J.J

My DH had negative experiences on his occasional trips back to the UK: a resident in a town that told him and a friend off for talking outside her streetside house when she had a busy day; someone in a ticket line at Gatwick that wanted to punch him for asking to step through a line when the tailback blocked any other way round; youths playing vigilante that claimed he was following a girl up a street. DH is def not a tough looking character.

Anyway, back now in UK for a few months and we have mainly encountered the same courtesy as Quoll describes. DH is relieved.

Sure, there are the surely shop assistants, the boisterous youths around the bus station in the evening, slices of life of others that are not what we would want or choose, the speeding OAPs on their little mobility scooters lol, but turn to the person next to you, raise eyebrows or make comment and they will likely smile and indicate in good humour that they feel the same.
But we have never felt threatened or intimidated.

With driving here, best advice received was to be self assured, hold your rightful position on the road and be courteous - and treat the others as obstacles not personal. Yes, the volume of traffic is horrendous, accept some, avoid the worst if possible. As newcomers we are bound to get caught up just because of our lack of knowledge, it's part of the learning curve.

sallysimmons

I was in the Lake District this year and it was beautiful. I wasn't there as long as Quoll unfortunately, but also had the same experience of nothing but friendly people. In the town where we stayed there was some kind of monument in the center where the young kids hung out every night. They were a little bit loud sometimes but not at all threatening. No louder than the kids in my little town here when they congregate at lunchtime.

What surprised both of us was what surprised you on your second visit - the cosmopolitan nature of even small towns. The increased multiculturalism. The progressive, buzzy, thriving nature of every town. The wonderful restaurants. England is just so much richer culturally than it was when I left. And the shop assistants were so friendly - in the supermarket, they say 'hello love' and chat to you. Here in NY, they are all too busy chatting to each other (usually complaining about their jobs or bosses) to even notice you are there! Traffic was non-existent but it was September so there were less tourists than there are in summer.

I'm sure our experience would have been different if we had gone to a big city, but I can highly recommend the Lake District for scenery, culture, food and people.

2passports

We have experienced some odd contrasts on our recent visits back. Definitely since I left in the late 80s, London seems more interesting, dynamic, and the train and bus system is fantastic, although the locals still moan about it. But a couple of experiences still stick in my mind --- back in 2007 we were on the high street in Windsor and it was all very twee and olde England, but there was a bit of a transformation after dark, most notably a LOT of really undignified drunk women, laddettes I suppose, although some looked in their 30s and 40s. All dressed up in expensive clothes and literally unable to stand or string a sentence together. Then, on our visit in 2005 we were sitting in a really beautiful public gardens in Cheltenham. People of all ages were sitting on the benches and on the grass listening to music and having a picnic. Although there was no bad behaviour, as people got up to leave, everyone just left all their litter on the ground. Assuming an attendant would come around later and clean it up I suppose. I just found it surprising, On the other hand, as other people have mentioned on this thread, I am always struck by how friendly and willing to chat people are, and in general how polite most young people were. I think there's always been these two faces of Britain and it all depends which dominates at any given time.

Beedubya

As I have posted my whole life story on here in other threads I will keep it brief (ish) LOL!!

I left Australia in April 2009 for a "gap year/mid life crisis/adventure/working holiday" not knowing how I would feel about actually living and working in the UK.

You see I had never been back for more than 3-4 weeks at a time over the past 28 years (except for 1 year in 1985 - long story, dont go back with teenagers!!).

So on these little breaks when my heart sang as I landed in the UK surely that was just because I was on holiday, a few weeks of travelling, catching up with family,shopping etc. then when my heart dropped as I left and I got the leaving blues well that was surely because my holiday was over and I had to say goodbye to my family and I was having to go back to the daily grind.....groan......or was it?

So when I left here last April I had no idea of what to expect, could I stand the weather, all that rain and grey skies? Would I hate the way of life? How would I feel about being back after all these years? What about Broken Britain as I have read about in the Daily Mail? How long would I stay, a few weeks, a few months or the whole year? One of my friends told me I wouldn't last and I would be back because Australia is awesome, the best country in the world!!

I didn't want to live where my family live as quite frankly that was one of the reasons I wanted to leave the UK to get away from that grim Northern town, all those long years ago.......so decided I had to live somewhere really lovely, and was inspired to get a train to the Lake District, which BTW I had only ever been to once in my life before for a day trip! I ended up getting a job and a flat and stayed there for 6 months and absolutely loved it. Visited my family quite often, an hour and a half on the train.

However that job was only seasonal and finished in November, I got a job in Somerset in December and stayed there until April 2010 when my ticket would expire and I had to make a major decision. As has been well documented on here (over 50's and 60's thread) I came back because I felt guilty about leaving my (grown up) kids here and my 2 grand-children. Fast forward to December 2010 - it is now 8 months later and I bought my one way ticket to the UK last week. I leave on February 26th 2011 and at this stage will not be coming back, well only for the odd holiday to see my kids and grand-kids.

