Not being able to see all the new nieces and nephews that have been born since we moved Another new one yesterday..Everything else I can live with.

when parents are ill and you're not sure if you need or should hop on the plane to go back or wait for the dreaded call in the middle of the night

I've been away from the UK for the best part now of 15 years.

I've missed every death in the family - which were basically aged GP's deciding that 90 odd was too long to live.

I've rang home - or tried to get home - only to be told - 'Don't worry about it'.

There was a bit of a farce when I missed one funeral - about 13 years ago - but hoped to get to the diocese 'celebration' mass as a sort of consolation. I got to Heathrow and the cabby had no idea where the church was - nor did I!
So I missed that one too!

It means I've never been to a family funeral and I am middle-aged!

My late FIL was a migrant in Singapore in the 1950s...we laughed when he told us that he had to book a telephone call to UK with 24 hours notice period. And that a flight to UK cost £2000.... we would pay that for a family of 3 or 4 now.

And I could not imagine not being able to pick up a phone to make a call when we feel like it.

For me the worst thing is missing family occasions but as our family dynamics seem to have imploded, we aren't missing much!

Not just parents. I left my grown up kids behind in the UK and certainly didn't expect either of them to get ill enough for me to rush back - but it did happen

I miss subtlety in all it's forms.

And a decent country pub.

And a curry.

Not all the time, just sometimes.

But subtlety ...

When we lived in Turkey (1977-78) there was no international dialing and calls had to be booked. Our agent did have a telex, but it pre-fax, pre-email and pre-mobiles.

We're lucky in that our friends are varied- so it's not like all of them are 'full-on' 'rednecks'.. I'm not too worried about pubs.

Definately the annual long haul trip. And the occasional cheap package deal holiday to the med. Can't afford any of that now.

No, you have to join the rednecks and get a camper-trailer (like the rest of us) lol.

I don't like the 'not belonging feeling' and dearly miss the sense of humour......subtle does indeed sum it up Not being there for ailing Parents is a biggy too

Surely not


I am quite happy in my swag

After our last camping holiday a few weeks back where the brand new gazebo and one of our tents got destroyed in a huge gust of wind, maybe we will get a campervan - or a caravan.

Definitely the sense of humour bit.....and some of the belonging too, but that has been rectified with good friends.

and (when we arrived many years ago now) of constantly meeting other Brits who assumed that as we were British too we would be life long friends .....and of the negative connotations associated with the Northern faction of Brits in Perth. Loads of lovely people tarred with the brush of a few bad'uns. We moved !

Another thing here that costs a flipping fortune.