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One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Old Jun 13th 2008, 3:26 pm
  #241  
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Originally Posted by Globalcommunismiscoming

I hope this helps.

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Old Jun 14th 2008, 3:12 am
  #242  
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Originally Posted by Globalcommunismiscoming
I have been back in the UK for nearly three years after living abroad. When I was getting ready to move back I was excited but I soon realized I had built up the UK in my mind too much because I had not visited for so long. There are many things I do not like but most of all they are

- tasteless expensive food
- the consistently in your face growing government
- the weather
- public transportation
- too many taxes
- people don't wear deodorant
- health system is poor
- english people have terrible, terrible teeth

I hope this helps.
Oh you are funny, but don't give up your day job.
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Old Jun 14th 2008, 3:31 am
  #243  
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Originally Posted by Globalcommunismiscoming
I have been back in the UK for nearly three years after living abroad. When I was getting ready to move back I was excited but I soon realized I had built up the UK in my mind too much because I had not visited for so long. There are many things I do not like but most of all they are

- tasteless expensive food
- the consistently in your face growing government
- the weather
- public transportation
- too many taxes
- people don't wear deodorant
- health system is poor
- english people have terrible, terrible teeth

I hope this helps.
You're living in Queensland then
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Old Jun 14th 2008, 6:47 am
  #244  
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Originally Posted by Pollyana
You're living in Queensland then
Nah he's really in Canberra
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Old Jun 14th 2008, 10:27 am
  #245  
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Originally Posted by Globalcommunismiscoming
I have been back in the UK for nearly three years after living abroad. When I was getting ready to move back I was excited but I soon realized I had built up the UK in my mind too much because I had not visited for so long. There are many things I do not like but most of all they are

- tasteless expensive food
- the consistently in your face growing government
- the weather
- public transportation
- too many taxes
- people don't wear deodorant
- health system is poor
- english people have terrible, terrible teeth

I hope this helps.
I do not agree with that...have you been to NZ never seen so many rotten teeth in my life..

Last edited by LizaJane; Jun 14th 2008 at 10:36 am.
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Old Jul 8th 2008, 12:31 pm
  #246  
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Originally Posted by oldbag
Gawd........I just noticed, even your avatar is angry!
sounds like he based his jaunt back in a 'p-d off' mode to escape possibly and it was less planned out? - yes you take the good with the bad, i know in my case I came to the USA at age 43 (thinks back) and am now 51, i have a 0 possibility of retiring here and staying alive with the low pension and no health care, thats enough to assure me which side of the ocean i belong on lol!
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Old Jul 8th 2008, 1:22 pm
  #247  
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Originally Posted by Pollyana
You're living in Queensland then
heh heh !!
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Old Jul 8th 2008, 1:59 pm
  #248  
 
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

what an exciting thread!

NJDave, nice to see you back and hear your thoughts on the UK. Agree with some, disagree with some - and happily for me dont have to experience any of them as not there

shame to see some new posters taking offence at language on hot topics which is a common occurence on any forum where highly contradictory opinions are aired. and to be honest if I was told MY opinions were wrong giving my perspective after a year I'd react in the same way with probably the same language.

As someone rightly said when happy posters give their stories of happiness and contentment there are no posts telling them they're wrong and deluded, NJ posts his and is jumped on - therefore provoking his response. You have only yourselves to blame people!

If there was a swear tin for being rudey I'd be poor as hell.
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Old Jul 8th 2008, 10:26 pm
  #249  
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

I wish you all good luck and happiness no matter where you live now or hope to live soon. I really do.
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Old Jul 8th 2008, 11:50 pm
  #250  
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

[QUOTE=Steve1903;6457190]Hmm, criticisms of the UK dont go down well at all I see.

Auntie Wolf
Healthcare in the US may be a disaster but over here IT IS NOT FREE. We pay our weekly contributions and if you do get sick that fact that you have paid all your life means nothing if they decide your treatment is too costly. Over here they will deny you treatment and let you die just as they do there.





