Lorry1

So I still can't join yet

lf1

Just use fake ID!

scot47

Catching Up ? I don't want to catch up. I want to live in 1958 - with Hancock and Jimmie Edwards on the Radio.

I do not recognise the world that i have found myself in since coming back in 2010 and retiring in 2011.

windsong

I think a lot of us would love to return to the UK as we knew it but we forget that time has moved on even though our memories are so fresh in our minds. We have also changed and that is SO easy to forget.

In what ways do you see it as having changed? What disappoints you and what are you thrilled about?

I have decided to see a possible move home not so much as "going back" but a new start in which I am going to a totally new place with a resemblance to what I see in my memories, a place that has changed and a place that accepts me for having changed, too.

From what I am reading, location is a big factor in whether you are happy or not over there. So many areas are now "congested" but a lot of open countryside remains, too. It is important to determine what sort of location would fit your needs.

It's also important to remember that the entire world has undergone some huge changes in the last five years, not just the UK.

Pollyana

Catching up as in catching up with friends and their lives - something that a lot of us use BE for, including me! Personally i'm quite hapy NOT to catch up with a lot of today's tv stuff - especially over here in Aus! My tv has no reception, its just for dvds and I don't miss it at all. I watch the occasional yhing on BBC iplayer, but the rubbish I'm subjected to at work some nights puts me off getting the tv working

Pollyana

I'd love to do it but it might be a step too far

mikelincs

So, no internet, mobile phone and only 2 TV stations? that do you?..

windsong

Is anyone familiar with Falkirk in Scotland? I loved that town and sometimes I think it would be a lovely region to return to - or Stirling. Close enough to Edinburgh but far enough away to retain their own character and have a small town feel, too. I am wondering how those two towns have changed over the years.

windsong

If the entire world didn't have it then, yes, I would love to return to it - in my mind!! This is how it was when I was a child and it was SO peaceful!

However, today, I couldn't operate the business I have started without the Internet. Well, I could do a small part of it but certainly not the majority. I also would not be able to do it from home. Of course, it is so new that it is not yet making money but this year hopefully . . .

In today's world, I couldn't do without my smartphone, Internet and flat screen TV But if the world didn't have it, there would be other ways to get by - but not as one person in a world of technology.

PS: I don't use my flat screen TV currently. I do my viewing from the computer - a 17-inch screen on my laptop. I no longer throw away money on cable TV service either.

sallysimmons

Argh! I got cold shivers when you said that!

I must be in the minority but I don't look back on the 'old days' as better than now. Has everyone forgotten the 3-day week and rubbish piled up in the streets? Or a generation before that, the war? Or the generation before that, the first world war and TB?

Of course our childhoods always seem better than adult life, wherever we grew up (provided we had good parents as most of us did). But childhood always has to end. The England I left in the 80s was a pinched, narrow-minded, grey place riddled with football hooliganism, and rife with bad food. The one I came back to is vibrant and engaging, multi-ethnic and interesting. The food is better, so many of the towns that used to be run-down have regenerated, the arts scene is thriving ... all this is because of globalization IMO, and it's made England a much better place. My friends and family members all have better standards of living than my parents had - even the ones who consider themselves relatively hard up.

Most important of all, the technology we have access to gives every one of us untold opportunities and the chance to actually take control of our own destinies. Most people won't take that chance but some will, and I wouldn't be without those possibilities for the world.

(That's the end of my tribute to the modern world, you'll all be relieved to know!)

windsong

This gives me goose bumps!!!! I can't WAIT to get back! One thing I really miss in the Midwest is the arts. There is some here but nothing like what you would find in the UK. The new business is based on the entertainment world so hearing this thrills me NO END!

jasper123

Tina I think thats good, but I really think we should drop the chit chat at the end and just call it ------- over 40s, 50s, & 60s moving back, ---- Ive been here since the beginning like a lot of you and I remember how trotty started this thread and how it just took off with a life of its own, and we had soooo many members, it became a huge thread in no time, and I just think that the word chit chat now doesn't give this thread the respect it deserves, only my opinion, just saying!!!!
Rodney.
A woman with 11 kids was just on the news, the U.K. government has agreed to (BUILD) her a £400,000 --- 6 bedroom house so that her and family will be comfortable, she is totally on benefits, I think always has been, besides no rent to pay, or council tax, she will also continue to receive her other benefits like enough money to live on for her and kids, huge amount,
free prescriptions, free bus travel, free dental, free eye test and glasses, free free free
For her everything is free!!!! lucky lady.

windsong

Looks like it "pays" to have children!

jasper123

how about over 40s 50s 60s and beyond? ------ I mean your over 80, and I will soon be 70, and there are a few old blokes on here who are in there 70s like cheers and dunroving

windsong

Dunroving?????