American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Jan 27th 2011, 5:52 pm
#46
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Not to hijack this thread or anything, but your situation sounds almost exactly like mine (I think) and I stumbled upon this forum in hopes for some answers/advice.
I moved to the US with my family (Mum, Dad, Sister) from the UK when I was 14. I'm almost 30 now and I want to move back to the UK. The rest of my family seems quite content with staying in the US for the foreseeable future, but I've never shook the feeling that I might just be better off over there. I've just renewed my green card, we've not become citizens. It's making me re-think where I want to be, and where I'd be most happy. I've still got loads of friends in the UK and all of my extended family. What was your experience like? Similar?
I moved to the US with my family (Mum, Dad, Sister) from the UK when I was 14. I'm almost 30 now and I want to move back to the UK. The rest of my family seems quite content with staying in the US for the foreseeable future, but I've never shook the feeling that I might just be better off over there. I've just renewed my green card, we've not become citizens. It's making me re-think where I want to be, and where I'd be most happy. I've still got loads of friends in the UK and all of my extended family. What was your experience like? Similar?
Jan 27th 2011, 6:14 pm
#47
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
I can very much relate to you.. I had some great years in high school and growing up, but every time i go home the stress melts, people feel more real and i just feel at peace and that is so important. i want kids I dont have any yet. I am not married so I want all that but I want it where i feel "right", i guess.. its scary but I have nothing to lose.. try and apply for your citizenship.. its a good back up plan as now i have passports for the UK and the U.S, so should d one day my mind change i could always come back (doubt it though) its not easy and there will be stuff to get used to, but my sister moved back when she was 29 (shes now 31) and loves it... we were very "pro" USA for a while but not anymore, it seems so superficial an adjust a game of who has the better , house, car, job etc.... I miss English people and i want to take advantage of having Europe at my door step. i have done a lot in the U.S and happy for my time here, but I am ready to go home.. Where are you in the states? and where is home in the UK? message me anytime.. and good luck (:
Jan 27th 2011, 8:24 pm
#48
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
I'm in Chicago right now, moved here about 6 years ago thinking big city life would be the change I needed. My family moved to North Carolina initially for my Dad's job so they are all still there (parents are at the Outer Banks, sister in Raleigh). Thanks for your reply, it does seem we're in the same boat. Are the rest of your family (except your sister) still in America too?
Jan 27th 2011, 9:02 pm
#49
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Thanks for the welcome! Yeah, was thinking about the citizenship/green card decision. Might need to revisit that since my parents and sister will be staying in the US. I had planned on coming back to the US once a year and saying my parents' house was my residence. Don't know if that'll fly, so I might just need to take the citizenship plunge.
Jan 27th 2011, 10:52 pm
#50
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
I'm just a wee bit embarrassed over the number of typos in my last contribution to this thread - that's what comes of typing with one hand (my left hand as I am a cack hander) and scoffing a cheese and Branston roll with the other.
There are literally hundreds of cheeses here in the UK, many of them completely unknown to the majority of people here but not to the locals where they are produced.
The number of those cheeses that are well known is quite large really, and many bear the names of the places to which they are associated but not specifically produced there any more - Cheshire (very tasty and very crumbly and a creamy white in colour), Lancashire, Wensleydale, Caerphilly, Double and Single Gloucesters, Red Leicester, Somerset Brie, Hereford Blue and many others - and not forgetting Stilton - a favourite of many people, great with a nice red wine, but no longer exclusively produced in the wee Cambridgeshire village of Stilton itself, its original home way back in time, but now largely produced in nearby Leicestershire, in the Melton Mowbray area, the home of the traditional pork pies. A real genuine Melton Mowbray pork pie is an experience in itself..fantastic with HP sauce.
On a recent Great British Railways Journey on BBC-2 TV undertaken by Michael Portillo, in which he travelled by train from Durham city, in the NE of England, down through Yorkshire and into the East Midlands ending up in Leicestershire and in Melton Mowbray itself, he was presented with a sizeable freshly made pork pie which he absolutely drooled over as he sliced into it - and so did I as I watched it.
There is a shop in Melton Mowbray which sells nothing else but pork pies of all sizes, just as there is a shop over in Norwich, Norfolk, which sells nothing but English mustards. Maybe the pies and the mustards go well together.
