SANDRAPAUL

Here is a list on the 'Going back to the UK' part of the forum. It lists those things you are likely to miss or could miss if you had not thought about it properly. Put in a nice colour blue

When reading the list and seeing some of the items I just could not believe it. Dead people long forgotten. Items that really should not make a bit of difference to life in general. I would like to edit the list - the comment would be such as

making sandwiches with bread you've sliced yourself
They trying to say it is the only country in the world where you can get bread that is uncut? Is it really that important on a world scale?

steam trains
When was the last time a steam train pulled the 7.30 from Brighton to London on the commuter run?

Mums slapping children in the precinct
I mean ---- is this a good thing or what?

Are these things really what is good about the UK?



Bill and Ben and the Flowerpot Men
Marmite
skiffle music
That Morcambe and Wise segment in which Angela Rippon shows off her legs by dancing
Gracie Fields singing 'Sally'
Dixon of Dock Green
HP Sauce
salt cellers with a single large hole
making sandwiches with bread you've sliced yourself
really milky tea
allotments
steam trains
toast made under a gas grill
unheated bedrooms and bathrooms
seaside rock
erecting windbreaks on a beach
The Big Issue.
Scrunchings.
Jasper Carrot.
Lilly Savage.
Noel Bloody Edmonds
Magic roundabout
The Archers.
Big Ben
Church bells on Sunday mornings.
Maypole dancing.
The coconutters
Kali and spanish
Basil Brush
Roland Rat
Heinz toast toppers
pot noodles
Postman Pat (and Jesse of course)
Mums slapping children in the precinct
A football ruck
Singing at football games
Drinking snowballs
Irish paramilitary groups
One lane roads with hedgerows
Hedgehogs
Bonfire Night
PG Tip monkeys
Conkers
skiving
Playing football in games class on a cold February morning.
Chavs, Neds, Charvers and Chatham Slappers.
Sombreros and big stuffed bulls from your holiday in Majorca
And the Christmas special tv where naff dee-jays go around to hospitals on Christmas morning Homemade draught stoppers next to all doors.
Toasting bread on a long toasting fork on the fire in the living room.
Outside lavs!
Calling the school crossing lady The Lollipop Lady
Muffin the Mule
Listen with Mother on the radio
Mrs Dales Diary
Bottles of brightly coloured Corona (fizzy drink)
Eating Sardines on Toast
Cricket
football
It ain't half hot mum
Its the Knockout
Dads Army
Carry On Films
Alfe Garnet
question of sport
Pubs closing just as you are getting * happy *
Decent f **king beer when they are open .
Dart leagues in every neighborhood pub .
Petticoat lane .
Porbello road .
sunday scandal papers with NUDES .
Monty python.
sunday night at the london paladium.
Bruce forsyth.
Norman Wisdom.
Tommy Cooper.
Bob monkhouse .
Benny hill.
Stepton and son.
Dusty Springfield .
Cilla Black. .
tom jones .
rod stewart .
joe cocker .
elton john .
david bowie .
humphey littleton.
chris barber
monty sunshine .
Derek and Clive.
Driving on the *correct * side of the road .
Jazz in boozers on sunday lunchtime .
Parking in small spaces and not taking up two cus your vehicle is oversized /of you are and cant get out of the door if you dont .
Not Eating all food with fingers .
The beeb .
Tennis at wimbledon
Footy on every where most sats during the year .
Not thinking that the *world series * only means the country its played in
Not HAVING to be good at a sport to be considered *succesfull *
Using the C... word more often then the the motherf**K** word .
Not naming your kids junior or the 1st .2nd, thrd etc.
Clean subway (underground) system .
Egg cups for your ]hard boiled eggs .
sardines on toast .
yorkshire pudding .
jam tart and custard .
bubble and sqeak.
pubs ploughmens lunch
The * carry on films *
covent garden .
The more then one live theatre in each large town .
Rugby
Roy Chubby Brown
Football not soccer
match of the day
quesiton of sport
no commercials on tv
having something on tv to watch
a good piss up
guinness - not out of can
slices of bacon on the turkey for christmas
christmas decorations in the house
no poncy christmas village scenes
sandwiches with one slice of meat
sandwich with just cheese
heritage
tradition
whining
taking the piss
lemonade being fizzy
singing at football games
Wellie boots
rain bonnets
hairnets
izel loo paper (awful stuff)
ice cream cornets
anoraks
poppy day
L plates
ladybird books
a 'dirty weekend'
cockney slang
rag and bone man
christmas crackers
dettol
gas fires
oxtail soup
net curtains
tea cosies
an entire grocery store aisle devoted to sweets and chocolate
