Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Backstory...left UK in 1977 for Pennsylvania, Florida and Vermont. Retired and came back five months ago after 41 years.

I love this country! I love walking down to Folkestone Harbour, buying a £2 pot of cockles, dousing them in vinegar and eating them while watching the fishing boats dip and sway in the tides.
I love the fact that I can walk to anything I need: doctors surgery, optometrist, library, bus station, Folkestone Centrai railway station, Boots, Debenhams, TK Maxx, Bon Marche ,Sainsburys, Asda, Lidls, , WH Smiths, Waterstones...especially Waterstones!
I love the fact that I don't need....nor do I want....a car.
I love going apple and plum picking on a sunny afternoon.
I love sharing an allotment and eating my own butternut squash, Blue Lake beans, Pink Fur Apple spuds, red and blackcurrants and rhubarb
i love sitting on the top deck of the bus and seeing the Kent countryside, the sheep, orchards, woods and meadows on the way to and from Canterbury.
I love the fact that Ottinge Court Farm has a machine that dispenses raw milk into one's own containers for £1.00 per liter!!!!!!!!
I even love the seagulls who, nightly, roost on my apartment roof, preen, pull out their loose feathers and spit them with deadly accuracy onto my bedroom balcony.
But why did I not love this country before I left?

The callousness of youth. Not seeing the wood for the trees and thinking that the grass was greener......

I missed a lot. I missed seeing a pessimistic country mired in gloom, strikes, power cuts and mismanagement bloom into a country that is, for all it's faults, pretty forward thinking, efficient (in it's its own wierdly inefficient ways) and, despite the shadow of Brexit, thriving.
In a huge number of ways the grass in the US was greener on 1977. I went to a country that was forward thinking, optimistic, and happy. I went to a country that was inclusive; which fostered the belief that anyone could get an education and achieve anything they wanted if they worked hard. I lived in a country that had such promise only to watch it slowly disintegrate into the realm of racism, sexism, homophobism and third world ideas governed by a lunatic that is the US today.
​​​​​​
Anyway, 41 years of water under the bridge and I'm thrilled to be home. Unlike many Brits who completely lose accents, settle and become truly American I never assimilated. Rather like Herdwick sheep, I am hefted to this countryside and this country. My accent and inflections do give me away and I find that embarrassing but given time they will fade.

Well this all got a bit deep, didn't it?
Time for more tea and Hobnobs......

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Lovely posting..

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Very heartwarming post, Folkestone is lovely and there's a lot to be said for simply being able to walk to the things you need. Hope you continue to love it.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

How beautiful! This gave me goosebumps....

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

I love your post .

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

There is nothing nicer in this world than knowing people are happy..thank you for your lovely thread it really made me smile. All the best x

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

When we are young, there is always a big desire to see and experience more than the little world around us. It is our nature to spread our wings and fly to other pastures, and like migratory birds, many of us keep coming back. As we change our outlook in life, we also have different needs, and circumstances and relationships will play a part in where we want to be. Nothing is cast in stone, and we can float with the wind.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

I must try to keep this in my mind if I can.
Some days the thought of living in the UK seems an impossible dream of too hards and too far.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

So true. It's lovely to hear positive things, especially now with all that is going on in so many places.....

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

"And what should they know of England, who only England know"?

All the added perspectives from being away enrich our understanding of our original country. It is not the same country you left, and you are not the same person - but you can go on together to make more new experiences. I am glad I left. I will be glad to go back - as soon as I can.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Thank you for the lovely post. It sounds like it was time to move. Our time will come to pass. As the days go by I find not dwelling on the negatives where I am actually makes the place more bearable but it still does not stop me wanting to return...all in good time.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

I vote this post my all time favorite!!!

Folkestone sounds ideal for me too. It has everything i want. How affordable is it? I have wanted to move back but come from Windsor.
Is it easy to get to London? You make me want to move there now!
I am so sick of America and feel more English as i get older watching BBC and ITV having my tea and biscuits in a pot everyday etc.
I am not healthy and i am afraid.
I feel safe when i am home.
Yes i still think its home after all these years.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

so true

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

We loved Folkestone; that's where we lived (myself for 18 months) when I first returned to England. At the time (2011/2012) we paid £625/month (council tax band C) for a big 2-bedroom Victorian flat on the Leas. I would guess that type of property would rent around the £700 range now. Everything was on the doorstep and we had no need for a car. Railway station was about a 20 minute walk from our place with high speed links to St. Pancras (travel time about an hour). It has its share of less than desireable areas like anywhere else but overall a decent town to live in. We left because my husband was made redundant but we would have been quite happy to live our days there had the job situation worked out. I have heard in recent times that getting a GP there has become rather difficult so that may be something to bear in mind.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

I like sitting on the top deck of the bus in the front seat. You have the weird illusion that the driver has left it way too late to make the turn - we are going to hit that house! But in the end its all OK and we reach our destination relatively unscathed.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Got room for one more? :lol:

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

This could have been me writing this post - replace the location with Norwich and that's about it.
We love exploring all of Norfolk and have recently ventured down into Suffolk.
Everywhere I go I think, I could easily live here.
Lovely, lovely post.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Or run into the car in front at the lights as it appears to have disappeared under the front wheels.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Great post! I too love sitting on a bus up top! Also so many places we go to and see, we keep saying we could live there!

