Originally Posted by Mary Kay (Post 10691790)

My childhood was certainly different. I've been to many places, seen wonderful sights, and met many incredible people along the way. Being sent to boarding school at such a young age, ( 3 and a half) with just a handshake from my parents and a request 'to be a good girl', has resulted in me being fiercely independent - sometimes to my own detriment ! I do believe my parents loved me, I certainly never wanted for anything .... they were just uncomfortable with words like 'love', and hugs and kisses .... to the end of their days.

Originally Posted by cheers (Post 10691871)

I thought this was funny. Maybe not.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ess-class.html

Cheers

Originally Posted by Mary Kay (Post 10692122)

South Africa is the most beautiful country Cheers ..... but, we are sitting on the edge of an Arab Spring here .... and it will happen sooner than later.

Final part of my story ..... I have R150,000 left of my capital now, I've used R50,000 in the last 2 years to supplement my income which is R1.200 from renting out my garage as an office, and R1000 from interest on the capital amount ..... in total: R2,200 ( the exchange rate is approx. R14 to £1) .... plus my children give me R2,500 a month, so I can manage ..... but I can't manage anymore ..... and I won't /can't ask them for more.

I have a heart issue now, I've dropped to a Hospicare only,plan on my medical aid, that costs R700 a month, it pays for the time I'm in hospital, but not for the emergency room where they admit you ... R2,500 a time .... I can't take a chance, and depend on government hospitals ... once state of the art facilities, now rat infested, broken windows, no bedding etc. etc.

Prices increase every year, but my income remains static ... thankfully, my son pays for internet !

So I've come to a crossroads, I, unlike so many other white people here, have a choice .....

Do I return to U.K. (with my small dog!), while I still have money to pay for the trip, leave my children and grandchildren behind, leave this land that I love, to come back to what ?

I read the comments on the threads here, and I'm hesitant, what did I ever do for Britain ? .... The Gov. depts. I've contacted tell me all I will qualify for is benefits .... I need to know can I live on whatever I'll get ?

OR .... do I rent out my house here, and move into the white squatter camp 5 miles away, to get extra income ? (my children would freak out if they knew I was considering this .... but I am).

So please give me some advice/imput/figures here, so I can choose. :amen:

Originally Posted by Mary Kay (Post 10692122)

South Africa is the most beautiful country Cheers ..... but, we are sitting on the edge of an Arab Spring here .... and it will happen sooner than later.

Final part of my story ..... I have R150,000 left of my capital now, I've used R50,000 in the last 2 years to supplement my income which is R1.200 from renting out my garage as an office, and R1000 from interest on the capital amount ..... in total: R2,200 ( the exchange rate is approx. R14 to £1) .... plus my children give me R2,500 a month, so I can manage ..... but I can't manage anymore ..... and I won't /can't ask them for more.

I have a heart issue now, I've dropped to a Hospicare only,plan on my medical aid, that costs R700 a month, it pays for the time I'm in hospital, but not for the emergency room where they admit you ... R2,500 a time .... I can't take a chance, and depend on government hospitals ... once state of the art facilities, now rat infested, broken windows, no bedding etc. etc.

Prices increase every year, but my income remains static ... thankfully, my son pays for internet !

So I've come to a crossroads, I, unlike so many other white people here, have a choice .....

Do I return to U.K. (with my small dog!), while I still have money to pay for the trip, leave my children and grandchildren behind, leave this land that I love, to come back to what ?

I read the comments on the threads here, and I'm hesitant, what did I ever do for Britain ? .... The Gov. depts. I've contacted tell me all I will qualify for is benefits .... I need to know can I live on whatever I'll get ?

OR .... do I rent out my house here, and move into the white squatter camp 5 miles away, to get extra income ? (my children would freak out if they knew I was considering this .... but I am).

So please give me some advice/imput/figures here, so I can choose. :amen:

Originally Posted by Mary Kay (Post 10691079)

Well, I'm finally finished reading the entire thread started by Trottytrue so long ago ...... I feel like I have known you all for years now!

I was born in 1943, in Aberfeldy, where my Father's family were from (MacGregors). My Mother came from Orkney.

After the war, my Father joined the Colonial Civil Service, and we left for Ceylon, where he worked on a building a dam. We lived in a place called Norton Bridge, at the foot of Adam's Peak. I was sent to boarding school in Columbo just before I turned 4 !!!

Because he was overseas staff, he had 6 months leave every 3 years, so my mother and I, left 3 months before him, and returned 3 months after him, so that I could get a full year at school in Kirkwall. This carried on until I was 12, (the last time I was in Scotland!).

