About this FIFO business......

I’m on a bit of a FIFO bent at the moment it seems. I haven’t blogged about anything random for a few weeks.

I think I'm hoarding topics

But that’s how it goes in the world of personal blogging. As I have now been in Australia for nearly a year, my experience of the FIFO lifestyle has become more routine. There are things I have been able to do that I could never have done previously, but also some things have started to stand out as being common to this way of life. So being the analytical sort I thought I would write them down. Perhaps you FIFO partners out there may relate.

You know you’re in a FIFO household when:

Birthdays, anniversaries and other special days are almost never celebrated on the actual date they’re supposed to be. Or you have them twice.

You feel like you see/hear your partner more on Skype/over the phone than in real life.

You count in sleeps...whether you have kids or not.

You know you can always take your kids to the airport in their pyjamas and no judgement will be felt.

The words: “Airport parking” are enough to make you roll your eyes with no further elaboration needed.

You love that little rush you get in your tummy the day your partner is flying home (and when the queue of workers starts filing through the airport door!).

You develop an appreciation for the little happenings in life as you get to relive them in the retell on Skype/phone. And you also get real good at doing stuff for yourself because it’s either you or no one!

You know the term ‘bed busted’ and appreciate its finer implications.

The phrase: “Oh goodie there’s a cyclone coming” has passed through your mind on more than one occasion as if wishing for the intensification of a destructive force of nature is the most natural thing in the world.

Your monthly household income protection insurance premium costs more than some people earn in a week...before tax.

You fully appreciate that money isn't everything.

But possibly the best thing about the FIFO lifestyle for me personally, is that it has enabled me to enter into a relationship without becoming too physically and mentally dependent.  I have had to learn to negotiate the Perth highways and byways and the traffic thereupon (I come from Feilding, New Zealand, it doesn't even have traffic lights), as well as dealing with my own health management as I am now interacting with the Australian hospital system.

I must say I feel rather clever and shit.

But I also know I'm part of a wonderful online support network and that there is always someone (if required) who understands what I'm dealing with.

I'm a pretty lucky gal really 

Have a jolly spiffy day all! And see you next week :D