Down in Gloucestershire, in the wee town of Tetbury, just a mile or so down the road from Highgrove House, the home of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, there is a shop which sells nothing but cheeses........he is its patron, so HRH obviously likes cheese.
http://www.houseofcheese.co.uk/acatalog/index.html
Guid nicht fae Scotland.
There are literally hundreds of cheeses here in the UK, many of them completely unknown to the majority of people here but not to the locals where they are produced.
The number of those cheeses that are well known is quite large really, and many bear the names of the places to which they are associated but not specifically produced there any more - Cheshire (very tasty and very crumbly and a creamy white in colour), Lancashire, Wensleydale, Caerphilly, Double and Single Gloucesters, Red Leicester, Somerset Brie, Hereford Blue and many others - and not forgetting Stilton - a favourite of many people, great with a nice red wine, but no longer exclusively produced in the wee Cambridgeshire village of Stilton itself, its original home way back in time, but now largely produced in nearby Leicestershire, in the Melton Mowbray area, the home of the traditional pork pies. A real genuine Melton Mowbray pork pie is an experience in itself..fantastic with HP sauce.
On a recent Great British Railways Journey on BBC-2 TV undertaken by Michael Portillo, in which he travelled by train from Durham city, in the NE of England, down through Yorkshire and into the East Midlands ending up in Leicestershire and in Melton Mowbray itself, he was presented with a sizeable freshly made pork pie which he absolutely drooled over as he sliced into it - and so did I as I watched it.
There is a shop in Melton Mowbray which sells nothing else but pork pies of all sizes, just as there is a shop over in Norwich, Norfolk, which sells nothing but English mustards. Maybe the pies and the mustards go well together.
Down in Gloucestershire, in the wee town of Tetbury, just a mile or so down the road from Highgrove House, the home of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, there is a shop which sells nothing but cheeses........he is its patron, so HRH obviously likes cheese.
http://www.houseofcheese.co.uk/acatalog/index.html
Guid nicht fae Scotland.
Jan 27th 2011, 11:04 pm
#51
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
I'm just a wee bit embarrassed over the number of typos in my last contribution to this thread - that's what comes of typing with one hand (my left hand as I am a cack hander) and scoffing a cheese and Branston roll with the other.
There are literally hundreds of cheeses here in the UK, many of them completely unknown to the majority of people here but not to the locals where they are produced.
The number of those cheeses that are well known is quite large really, and many bear the names of the places to which they are associated but not specifically produced there any more - Cheshire (very tasty and very crumbly and a creamy white in colour), Lancashire, Wensleydale, Caerphilly, Double and Single Gloucesters, Red Leicester, Somerset Brie, Hereford Blue and many others - and not forgetting Stilton - a favourite of many people, great with a nice red wine, but no longer exclusively produced in the wee Cambridgeshire village of Stilton itself, its original home way back in time, but now largely produced in nearby Leicestershire, in the Melton Mowbray area, the home of the traditional pork pies. A real genuine Melton Mowbray pork pie is an experience in itself..fantastic with HP sauce.
On a recent Great British Railways Journey on BBC-2 TV undertaken by Michael Portillo, in which he travelled by train from Durham city, in the NE of England, down through Yorkshire and into the East Midlands ending up in Leicestershire and in Melton Mowbray itself, he was presented with a sizeable freshly made pork pie which he absolutely drooled over as he sliced into it - and so did I as I watched it.
There is a shop in Melton Mowbray which sells nothing else but pork pies of all sizes, just as there is a shop over in Norwich, Norfolk, which sells nothing but English mustards. Maybe the pies and the mustards go well together.
Down in Gloucestershire, in the wee town of Tetbury, just a mile or so down the road from Highgrove House, the home of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, there is a shop which sells nothing but cheeses........he is its patron, so HRH obviously likes cheese.
http://www.houseofcheese.co.uk/acatalog/index.html
Guid nicht fae Scotland.
There are literally hundreds of cheeses here in the UK, many of them completely unknown to the majority of people here but not to the locals where they are produced.