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

:lol: terrible dilemma, isn't it? Much as we love Norwich we are thinking about moving out of the city because of my asthma. Car fumes are appalling. We were all set on anywhere else in Norfolk - but then we went to Suffolk...So now it's definitely anywhere in East Anglia :lol:

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

I'm English by adoption. Australian born and bred, but with English ancestry, I now regard England as my second home. We gravitated to Bath in Somerset (yes it is!), partly because my English grandfather came from one of the villages there; and we think it's one of the nicest little cities in Europe, in one of the most beautiful counties.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Yes, aries, you're right. We've had our eye on Sheringham ever since we got here. Go there every chance we get. No harbour but a lovely promenade and equally lovely views. We walk the coastal path quite a bit, although I know at some point we won't be able to climb to the top of the cliffs. We get enough seagulls here in Norwich, believe it or not (we live on the river) usually more than we see in on the coast! Sheringham is probably where we will end up.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Seagulls - we get them in our supermarket parking lot, and we are 300 miles from the sea (New York State.)

When in Norfolk, I go to Sheringham quite frequently as there is a very good bus service. I often take the coasthopper or the train to Weybourne, and walk back to Sheringham on the cliffs - superb walk. Or, simply walk on the beach from Sheringham to Cromer and have tea in Cromer. No shortage of tea shops in Cromer, there are at least half a dozen I haven't got to yet!

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Beautifully written, Jensmate. You brought a smile to my face and, apart from the bit about eating cockles, it makes me want to jump on a plane to come home now! :goodpost:

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

I am still not entirely in love with my native Scotland. I retired here after many years living in Bulgaria. Sometimes when I look back I regret that I returned to Caledonia and did not stay in my adopted - and welcoming - country of Bulgaria.

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Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

We want to move to Sidmouth but could not sell our house this year so as of tomorrow it will be off the market and we will stay here in South Bucks for winter! This last week we spend 3 days in Dawlish (I remember one of the expats came from there but won't mention names ;)) and we so enjoyed that town and of course took a ferry over from Starcross village to Exmouth and enjoyed it there too! On driving back up M5 M4, my heart just was not into going back to the "rat race" I feel so much more at peace in Devon!

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Rebs

The NHS, which is under attack by the Tories, was a great factor in drawing me back And the hope that Scotland would soon cease to be part of"The United Kingdom"

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Jensmate I love your original post! And Lion in Winter it's funny that you should use this quote, as it reminds me of one I used recently in another British Expats thread:

Only the wanderer
Knows England's graces....

which is Ivor Gurney. Reading the quote you used, I thought it was also him, but interestingly it turns out to be Kipling from The English Flag, and it's about the widespread English culture/flag all across the world (in the days of Empire). And showing how only when you go to those places do you see the full influence of Englishness across the world, that it is much bigger than just England itself.

So I've learnt something from your quote! Not sure exactly how you meant it, but certainly I agree that it's very often only when we leave that we begin to appreciate England, or other countries of Britain. So much we take fro granted before we leave, and only see its value once we're gone!

I actually did realise how much I loved England before I left, and didn't plan to end up living in USA for almost three decades!

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

I've lived in England three times on different occasions. In London 1963/64 as a temporary immigrant from Australia, outside High Wycombe in 1975 while waiting for our son to be born and our Kombi van to be fitted out, and on the hill south of Bath in 1977 while figuring out where to go to next. Each of those times, and every visit since (on holiday from here and visiting our son at Boarding school in Derbyshire), has been sheer pleasure. I also drove my Mum around Britain on two occasions (1965 and 1976); she fell in love with the place, immigrated at the age of 70, and died in Hereford aged 86.

The Island's beauty is grossly underrated. It's variety - of regional cultures, scenery, and styles of living - beats anything that Europe has to offer, even France. What's not to love?

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

"Hate" is an unnecessarily harsh word, Aries. Scot47 is a very well-travelled man and (therefore) very well-educated. As such, he's entitled to his preferences, as we all are. It's rare for preferences to amount to hatred, surely. A word best avoided, I suggest.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Scotland could certainly stand alone. Could England ?

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

But can you imagine the negotiations that would follow any attempted break-up of the UK? They'd make the UK-EU negotiations look like a ten-seconds argument over how long to cook toast! Even without a revived independence movement from within the Shetlands, under the banner of "It's Shetlands' Oil!"... Yikes.

Re: Why did I not love this country before???????
 

Going off tropic here (what a lovely original thread) but yes England could flourish in its own, we would not have to subsidise any of the UK countries, control our boarders for people we actually need/require (as the case in Australia) and still be able help others that truly need our help. More Scots live in England than the other way around and that must be for some reason be it work etc. Both my grandads were not English, one Scottish the other Welsh and they use to say they made a very good life in England, they were excepted like "they were locals" and made life long friends ...my Scottish grandad use to say..."Britain is a great country and its a shame some do not feel the same way'