Dez

I have been here for ten years and am as homesick as f**k.

If I wasn't married to a Yank bird I'd be back yesterday.

I spend all me time watching BBC DVDs and crying whenever I hear the theme music from the Onedin Line.

Tell me one friggin' funny Yank TV show? Have you seen All in the Family???? That was supposed to be based on Till Death Us Do Part...

I rest my case.

bromleygirl

I know what you mean - that's why I'm divorcing my Yank and moving back ASAP!

I've been here over 7 years and have done well, ownign 2 BSc's and workign but I too know the feeling of homesickness and now I have children I feel the pull to go back even more so.

Maybe you should try and talk your wife into moving back, afterall you gave up your life in the UK to move to the US in the firts place.

scotch03

Build a bridge and get over it you mothers.

Have an affair with a hot chick or bloke, joina shooting range and drink whiskey.

Pulaski

You're moving back to the UK because you don't like American television?

Mercedes

Well you´re going to be in for a bit of shock if you go back for just the TV, in UK its crap.......the TV now is designed for the brain dead!!! Do yourself a favour buy loads of DVDS/videos of the days you remember and you will be alot happier..........Life moves on, its not a good idea to live in the past you set yourself up for disappointment

ducatiandy

I 100% agree we have over 100 channels and it is usually all sh1t, eccept for The Office, Pheonix Nights, Alan Partridge, Wife Swop etc. and most of them are re-runs.

Dez

Mercedes mate!

now get a grip - the grass in always greener and methinks you're dismissive rebuke of my persepective is hampered by your own familiarity with domestic televisual choices. From where I'm standing you're in telly heaven my friend. And yeah, I spend $200 a month on Brit DVDs.

Let me extrapolate:

"Coupling" - perfectly adequate Brit TV sitcom (not hilarious I'll give you that, but watchable) comes over to the land of United Shite of Advertising and they stick in some good looking (closeted homosexuals) and some slut pinups - if they want to make porn - then make porn! (It was cancelled after three shows)

"The OC" have you friggin' seen this???!!! Its like a Southern California version of Brookside - with every good looking tosser shagging some other good looking tosser's wife or bird. It is SHITE!

Oh - and the latest - the NBC (National Bollocks & Crap) network have bought (wait a minute) The Office!
Now I just cannot wait to see THAT train wreck. They'll have some good looking tosser called David Brentwood who will be having sex with all the (sexy pin up) birds in the office... then it will get cancelled.

Mercedes my little wealth-statement-vehicular-icon, you do not KNOW the definition of Brain Dead until you live in this godforsaken place.

Even the friggin newscasters are good looking sexy pinup twats - and they NEVER cover world affairs on ANY network (except maybe PBS) and certainly never have anything approaching pollitical discourse on matters that SHOULD impact all American lives.

No.

They talk about some SHITE actor who is now governer of Colliforneeka, cos he's in Hollywood and he's going to make things better... and he's an actor... and he'll look at things and stuff... and he's an actor... and... god bless America.

ducatiandy

Maybe you should move back you obviously don't like USA.

Mercedes

Dez

Yup the grass often appears greener, but that depends on the picture youré looking at......

I personally dont like watching too much TV, if I visit my folks in UK from Europe, I start getting itchy feet after a couple of hours......Emerdale Farm, Coronation Street..........Eastenders........I start testing out my mothers knives to see which is the sharpest to slit my wrist......wow how can anyone like EastEnders.........its sooooooo depressing!!! And I love it if I ring anyone up.....can I ring up after their favourite TV programme has ended!!!! Big Brother ummmmmmmm do people really enjoy watching a load of morons trying to communicate......I think it would be more fun watching gorillas, more educating anyway.....

I´m used to living in an outdoor country, socialising, playing sport etc etc not sitting in front of a box, the only box I can live with is the computer......You appear also to live in an outdoor country so why arent you out there doing something more than getting square eyes...... So personallly if I have the choice to sit in front of a box all night, (because in UK apart from pubs which close at 11pm, often diners etc are closed also early, gyms etc.......there isnt much alternative, especially in winter,) I would prefer to be outdoors, or visiting friends or some other activity more stimulating than becoming a couch potato watching as someone else said re runs etc etc and I certainly wouldnt move back to the UK to become one watching it......there is more interesting things than that, wherever you are.

Hopefully with new technology etc you will be able to get UK TV by satelite in the near future, then hopefully you will get the best of both worlds......and then see that you arent missing much......
Besides if you moved back......you may miss more from the USA than your realised.......then you´re be floating in limbo......

Mercedes.....

Dez

Merco' Matey

touche mon ami. My compliments to the chef.

However I use television simply as a platform to illustrate far greater cultural and spiritual polarity between my original and current homes.

