# Where did all the time go.



## perky (Mar 8, 2009)

Well, i can't believe that it is now 12months since i first set foot in South Africa and the time just seems to have disappeared.
To me the country is what you want it to be. Yes, we can all talk about the poverty, corruption and other idiotic things taking place but i have found the other side of SA.

Strand may only be a small slice of the country but here people will greet me in the street, shop assistants will ask where i have got if i do not appear for some time, they are friendly people.

As for the countryside itself, quite stunning. I stand and look around and still find it impossible to really take in what i see. I have no regrets at leaving the UK and have not once looked back nor do i miss anything that i had there. So, to anyone coming here, just know that South Africa will steal your time and mind.


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## Daxk (Jan 20, 2008)

Funnily enough, you have exactly described my past 7 years in Ireland since I left SA.


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## perky (Mar 8, 2009)

Daxk said:


> Funnily enough, you have exactly described my past 7 years in Ireland since I left SA.


Hi Daxk.
Was not aware that you had left SA. Is the Euro crisis affecting you at all? Never been to Ireland but am told it is a beautifull place.


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## Daxk (Jan 20, 2008)

Hi Perky,
As to the Euro crises, if I was in my twenties and thirties, it would affect me, we are bleeding youth, degrees and talent, and that will bite us and is mostly Australia's gain.

on a personal level, had I rushed into buying a house when I first arrived and the Banks were throwing money at you, I would have a problem down the road, but I figured the market was over heated and there would be a Rates increase which would correct the market.

I did not expect a Tsunami that would reduce house prices lower than SA but am very grateful for it.

The Populace do not seem to be overly affected,we have 14.8% unemployment, which includes about 3% that would never and have never worked, milk is still cheaper than Coca cola and every fridge has more coke than milk, my child goes to a very good private High School that costs me ZAR2500 a year and both my niche businesses are growing.
and at 61 thats a lot to be grateful for.

Ireland IS stunningly beautiful, weather is, as they say in SA, Kak if you expect predictable sunshine ,but people seem to work around it.
The choice I have when I get teased about the weather by my Sarf Effrican friends, is wether to carry an umbrella or a gun.. lol


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## African Irishman (Jul 23, 2012)

Daxk said:


> "The Populace do not seem to be overly affected"


I assume you are talking about Northern Ireland and not the Republic of Ireland.

The populace of Ireland is hugely affected, there are virtually no households that are un-touched unless both spouses work for the public sector, I live in an upper middle class suburb in Dublin and so many people have been laid off in my neighbourhood and haven’t been able to find work its hard to keep track. Outside Dublin the problems are far worse. Latest surveys have 47% of the population with less than €100 left at the end of the month after paying bills, Ireland is a deeply depressing place to be these days.

Unemployment of 14.9% doesn’t include those that don’t qualify for unemployment benefit after 12 months because their spouse works. It is also from a base in 2007 of 4.8%, we have had the most rapid rise in unemployment in the EU including Greece and it would have been far over 20% had it not been for a huge increase in emigration and the “live register” not counting those that are unemployed and not entitled to a payment.

Despite all the “austerity” we have the highest government deficit of all the EU countries including Greece, the axe still has to fall and the worst is yet to come as the gap is not closing.

Personally I have taken pay cuts and continual tax increases since 2008, top rate of tax has increased from 42% to 52% on lower earnings, in SA it is 40% and I used to think that was high.

I am a senior manager in a medium sized enterprise in Ireland where we have seen our Irish turnover drop from €40mil in 2008 to €5mil today, we have luckily increased exports substantially but business in Ireland has collapsed and shows no sign of recovering, this year it’s started to drop again.

We laid off 40% of our staff between 2009 and 2010, most of them haven’t found jobs and are emigrating, these are not young people, these are whole families who are devastated at having to leave behind their family and friends.

The countries bankrupt, all the banks are bankrupt, half the Irish companies we deal with have gone bankrupt, 10% of the population are not able to pay their mortgage and this rate is rising. Things are getting worse and the actual problems, massive government overspending and bank debt haven’t been solved, all pain and no gain.