I was a nurse in scotland from age 17 (when i started my training ) until age 43 and never witnessed this, yes i read about it , but never witnessed it , i witnessed consultants moving heaven and earth to get patients treatment.

I am now 44 and have been nursing in aus for a year (public and private), and both of their systems look like a disaster to me, as i have said before it is one (of many) reasons that i hope to return to scotland, to have the security of the nhs,to have the feeling i will be treated as a person with dignity and rights, and if am not , i will have the 'right' to protest about it.

I have heard many disgusting remarks from 'so-called' professionals about the public system and the patients who use it here in aus, some (not all), treat the patients like second class or even third class citizens coz the poor buggers dont have private health care. If people are usuing the public system here, it is the consensus of opinion (by public, patients, politicians and professionals) that they dont complain and should be grateful to get treatment. As a family we also dont have private health cover, its just too damn expensive, so if any of us gets ill , how will we be treated here??........................... like shit probably!!, as i imagine we would also be in the states.









disclaimer.............i have not read all the thread, lol, i will later , but i feel very, very , passionately about the nhs.

Last edited by Margaret3; Jul 9th 2008 at 12:05 am.
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Old Jul 9th 2008, 12:57 am
  #251  
 
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Originally Posted by Margaret3
one (of many) reasons that i hope to return to scotland, to have the security of the nhs,to have the feeling i will be treated as a person with dignity and rights, and if am not , i will have the 'right' to protest about it.

As a family we also dont have private health cover, its just too damn expensive, so if any of us gets ill , how will we be treated here??........................... like shit probably!!, as i imagine we would also be in the states.









disclaimer.............i have not read all the thread, lol, i will later , but i feel very, very , passionately about the nhs.
I wish we could split this off from this thread, but I'll bite anyway. How do you account for this story.. +30 years public service (not a freeloader), wife gets cancer and an urgent and grim prognosis and then put on a year long waiting list for the surgery she needs. They spend every pound they have for private treatment because they could get it 'in time'. Sadly turned out to be 'too late', but the question remains: other than getting to go to the doc for free if you have a cold, how were they better off?
This couple ended up with her just as dead, and them just as broke, as if it had happened in the US (my own knowledge base) or from what you say, in Aus. (?)
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Old Jul 9th 2008, 3:42 am
  #252  
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Originally Posted by meauxna
I wish we could split this off from this thread, but I'll bite anyway. How do you account for this story.. +30 years public service (not a freeloader), wife gets cancer and an urgent and grim prognosis and then put on a year long waiting list for the surgery she needs. They spend every pound they have for private treatment because they could get it 'in time'. Sadly turned out to be 'too late', but the question remains: other than getting to go to the doc for free if you have a cold, how were they better off?
This couple ended up with her just as dead, and them just as broke, as if it had happened in the US (my own knowledge base) or from what you say, in Aus. (?)
You know what was probably the case. Sorry, it's harsh, but I reckon they knew she hadn't a hope, so the only fair thing to do was to provide the surgery to someone it could help. But they didn't want to say that, so they put her on that waiting list.

The private people probably knew the same thing, but they took the money.

If the above was true -- if -- would you have wanted them to do the surgery for her, instead of for someone else? Perhaps a someone else you care for?

There are hard choices to be made in medicine, but with luck they're rational choices, not always who has the most money.

Bev
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Old Jul 9th 2008, 7:14 am
  #253  
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Bevm, remember that Oz's Medicare is only half the age of the NHS.
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Old Jul 9th 2008, 9:21 am
  #254  
 
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Originally Posted by ezzie
I do sympathise, and I don't think any of us are blind to the problems of the UK as it now is....it's just so damn boring out here! I think some of the visa requirements have changed recently, have you looked into South Australia or Perth, or even N.Z, I believe they're being pretty lenient with restrictions in order to get people over. Maybe try somewhere different to Glasgow...my hubby was there for a year and much as he loves the Scots, he said it was just too gloomy. Friends of ours in a reasonably nice area of Glasgow have just moved because of all the 'yoof' coming back drunk past their house, vomiting in the garden, damaging the cars etc. The police didn't do anything, I must admit that over here I feel they would at least try. Can't remember where they were at the moment, I just remember a huge park and a shop that sold 'the best icecream in Glasgow'!
Parts of Australia (and I guess the US, and the UK) can be very dull, and sometimes this may be more about a time of life (with a toddler I found UK village life much more boring than Australia beach suburb life). So you have to ask if it is Australia as a whole, or the Hills district, or your present situation?
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Old Jul 9th 2008, 9:28 am
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Default Re: One Year back in the UK: My Reflections

Originally Posted by essexnick
Interesting reading this thread. I have read many thread on this very subject.

