wmoore

We’ve just got back from our first trip back to England since emigrating and I thought I’d share some thoughts with you ….

I broke them up into the good, the bad and the ugly because …… well, I just wanted to really.

The Good: Seeing our family and friends again after so long was awesome. We’ve been in Australia for 20 months now and we’ve had visits from both our parents and 2 friends but have missed other rellies and those that can’t or won’t make the journey. We seem to have spent the last couple of weeks either taking people out or being taken out for lunch, dinner, elevenses, quarter-past-fourses …. That kind of thing. We spent a lot of time visitng people and catching up with gossip, as well as going out to some old haunts. You can’t really put a price on seeing people like these after such a long time – I’m talking about life-long friends and the like. Although we keep in touch with banter on email and the occaisional phone call, seeing them and buying them a beer (hmmmmmmm beeeeeeeeer …….. I’l come to that in a minute) is priceless. Also seeing that they are all happy and well is good. You know how you speak to somebody and they tell you they are great but you never really know until you look them in the eyes. Some of our friends had some problems before we left and it’s good to be able to see that the problems are well and truly behind them.
I got to The Riverside for Boro v Reading and although it was far from the greatest game in the world, this was something else I had missed. I’ve always had Foxtel / Austar and see plenty of games in the early hours but you can’t beat being there. I was hoping to get to Newcastle v Boro too but couldn’t get a ticket
Beer …. A real pint of Guinness Actually if you want to get technical, I had a lot of real pints of Guinness. I’ve got used to drinking the fizzy stuff since landing here but it was still nice to drink some black gold – and various other real ales. The Guinness over here just doesn’t taste right. I keep trying it in different pubs but I’m always disappointed.
Other good things in short: Visiting our favourite Italian restaurant, bumping into an old school mate while ordering a parmo at the drunken end of a Saturday night, teaching my nephew how to play Aussie Rules (I bought him a ball and it hasn’t left his side since – he even slept with it), being centre of attention.

The Bad: Well being delayed at Brunei airport for 6 hours was the first. We had an 8-hour scheduled stop anyway so we went out for a tour of the city but when we got back to the airport, we found we’d been delayed. We were not really told what the problem was but through hearsay and rumour, I gather there was a problem with our plane, which was in Hong Kong at the time. The most disappointing thing is that we had a hotel room for the day and checked out to go back to our flight. The airline had known about the delay for 5 or 6 hours at this time and if they’d told us, we could have stayed in the room longer and got some kip. The hotel is owned by the airline so not knowing where we were couldn’t be used as an excuse The knock-on of this delay was missing our flight from Heathrow to Teesside and having to pay 300 quid to get to Manchester (or paying the same amount to get to Teesside but waiting a further 9 hours). I’ve written to the airline to get that money back as I think they should pay for their problems, not me.
Seeing how people haven’t changed much. I guess we shouldn’t expect them to really and like somebody said on here before: you’ve moved on and they haven’t. A prime example of this is when we arranged a Saturday night on the town, we met up in the same spot in the same pub at the same time as we always did. The only difference was that they turned up on time this time
Because I started a new job in December, I was struggling to get leave from work so we only ended up with just over 2 weeks in England. Like I said, we spent all that time visiting and being visited by family and friends. We wanted to get out and go to somewhere like Edinburgh for a couple of days but just didn’t have the time in the end.
More bad things in short: litter, traffic, miserable and downright rude people, the cost of eating out, the same old crap and the same old propaganda in the papers.

The Ugly: Oh boy, where do I start? After the flight delays we had encountered, by the time we had booked our new connecting flight and went to check in, we had been on the go for about 39 hours so were tired and couldn’t deal with hassle. So I had to use all my powers of calm when the jobsworths on the BMI desk insisted we re-pack our suitcases because although across 2 cases and 2 pieces of hand luggage we didn’t go over our total allowance, the 2 suitcases were a kilo or two each overweight. There was almost nothing in our hand luggage so like I said, we were OK overall but they insisted. So in the middle of Heathrow we’re trying to balance everything out – there’s clothers and presents all over the place. Weigh this case; no it’s 20.3; take some more out. Grrrr We got checked in and carried on our way, determined to stay calm. We got to security and have to take our shoes off – grrrrrr – and then when they check one of our bags, we had re-packed some toiletries into it. They took those off us. Now I know people will say ‘well you know the rules’ and wag their fingers but we were very tired and stressed at this point so after grumbling at the woman, we were on our way again. Sat in the departure lounge I thought I’d just check my email over a coffee – a one-pound-ninety coffee by the way. And no, it wasn’t in a gold-plated cup. Anyway, after having free wi-fi in Darwin, Brunei and Dubai I assumed it would be the same here. Pah! Rip-off Britain is alive and well ….
This event was probably made worse by us being very tired but was bettered (worsened?) at Teesside airport on the way back out. We had booked to fly down to Heathrow on Sunday night and stay in a hotel to pick up our Australian flight early-ish Monday morning. So we arrived at Teesside having carefully weighed our bags so they weren’t an gram over the 20kg. We had bought some toiletries from Boots from a stand called ‘perfect for travel’. Seeing as we were staying in a hotel, Vanessa wanted some hair stuff, her own shampoo and shower gel, etc so had bought these little packets deliberately. Also we had some roll-on deodorant to apply during the long flights. As we checked in, the woman says “Do you have any liquids in quantities of more than 50ml in hand luggage?”. No we didn’t so seeing as that was the sum of her questioning on the subject, we assumed we’d be right. There are no signs up around the place offering any different advice so off we trotted through security. The machine buzzed as our bag went through and we were pulled to one side so somebody could check it. She stood there emptying pockets on to the counter and eventually started putting some things back. However, there was a lot of stuff she didn’t put back and eventually she turned to us and says “you can’t take this stuff on the plane”. It was mostly Vanessa’s cosmetics and some shower gel, shampoo, some of my after shave …. None of it was in quantities of more than 50ml but there it was, she took them away. We tried for an explanation but the best she could muster was ‘it doesn’t meet regulations’. Funny how we saw a woman on the plane later using the same brand and size of lipstick that Vanessa wasn’t allowed to bring on board. Consistancy, gotta love it. When we were flying out of Heathrow on Monday morning, they have huge signs all over saying what you can and can’t take and staff helping people re-pack their bags and giving out clear plastic bags for liquids. I was seriously pissed off with the attitude and lack of support and help at Teesside and have written to them to say so. I expect the respinse will be along the lines of “tough shit, you should have checked first” but actually their web site doesn’t mention any of this. I thought we were within our rights to take small quantities of liquids on board and most of what I’ve read since back this up, albeit with those liquids having to be in clear plastic bags. It would have been nice if somebody there had told us and helped us instead of just ‘stealing’ about 50 quid’s worth of gear off us.
More ugly stuff: A complete lack of customer service at one particular eaterie we went to, the new London congestion charge (although it doesn’t directly affect me I think it’s disgusting that the government uses this as a ‘solution’ to London’s traffic problems, instead of actually figuring out how to get people safely and quickly from A to B).