Added to this the government continues to pay billions to bank bondholders that the state never owed money to in the first place, including NAMA and direct payments this is close to €100bil...for now, our total GNP is only €129bil.

I now regret leaving SA in 2000, all the disaster scenarios people were envisaging there never happened, things were good here in Ireland up till 2006 but I cant believe that SA is now considered by the financial markets as far more stable a bet than Ireland is, we have fallen so far so fast its been dizzying.

I’m Irish and grew up in SA, worked there until I was 30 before coming back and I think despite SA’s issues of which it has many, I would rather live there. I’m patriotic about my country but I’m under no illusions, this is the worst fall in national output that the countries ever had including the great depression and we live in constant fear of the budget at the end of the year to find out how much more the government will be taking away from you, if you lose your job there are no other jobs.

All this while not a single person has been held accountable for the massive fraud and subsequent collapse of the country but the courts will jail people for not paying a credit union loan. The citizens of Ireland are being milked dry to keep the government and the public sector with their obscene salaries and pensions.

I love my country but I would not recommend living here now to anyone.


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## Daxk (Jan 20, 2008)

Thanks for your reply African Irishman , I live in Galway and I agree with much of what you have said.

I have also lived in SA for most of my life and been through three recessions there.
I agree wholeheartedly that Ireland is not a good place to emigrate to at the moment,and probably not for a number of years to come.

It will face huge tax bills and will probably never be able to pay off its debt.

I was not minimising the effect that being jobless with no hope of getting one is having.

What I was referring to is that I dont know of a single Irish family who has been thrown out of their family home by the banks yet.

I know of a number of repossessions in SA, in fact I bought 5 houses on auction there during the last recession.

I guess I see it in a positive light as when the SA Banks hiked the Mortgage rate to 20 plus % a couple of years ago, and people were losing their houses, the construction Industry virtually collapsed in SA, people were laid off left right and centre.

There was no social welfare,if your child was going to a "good" school, it had to go to whatever was cheapest,your Private Medical Aid was gone so any treatment was at a Govt provincial Hospital, there is no real Public Transport system in SA and your electricity got cut off wether you had paid it or not.

Choices?? I would rather be unemployed in Ireland.

As it was, my Salary was paid by that small Family Firm called Goldman Sachs when the crunch hit.
I faced unemployment for the first time in my life

it took me 6 months to find two viable niche markets and exploit them.
its taken me three more years to find two more, one marginal.
but I guess thats where I was lucky, I did not have any major debt.

I dont use a credit card and when I arrived in Ireland, I bought older cars and everything else I needed, cash

In the midst of the terrible Crises Ireland faces, there are are only 4.8 million people, there is plenty of farmland,Ireland can feed itself if it has to, it can Nationalise the Shell Oil field quite easily, Its generators CAN go back to burning Turf,..... It has wind and Rain and good Farmland.

and its an Island


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## Native Texan (Apr 29, 2011)

perky said:


> Well, i can't believe that it is now 12months since i first set foot in South Africa and the time just seems to have disappeared.
> To me the country is what you want it to be. Yes, we can all talk about the poverty, corruption and other idiotic things taking place but i have found the other side of SA.
> 
> Strand may only be a small slice of the country but here people will greet me in the street, shop assistants will ask where i have got if i do not appear for some time, they are friendly people.
> ...


Amen Perky. Glad you have found the "other side", it's the place to be. The only thing I miss is getting to see my grandson whenever I want but the kids and grandson will be coming to visit for two months in September so all is looking good even with the miles that sometimes come between us as a family.


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## perky (Mar 8, 2009)

Native Texan said:


> Amen Perky. Glad you have found the "other side", it's the place to be. The only thing I miss is getting to see my grandson whenever I want but the kids and grandson will be coming to visit for two months in September so all is looking good even with the miles that sometimes come between us as a family.


I agree with that as i have left my son and daughter in the UK. However, not sure if you have Skype, but i am able to see my children and talk to them every weekend on it which makes leaving them not quite so hard.


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