Ten days back and counting...
 

Been back ten days after living in Texas for 25 years.

Lets get this out of the way first, shall we? Yes, the weather is 'worse' here, the roads are narrower, and some things are really different here than how they were when I left for the USA. So yes. I know things are "not the same as they once were", OK?

Good.

Background is that my son, originally both UK Citizens now dual UK as well as US citizens, went to live in the US, when I married my second wife, who is the American in my life. She and I are now divorced.

We came back from Dallas on March 24th. No trouble leaving the USA or entering the UK. Most people on some forums seem to be fixated about the new passport rules. Don't panic! If you have a valid British passport (check in the notes page for the words about right of abode in the UK, if you feel unsure), you'll be fine. Airlines WILL check if you need an ETA (if you are using an American passport to leave the US. Show both US and UK passports when you check in at the airport. "Sorted". Entry to the UK via the gates was also easy. Passport open at the appropriate page, press it flat on the reader look into the camera and the gates opened. Once again, "sorted".

We stayed at an airport hotel to recover from the overnight flight, which always kills my energy. Next day I rented a car and we went down to our Airb&b and unpacked. Initial observations are how money has changed. Paper money is a bit like it came from a play set. Feels plastic and nasty. Some coins are a tad different, but if the last time you were here was as far back as I was, it's all still obvious. HOWEVER, 'contactless' payment is the normal for all sorts of things, even for very low value transactions. Think Chip and Pin, but no pin. Until my UK bank gets a debit card to me, I'll be using my American card (Chase bank) and sometimes get to tell the machine where to do the currency conversion. That freaks some shopkeepers a little as they hardly ever see that, if at all in off the beaten track locations. My "wise dot com" debit card doesn't suffer like that. It just works every time with no additional prompts to answer, so a vote for them.

Food... Something really is better here about the food. I'll not guess that it may be down to the varieties of plants, or meat with no or less antibiotics, or hormones etc etc as I just don't know. As to the cost... I can shop in Tesco, ASDA or Budgens for about 70% of my US costs. As for booze... No comparison. American pee-water 'beer' is a thing of my past, even if it was refreshing during Texas 100 degree days...

Note that you really do need a UK phone. So much that was doable in cash is now APP ONLY. An example is parking in Brighton and Hove if you don't have a residents parking permit. Just this week, they decommissioned all the pay and display machines as well as seeming to kill off the call and use a card to pay for parking option. Get your US smartphone set to be in the UK region setting out, and even then, it can be a bit flaky. My eSIM (I have a US Tello plan) is registered on the EE network here but fails to connect all over the place. I picked up a UK O2 SIM form a local phone shop, plugged it into the phone and it just seems to work everywhere, even when the eSIM fails to get service. I'm sure this is either down to me or the phone, so if you are returning to the UK, don't wait, get onto a UK plan as soon as you can.

Buying a used car was easy. Getting the VED (road tax) easy. Getting insurance for it need an app (from both the insurance company and the bank. See the previous paragraph. Either that or go to a broker and expect to pay more than the online only guys are charging. I don't have any trouble driving here now.

Even manual transmission after 25 years on auto cars. I haven't stalled it out (yet). :lol:

Oh yes and its a 4 day bank holiday weekend. Come back next Tuesday for anything 'official'.

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

Great update! Hope things continue to go well for you.

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

👍

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

Welcome to sunny/windy Sussex!

Hope things continue to go well :)

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

Great post. Welcome back. Ourselves and each of our children moved back from Texas and California after 29-35 years and can all relate to your experiences.

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

I'll be interested to hear your experiences over the next few months.... it sounds as if you are taking change in your stride.

One query - do you feel "at home" back in the UK?

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

I'll pop updates on here for a few months...

Its too early to say that without any degree of uncertainty. I'm still working out getting a flat and therefore a permanent address and I'm waiting for a new debit card from my bank to arrive. Those two things are key stages in being able to say I feel "at home", even if I have a reasonable AirB&B to stay (as long as I keep paying for it), and two bank cards from my US banks that work for most things without a problem.

So I do feel like I have dropped back into most things without too many problems.

You need to understand that the UK is not the same place as it was a quarter of a century ago. THANK GOD FOR THAT TOO. If the place had stayed the same in all respects, it would be dead. A cemetery in fact and very boring as a result.

Now don't misunderstand me. A quarter of a century of change on the old place has left its mark. For example, "There's an app for that" seems over the top, as in an app for everything from parking a car to buying a bus fare, and then we have contactless payments for everything, even 8p packets of sauces in a fish and chip shop. I had to download one app that I swear has me verify my identity using three different methods every time I start it. Yes, over the top.

Does this help you?

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

Yes, your dates coincide quite well with my moving to rural Suffolk, after 20 years "inside the North Circular". Like you, I started in temporary accommodation, which felt just that. It was a year before I found a permanent base...... but I've been here ever since.

Things certainly have changed in 25 years..... for good, but mostly bad. Services that seemed second-nature disappeared during Austerity, libraries closed, the local Bobby vanished, doorstep milk delivery became extinct. You may not have noticed these yet. The "App" thing is annoying - I refuse to play ball - but contactless payments are OK (no giving your card to a perfect stranger). Buying things at the price stated on the ticket may seem welcome to you - but the VAT already baked-in to that price makes things seem more expensive. Armed police, visible on a regular basis, have also become more common in your absence, though guns in general are almost entirely absent (rather different to Texas!).

