"~misfit~" <misfit61nz@yahoo-mung.co.nz> wrote in message
news:TtnFc.6537$LT3.257685@news.xtra.co.nz...

Stratcat wrote:

<snip -add OT to subj>

If ya ever decide to come down this way we have a spare room you're

welcome

to for as long as you need it. Hell, I can even pick you up at the

airport.

I did that for Sick Boy when he visited NZ earlier this year, our place is
well positioned to spend a day or two to get over jet-lag and acclimitise
(sp?).

Hey, thanks very, very much! My finances are a wreck, ATM, but my wife
is from the Philippines.  If, and when, we get the time and money to visit
her old place, I'd probably consider a side trip to AU/NZ, too. Only a 5
hour flight, she claims, and I've always wanted to see AU. Might take a
public room nearby, but I would definitely look you up, and maybe get a
heads-up, too. I've been trying to get to Asia for a couple years now.
Requires a lot more time & money than I have.

I pay NZ$720/mo for a three bedroom house. That's quite cheap though,

we're

on the 'bad' side of a town a half-hour drive outside of Auckland. The

house

is quite nice, decent size 'yard', but the 'hood is a bit, ummmm, rough.
Doesn't bother me none though, I keep to myself.

My situation was similar for nearly all my life. Chicago's SouthSide. I grew
up there, and lived around the same neighborhood all my life. Even as the
old 'hood grew rougher, I still always had a lot of the same guys I came up
with since Elementary School. The neighborhood was tough, but livin' was
cheap and easy.  And there always were 3 or 4 of my partners available,
24/7, if I had any probs. But, I met my wife when she had only been in the
States for around a year. The old 'hood was just too rough for her. She
really was a fish out of water. Poor kid. She tried her best to adjust, but
couldn't cut it. Not her fault, at all. Finally, I just let her pick a place
to live that she liked. She went for the freakin' NorthShore, which is 50
miles north of my old 'hood, & a magnitude more expensive.

Now, I'm hardly keepin' up w/the bills, all my old boys and family are an
hour and a half away. And, if there's traffic, it's virtually impossible to
get to the old 'hood, and vis-a-versa .So we're on our own, now. It's good
for making the marriage stronger, but I sure miss having my ppl nearby. My
security blanket, I guess.

You win some, you lose some.

Too true my friend.

Yeah, the things we do for love...
-- 
Strat