The number of those cheeses that are well known is quite large really, and many bear the names of the places to which they are associated but not specifically produced there any more - Cheshire (very tasty and very crumbly and a creamy white in colour), Lancashire, Wensleydale, Caerphilly, Double and Single Gloucesters, Red Leicester, Somerset Brie, Hereford Blue and many others - and not forgetting Stilton - a favourite of many people, great with a nice red wine, but no longer exclusively produced in the wee Cambridgeshire village of Stilton itself, its original home way back in time, but now largely produced in nearby Leicestershire, in the Melton Mowbray area, the home of the traditional pork pies. A real genuine Melton Mowbray pork pie is an experience in itself..fantastic with HP sauce.
On a recent Great British Railways Journey on BBC-2 TV undertaken by Michael Portillo, in which he travelled by train from Durham city, in the NE of England, down through Yorkshire and into the East Midlands ending up in Leicestershire and in Melton Mowbray itself, he was presented with a sizeable freshly made pork pie which he absolutely drooled over as he sliced into it - and so did I as I watched it.
There is a shop in Melton Mowbray which sells nothing else but pork pies of all sizes, just as there is a shop over in Norwich, Norfolk, which sells nothing but English mustards. Maybe the pies and the mustards go well together.
Down in Gloucestershire, in the wee town of Tetbury, just a mile or so down the road from Highgrove House, the home of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, there is a shop which sells nothing but cheeses........he is its patron, so HRH obviously likes cheese.
http://www.houseofcheese.co.uk/acatalog/index.html
Guid nicht fae Scotland.
Jan 27th 2011, 11:17 pm
#52
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
A decent local bakery...but only as a treat, can't feed a family of kids on $5-6 loaves of bread 
Same with the cheese, Trader Joes or WholeFoods if you don't have all indie places...but bit too pricey for every day family munching.
Cheese has gotten better here in the last couple of years, well variety at least, but they need to stop thinking something is age old cheddar if it's aged 6-9 months...that's just smeg, it's not aged till 3 years at least
Same with the cheese, Trader Joes or WholeFoods if you don't have all indie places...but bit too pricey for every day family munching.
Cheese has gotten better here in the last couple of years, well variety at least, but they need to stop thinking something is age old cheddar if it's aged 6-9 months...that's just smeg, it's not aged till 3 years at least
Our local grocery stores all make fresh bread and they are really nice and hot if you can grab them as soon as they get them out of the oven. The bread is really good. Shall try the local Trader Joes for the cheese, Bob. Any particular brand or should I be looking for or are they the imported from the UK type? I saw a few UK cheeses when I was at Costco. Don't remember seeing any Chedder though. Branston pickle I can find, so that's not a problem .....
Jan 27th 2011, 11:18 pm
#53
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Me too - I adore Cheshire as well. I really miss the huge variety of cheese you can get in the UK. Hopefully it won't be long until I'm back to experience them all
Jan 27th 2011, 11:23 pm
#54
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
I was in Melton in November, had these most delish ploughmans lunch with a big slice of Pork Pie........Oh god the memories....
Leicester is my home city.
Leicester is my home city.
Jan 27th 2011, 11:26 pm
#55
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
The only thing i dont like about pork pies is when they have too much Jelly stuff in em'..lol
Jan 27th 2011, 11:27 pm
#56
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Jan 27th 2011, 11:29 pm
#57
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
...Shall try the local Trader Joes for the cheese, Bob. Any particular brand or should I be looking for or are they the imported from the UK type? I saw a few UK cheeses when I was at Costco. Don't remember seeing any Chedder though. Branston pickle I can find, so that's not a problem .....
If you like Stilton, or the other mixed layer cheeses, they have a bunch of those too...and their own branded goat cheese is really good for cheap money. Also the parmesan cheese is really good value for money, they have a couple of varieties, both awesome, and the grated stuff in the green tube is the best, and cheapest I've found that taste of cheese and not cardboard.
They also have this dark yellow, shredded cheddar cheese, it's the best thing pre-shredded for pizza, sauces or whatever else you'd use.
Jan 27th 2011, 11:30 pm
#58
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Jan 27th 2011, 11:31 pm
#59
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Re: American moving to the UK the good, bad and the ugly
Not a huge fan of walmart but i noticed someof the newer , nicer ones have packaged "Englsih Cheddar" at the deli... not too bad...
Jan 27th 2011, 11:31 pm
#60
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