It also serves to underline the sociological component that is identifiable in all cultures across the globe; humoUr (note English spelling) albeit somewhat lacking in the US. Now of course there are exceptions; Chris Rock, Steven Wright, Dennis Miller, even Will Farrell with the right script - but all in all, Americans DON'T KNOW WHAT TO LAUGH AT - LEAST OF ALL THEMSELVES!!

Furthermore I interpret television as the mirror of society - art imitates life, or should I say, reflects what is around it. The reason British television is the best in the world is because it reflects back a vibrant, pluralistic, seccular nation that is struggling to figure it all out, makes terrible blunders along the way, but is a beautiful example of people from all walks of life, religion, race and culture trying to get along.

Do we see anything like "Bend it Like Beckham" on US networks? Do we see subjects like "My Name is Joe", "Naked" or "The Boxer" handled even by HBO (the closest thing they have to the independent work produced by Channel 4). No, we do not. We see formula: advertising-friendly; pollitically sterile; mediocre brain death fodder. The people eat it here because the best way to control the masses is through the promotion of religion, "family values" and a strict diet of brain-numbing television that never asks why, who, what, or when.

And as for your healthy promotion of the great outdoors. Congratulations, I couldn't agree more. I would however recommend you not correlate a love for fine dramatic televisual arts with a predilection for inactivity or sloth. I have run 5 marathons in my 10 years here - from the beautiful Napa Valley to the sickening circuit board they call "San Jose." I have ran, climbed, hiked, skiid, boarded, kicked and seen the snowy slopes, the open fields... the Grand Canyon, Virginia, Arizona, the shit... sorry dust dowls of Texas (what a dump) the rainy streets of Seattle and Oregon...

Northern California is my favorite place to hike, camp and generally hug trees... but my friend, it pales, nay staggers, droops and dies next to the god-like splendor of the Yorkshire Moors or the Lake District.

I am grateful to the States for showing me what I value, adore and miss about my beautiful home country. The people, the honesty, the candid no-bullshit confrontation, the pollitics, the class pride, the unique humour, the rain, the ale, the food and yes... the television.

bromleygirl

Tell it like it is Dez here here - so do you think that you will ever move back to the UK?

Mercedes

Dez

You are living in plastic State, where the plastic surgeons and cosmetic dentists are busy (I think one mould does all!!) and people take their pets to the shrink........ I think you´re being a little unfair to the rest of the American nation.....the ones I´ve met have had a good sense of humour and I have some American mates who can laugh at themselves.....Humour wise I love Robin Williams, Steve Martin and a host of others and some of the films that are produced there. There are a number of British ones I like also, and plays, Morse, Frost etc etc...alll reruns now!!


I agree that TV should be as you have quoted, maybe thats why I dont watch it anymore. I too left UK some 10 years ago and I was homesick to many things I considered British..........but when I decided to go back it wasn´t how I remembered and in many respects I was disappointed but that is me, some people go back and its the best thing they did. But the Britain I am homesick for unfortunately no longer exists and as for politically correct, it is heading the same way as America. The red tape now in the UK is a nightmare, especially if you are a small business.


>>>I am grateful to the States for showing me what I value, adore and miss about my beautiful home country. The people, the honesty, the candid no-bullshit confrontation, the pollitics, the class pride, the unique humour, the rain, the ale, the food and yes... the television. QUOTE>>>>>

None of the above which you quote is how I remembered it when I left, and I think with what you miss you will be disappointed at the reality of the Britain it is today......it to me doesn´t resemble the above. But thats my view and each to their own. It certainly wasnt vibrant not in my book anyway.....and as for the politics, .....

Mercedes.

jaytee

Time to jet out of the California Valley. There are 49 other states. 46 of which have better education. 49 of which are less polluted. 49 of which have less dangerous intersections. The list goes on and on and I have barely started. The west is also a very expensive place to live and is overrated. Do yourself a favor and try the rest of the US.

sibsie

I haven't been on this site for long, but I love hearing other people's views on life as an expat.

I've been living in Spain for 18 months and hate it. I don't want to go back to the UK where I was born and brought up, so I'm moving to Canada. My parents are Canadian so luckily I have Canadian citizenship.

I know homesickness can be a big problem. It hasn't for me, it's the boredom factor and the issue that Spain is a good 20 years behind the rest of the world that's finished me off.

But... and there's always a but. I think that anyone who has the cajones to go off and do something with their lives deserves a beer and a slap on the back. Even if you're going home you've done so much more than the people who sit in the pubs moaning about what they could have done with their lives.

Good luck to all of you who are going back. I really hope it works out for you, and kudos for having tried it.

flashman

Of course there's the California solution which is either get therapy or medication (or both).