I have been utterly miserable since coming back here, my year away was supposed to get it out of my system, but if anything it made it 10 times worse, I have tried soooo hard to settle back down, but I just can't do it and live a lie. I cannot live with this sense of detachment and disconnection any longer.

I am scared about my future going back with no job, no car, no possessions and very little money, I am very lucky in that I have a very supportive family so will have a roof over my head. But like Quoll says you just "know" in your heart/gut where you belong. And for me it is not Australia as hard as this is going to be.

I too didn't see any more "hooligan" types around any more in the UK than I do here and those I did see I never felt in any way threatened by, just bored teenagers hanging around chippies in the dark winter nights, here they hang around the beach. And as for the single 17 year old mothers pushing prams well that definitely depends on the area you are in, sure there are more than a few of them in the town my family live in, but that is not where I chose to live so I didn't see much of it, and of course there are areas around here where I could see it every day too if I chose to live there.

I do feel a lot of this hinges on where you live. For instance I live in a pretty nice part of Sydney and if I was to compare that to the town my family lives in then yes this place wins hands down in terms of attractiveness.

But if I were to compare it to the Lake District or Somerset or Bath or York or Devon or Cornwall or any other of those beautiful, historical, magical places then Australia doesn't even get a look in.

I plan on doing as much travelling as I can afford and visit beautiful places in the UK I have never been. So many places to go and see, lovely towns and little villages, 4 distinct seasons, a proper cold Christmas...........oh yes,this will be my very last HOT Aussie Christmas.

EnglishRose15

This made me smile remembering the traffic in Salisbury when we were in the UK in 2008, I found it hard to believe that my sister who lives there would rarely take her car into town and would schedule her times to 'pop to Tescos' depending on the traffic. I used to shake my head and smile at her thinking she was a bit odd. Then one day, my husband and I attempted a Tesco trip at 5.15pm on a weekday, and OMG I realised what she was talking about, having crawled to the supermarket carpark in about 30 minutes, which should take about 10 on a good day, we then got stuck in a traffic jam in the car park where we stayed for about another 30 minutes, by which time I had run in got the few items required, while my husband was still in the traffic jam, then another 30 minutes to get back to my sister's house after we then got stuck in the traffic coming up from Southampton. Mmmm I don't laugh at her anymore, where we are now I often smile to myself as I drive peacefully to the supermarket 5 minutes away, and get a park straight away.
Salisbury is a beautiful city, but was not designed for the amount of traffic it now has to cope with.

ldyinlv

We are doing the same thing at the same time Bee, lets keep in touch and maybe some day meet for a glass of wine and a chat
Jackie

Beedubya

That would be great Jackie, I am going to Cheshire, where are you going to? We can meet somewhere in the middle if far away.

Barb

ldyinlv

Im going to Lincolnshire, near Grantham, and they have trains there..

Beedubya

Oooh somebody else is in Lincolnshire is that J and J??

Isn't Grantham the birth place of.............gulp............Mrs T??

ozzieeagle

Great post, you've given me some heart there. I now accept ones view of England/UK comes down to absolutely being in the right place. That message has finally sank home.

It's must be far more polarised than most of Aus. I guess coming here at age 25 has made me slightly naive and hesitant to accept what looks to others like an obvious and glaring fact.

Problem with this is I cannot really stay or reside in any area that I am familar or have lived in the past back in the UK.

No wonder my Brothers Village of Simpson, (suprisingly in Milton Keynes) with it's Thatched cottages and 15th century church, canal and pubs and country walks scored so highly with me.

Heres a pic just across the road from my Brothers house.... yes it is in central MK.

ldyinlv

Yep Mrs T, and that guy who got the alien in him in that movie alien...lol oh and lets not forget Sir isaac Newton..the apple guy..

sallysimmons

Beautiful! I'll take two of that house with the thatched roof

ldyinlv

I live in the US, so to me nothing in England is far away..lol

PoppetUK

Hats off to you Beedubya. I here how hard it has been to make your decision. Best of luck.

poppet

Lothianlad

I would suggest that any of you nice people currently living in warm, sunny climes far away from the shores of the UK, and harbouring thoughts and desires of returning to live back home here again, at least wait until this current ****ing freezing, snowy, icy, winter has come to an end. It seems to have been dragging on for ages already - snow and icy and bitingly cold north east winds day after day - and it's still only the first of December, and in meterological terms the first of December is officially the first day of the winter season. What a hoot that is.

How I envy you those clear blue skies and hot sunshine and lovely beaches. It's no use me escaping this icy cold, snowy weather here by nipping down to the south of Spain for a long weekend where my sister and bro in law have a shared holiday home close to Malaga, as it's been doing nothing but pi$$ felines and canines day after day down on the Costas at the present time - virtually non stop.