Get On Your Soapbox #17

I’m SO over city people complaining.

Seriously some people need to get a grip. They whinge because their internet is not quite as fast as usual. They whinge that all of their download has gone. They whinge that there isn’t good enough coffee. They whinge that they broke their phone. They whinge that they have no food in the house and that the shops are so FAR (grrr when some people live in Victoria Park, I get really annoyed…there are OODLES of shops there and in the surrounding suburbs). They whinge about doctors. They whinge about schools. They whinge about churches. They whinge about the price of petrol. They whinge that the power’s gone off in a bad thunderstorm.

Yes, I’m just repeating some of the stuff I ranted about in Get On Your Soapbox #15.

Ok, spoilt city slickers, let me put things into perspective for you.

I have a mobile phone I can’t use. I can’t switch it on at home because I get no signal and it just drains the battery. I can’t call or text or receive calls or texts. I have to go to town (about 20 minutes away) just to use this basic service city people take for granted every day. We had to buy this special aerial to plug our phones into just to be able to get one bar of reception so I can send or receive texts. But then that kind of defeats the purpose of a MOBILE phone if I have to stand in one spot. Sometimes it decides randomly not to work. When I hear about people whinging about their iphones, I get very annoyed. They have an iphone. Enough said. That’s not going to be an option for me because no model of phone will work out here. We are in a massive black spot and I’ve reported it to Telstra numerous times but they don’t want to know about it.

Petrol? Don’t you dare complain until you see the prices we pay. And we don’t have the option of public transport. Unless you want to be a hermit, travelling is part of life…and you have to pay for it.

Oh my goodness, when slackers whinge about how they have no food when the shops are just down the road, I seriously want to strangle them. Come here and complain. Or better yet, go to Dally. Yep, that’ll really give you something to complain about.

Your internet is slightly slower than usual this morning? Boohoo get out the violins. We’ve waited for months and been stuffed around my two companies just to get any sort of connection. And now we’re supposedly online and it’s dodgy. When you read this post, I’ll be at someone else’s house just to use their internet. Bigpond keep fobbing us off and won’t return our calls. They sold us a dodgy modem and now we have to wait for them to send us another one. No, it isn’t our choice to go with Bigpond. They are money-scabbing morons, but we don’t have a choice. We have paid hundreds of dollars for modems, aerials and half the stuff doesn’t work properly. City people plug in their modem and away they go. We’ve just about gone broke trying to get this basic service.

So, your power’s gone off in a thunderstorm? Well duh, it was a thunderstorm. Come to Buntine. The power goes off for no obvious reason. In summer. In 43C heat. At least you city folk have Western Power crawling over themselves trying to get it back for you. We’ve had to wait for a few days and that’s not uncommon. They don’t give a toss about the country.

Still complaining?

But don’t feel sorry for me. Honestly, don’t. I have it good in comparison to the rest of the world. I’m glad I’m not in Africa where I might get one hour of electricity a day and not know when it’s going to come on. I didn’t write this post to get sympathy despite what some people may be thinking. I’m just writing to let Perth people know they have it really, really good. The best in the world maybe.

One thing I will never understand though is why city Christians seem to look down their noses at the country, but then say they’re willing to go anywhere to serve God. I’ve heard so many people say this and it really annoys me when they don’t literally mean ‘anywhere’, they just mean a city or somewhere with a nice view of the beach and lots of wineries and Christian schools nearby. Don’t say to God that you’re willing to serve Him anywhere if you don’t mean it (who knows He might just take you up on your vacant blank offer). Don’t say you’re willing to serve God in a developing country if regional and remote Australia is beneath you.

There are many days I seriously consider what it would be like if we moved back to Perth. I would lap up the super-fast and reliable internet. I would rejoice at being able to stay in touch with friends more easily. Even now when I go back, my jaw drops at the prices and the choice. People there get mail everyday (we get it on Tuesdays and Fridays). It’s such luxury.

If only city people realise how good they have it. But Duncan says that if you’ve been spoilt your whole life it’s difficult to go from more to less.

Perhaps only anyone who has lived in the country will understand...