It all comes down to what you prefer in life and how you see the country where you reside.

I am a British expat living in Northern California. I left the UK after 27 years and move here. I stayed for 3 years and had real issues with the change of life. So much so that my American wife and I decided to move back the UK in 2006.

The first 6 months back in the UK was very exciting and we was treated like film stars. The only downside that sucked was looking for work and convincing employers that we was going to stay in the UK. I guess it took 4 to 6 weeks to get jobs we both really wanted.
I found it exciting showing my wife where I had grown up etc and the things that has moulded me into what I am now. This became very important to our relationship. She really understands where I come from and how, why and the things I do and say and my attitude etc. This was all a plus.

My wife loved that she had 25 days vacation. She loved that healthcare was free - something she was stunned about.

Anyway, after the excitement had died down we got into the groove of normal living. This is where the trouble started for me. I started comparing everything to the way life was in California. I could not appreicate being back. I kept missing things about California. In my mind I wanted to leave again and so I would start picking holes in everything and started to get really worked up about England, people, their attitudes toward life and work etc. It was if I was always looking to complain to someone about something and anything. This was all happening while I was trying to get my Green Card resolved. So playing the waiting game with the US embassy made it more frustrating. Damn I was just angry all the time. Maybe I felt guilty and ashamed bringing my American wife to the UK. It's all hard to explain and very unsettling. I, more than her wanted to leave again.

After 14 months in the UK we left. We came back to California, purchased a house, a dog, a cat and now live 20 minutes from the beach in a quite little town that has Redwood trees and river. It's the most beautiful place. We have a hot tub in our back garden. It's amazing. The houses are so cheap and the lifestyle is so laid back. Wonderful!

But....now after 16 months of being back here I am missing the UK again. WTF???? I feel like I want to move back. What pisses me off about the US? Well I have no healthcare(I am contracting). At first I would say to people that I am not bothered about having no vacation time here. I treated every weekend as a holiday as we have the beach so close. But, Americans here work like dogs. I have had 2 days vacation in a year. Everyone works all the time...all the time. Whats the deal with this? I generally feel run down, stressed and tired all the time. We will this ever stop.
I speak to Australians, Kiwis and other Brits here who all feel the same way. They tell me they often think about going back home. I guess us Europeans are spoiled with holiday. But hey, you only live once so why not enjoy it.

The transport in California sucks. It's all big trucks on the freeway and no easy to use trains. Infact there are no trains anywhere I live. You have to drive 2 hours by car to get to a train here.

I am planing to visit the UK soon for a week. I want to see how I feel again about life back there. Sometimes I wish I never left. The grass maybe green on the other side, but if you don't look then maybe you dont really need to know.

If you a very smart, lucky and work hard in America then you might be lucky enough to have a big home and relax (millionares). For the rest of us it's just work work work for 40 hrs per week for 50 weeks a year to pay for Healthcare and a home..... So that's nice.
I see it that no matter where you live in the world, you still have to work and pay the bills. But who wants to work all the time until you are about 70 years old just so you can save enough money to pay for your healthcare etc.

Life isn't perfect but I am considering breaking the news to my wife that I feel home sick and want to go home. I keep it quite most of the time as I think it may pass.

I dreamed of owning a home in California with all the trimmings. Now that we have that, it's not enough anymore for me personally. Life is short and it can't stop here.
I have thought about the US (New England, Portlandm, Washington) in the past but could not cope with the 2 weeks off. Is it pretty much standard, even in Universities I wonder? I think 4 weeks off is bad!
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