From Ceylon, we went to Nyasaland (now Malawi) for 2 years, and from there to Rhodesia for the building of Kariba Dam. I was at boarding school in Salisbury (now Harare) until I was 18 ( they still had the Cambridge System there, O levels and A levels.).

I married a South African, and my two eldest children ( I have 4 ), were born there. My husband was transferred to Cape Town in 1969, and from there to East London, where my two younger children were born.

I got divorced in 1978, and was a single parent for 10 years, before marrying a Hollander in 1988 - we traveled to Holland every year to see his family, and once went over to England for a week - it felt like I had slipped on a pair of old comfy slippers ! It felt like home, how do I explain that ? I can't ...........

My husband took early retirement at 63, due to ill health, and we were preparing to return to Holland - then the wheels fell off, and he needed heart surgery. The operation was very successful, but 3 weeks later, while at home, he had a lung embolism and died. This was in 1996.

I just want to say that I do understand where you all are coming from.

I will write more tomorrow and tell you my particular problem ..... I just wanted to give you a picture of where I'm coming from.

Go Well.

Originally Posted by islandwoman120 (Post 10691370)

Hi all - Mary Kay's posting prompted me to get on here again, plus a few people who write to me privately via email wondered if I was ever going to 'come home' to BE!

Update: I am in south Devon, in little Dawlish about 12 miles southwest of Exeter, on the rail link to places like Plymouth and Penzance, Cornwall. I am living in a one bedroom flat in a development with others of my age, so no wild parties to report (sorry) and no patter of little feet above my head, unless other residents have visiting grandchildren. I look out on an area of wild garden belonging to the neighbouring Nursing Home, and have bird feeders and planters set out for my enjoyment. I join in keeping our garden and flower borders tidy, as three of us agreed to do the gardening and the management then fired the contract gardener who was not dong things the way we wanted. I have been lonely from time to time, as it has taken a long while to make friends - I left a few good friends behind when I moved away from Frome last May. However, they do come down and stay here in our guest suite, and we email and phone - but it not the same as meeting up for coffee on a regular basis.

I help out at a local drop in center held in the Methodist Church, called Open Daw, where various community groups set up their stand for a day each month, so there is a constant stream of people with something to say or offer. I help serve coffee and tea, as there are regulars who make it their port of call on a daily basis - so many lonely older people. Most of the people I do know locally are in the upper 80s age range - this is an area where the older demographic settles. The trade off is that I don't have any of the problems I encountered in Frome - no pub brawls, no filthy streets, no disturbed nights etc.

I have started to take the train to see the sights - locally at the moment, with plans for St. Ives to the Tate and Hepworth galleries, and then a London trip to the Fashion and Textiles Museum near London Bridge. As a result of the day trips, I have posted new photos on my Flickr site if you want to see Morris Dancers and boats in Brixham harbor, as well as the black swans on Dawlish Lawn.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/islandw...7633303893425/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/islandw...7633397699570/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/islandw...7633397761532/.

I use my over 60s bus pass regularly - there is an excellent bus and train service from Dawlish, so it is possible to get to places like Exeter or Newton Abbott for a day out with minimal expense and the mainline train stops either here or up line at Exeter, or down line at Newton Abbott so travelling further afield is easy too. But we are far from the madding crowd, so the distance adds up in costs and time if you are venturing far afield to the 'grimy north' (step in here all those who live in Yorkshire or Lancashire or York or Chester - this was deliberately written to spark you!). No seriously - this is not nirvana obviously, but considering my living conditions prior to being here, it is quiet, somewhat boring, but peaceful.

I spent most of last year being ill - I thought of asking for a loyalty card at the medical Clinic! But after every test know to man or woman, all is clear and I am assuming that my body is unwinding after years of stressful living, in the US and in the UK in past years. I have never known peace, or fiscal sound living, since I was 18 yrs old, and it is nice to not have to worry about money - no I did not win the Lottery - just a state pension. regular money, careful budgeting, free at point of service medical care, free bus pass - all makes for a much more amenable lifestyle.

I get annoyed when people - who appear to have never travelled beyond the package holiday places such as Spain - knock the medical system. But I am learning to be British again (!) and ignore a lot of what I hear as it is basically said from ignorance. I am grateful for the care and service I have received, like the people I meet, and promise that I will take my camera out and about a lot this summer.

I have not caught up on all the postings on here and I know I won't read many previous, so wishing everyone on here who remembers me the very best.

Oh, as a sort of PS - I have a cat at last. A little black cat named Molly (though between us on here from the US I have renamed her Angela Davis, after the Black Panther woman from the 60s - who I met in Wisconsin and is a gracious lady if ever there were such a person) came into my life just when I felt I could offer a cat a home. So now I have scratched doors, toys on the floor and hairs in my food - and I am happier for them all!:)