In the Olden Days

When I left Australia, GST had just been introduced. No-one really knew what the impact of it would be, just that it was going to be a whole lot of trouble and extra work. The Referendum which asked if we wanted to stay a Republic had been held. Hey Hey It´s Saturday completed it´s last episode. Desperate Housewives was only something our mothers` thought about. Petrol was 0.66c per litre and life was grand. Every young family was working to buy their own piece of bricks and mortar and obtain that Mortgage. There were no stories about people bribing landlords so they can get a dark, greasy, one bedroom flat for their family of 4, just to beat the other 60 people lining up for it. Australia was gearing up for the World´s Best Olympic Games and those stories of all the homeless people being shipped out of Sydney was only an Urban Myth. This was the age of Fair Work Relations. Unions had an impact in the work force and workers had rights. The Australia was the Lucky Country and everyone was jealous of us and wanted to be a part of our Golden Dream.

This is my Australia. Australia is the country where the cost of living is low. Australia is the country of multicultural living. Every type of food is available in the supermarkets. It is a land of sunshine. Outdoor living. Weekends were bush walking, or perhaps a market somewhere full of creative arts and crafts and homemade foods. Most people have a University Education or at least a good job somewhere. You can do what you want to do without being subjected to necessity. My brother is pursuing his dream of being a film maker. People had good supportive friend networks. People were generally happy. Life was a beach........

The longer I am away, the more rosy my view of Australia becomes. I´m like those people who tell you about their favorite place to visit, but when you do you find the parks have been dug over for high rise buildings and the favorite restaurants are now McDonalds. I´m like those old people who can´t see that life has changed. Those who always see the world as it was 20 years ago. I realised after I recently met someone who was in Australia over Christmas last year, who told me that the cost of living was double of what it is here that I no longer know what living in Australia is like. 4 years ago the cost of living was half of what it was here. My idea about life in Australia is different to reality. But it has always been a way for me to cope by remembering the Good Olde Land. So I will continue to live in my dream world and think of this glorious country called Australia. I´m sure that in 10 years or so, Australia will be so perfect that I won´t be able to picture any problems. No problems with the cost of housing. No problems with rising costs of inflation. No problems with the rising costs of education. No problems with the power in the workplace being handed over to the employer. No problems with a lack of water or natural disasters. Just a land of perfection.