Debbie2NZ

I've been in New Zealand with my NZ husband since Feb 28th. Neither of us has been able to find long term work. We are just about to hit the 'bail out' button and return to Britain. He's waiting in the result of one interview and has a telephone interview for a different employer next week, but he's doubtful. We came here by choice, we are returning through circumstance. Hey ho.

RChappo

It can work both ways for me...sometimes it's just what I need to cheer me up but other times it can lead to me feeling even more homesick.

The last time it really made me want to rush to the airport was when I watched the 'Eddie Izzard : Marathon Man' programme where he ran 40-something marathons in row across the whole of the UK. In one sequence he ran through Nottingham (my hometown) and across Trent Bridge which made me a little teary but what really did me in was when he ran into the Asda store where we used to do our family shopping when I was a kid. It's the small things that get you. It sounds silly but I had to leave the room because I didn't want my wife to see me in floods over a supermarket!

As for stuff that usually cheers me up : I love 'Countryfile' (I watch that on Monday nights with a G&T in hand!). 'Julia Bradbury's Canal Walks' was good, as was 'Great British Railway Journeys'. But 'The Boat That Guy Built' has probably been the best thing I've seen lately and made me proud to be a Brit!

PBS on a Saturday night is pretty good too when they put the British comedy's on!

Paul B

Well, I dropped in here just from reading the 'Todays Posts' page and I started off berating certain people for wallowing in woe about homesickness, wishing their lives away, wasting their lives perhaps, but 'someone' then decided that changing the subject to discuss someone elses third world country/la la land was a good idea for some extra mileage. So here we are.

Unfortunately for you, I'm quite content where I am, no homesickness.

Unfortunatly for me, we don't actually live anywhere near the sea.

Off you trot now, hope you have fun when you move.

aries_bird

I am quite shocked by this response. I think the people on this part of the forum would be happier if YOU trotted off and left the kindred spirits to themselves.

Dashie

I'm fairly new here, and one of the first things I did when I arrived was to read the 'Tolerance and Understanding' 'Read Me' on this section of the forum. When I read that, I thought this sounded like a sympathetic place for people feeling displaced in their lives, and what was written there resonated with me.

Maybe you should take a look at it and then decide if this area of the forum is the right place for you to be? I don't see you showing too much tolerance or understanding, and if you weren't intending to, why are you posting in a thread where people are obviously feeling unsettled, looking for some moral support, when it's clear that you have none to offer them and would rather belittle them and try to make them feel worse for feeling the way they do? Just because you see a thread posted, doesn't mean you have to join in if you have nothing to add.

I'm sure that there are many many people happy with their new lives in other sections, and that's great for them. I wouldn't go on there telling them to pull their socks up and get on a plane back to England because it's 'better' there because I don't feel the same way they do, or telling them that their feelings of happiness are somehow not valid because I don't share them, kwim? Maybe you could find the most appropriate section of the forum and start a thread entitled 'my life is wonderful and I love it', and chit chat with more like-minded people there? You would probably get more out of that.

Unless of course you're trying to deny that you're unhappy, in which case your posts will fit in perfectly here when you admit it

Beedubya

How very rude, and has been already stated you should read the sticky note put up by the moderators of this forum regarding Moving Back To The UK.....we are supposed to support these people not sneer at them.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=574367

Oh and BTW I have already moved back home thanks, 3 months ago to be exact.

Beedubya

Hey Debbie, good luck to your hubby with the job, it seems such a shame to throw in the towel at this stage, hoping things start going your way.......

Kittykat11

I can sympathise with Quoll. I've been in Aus 20 years and am now desperate to move back to the UK. I haven't been homesick the whole 20 years, the first 10 years were great, the next 5-8 were ok, but the last 2 have been the worst. I decided at Christmas that it was time to do something about it, and if it was just up to me I'd be there by now. But trying to convince 2 teenagers that it's a good idea to move there is another thing altogether! They're happy to go for a holiday any time (which we're planning for this Christmas) but they are adamant they couldn't live there, which I can understand as they were born here, but I'm trying to persuade them to at least try it for a year and if they really hate it we'll all move back here. That doesn't sound unreasonable to me but to them a year is a life sentence! lol So I feel trapped now between what's right for me and what's right for my kids. Any suggestions on how to tempt them to give it a try??

Debbie2NZ

Thanks Beedubya. Must admit I've been reading your posts about your return and feeling slightly envious . Yeah it would be a shame to throw the towel in at this stage. But to carry on the boxing analogy.....we're on the ropes.

quoll

All depending on the age of the teenagers you may well be stuck until they are through with year 12. Dont panic - both of my lads never gave a thought to living in UK until one went back on a post uni gap year and hasnt come back (except for the odd holiday) and isnt really likely to either (couldnt get on the plane fast enough after his last holiday!). You never can tell where your kids will end up and you may be free once they have finished their education. If they havent yet hit the GCSE merry go round age then you can move tomorrow - once you miss that, though it gets really tough.

It's quite weird, isnt it? That the first 10 years are fine but then the crippling boredom sets in and just a general panic that you are trapped in a place and growing old well before your time.

Good luck with the move - maybe when the kids get a taste of the "buzz" then they will feel more inclined to give it a go.

Kittykat11

Thanks for giving me some hope Quoll, I realise teenagers are fickle and their ideas can change in a heartbeat! Fingers crossed! Luckily my teens are in year 12 now, so will be finished with high school at the end of the year, which I thought would be an ideal time to go as they could just apply for university there instead of here. It's never that simple though!

My plan of action now I think is to give them the best holiday ever when we go back for Christmas to show them how great it can be there and hopefully that might sway them!

quoll

Ah, then you are aware of the international fees ruling which means that even though they are UK citizens they will have to pay international fees because they havent been resident in UK for 3 years. Chances are they would also have to do a foundation year - all depends on how well the WA year 12 qualifications translate to A levels, http://www.international.mq.edu.au/s...raduate%2fatar might give you a clue

Paul B

Oh dear, never thought I'd offended anybody that much.

Apologies to all if I offended, five weeks offshore on a small ship does tend to change ones perspectives a little.

Now I am home again in our scruffy little third world country and everything looks different.

Returnee

Homesickness is soul destroying. I have lived outside of the U.K. for 25 years; going back for a holiday every three years or so, which was invigorating. But recently I have been getting really strong homesickness urgings. But, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, because of the bad news stories I keep reading about life in Britain. Only today on the BBC was a story about how pensioners are struggling to afford food and heating. Oh, dear.

Beedubya

My mother is a pensioner on just the government pension, no other income except maybe £20 a month from her old job and whatever she wins at bingo.

In January she went to Spain for 6 weeks, she phoned me last night to tell me she is off to Menorca on Friday for a week.

How does she do it if it's all doom and gloom?