Fish and Chips have become an occasional treat, due to the huge increase in cost....... but good chippers still exist!

Good luck flat hunting...... those are shark-infested waters!!

ETA - "Home Delivery" has become quite a thing too, for food and other goods - as well as the "online marketplace" hollowing out the High Street for Charity shops, nail bars, Turkish barbers and Vape emporiums!!

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

Well, well, well... I spent a year living in Woodbridge, just outside Ipswich while I was working at BT Adastral Park at Martlesham Heath. I moved from just outside the "North Circular" when I divorced my 1st wife. I can't claim that Woodbridge is "rural" but its no London suburb.

I agree about services and also about "that virus" helping to kill them off.

IME this is as it ever was.

I still have my Texas "License to carry a handgun" (I call it my 007 license) - and yes, that's a joke, but I do have the license! I know that armed police are more frequent here than ever before here, but believe me, it isn't anything when compared to the USA. The need for it, while not absent, is less here, much less in fact. That is a part of what makes Britain, Britain.

It (BRITISH quality Fish) is still available here. In Texas (at least in the DFW area), fish is all frozen and as a result, poor quality. There is a food truck that services some parts of Texas (called "On The Hook Fish and Chips") that is decent, but its only about the same as a low to average British Chippy, In Fort Worth there is a shop called "Zekes" that does decent fish and chips, but again, only average-ish for a British Chippy

Food here is just so better. Even the ultra processed supermarket stuff is better than most American food. Just my opinion...

I have seen such dross at a ratio of 1 good to every 3 bad ones. Am at 7 viewings now so just getting underway really, but if either of the 2 good ones accept me, I'll be happy.

I am tempted to agree, but I also made much use of Amazon and "the bay" when in the states. I'm having to wait until I have a place to call my own before setting these guys up for me here and seeing what I do.

Thanks for the replies.

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

This gets even weirder.... I live fairly close to Woodbridge, but in a semi-rural area - and I moved from London because I was internally head-hunted to Adastral (I think I was one of the last to be in that happy position!). They paid for my temporary accomodation, all my selling and buying costs (apart from stamp duty) and even the white goods for my new house (so I still have Miele kit 25 years later!)

I know guns, my Da was a hunter, before the laws changed. But I'm glad to live somewhere where they are almost unseen. Idiots are idiots, but idots with firearms are an affront to nature! We are also lucky to still get super-fresh fish here, even by UK standards - as well as seafood and free-range pork from the Suffolk countryside. I moved to get out of North London, but also because of the quality of food here. I still feel blessed to have had the opportunity!

Good luck with the house-hunting!

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

Most car parking in the high peak has options (I always pay cash) but you can use your debit card or use your mobile. We have milk delivered a couple of days a week, we still have a local council gym a private gym and also a fab library and a beautiful Victorian swimming pool and yes bobbies on the beat but thank the gods not armed, cannot say what it is like in the city (Manchester) as I do not need to go there often but my brother lives in the subs in gtr Manchester and he has similar services to us. Like anywhere though not everywhere is the same,

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

A two month update.

I managed to get a flat in the place I was looking to and at a price slightly lower than the average for the area. Shhh. Don't tell the landlord. ;)

I discovered that I can't get to see my credit record for two years according to several reporting agencies anyway, as I build my history. Is this just the web sites I have been reading or is there a way to see it earlier than that?

A UK bank card makes simple banking transactions a lot easier. Don't hesitate to get a UK account if you are returning to the UK and gave up on one from before. See earlier post for the why. Still in favor of using Wise to get money from the USA over to the UK. Cheaper and once set up, easier than my US bank's own system. My Zelle daily limit is way too low for this kind of thing.

I'm going to my UK doctor tomorrow for an 'intake' physical and see about medication needs and further tests. Of course, all at no cost. Pennies under £10 per item on a prescription. An eye test is free too (decent glasses do cost money at about £250), which is less than they they cost me in the USA including insurance premiums in the price. Same sort of price for a private dentist program, for two checks, cleanings and X-Rays a year.

As for transport, my little car is perfect for me (SUV's are too large for many country roads) and I have a free bus pass (as I'm an OAP) to take me everywhere if I don't want to hunt for parking. I also get 30% off all rail travel for what is a trivial amount spent on the railcard, as its called.

Food costs are genuinely lower here than the USA. See my original post about what I think is the the 'why' but the quality of what's for sale here certainly feels/seems better.

A couple of negative things of being in the UK...

1. I have also noticed the level of vaping and smoking here is significantly higher than in the USA. It's like I took a step back 20 years or even more. Is the current generation of British youth actively TRYING to give itself lung cancer or COPD? If so, that's how you do it.

2. Accents... I have also noticed that the "Estuary" accent is prevalent in many more places than before. Especially when its being used by those who have never been to east London or south Essex in their lives. As someone who's 1st wife was born in Dagenham (and I was born in Hackney), I can confirm they sound so over the top with it they seem fake. No need to use "Received Pronunciation" as per Queen Elizabeth or King Charles, but really.... What plonker in the BBC decided to go 100% opposite so it became a media fashion thing? URGH.

So there you are. A two month update.

Re: Ten days back and counting...
 

Sounds like things are settling into place for you quite nicely.

if you are an OAP all your prescriptions should be free.

not sure about length of time to get a credit report but I use a free service from the excellent Martin Lewis website
https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub/