BritInParis

The point being made is that the OP was 19 when he left the UK and he'll be 37 when he returns. His opinion of the UK is likely to have changed over the intervening years. "You Can't Go Home Again", etc...

Novocastrian

Thank you for your expert intervention, I refer you to my Time Machine remark.

I'm fairly sure that you've moved around at least as much as me, but I moved to a new country when I was 27, 32, 36, 42 and most recently 65, with two repeats, Canada and the UK. Never once did I have (what rational person could have?) expectations based on the previous period.

BritInParis

*shrugs*

Edith made a valid point. Hopefully the OP will understand it even if you don't.

Pulaski

I didn't get what you were saying when you first posted it, and I have just revisited it. ...... The OP was 19-20 when he left the UK and is returning at age 37, when his view of the world, and his needs and expectations have changed significantly while his age heas nearly doubled.

Unless you are recommending that the OP use a time machine to go back 18 years, I am not sure what your point is.

Novocastrian

Yes, I understand that, but his age has nearly doubled independent of his location.

I really don't get what your saying.

Pulaski

He hasn't lived in the UK for 18 years. The UK has changed during that time in ways that he might not fully comprehend even if he has visited fairly regularly during the intervening years. However he talks about "going back", so clearly has fond memories of life there. However (i) those memories may be irrelevant because the UK has changed, and (ii) even if the UK hadn't changed, what you want and need from life has changed anyway.

I have read of several people on BE with similar expectations that were not fulfilled. One particular case I remember from a couple of years ago, where a guy of a similar age to the OP, who got a bit depressed about life in California (I think he had been there only a few years, maybe five), so, encouraged by some BEers, he sold up and went home, looking forward to fun times with his mates at the pub, footy games, and quality time with his siblings, neices and nephews. ..... After a few months in the UK, maybe three, no more than four, he discovered that everything had changed while he was gone. His family wasn't as close as he thought, his friends had other interests, and all round he didn't find what he was looking for back in the UK. He reached the conclusion thay he would be better off back in California, building his own life, so back he came.

Novocastrian

You, BiP and Editha may choose to believe that the OP's IQ is below his current age.

I think that's a reflection on all of you rather than the OP.

Pulaski

I still have no idea what your point is. I go to some length to explain what several people on this thread have already understood and agreed with me about, but you come back with some cryptic comment about the OP's IQ. .....Nobody said anything about his IQ.

He left as a young man, and is contemplating returning as he approaches middle age, with a mindset of having happy memories he is looking to relive. Those circumstances have changed, the people he shared them with have moved on, married and had families, and probably divorced too. The Britain he remembers as a young man, at a (i)personal(/i) level, (never mind national politics and demographic changes) has disappeared!

I have been back a couple of times and met a few friends and former colleagues for a drink, but the idea that if I went back permanently, that we'd be drinking in the pub two or three nights a week like "the good old days" before Ieft 15 years ago, is utter nonsense!

BritInParis

Who mentioned anything about intelligence? It's merely about experience. Maybe you do but I certainly don't think and feel about things the same way I did when I was 19 years old and I haven't spent 18 years living in Canada.

Novocastrian

Quite, you'd have to be a fool to think that could happen.

Novocastrian

FFS, that's what I'm saying, why on earth do you think he'd expect to be 19 again if he returned?

Do you think he's retarded?

Pulaski

And yet I have seen it happen to others on BE.

The term "ping pong pom" has become a relatively common phrase in the English language and a well known phenomena, but it is repeated in all countries where significant numbers of Brits have emigrated - people leave the UK often because they were unhappy, don't settle in their new home country, but on returning to the UK find that things weren't as they remember them, so emigrate a second time.

BritInParis

No, he won't be 19 again, that's the whole point. He will have changed and so has the UK so if he's imagining it will be just the same as he when he left he will be in for some severe reverse culture shock.

Novocastrian

Well yes. It happens. But why does being 19 when the OP left and that he's 37 now have any relevance?

Novocastrian

I think you're being condescending.. I imagine the OP has some use of the internet and might well have used it to keep abreast of UK affairs.