogeys and shops closing at 5pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toots Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 10 minutes ago, Home and Happy said: Correct.... me too. They probably saw Singapore from their inside hotel rooms. Some people will never admit they are just stuck and live in a dead place so isolated from everything and so far behind the times. When I first got there off the plane, it was a culture shock....like I had stepped back into the late 1980s. Most of the men were still sporting mullet hairstyles and wearing T shirts with Ford logos on the back. Trust me take that stopover in Singapore, get down to Clarke Quay and party hard, it’s the last bit of civilisation you will see before you get blasted back in time living way out in retirementville with all the old fogeys and shops closing at 5pm. Don't tell us (for the 100th time) you didn't like WA. What a surprise. Tell us why you have to keep on about it though. You would think that the UK didn't have it's chavs and rough sorts strutting around with their beer bellies and tattoos and that includes some women too. But hey, you just carry on chucking your disdainful opinions around on PIO if that't what gives you your jollies. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Home and Happy Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 On 21/02/2020 at 03:51, Marisawright said: Really? Why on earth did you stay for 20 years then? Almost 8 years we stayed actually. After 5 years, we would have happily left but we saw the real estate bubble forming and wanted to catch it before it went pop, which it did and has never really got back to where it was. Back then at the peak, new migrants were flooding in by the plane load. We had random people and agents driving through all the south Perth suburbs banging on doors asking people to sell their homes to them. Almost every house there had tripled in value including ours. Needless to say when we saw that, we knew it was time to put ours on the market and it sold within days. Not long after were on the plane home to U.K. soon as the proceeds from our house sale hit our UK bank account. We bought in there on a strong pound and in the end sold up and left on a weak pound and the U.K. housing market heading into recession. The time was right to go and getting out of there was a great feeling. When the plane landed in Heathrow and the immigration officer said Welcome Home to us...words cannot describe the happiness we felt on that day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Home and Happy Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 6 minutes ago, Toots said: Don't tell us (for the 100th time) you didn't like WA. What a surprise. Tell us why you have to keep on about it though. You would think that the UK didn't have it's chavs and rough sorts strutting around with their beer bellies and tattoos and that includes some women too. But hey, you just carry on chucking your disdainful opinions around on PIO if that't what gives you your jollies. Not many chavs around the country side village I live in. Why so angry and bitter ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 38 minutes ago, Home and Happy said: Not many chavs around the country side village I live in. Why so angry and bitter ? Pot kettle black. All she did was write a post reflecting your tone of voice about Australia, to show you what your angry bitter post sounded like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toots Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 1 hour ago, Home and Happy said: Not many chavs around the country side village I live in. Why so angry and bitter ? Well funnily enough there aren't bogans with mullets where I live either but I do know they are around. Don't even attempt to twist things around with your reference to bitter and angry. Most posters here know exactly what you are trying to do. I don't mind constructive posts about areas of Australia be the positive or negative but your posts are just a constant whine about how cr@p your life was in Perth. We heard you the first time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 What I don’t understand is why stay in Perth if you hated it. Australia is vast with different climates, cultures, cities etc. But like saying UK is dreadful and you couldn’t settle, just because you didn’t like living in one particular place. I can understand homesickness though, and the need to justify a decision to return. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramot Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 1 hour ago, Home and Happy said: Correct.... me too. They probably saw Singapore from their inside hotel rooms. Some people will never admit they are just stuck and live in a dead place so isolated from everything and so far behind the times. When I first got there off the plane, it was a culture shock....like I had stepped back into the late 1980s. Most of the men were still sporting mullet hairstyles and wearing T shirts with Ford logos on the back. Trust me take that stopover in Singapore, get down to Clarke Quay and party hard, it’s the last bit of civilisation you will see before you get blasted back in time living way out in retirementville with all the old fogeys and shops closing at 5pm. Not sure how well you actually know Singapore? Great place to visit, know it better perhaps than some, full of expats enjoying an unrealistic life style, not really sustainable as most on short term contracts. Not knocking Singapore as I love it, but prefer real life in Australia. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 1 minute ago, ramot said: Not sure how well you actually know Singapore? Great place to visit, know it better perhaps than some, full of expats enjoying an unrealistic life style, not really sustainable as most on short term contracts. Not knocking Singapore as I love it, but prefer real life in Australia. I feel the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.