NEMISSIS

Sorry, I must have been half asleep when I read it...

Cheers from Derbyshire.

Ballys

Chris Hi

How are you, sounds like you are settling well.Keep up the posts.

chris955

Sorry, honestly been to busy to get on here
Full story for us, we fully intended settling in Somerset or Wiltshire but found ourselves putting in an offer on a 400 year old house in Herefordshire which was accepted. 4 weeks and 1 day from the day we landed we moved in, dont let anyone tell you buying a house here takes forever
We are absolutely loving rural life as are our kids. They went from a school with 900 students to one with 100, even the secondary school they start in September only has 450. The village was granted market town status in 1239
So far apart from friends and family I am missing nothing about Australia, my wife says it would be nice to be able to dry the washing more reliably outside but thats it for her. The kids miss their friends but have made some good new ones already. When asked what they miss they say their friends, nothing else.
We are finding most things as cheap or cheaper than Australia, food generally is very cheap and the variety is just mind boggling compared to what we are used to.
Contrary to what I have read insurance is no more expensive here and because we have a hybrid car we are paying no more to run a good sized family car compared to the small car we had in Australia.
Some of the ridiculous things we have read on this forum and elsewhere that are definitely untrue.
'Everyone is miserable and worrying about their jobs'. Certainly not what we have found and we are constantly commenting on how everyone is so friendly and helpful.
'There is rubbish everywhere'. I'm not sure where these people are/were but we dont see any rubbish.
'The paths are covered in dog poo'. I actually read that, again Im not sure where these people are living ?
'Meat in supermarkets have security tags'. This is by far my favourite
'People dont look you in the eye and dont speak if passed in the street'
I'm not sure if people honestly believe these things or they say it to make themselves feel better ?
We dont have one single regret.

Back2UK

Again thanks for the update.

Pombat

It's great to hear you have settled so well. We'll be back in August after 13 years away and can't wait, but it would be nice if the rain stopped for a while by the time we arrive!

lf1

Glad you are enjoying life back in the UK.

lf1

It has been confirmed that the sun bought a ticket on sale and is sailing from the east coast of North America, aboard the QM2 on 3 Aug.

Pombat

I do hope so!!

brits1

lol lets hope it's not a round the world trip (for the Sun)......ps have a great journey what an experience QM2

lf1

LOL!! I have checked the sun's itinerary and it is scheduled to arrive in Southampton on Friday, 10'Aug. It will be weaving its way through England, for a period, before finally taking up permanent residence in the Scottish Borders.

Lorry1

I'm afraid the sun has been delayed and will now return to England next August!

sallysimmons

What is it with the meat paranoia? I heard a piece on that Jeremy Vine radio show and he was asking people to call in about a new craze for stealing meat from supermarkets. My husband and I still laugh about that every time we hear his 'oh so serious' voice on the radio.

The rain does stop every day - it just starts again half an hour later

Ballys

This from the Daily Wail

Britain’s washout summer could cause a rickets epidemic in children, doctors have warned.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...#ixzz205tHpll9

Bevm

This is all true. There are already increased cases of rickets in the young and old and contributing factors in the UK are people not getting out as much as they used to and the use of cover ups and sunscreens. Doctors are beginning to admit that they went overboard on that.

Simple things like walking to school would help the kids, but fewer do that. Older people should walk as much as they can for general health and to get sun exposure, even on dull days. Oh, and a diet high in fatty fish helps, which is why the Scandinavians don't have as much of a problem. The Innuit in Canada don't have rickets on their traditional diet of fish, blubber and such, but they do if they go on the usual Canadian diet.

It's not just the UK -- it's anywhere this far from the equator. We need a lot of sun exposure to get enough vitamin D up here. If we don't get it we should take supplements, but the UK doctors seem particularly reluctant to recommend supplements of any sort.

In addition to bone problems, MS, and some cancers, lack of vitamin D makes people more likely to be depressed. Perhaps some of the British who are down in the mouth lies with their lack of vitamin D as much as the Daily Wailing. It could also explain the Scottish overdrinking. The further north the worse it gets, so they're self-medicating their depression.

Bev

hearthandhome

My father had seasonal affective disorder and being in south Somerset was still too far north. A big plate of kippers eaten most days under a broad spectrum light bulb helped a lot. I plan on buying those bulbs in bulk when we move. In my experience we all self medicated through the dark drippy bit (so september through july) and then drank copiously through the sunny bit with a hosepipe ban in order to celebrate and stay hydrated (so two weeks in August)
I'm very glad to here that Wales and hereford are still the places I want them to be. My mother is a Rhys-Jones and I must admit that it is more likey we will end up in Wales than my own home county. My mother says our town has changed because of massive development but it looks like Powys is still Powys.