So there it is. Apologies again for the length of the post. I wanted to get it all off my chest, as it were! Somebody on here said that around the 18 month mark or first visit back there is usually something of a watershed moment when you will either realise what a stupid mistake you made and start making plans for a return or realise you wasted the preceeding years by not doing it sooner. We had the latter kind of realisation. We’ve settled here really well but the whole trip with confirmed it all. What with litter, chewing gum and dog shit all over the place, the lack of customer service and all the miserable people, the poor quality roads and traffic problems …… And then as if to confirm it all in one fell swoop on arriving in Darwin; it took us about 40 mins from getting off the plane, going through immigration and customs (with stuff to declare), getting our bags in a taxi and opening the front door of the apartment. On Sunday evening, we stood beside the baggage carousel in Heathrow for about the same length of time, just waiting for our cases from the Teesside flight. British people and British organisations are supposed to be so efficient and courteous, and the Australians so laid back they’re horizontal but the reality seems to be very different. It seems like hard work to get a smile out of customer facing people in England, let alone any kind of good service.

I’m very happy to be home

Wendy

Welcome back matey

Sounds like you had a good(ish) time over there, it's a shame about the airport stuff but it's all done now and hopefully you won't need to do it again for a long time

marco121068

Good post. Glad you made the trip?

biggy

Welcome home mate

jothefw

good thread, well put - can totally imagine what it was like ... we'll go back at same time point I expect (only been here 5 mths so far) but pleased you feel like you're home now - that must be very satisfying!!!

wmoore

Overall, yes. It was originally planned for later in the year when the weather would be better and there would be the possibility of something actually happening But for various reasons we changed it to Feb.

Like I said, to be able to go out to the footy and have a few (few - ha ) beers with the boys and girls was worth the ticket money.

bridie

Sounds like it was a worthwhile trip in many ways

wmoore

Actually just remembered something. I just remembered that I was going to talk about the pace of life too. When I lived there, I just didn't realise how busy everybody is. You can't just amble up the street, doing a bit of window shopping and checking out the scenery. That's a sure fire way to end up with an OAP's shopping trolley up your arse! We went to Whitby because Mrs M wanted some proper Whitby fish and chips. We were wandering along some street, looking in the shop windows and at the surrounds. Several people at different times physically pushed their way past her. Head down, marching along and just gave her a little nudge just so they could get there a bit quicker. Couldn't cope with that now after living a bit more chilled a life here.

bridie

Oooooh cod and chips, could just eat that now!

butch&shell

great post mate, but could you please answer a couple of questions 1 was it pork or chicken 2 did you get garlic sauce 3 which indian , up the boro see ya later

Geordie George

Welcome home, W.

Not sure about the 18-month watershed though. I've been here two years now (well, it will be on Monday ) and still think I'd be happy in either. You're making a sucess of things because of who you are, not where you are. (That's why you're doing OK oop north!)

wmoore

Chicken
Of course!
Gemini's in Redcar High Street

wmoore

I know I'm a northern monkey again

It's true what you said about 'because of who you are' but I know Mrs M has had some homesick feelings. Actually I've always thought there should be a word 'familysick' because she has missed her family quite a bit at times. But the fact is that we could make a go of living anywhere (within reason) but we're happier here than we were in the UK because of the surroundings, atmosphere, way of life, etc.

glittababe

I REALLY miss curry sauce and chips! What a great post! Shame about all the hassels for the flight tho

Geordie George

Homesickness (I prefer peoplesickness) is par for the course. And it doesn't ever truly disappear, no matter how happy you are or how much you love where you live. (You might go for months without that feeling, and when it rears its head it might only last five minutes. Although family or life events particularly can make those pangs come back. Still, that's another thread.)

Good on ya for having that warm, squishy, settled feeling.