mrken30

Its easy to think that's not how it would be done in X. I was talking to our taxi driver who was complaining about road construction. In Oregon they do construction on the freeways during the day. In Arizona they do it at night for obvious reasons. He was saying they would never have construction during rush hour in Arizona.

In the UK I remember them digging up a road, laying pipes, then a few weeks later they would come along and dig up the same stretch of road. The roads were all covered with patchwork, some good, some not so good.

It's easy to complain about the negatives, especially when those negatives are dealt with better in other places. It's also easier to remember the good parts about a place and not the bad parts.

Pulaski

Which leads to the all-too-common habit of comparing the bad things where you live to the good things where you came from, and I believe this is often described as "homesickness".

I have always made a conscious effort to remember the good things where I now live and the irritations and issues that I was glad I was leaving behind when I left the UK, and I think that has kept me on an even keel over the years, especially when something here pi§§es me off.

Rete

I've tried that. For example, nice to have a large backyard with a few trees, bird feeders and container gardens and smile and enjoy until I see that the grass needs mowing and mowing 3/4 of an acre is tedious and hot when the average summertime temps are in the 90's and the humidity is in the 100's. Yes, hubby has the rider but I do the push mower for the fence line and then wacker for the edging. So that ain't working for me

mrken30

One good thing in the US is that I have no comfort food here. So it keeps my waistline down living in the US. That must be a good thing?

Rete

Or that you either have no worries or troubles that you need to seek comfort for or that you have not eaten some of the very decadent foods available in the US.

mrken30

Comfort foods are quite often childhood foods.

I have not eaten any decadent foods in the US, good prime rib maybe, but I am a dessert / bread person.

Harveyspecter

It's funny. A few months before we left the UK and my visa was well and truly on it's way to being completed, my wife and I went out for a meal with a friend in Cardiff. We parked in the multi storey car park for the St Davids shopping centre and when we came to leave, there must have been some event on because I kid you not, it took 90 minutes for us to get out of the car park! My wife still tells people what I said that night:

"If ever I get homesick in the US, remind me of this moment!"

It's only since I've been living here and had more space/less traffic that I realised how stressed it made me in the UK!

johnwoo

Probably the reason I settled in easily in the US is I have no fond memories of where I grew up, in the dreary West London suburbs. It was a S.H. when I left and even worse now. Throw in the British weather I think I'll stay here. 50 years here on October 2nd.

Harveyspecter

Congrats on 50 years!

mrken30

I spent a significant part of my childhood around Harrow and Kenton, not the most pleasant of places. The other part was spent in the greenbelt and very different lifestyle. Good and bad to both. It was nice having buses run every 10 minutes before being old enough to drive.

johnwoo

Harrow was the posh part. I lived and worked in, Ealing, Southall, Hounslow and Hayes at different times in my life. Lived with my aunt in Southall near the Gas works during WW2.
18 months in Beverley, East Yorks during Nation Service with the RAF. The nicest place in the UK I spent any length of time.

moi

LOOOVE Beverley, East Yorkshire Coming from Hull, I have visited Beverley numerous times and taken my American husband there, who also loved it.

johnwoo

I met my wife there. Her family live in the small towns and villages around Hull.
Housing is relatively cheap I could bag a few $100K if I moved back.

yellowroom

Not any more I'm afraid. House prices are still affordable compared to elsewhere in England, but a lot higher than they were. My neighbour in Beverley has just sold her two up two down terrace house for over £200k.

johnwoo

That's true pretty much everywhere, prices in the San Francisco Bay Area are approaching the absurd.
According to Rightmove you can still find relatively cheap homes further from the town center.
My neighbour recently sold his 3 bedroom house for $890,000. Which was more than the asking price.