sibsie

I've been out of England for thee years now and have yet to go back for a visit. I did two in Spain then a year here. I can't imagine living in London again but there are times I get nostalgic about it. I do realise though that I'm very much looking at it through rose tinted out of focus goggles.

The first six months here were a bit iffy but I love it. I love where I live, I know tons of people and have some awesome friends. I really think that my friends here are more fun and more reliable than my lot in London. I had loads of calls from concerned American friends offering help through the blizzard. One even came to stay with me as Mr Sibsie is away for a month. They are always making sure I'm ok and I never feel alone when hubby's off flying. I know just about everyone in town now and even the local police are great. I'm always being let off tickets and they are just so nice to me. It could help that my husband's family founded the town years back and are very well known but I think it's more that this is a small town with a small town mentality. MIL is a pain in the arse and I wish she'd drop off the face of the planet but that's my only gripe.

I also made a wonderful friend from this site. She and her hubby spend a lot of time with us and we even vacation together. If you get a chance to meet people from here, do it. I highly recommend it.

There are times when the American way gets on my tits but it's the same everywhere. I adore my husband, we have a great social life, a fantastic lifestyle and I get to spend as much time as I want with my horses. We have a huge boat for summer, go away on weekend getaways and life is good.

Happy? As a pig in shit.

rincewind

I went through a little home sickness when I first came here. I think it was mainly due to the stress of not being able to work and a few other problems along the way. There were a few times when I was ready to up and leave and jump on a plane back to Blighty.

I stuck it out and now things are finally working out.

The main thing I miss is my ten year old daughter. I hate being over 4000 miles away from and only being able to see her when we can afford the tickets. I saw last year on my birthday and then this Xmas just gone and we had a great time. As she’s getting older, her emotions are starting to show and on this last trip she was really upset about leaving. It broke my heart and that’s when you begin to question the things you do in life.

Would I go back to the UK? I would if something ever happened to my wife. I would not stay here alone. With the way house prices are at the moment, I couldn’t go back even if I wanted to. I’d have no way of starting over again.

I like the way of life here and I love my wife. So, I am content to remain in the USA.

Dan725

I am really enjoying life here. Aside from the much better material things like nice house with pool, great weather that cannot be gotten in the UK, I enjoy the way of life here and could not be happier to think that I'll never have to go back to rip off Britain again to live, apart from the occasional visit. I've been outside of the UK for 7 years now, if I think I start to miss it, a quick trip back soon remedies that. Nice to visit friends and family, go back to live? No Chance!

tony126

No complaints at all but I am not in the sort of position as most BE members.
Met my future wife here when I was 65. We were married in a Registry Office in the UK, nearly 3 years ago. Fortunately I have full health coverage, as near as makes no difference. No mortgage , family grown up with all of mine in the UK and I have a stepson here. We live in a 2 bedroom brick house and have enough income to be happy. Someone (I think Rincewind) said that if anything was to happen to his wife then I like him would consider returning back to the UK for the same reason. I love the weather here, have very good neighbours and the people are very friendly. I also love my wife very much and she comes first in my life. Missing my mates(?), yes I do but having someone who loves you pushes those thoughts to the back of my mind. My family are a 5cent/min phone call away, or a webcam connection. Whatever your decsion I wish you well.

Bob

Sums it up nicely...i'd bug off as soon as if it weren't for the missus, had three good job offers back in blighty...but be crap havin' to live with my mother, or in a tiny bedsit in Oxford...only reason we decided on trying the states, more potential for work too....not that i've been seeing any of it, which is a major downer and goes get you down a bit, but I've made a couple good friends here, and I've got a couple mates scattered across the states.

It is what you make of it I guess and everyone's different, in the end, I ain't that fussed about where I am...but I do need a job for sanitys' sake if nothing else

ukemigrant

I've been here since Dec 2002 and am very happy, with no intention of leaving. I do it by getting up, going to work, living life, loving my wife and getting on with living. People here are no different to anywhere else, there's just more of them. Since most people are stupid, there's more here to run into than in the UK, but the normal distribution still applies.

Lizzi

Wow! Florida weather betweeen April and October must be hot and humid hell no?

g1ant

You obviously don't bank with Wells Fargo then?

TRPardoe

In mid-summer when it is hot and humid I often go home for lunch, a dip in the pool and a change of clothes. It's a nice hedonistic thing to do.

Florida is great in the summertime, no snowbirds clogging up the restaurants, roads and beaches.

Dan725

Same here, hot and humid it might be, but you can swim in your pool, go waterskiing, scuba diving, whatever. Everywhere you go is air conned to the max as well, so its not the problem some might think. Give me the palm trees anyday over the cloudy grey skies will it rain or won't it miserable UK!

sibsie

The service here can be dire. My pet peeve is that automated voice hell. My insurance company is the worse. It's just taken me 30 mins to get to speak to a human to try and rectify the error the last human made after I'd waited an hour or so to get through to them. Fortunately they make the mental health problems #1 on their automated service, so if you loose it you don't have to wait as long!

AdobePinon

..."0"....."0"! ..... "0" <damn it!>....."0"..... <m-feckers>....."0" <20 min later>.. "0000000"! <bastards>..."0"... <pick up the phone, stoopid!>... "0"

We're sorry! Our customer service representatives are available Tue to Wed, 10:00 am to 4:20 pm. Thank you for calling. <click!>

fatbrit

Psychiatric Hotline Answering Protocol
Hello - welcome to the Psychiatric hotline.
If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly
If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2
If you have multiple personalities, press 3, 4, 5, and 6
If you are paranoid-delusional, we know who you are and what you want. Just stay on the line so we can trace the call
If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which button to press
If you are manic-depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press. No-one will answer.

VFRpilot

[QUOTE=Englishmum]I guess I would on a points scale, give living here 6 out of 10. We live in a pretty (& expensive) suburban town in New Jersey, approx 17 miles west of Manhatten and my husband works for a famous British MNC in Times Square.

We live down the road from you in Chatham, and have the same sort of experience. However, Both our kids were young when we came over 6 and 4. We have been here 10 years and to be honest they (for good or bad) have become American.

For me life here is much better than our existance when based in England. Prior to this 2 year posting, I worked for a British Bank and spent the best part of 4 year communing to Hong Kong, Singapore, Bombay etc. It got to the point where my kids were calling me uncle!!!

I have a real crap commute here but I do at least get to see my wife and kids every day.
We do get back to London a few times a year, but to be honest after a few days I cannot wait to get back home. Not that I like Chatham. Like you I find everybody wrapped up in either the value of their house or just plain money. And I agree that this area is just plain bland. I am sure that much of their wealth claims are in fact false and that they are mortaged up to the hilts. Its quite sad really that after 10 years our few true friends are British. One thing for me that is a real benifit here, is that I have managed to remain quite fit. We have a great over 40s football team that plays at least 3 times a week. I doubt very much if I would still be playing if I was based in England.

We are slowly undertaking our relocation to Florida. Our goal is to be down their full time at the point my youngest is off to college. (3 years to go)

lairdside

Hey if your son fancies a trip out west (with all of the snow we've been having) give me a shout he can stay here.

Also I have a friend who lives in the Catskills, is a prosnowboarder for The North Face Extreme Snowboarding Team..... I could hook them up, it would be dope and Dave would be stoked