crystal23

Been back almost a week now from my short holiday back home.

I went back with low expectations but was pleasantly surprised by the way the UK has stepped up a level since we left just over a year ago. Before I get the usual suspect's comments of "It is a ****hole, dump, cold miserable yadda yadda yadda don't bother. You know who you are and thankfully BE has an ignore button which I now use.

These are my opinions and experiences of a FEW places I went to (not the whole of the UK) and I am comparing those places to Perth where I live. Not Melbourne, Sydney, Bunbury etc etc as as I don't live there.

Obviously as I am back in one piece I didn't get stabbed, mugged, attacked, sworn at, abused or shot

I was staggered by the amount of Union Jacks and St George's flag flying around. I arrived 2 wks before St George's Day so thought the amount of flags around were because of that. But talking to friends and shop assistants it seems they are there to stay. Alot of people told me the UK (in particular England) is trying to get it's identity back. I noticed other things that confirmed that but at the risk of offending other nationalities on here I won't bother saying what they were (except to Mattmc who I will pm ).

Customer Service in shops in general has improved. Yes there were a couple of knob assistants around but it's deffo better. Or maybe it's because I treat people with respect both here and in the UK and get a response back.

Regeneration of alot of areas was the most surprising thing. Alot more thought is going into it now than before.

Litter - noticed the litter along the M25 more than before but also noticed it was being cleared. However that was in Surrey on the way back from Chessington so maybe posh areas get cleaned more Noticed more litter along the roadside in Perth but think subconsciously I am looking for it.

Also there was much more chewing gum stuck to the pavements:curse: than Perth which was rather disgusting.

Distinct lack of graffiti on signposts, park benches and shop fronts. However, going into London to go on the London Eye from Harrow onwards particularly there was alot of tagging on the buildings along the tracks.

Bit of a shock to get back to driving along the West Coast Highway and seeing graffiti everywhere. Even the little baker in a small shopping centre I use has had his windows 'etched' with graffiti.

People better dressed than I expected and better groomed.

The blossom was out and saw some early bluebells. Also the new growth on the trees was lovely to see and I had forgotten how green and tranquil the countryside is. Driving through my old village I noticed nothing much had changed. The village store has changed hands, as has the butcher and a new zebra crossing has been painted and that's it. I stayed there for a few days with a friend in her 100 year old higgledepiggledy cottage which was tiny and it was just fantastic. Lovely thatched roof houses, brick and flint cottages and slow village life - just as I like it. It was great meeting up with my friends and I managed to offend loads of people who I just couldn't round to seeing.

Choice in the shops was amazing. I was overwhelmed at first. The quality beats the rubbish in Perth hands down.

Food has gone up unbelievably. I had been warned but seeing the increases was still a shock. However, I had taken my shopping receipt from Perth to compare basics like eggs, milk, bread and it was still cheaper in the UK. I put this down to competition which is sadly lacking here.

Petrol - well say no more. Again I had been warned but seeing it for 1.10 GBP pl my jaw dropped. It dropped even further when I got back to Perth to see petrol was $1.50 pl. It is a global issue that needs to be sorted out asap IMO.

Biggest laugh - I was in M&S when I got talking to the cashier. I said I lived in Oz and got the "why on earth are you here then". Chat ensued about various things including my bugbear about education here to which she replied "But why are you complaining - you get 12 kids to class in Australia and you can get a house for 60,000 GBP". Good job I was hanging onto the counter otherwise I really would have been ROTFPMSL.

It turned out she had seen a programme on which a woman who had emigrated, gone back to UK and was emigrating again had said this on TV.

I suppose if you live in Woop Woop or right out in the bush there may well be 12 kids to a class. Maybe you can get a house for $125,000 somewhere where you need to sleep with a knife under your pillow and fortify your home. Who knows. I put her right as did my 10 year old who was very vocal about the 12 kids in a class - I wish!!!!!!

I seriously think these programmes should check out their facts and not get people to lie on national TV but then who wants to let fact get in the way of a life in paradise You just wouldn't get the viewers would you.

