Oceandriver

I wonder if it's got s'thing to do with the Olympics? Every time I watch I see rolling green land, beautiful rivers and am unusually emotional about it all, though I'm usually very realistic and love Italy. My Italian husband and I (and 2 kids) moved to the north and after 9 years we have recently moved... south (a suprisingly BIG change) I didn't ever suffer from homesickness, maybe the fact that I moved all my life meant that in the north, staying put for a while I put down some roots, made friends both Italian and Eng speakers. Now flights have been cut, and as was said with parents getting older the distance is difficult. So as we laughed and loved the Opening Ceremony as a British-Italian family (kids both born in the UK) I felt the pull for the humour and that Cheers thing of wanting to go where everybody..... Corny? Maybe. Well i hope it will pass as will the flame.

PAT M

I agree that watching the Opening Ceremony from London and hearing from my sister how electric the atmosphere is there did make me feel like I am missing out and not where I would like to be. Homesickness for me is not just about missing family and feeling too far away from familiar surroundings, it's the feeling that my personality is suppressed because living in a foreign speaking country I cannot tap into the humour and friendliness of a simple trip to the shop and exchange a few words of banter. I was in Tescos in Sutton on my last trip over to the UK, the checkout lady was so friendly and the man selling Union Jacks for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee on a stall outside called me "love". It was a pleasant change from having my change and receipts tossed at me without a thank you or a smile. I agree it does wonders to visit my old neighbourhood where I grew up in South East London, I passed my secondary school, walked down Albert Embankment, my Dad's local was still there, buildings that went up in the 50's now looking shabby alongside penthouse flats that housed my first office job when I was 15. I also adore being in London and hearing the many and various English accents around me and understanding every word and nuance. Homesickness is saying goodbye to family at the airport and wishing it was me getting on the plane out of here.

Twinkle Canelli

[QUOTE=PAT M;10207898 I was in Tescos in Sutton on my last trip over to the UK, the checkout lady was so friendly and the man selling Union Jacks for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee on a stall outside called me "love". QUOTE]

Just got to tell you, I lived and worked in Sutton for 10 years - we lived in Gander Green Lane! Such a small world!!!

PAT M

Hi Twinkle, Yes it is a small world, my son also worked in Sutton for a short while, Sutton is on our maybe list of places to live, nice pedestrian areas to shop, plenty of restaurants and pubs, close to Wimbledon where he now lives etc. Regards Pat

Isakat

Oh, Pat, my OH could have written all of the above, this is how he feels exactly! We are off to the UK on Sat. and he has already arranged the hols so that he can be home in Yorkshire on a Sunday so that he can watch a cricket match.
I am looking forward to the Lake District, Yorkshire and London.

PAT M

Hi Isakat,

I hope you both have a wonderful holiday, lucky you visiting all those beautiful places, I hope your OH enjoys the cricket! Regards Pat

Isakat

Thanks Pat,
I am already looking forward to the lower temperatures, it is a torture sleeping at night, soo hot and the portable airconditioner is so noisy, can not sleep with it on.

MarkRD

Sort of on the subject of homesickness, going back etc..

http://www.internazionale.it/opinion...ro-a-casa-mia/

HADENOUGHPIZZA

Why not invite poor old Lee to come on this Forum and cheer up a bit ? He sounds pretty depressed ....

MarkRD

..we'll soon shake him to his senses.. have you read the football one?? disgraceful!

HADENOUGHPIZZA

exactly , he's obviously in need of help ..

Domino

sorry to intercede from Spain, but I have been here almost a year now, the BH came out for work 3 years ago.

I don't miss where we used to live one little bit, the BH says exactly the same.
Perhaps because I have had the experience of forces life, visiting foreign lands, never being the same when you go back to them
Going home the place seemed to get smaller and smaller, the people seemed to get greyer, less personality than I remembered.

Yes there are some people it would be nice to talk to from time to time, but the family has been spread out for years so telephone and mobiles were common means of keeping in touch.
However, very few of those who said "we must keep in touch" have done so, it has usually been the BH or I who has made that first move, and despite putting our old UK fones onto the internet so no extra call costs for them we still find we initiate the conversations.

So from someone else's viewpoint, Homesickness is a hard thing to live with, and I did so when teenage young, but now I am with the one I want to be with then all other things don't really matter. Be it an olive grove in Spain, a trullo in Italy, wearing a tablecloth and flip-flops in Malaysia, or baling out in Somerset or somewhere, we are with those who really matter to us - and that is important, not the place

probably of no use to many, but it is how others can see it.

rgds

Isakat

Mr Marshall obviously became very Italianized after living here for 30 odd years.
He has forgotten that queuing is quintessentially a British characteristic-maybe this is one of the reasons( as well as less talking) that he finished his business in the bank, post office and library so quickly!
I do not know what the problem is with using a harness for small children that are learning to walk-the aversion of being belted must be so big that they do not even use seat belts on their kids in their cars.
And sleeping policemen save lives Mr Marshall, no wonder there are double more deaths on the Italian roads than in the UK every year.
And finally, ‘le zone invisibili’ exist here too- Tor Bella Monaca in Rome.
Ipswich might not be a desirable place to live, but we did not all escape areas like this before we moved here. Some of us lived in nice leafy areas, away from Chavs and Croydon facelifts.

Lorna at Vicenza

How do we get this guy to speak to us? I only read 3 pages of his blog and decided that he doesn't know that there are more speed bumps in my tiny Italian village than in my home town in the UK.

I would have been more than happy to put reigns on my kids here if they only existed - to stop any chance of them running out into the path of a super speeding Italian driven car or getting run over on the so called zebra crossing. It's not about trusting your kids. It's about not trusting the other drivers !!!

ononno

Well well, you learn something new every every day. Had never heard of the 'twittens' before. In my part of the world we called them 'ginnels'. Of course the term 'witter' is fairly widespread I think; which is what Mr. Marshall is doing.
ciao for now,
a homesick nonno