Originally Posted by Pollyana

OK, heres a quickie update!
After 10 days being spoilt by the family, I'm now down in Sussex with my best mate. He collected me in a baby plane - we used to fly together a lot, so it was very special to be in the air with him again. We have shopped till we dropped - Brighton is still recovering from our Tuesday onslaught! The choice of shops - all with different clothes, not lots of shops selling te same stuff. Good quality clothes at an affordable price. Card shops - I have stocked up in Clintons and WHS to keep me going for ages, also bought far too many books in lovely 3 for 2 sales.
We walked down the pier, bought Brighton rock, drove past all my old haunts; The place reallyhasn't changed at all - I keep thinking I wil come across things that are different, but I haven't. Life here is the same as it ever was. I feel like I never left - very odd.
Last night we had dinner with friends in one of my all time favourite pubs, the Royal Oak in Poynings, at the bottom of the Sussex Downs - a place I have dreamed of going back to for the last 2 years. My other wish was fulfilled today - Middle Farm Shop, near Lewes - stunning array of cheeses - my faves are Rutland (garlic,beer,parsley) and Harlech (Horseradish) and an amazing amount of cider from all over the UK. Now have to consume as much as possible before I leave on Sunday!!!

Originally Posted by vicky o

Lucky old you Pollyana,
I love the Middle Farm Shop. I hope you don't get too homesick coming back again.
You made my hubby laugh with your tales of Sainsburys and Asda. It's all I go on about at the moment.

Vicky

Originally Posted by Pollyana

I thought for quite a while before deciding to post this, and I think it belongs in here rather than in the Aus forum where I usually hang out.

I'm back here in the UK for 3 weeks, from my new "home" in Brisbane. First trip back since I left almost 2 years ago (Hallowe'en 2003), and I approached it with very mixed emotions.
- I was worried the people would have changed a lot (friends/family)
- I was worried that the country would be worse than I remembered - all those stories about crime etc
- I was worried that I just wouldn't like it here.

How wrong can you be!

I landed through Terminal 3 at Heathrow at 6am on a wet windy morning, and felt at home from the moment I got of the plane. One simple reason why - familiarity!

24 hours with my best mate, then off to the family where I am in the middle of a 10 day stint being part of a family again. And not being spoilt particularly, I've just slotted in as "Aunty" exactly where I was before. After Hallowe'en I'm off to Sussex for some serious partying with my best mate and his partner, and a load of old friends.

I've "done" Sainsburys & Asda - the local ones are clean, bright shops, with full shelves, polite but unobtrusive staff ( I am sooo sick of discussing my life when I buy a loaf of bread!), and so much choice! My first Sainsburys was the one at Green Park in Bath - such a beautiful shop I nearly followed the example of another poster by bursting into tears!
I've revelled in the delights of Boots, marvelled at W H Smith, and spent a small fortune in M&S.

I spent today watching my nephew (12) and my eldest niece (10) winning trophies and medals for singing in a local Eisteddfod, and I am so proud of them! Especially when they told their teacher I had come from Australia to watch them

To sum it up, I'm so happy! For 3 short weeks I feel I'm alive again. I feel fitter than I have for two years. I know I have to return to Aus, but at least I know I can look forward to my next trip, knowing that the UK is still everything I loved about it.

If The Bloke reads this post, I can only hope he understands. He's never been an Expat, so he can't know what it feels like, though he does his best. Its not that I don't like Australia - I sometimes feel Australia neither likes nor wants me, however hard I try. For that reason I am trying not to make comparisons at the moment, but to accept the UK as it is. Its not perfect by any means, but its HOME!

Originally Posted by Pollyana

OK, heres a quickie update!
After 10 days being spoilt by the family, I'm now down in Sussex with my best mate. He collected me in a baby plane - we used to fly together a lot, so it was very special to be in the air with him again. We have shopped till we dropped - Brighton is still recovering from our Tuesday onslaught! The choice of shops - all with different clothes, not lots of shops selling te same stuff. Good quality clothes at an affordable price. Card shops - I have stocked up in Clintons and WHS to keep me going for ages, also bought far too many books in lovely 3 for 2 sales.
We walked down the pier, bought Brighton rock, drove past all my old haunts; The place reallyhasn't changed at all - I keep thinking I wil come across things that are different, but I haven't. Life here is the same as it ever was. I feel like I never left - very odd.
Last night we had dinner with friends in one of my all time favourite pubs, the Royal Oak in Poynings, at the bottom of the Sussex Downs - a place I have dreamed of going back to for the last 2 years. My other wish was fulfilled today - Middle Farm Shop, near Lewes - stunning array of cheeses - my faves are Rutland (garlic,beer,parsley) and Harlech (Horseradish) and an amazing amount of cider from all over the UK. Now have to consume as much as possible before I leave on Sunday!!!

Originally Posted by arkon

Reading your thread Pollyana has made me realise just how much I left behind that was without realising it important to me. Were going back for a month next april and can't wait. I'm not a big clothes shopping fan but its the first thing I'm going to have to do when I'm back. I tried to buy some trousers yesterday and ALL the shops here only had 5 waist sizes and 2 length sizes in a choice of 3 types of jeans! I had to buy the only pair that fitted ish and turn the legs up, I now look like that guy from dexys midnight runners!

Keep posting what the place is like and enjoy yourself. I can't wait now!

Originally Posted by woodyinoz

Hope you haven't got banned from too many pubs

Originally Posted by Pollyana

The ime is going MUCh too fast, fly back on Sunday It has been absolutely brilliant though, given me a new lease of life!
And the shopping - its now just the supermarkets, not just the clothes, its the bookshops, its Boots, its the little knick-knack shops, like those in Brighton's North Laines, its Brantano Footwear - I am not a great shoe-shopper, but I bought two pairs of boots in 2 minutes, and could have gt many more - in Aus I just can't find smart boots at a decent price, and I can't find any footwear that really fits. I like sandals with heel straps, not the loose floppy-when-you-walk one s- try buying those in Aus, its hopeless.
Its the whole "choice at a decent price" - maybe one day Aus will catch up.
Off for a very long lunch today in Seaford with some lovely old friends. The lady is in her 70s; when I rang to say we'd be over for lunch she calmly informed me that last Thursday, on a whim, she took off to Canada for the weekend - got back Tuesday! Now THAT is someone with energy and spirit! Hope I'm like that at her age!

Originally Posted by antjen

Reading your message polyan is making me even more look forward to my trip back to blighty at xmas, dont get me wrong i have a great life here in america, but i dont know if i will even consider it home - just somewhere i live !

Anthony

Originally Posted by woodyinoz

How many suit cases are you bringing back