Used both the overground and LU which was a delight. Kids under 11 travelled free. Found the lack of train graffiti refreshing and the information about line closures is actually accurate for a change. Helpful staff. Despite being born and bred in London there is no way I could live there again nor could I commute - a day out there is lovely but going back to a slower pace of life is better.

I found the parking of cars on both sides of the roads difficult at first - being used to wider roads and few cars parked on the side but soon got used to it. If you are going to build houses with no drives for 3 car families what do you expect - unfortunately you can see burbs in Perth heading the same way especially the newer estates.

Chavs are still around of course and after letting a group of 6 (only 2 wearing hoodies) cross in front of me expected a thump on the bonnet but got thanks instead. I found the teens generally dress better than those in Perth- did hear some bad language but my 10 year informed me that it was nothing compared to the language she hears in her school and the British teens wouldn't last 5 minutes there. She goes to school in a suburb where you cannot get a house under 1 million bucks (no we don't live there - it is out of catchment) which just proves that money doesn't buy class and that goes for anywhere in the world.

Eastern Europeans - hmm well, being half Polish myself this has actually never bothered me. In Ask I was served by a Polish lady, excellent English, good customer service, in Cafe Uno served by a Lithuanian - excellent English, good customer service. The Croatian ladies who work in my mate's pub are still there enticing all the guys to spend their money I can see there are problems with the black market but that is endemic here in Perth as well. There are certain areas of London where the Eastern Europeans are living but they certainly aren't everywhere. I guess you could liken it to Earls Court where our Antipodean friends congregate. BTW I lived in EC for just over a year and had an absolute blast there.

Weather was just wonderful with only one really crappy cold day. It was a relief to open the window and breathe in the cold crisp air. The mornings were typical spring mornings with the sun out and blue sky. It warmed up throughout the day but got quite cold at night. I say relief because I have seriously struggled with the summer heat here in Perth and that is the one thing I didn't expect to phase me.

When we visited friends my daughter couldn't wait to pull her hat and coat on and rush out in the garden to play. The weather never bothered us in the UK anyway and we were out in all weathers bar gale force winds.

I had a long think (well quite a few thinks really) about Perth v UK. I have decided that the UK is for me. For me my life was better in the UK. I still go out walking, cycling, keep fit, college, help out at DDs school but here it is without the buzz that I felt in the UK. Here, there isn't the diverse countryside to explore although we have explored alot of WA already. There isn't the community spirit that I have been used to purely because of the way the suburbs in Perth have been built. And before the hills people start YES YES YES I think the hills are fantastic and appear to have that sort of community I love as we reccied them ad nauseum. But I have decided against starting again elsewhere.

Despite my love for the UK it certainly isn't without it's problems and challenges. Any fool can see that. But Perth is heading the same way in some aspects.

My trip home has confirmed, as I thought, that in most cases it depends where/what you came from as to whether you think life is better in Perth. I see alot of the same old places on the Oz forum being described as dumps and people desperate to move out of said 'dumps'. If that's the case then go for it. Just please please, as has been said many times, don't think Perth is utopia.

I think that people who moved here 3 or even 2 years ago got in at a good time with regard to housing costs. People who have moved here with salaries at 2x or 3x what they earned in the UK can have a better quality of life. Not everyone of course but the majority, as I constantly hear.

For me it is the UK, warts and all where my quality of life was better.

joelsa

Thanks for such an interesting read.

We're heading back to the UK for a recce/weigh up the pros 'n' cons type holiday in June and i really don't know what to expect and how i'm going to feel.
We've been away for almost 2 years and although i've had a few serious bouts of homesickness, I'm pretty settled here in Canada, my OH isn't though, hence the trip. It'll be interesting to see how we view the UK on our return and how it compares to Canada.
BTW our petrol is up too at $1.20 and they're saying it could be $2 before long

Best wishes to you and good luck

northernbird

Good luck with your eventual move home.

quoll

Great post Crystal23 - it is good to see a really nice objective comparison. Good luck with whatever you do next!

TraceyW

Great reading S.

Get the cards warmed up, I'll be seeing you soon x

mr mover

:rofl PEOPLE like you are my bread and butter , see you when you get back........mm

manc1

Very good post.

SarahInTX

Great post! Thanks for that.

