Lorna at Vicenza

Carrying on from a few comments on the tv thread ...........

do we really miss the UK?

I miss some things sometimes certainly but not the whole of the UK and not every day.

I buy British things when I can and when I can't I live without ...oh - apart from t-bags. I did run out once and although Twinings are fine they are more expensive than Tetley or Pg Tips or other brands.

If I don't have Cadbury's I buy Milka or Lindt. If I don't have salad cream I use mayonnaise.

If I don't have baked beans I don't eat them.

And I can't get cider so I drink wine

37100

Not really, but the constant heat in the summer wears me down. And I miss the wind, I know it's an odd thing to miss but I do. I liked living in Trieste because it was usually windy but not when it blew so hard you couldn't walk upright. And if I wanted Cadbury's I could just pop over to Croazia. My elderly aunt sent me 2 bars the other week. Scoffed the lot -with they help of a son, the other one's away and anyway, he doesn't eat choc-.
We always bring tea back because the Italian stuff is a bit on the weak side although it has improved vastly over the years. And as I've said before, Branston pickle, but thats for oh. I buy piccalilli in Turin and I don't like beans.
I also miss Debenhams and the likes for good quality clothes that fit. My arms and legs are just too long for Italian clothes.

Patty

I dont think its so much I miss the UK - but its probably a case of hankering after things you cant actually get here. I miss some things - I miss some people - I miss odd things about the English culture - but its really hard to put your finger on what it actually is sometimes that just makes you feel homesick
As I said in the other thread I never watched certain programmes in the UK but here I like watching them - maybe it makes me feel closer to home?
I miss M&S underwear

Mr Posh

I also miss M&S underwear. italian Underwear cuts in the wrong places...mind yoo i should start wearing mens underwear i think

LivingHere

ROSALINDANN - I really know what you mean about the wind. Lately though, it seems to have appeared where we live! I only go back to the UK once a year and to be honest there is nothing that I absolutely miss. I prefer coffee to tea and although I do overdose on cider when I am there wine is fine for me too.

I get frustrated about the cost and quality of the children's clothes but Oviesse has improved recently and the sales here are good.

I think that Patty hit the nail on the head for me. I miss things because I can't get them rather than because I need them. I had to stop my mum flying out with half a pig because there is only so much bacon and sausage a person can eat.

BUT, I am English and always will be, so what's wrong with watching UK Sky. I remember an acquaintance who arrived here in the eighties and lived with only Italian TV and news for a while saying that the strangest thing for her was finding out that people she thought were still alive were in fact dead. (And I'm not talking about her family and friends here!)

37100

Every xmas my mother would cut out the list in Sunday mag of people who had died during the year! And when I landed there was rai 1 and 2. Early evening you'd get and old usa series (bonanza etc). Then the news followed by an ancient film. Films were always dubbed by the s ame people so John Wayne, Gene Kelly, Cary Grant etc all had the same voice . On Saturdys, a show (portobello, La corrida tec.) . Rai3 arrived along with tele torino/milano/etc (later to become canale 5) in the early eighties. So I didn't watch much t.v. As soon as video tapes came out my mother started registering uk serials. They made me 'homesick'. She still does sometimes but has a habit of 'missing' the last episodes. She did that to me with Cranford Wives and Survivors. She also got me hooked on Coronation Street, something I'd never watched in England.

Margaret M

Only thing I really miss are my kids, and they don't get out here often enough.

Mr Posh

To be honest I DO miss the UK. I do not know what though, its like loads of little things.

Saying that i would not want to go back to the "rat race" the way of life in Italia is 100% fine for me and I will gladly sacrifice misssing the UK little bits for it.

Like you Margaret I miss my two boys 20 & 21 mum and dad, but they come out and see me. If i was to go back it would be because of them

Lorna at Vicenza

I agree with Patty and Livinghere that certain things are missed just because they don't exist here.

When I go back I stuff myself with things like pork pies, sausage rolls, scotch eggs, bacon sandwiches, flavoured crisps etc. and I know damn well that if I lived there full time they wouldn't be in my shopping trolley every week. It's only because they are not readily available here that I want them when I see them. If I could get them every week I wouldn't buy them.

It's the same when friends come out here .... they are happy to have a pizza three times a week and a different flavoured ice cream every day but I don't do that as I can get them anytime.

I also think it is easier in a sense to live here happily because I do get to go back at least once a year and for a reasonable price and I don't feel trapped and friends and family can easily get out here too.
Living in Australia would probably make me feel differently.

Regards books and tv ... I love them/it in English, not only for myself but for my kids too. I want them to be happy and easy with English and story books and Disney films help them to learn and be more fluent.

I can read Italian and I have read some books in Italian but given the choice I choose English all the time. It's easier, more relaxing and I can just let the words flow into my brain without even concentrating a tiny bit or getting stuck on just one verb or its tense that I might not have heard here.

Margaret M

My two are 25 and 27. Daughter came out in November for her birthday and is planning to come out in July or August for a week, but I haven't seen my son since November, 2007, except on Skype. We do talk most days though. My Mum (only living parent left) lives here with us most of the year, but returns to my brothers for July and August each year.

37100

Miss my family a lot and it's very hard when someone dies. I think it takes longer for it to sink in that you never going to see them again not just that you will not be seeing them for another year. I chat to my mother most days but I don't see my brothers often. One visits very occasionally and the other works abroad a lot . He sometimes goes to Napoli but it usually when we are in England. Facebook is great for keeping in touch with them both but it's a poor substitute.

Margaret M

When my brother is not in England he is sailing his yacht around here, keeping it in Brindisi harbour when he is not sailing the Greek Islands or elsewhere around here, so I do see him four times a year. We are a convenient lodging whilst he is readying the boat for sailing, or locking it up for the winter.

karenitaly

being pregnant, all my cravings seem to be for uk products that I can't get here but other than that i find it hard to miss much. oh, and I miss reading the newspapers, even the trashy ones, although I read them online it's not the same.

TestaRossa

I miss my son - he's here on half term now. But I would be missing him in uk too as he would still be in school there as now. UK no I don't miss, London yes but Florence is good. Ask me again in a few years!!

MacLover

Well being back for the week has made me realise how much I missed my family and I think that is all, I can have have whatever I am missing food wise sent to me from family (so long as I pay them to do so )