MikeStanton

...what?

What do you most enjoy about UK now that you've returned (apart from seeing your loved ones! ) ?

For us, it's because UK is so alive compared with Oz (seems like friends might feel the same )

Alexandra

... because people openly (and really amusingly) make fun of my accent, because men at work are not scared to pay me a compliment about my shoes (totally gorgeous by the way), because I can walk to Royal Albert Hall, because they don't cut all the grass in Hyde Park, because Holland park is woody and scary in the evening and infested with rabbits, because the guy on the tube asked my opinion about the book I was reading, because the atmosphere at work is so humourous and even sarcastic, because they don't shoot you for smoking in the bar, because the shops are fantastic, because the people are truly cosmopolitan, because Royal Opera House is renovated (thanks a lot for air conditioning), because of English eccentrics that are everywhere, because of English old ladies, that seem to be a nation of their own, because we live above a milliner's shop and a cane's shop, and most importantly.... because we feel so British, it's unreal.

janeyray

I love being back because it's light in the summer untill 10pm

The sound of the British birds in the morning and late evening is glorious compared to the scream of the parrots

Everywhere is within easy reach and I don't spend half my day in a car

I can breath fresh air in the summer and not suffocate from the heat

I can sleep at night in the summer heat of the UK

I can shop till I drop, from the choice

I can find (quality) shoes to fit my daughters feet

I can wear normal smart clothes and not feel over dressed

I can have my hair coloured without having to take out a mortgage to pay for it

I can be cosy and warm in my house winter

I can go for walks in the countryside and stop for a drink at a quaint country pub

I can live rent free ( at my parents) until we find a house

kong

Well...

Ditto the late evenings, where I can drink nice beer in (proper pub) beer gardens, not some air con box complete with pokies.

The quality of the media, the BBC radio and TV, the variety of newspapers.

The British abilty to be self critical and not just saying we are the best regardless.

The beautiful countryside, the lush greeness of Summer, the songbirds, the country lanes.

Taking a last minute deal to the med for around 200 quid, enjoying the nice med weather and cheap drinks. Not the stormy humid sydney/QLD Summer bullshit.

Conversations with strangers in bars that do not involve cricket,swimming,footy,V8 cars etc.

Im sure theres more come on peeps!!!

PS Because WBB is leaving!!!!

simonhouse

I'm not back in the UK, but I was in Southern England for a holiday last month. Here are the things I loved about being back home (even if it was for a short time) compared to Calgary, Canada:

[General]
- Lively pubs (and lots of choice)
- Great variety of music (not just country or hip hop)
- High streets
- Pretty towns and countryside
- Easy access to beaches
- Ability to get around without a car
- TV (didn't get to watch much though)
- More cosmopolitan
- Real brick buildings, not wooden shacks
- Taxi drivers always have a story to tell
- Lush green grass & Trees
- People understand me instead of giving a blank look

[Food + Drink]
- Fresh cream cakes
- Pepperami
- Redbull
- Properly prepared fillets of chicken
- Real Fish + Chips
- Real Chicken Vindaloo
- Cornish pasties
- Kebabs
- Carling Premier

dotty

Climate, because it allows me to go outside without a full anti nuke performance to combat cancer rays.

Not getting dark at 7pm in summer.

Cheap food.

Not spending half my life in a car.

Shops

Curry

Stella

Walking into a room full of black/white/pink/purple people and nobody whispering pointing or staring.

Friendly people who are obviously alive vibrant and interesting.

Variety of just about everything you could think of.

Health system thats performed eye/heart surgery (on my dad) not even available in OZ for free.

Informed people Informed news not sport passed off as news.

Open minded people, I no longer shock people, you can be who you want to be.

Endless entertainment so many things to do so close.

Travel need I say more.

A currency that looks unlikely to turn my life savings into monopoly money every 6 months.

People who say sorry please and thank you.

The stunning countryside fresh air and empty space so available but hardly used

Beach countryside or City all within just over an hour.

Most of the world in a few hours and cheap.

Next

Humour

Weekend papers worth reading

Bookshops like waterstones

Waking up every day and not feeling that overwhelming dread of boredom that dawns on most people once they have done the OZ 'sights"

Being alive

HiddenPaw

...our baby can grow up knowing her grandparents

...I'm back in the countryside. I've got the canal, Trans-Pennine trail, and country lanes all within a couple of minutes walk from my front door

...I love the light evenings

...hubby is only working 35hrs a week so get lots more time together

...I can do the gardening without feeling that I'm trying to get a trowel thru concrete!!

...I am happier outdoors in this cooler climate.

Gezza

I agree with all the above. Lived in Canada for 3 years.
Glad to be back in England. Above all words!!!!

Helen C

I have printed off all of the above to show the hubby later tonight. He wants to go to Oz, but I think we have a good life style here so why leave just for the sake of a bigger house with no mortgage. All your points might make him think more about what he would be leaving behind.

Thanks

Simone

You may find this thread interesting as well then:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...hreadid=235861

heading downunder 2002

As already said plus some others:

The light nights until 10pm+
The greeness
Wonderful scenery of the Lake District
Being able to walk everywhere without getting burn't by the fierce sun
Little girl being able to go outside without me first having to check around for redbacks etc
being able to get up in the night for the loo without having to turn on all the lights to scare off the cockroaches
also talking of cockroaches not having to check the ceilings etc in the morning armed with can of Mortein
Ants not crawling everywhere you go
the old buildings and history
dry stone walls
british tv and comedy

clivey

1. The long days.
2. Warm days and cool nights mean easy sleep
3. Meeting up with friends and relatives
4. English pubs
5. English comedy. Classic and new
6. Old buildings full of character and history
7. The chance to start again

2nfrom

It's great to be back in UK, because.. we have fox hunting..... although I returned only for the last few months of the season and I love the long summer evenings we are so looking forward to the start of the autumn season again... the horses, the hedges.. the sound of the hounds on the scent ......... tally ho !!!

MikeStanton

...the Brit sense of humour

...the predictable unpredicatable nature of the weather

...the beautiful countryside

...old buildings that are really old and have...(wait for it)...character.

...decent cold beer - especially Cobra with spicey stuff

...working among all the history - St Paul's, Old Bailey, City

...no more Aussie workplace, with its pathetic focus on looking 'good' - working long hours and achieving very little. "Hey look, mate - I've worked 26 hours today. D'ya think he (usually a he) noticed?"

...TV, radio and newspapers - from crap to brilliant!

We've seen the rest, now we've returned to the best.

mary1

You are wrong.You may have foxhunting in England but it is illegal in Scotland.

It seems bizarre that in land of 60million people with the space choked to "standing room only "you have to kill the few native mammals left.England is living in the past.