and... remember during the 60's those pale blue colored 'bubble' cars that were made for the disabled....well those:
Bubble cars!
Wellie boots
rain bonnets
hairnets
izel loo paper (awful stuff)
ice cream cornets
anoraks
poppy day
L plates
ladybird books
a 'dirty weekend'
cockney slang
rag and bone man
christmas crackers
dettol
gas fires
oxtail soup
net curtains
tea cosies
an entire grocery store aisle devoted to sweets and chocolate
and... remember during the 60's those pale blue colored 'bubble' cars that were made for the disabled....well those:
Bubble cars!
Butlins
Having been to another country
Being a slow coach
Mr Blobby
081 811 8181
Button Moon
Maypole dancing
Shell suits
Ferry across the Mersey
Maths
A glove on each end of a long piece of wool/string/ribbon threaded through the arms of your coat.
Swap Shop on a Saturday morning.
High Street shopping involving a great deal of walking, not driving to each shop.
Late night shopping hours in the run-up to Christmas.
Boots the Chemist.
Pub Quizzes in which you have a decent shot at getting the answers right.
Pub crawls on Christmas and New Year's Eve's
First footing.
"Mind The Gap!"
Nicking a chip.
Raleigh Choppers.
Sausage rolls. (Made some today!)
Blue Peter.
Magpie.
Male strippers on your hen night. (Or indeed, any other night!)
Morecambe and Wise Christmas Shows. (Esp. the one with Andre Previn - "Andrew Preview")
Bonfire Night.
Half Term.
The motorway caff for a brew at midnight for the hell of it!
Sausage butties.
Clever adverts on the telly.
The Beano
Steak and Kidney Pudding
Adverts for Spitfire beer
Haggis
The Ashes
The Welsh
Dandelion and Burdock
Cliff Richard
Parafin heaters
Blackberry picking
Cobbled lanes
Proper chips
Condensed milk sandwiches
Going to the market on Sundays
Donkey rides at the beach
Tonging your hair
Bathing instead of having a shower
Viz
Fiesta, Razzle and Knave
Prisoner Cell Block H
Mini Coopers
Ford Capris (calling them a Mercury Capri is just plain wrong)
Grifters, Strikas and Boxers.
Burgers sold from a tatty van after the pubs close.
Phone boxes you can take a whiz in.
Holsten Pils
Guy Fawkes night.
Liquorice sherbert fountains
Batter bits at the chippy
Pumping petrol, then paying for it
Direct debits
swimming in something we call the sea at southend.
Essex Girls
Blue Comediens
the royal family lol
seafood being bought around the Pub on the Sunday
Good old fashion fight.
Firms (local gangs)
The Kray twins
the great train robbery
Euro Vision Contest
pearly kings and queens
Dripping sandwiches
Noddy & Big Ears
Andy Pandy
Billy Bunter
Black & White Minstrels
Emergency Ward 10
This is your Life
London Palladium
Bruce Forsyth "Beat the Clock"
Tommy Steele
Billy Fury
Lonnie Donegon
Little Joe Brown
Pantomimes with famous people off the telly
Family Favourites on the radio Sunday lunchtime while the smell of roast beef and yorkies and cabbage made you drool
Jimmy Clitheroe
Z Cars & Softly Softly
Millions of flavours of crisps to choose from
Plaice
Doner Kebabs after the pub
Pickled o Vimto
Walkers Cheese and Onion crisps
Robinsons Barley Water
Christmas Crackers
The Fast Show
The Young Ones
Only Fools And Horses
Grandstand, Football Focus MOTD and Sportsnight.
Wallace And Gromit
Roobarb and Custard
The Archers
Mastermind
Wine Gums
The Two Ronnies nion Monster Munch
The ZX Spectrum
Reliant Robins
Knotted hankerchiefs
DM 1080's
Proper bacon and sausages
Lock-ins at the local
Doing the Portobello Road pub crawl
Bovril and Meat Pie combo
John Player Specials
Baccy in tins
Saturday morning comic delivery
Ribena
The Chippy
Travelling for 6 hours then tanding out in freezing cold rain watching your favorite soccer team get beat 5-0.
Double Deckers (chocolate)
Pub Crawls
Snooker
Kickabouts in the park
Cricket on the beach
The seaside
Cider
Crisp flavours
Quavers
Wotsits
Birds Trifle
Pantos
Jackanory
Vision On...Imagine a tv show for the deaf, here.
Being a *Big Girls Blouse*
Bob-a-job
pussy cats - not *kitties!*
99's
The Nativity Play at school
Rolph Harris
Worcester Sauce crisps
one man and his dog .....
top of the pops
pans people
greenline buses
bus conductors
the wooden tops
bread n dripping
marmite soldiers
gingerbread men
conkers
real cream cakes
fish n chips with a big wally and a pickled onion
postmen who walk
.... and deliver the post twice a day
children who say "please" and "thank you"
radiators
immersion heaters
Curry and chips
spotted dick
tripe and onions (yuck)
getting a clean knife and fork for each course of your meal rather than having to put the dirty ones on table in between courses
going up the town
Camden Lock
© Moo and the hyphen site 2004.