BlackCloud

I'm just going back to the UK from the UAE. Here is never really a place where you can emigrate to forever but I'm sad about going back. However, I have some personal things to sort out and a plan to follow and would like to return here in a few months. I am however going to the UK with a semi-positive view and would consider getting on with life...

I've made a few trips to my home city. Generally I feel a visitor but I don't think the place itself is that bad physically. The people in shops and providing services are ok. After being in the UAE I can see that UK life is generally well organised, mature infrastructure and services, health care, generally consumers and people have legislation to protect them, you don't typically have people driving 4x4's at 80mph on residential streets...

The thing that wears me and many people down about the UK is the constant bad news, terrorism, more snooping, more cameras, underperforming schools, police, dumbing down, some new way of taxation or charging, over population and uncontrolled immigration, influential people getting some advantage, talentless shallow people and tv, many people in money traps, not free to move because can't save money or housing too expensive, petrol and car taxes, congestion...sometimes the weather. I was happy to leave many of those things behind or hearing people moaning about them all the time. On a short trip you maybe feel detached from much of this, you are not getting the bills dropping through the door or paying £50 quid to fill your car (£10 for me in the UAE)...

Not meant to be moaning (yes, doing a good job I know!) but whilst I acknowledge many good things about the UK it's the attitude and oppressive barrage of bad news that wears the people and the country collectively down. Couple this with the do-gooders and the over-zealous policing stiffling peoples pride in the country. Shame, make it a bit cheaper and the UK really isn't so bad a place.

St.Georges Girl

Now why on earth did you have to say that. It smacks of being a little too cocky and extremely patronising mm. What did you find so amusing, would you care to enlighten us?

I enjoyed reading your post Crystal. It's a great pity you felt you had to post in this forum and not the Barbie as Badge did. Much of what you said Badge said also. It's strange isn't it that some people just cannot, or will not, accept the fact that some of us prefer the UK and had/have good lives there, came from nice areas, prefer the education system and the list goes on. I wonder why that is......hmmmm?

I wish you lots of luck Crystal. Keep us up to date with your eventual move.

Possums

Hello me old mucker Just wanted to add, great post. if its how you feel then its how you feel, no one else matters.

must be a weight off your mind to know what you are doing now.

Kx

tictac

Great post.

mr mover

[QUOTE=St.Georges Girl;6301488]Now why on earth did you have to say that. It smacks of being a little too cocky and extremely patronising mm. What did you find so amusing, would you care to enlighten us?

I suppose it comes from 26 years of moving people , into and out of Australia......mm

crystal23

Thanks for the comments and k

Just to answer a few - still can't multiquote so

joelsa - Personally I had to be sure the UK was the right place to go back to for me and it is. Don't go with rose tints and look for positives and negatives. Good luck.

SGG - I've just read Badge's thread. Interesting to see we have similar opinions on lots of things but it just goes to show that your own personal circumstances colour your perception of events/places. It never occurred to me to put my post in the Barbie. I wonder how it would have gone down in there Reckon I would have need a stabproof vest and kevlar knickers but it doesn't bother me any more what other people think.

I too cannot understand why some people cannot accept that your (general not YOU) life was better and you came from a nice area in the UK and prefer it there. Bit of the old green eye methinks

Possoms - Hiya mate I remember you saying to me last year that if you had had my life in the UK you wouldn't have moved to Oz. You know how it was Still you live and learn and I really don't have any regrets about emigrating. Speak soon x

TraceyW - will pm you.

I must say to the people who pmd me who are quite new to the forum and clearly desperately unhappy do what is best for you. I did want to pm you separately but I really am sooo busy right now. Don't take any notice of people who say you haven't given it enough time - it's your life. Keep posting on MBTTUK forum do so - the majority of peeps on here are great and will support you. Ignore the knobs who have their own agenda.

If you new posters take a look at my previous posts you will see that last year I was so ill with depression I couldn't function properly. I am almost over it now and determined to enjoy life whilst I am still here.

Good luck xxx

crystal23

Change the UK for Australia and apart from the 'uncontrolled immigration' bit you've got it in one.

Did actually enjoy your post - well thought out. Good luck with your move x