Velouria

*laughs* too funny...

CandoCad

undefinedundefined After reading your definitive listing of what makes Britain 'Great', I have been inspired to complete my Canadian Immigration application. I cannot wait to get out!
Thanks!

SANDRAPAUL

Its not mine!!!! Read where I got it from.

Never associate me with this please.

Crispie

The list is hardly a deterrent is it!
Blimey! Izel loo paper made the list twice!!!
But still anything is handy after you've eaten most of the 'food' on the list!

jerry brewer

Hi,
having read the list , of what people missed reminds me 100% why I want to get out of the UK......
cheers
Jerry

butterscotchwhip

Errr...did anyybody else spot "Irish paramilitary groups" in that list?

Crispie

Yeh! They're after the M25 and before binge drinkers

jonthelad

I suppose I'm a bit weird but... that list brought a nostalgic tear to my eye...! I've been living in Canada since June 1999. I love it here - I'd never move back to the UK but it doesn't stop me missing it now and again... even daft things like erecting windbreakers on a beach!!!

stepnek

Actually, it's easy to ridicule this list until you move to another country and then start to miss the simple things that are familiar and just aren't around any more.

SANDRAPAUL

Good point except I have read the list and thought - is this really what people miss and in fact most of what is on the list is readily available in any major country in the world. Hence no need to miss them if it really bothers the soul.

And yes there are some very odd items on the list by any stretch of the imagination and it matters not if you are an expat, non-expat, no way expat or anything come to that.

Toontje

Every expat who doesn't find what he/she expected to find in his/her new country will become homesick. If your desire to return to your home country becomes an obsession, you romanticize everything you were used to, everything that was part of your daily life and now isn't anymore. That's why you find odd things like:
Mums slapping children in the precinct
Irish paramilitary groups
Chavs, Neds, Charvers and Chatham Slappers.
Not Eating all food with fingers.
and... remember during the 60's those pale blue colored 'bubble' cars that were made for the disabled....well those: Bubble cars!
Good old fashion fight.

Rhodes

I was glad to see Elton John on the list. When I go to Canada, I'll never have to hear the name again.

stepnek

Of course, each to their own, but I've found that the adjustment that needs to be made is often about the little insignificant things as opposed to the big changes that we try to prepare ourselves for before the big move. So I find that as I go grocery shopping and maybe I'm feeling a little homesick that suddenly the novelty of a new country has gone to be replaced by wishing that I was in Asda instead! It seems rather silly and no doubt time takes this kind of feeling away but it's not about not being able to find alternative products just as good, it's about missing whats been familiar in our lives for many years.

stepnek

Don't get your hopes up. I think I've seen Elton John on the telly more since being here than when I was in England!