God - you all nearly had me in tears!!
Feels like I have an eternity til I can go home (I am hoping my house will sell and I can go in Jan 2011).
I miss that coastline...I loved that you could ramble around the cliff line in the gorse and flowers and then dip down to the beach and sea. Also - the tide went out for miles...leaving the little rock pools.
The coast is so flat in Melbourne...and no real tide with it being on a bay.
When I was in Bucks in 2008, I did not need a car for weeks at a time. My children would walk everywhere, meeting up with schoolfriends and disappearing off to their houses.
Here, everyone is so far away (schools are in a different suburb - I moved them to a closer school so they could make friends in the area we moved too, but all the kids in the school are driven in from other areas - no again - no friends in the vicinity of our neighbourhood...groan..)
As a child I would walk for hours in the fields and woods, collecting sloeberries and raspberries (my Great Grandmother used to turn them into gin!). The dells of flowers would stretch out forever and we would look for fairy sightings in the woods (or The Faraway Tree..)
Here we are surrounded by suburbs - another drive to get away.
Aus is lovely - but not for me.
And those little poke away tearooms and cafes....I LOVE THEM!!
Your posts are great...thank you

Sorry to hear that, Valspal. Why are you being sent?

Bev

Much to complicated to explain. Anyway i didn;t reply to that message and im thinking about it. I think i am going, but i will decide. After 2 decades of marriage he still thinks the money is all his. I can;t explain, but if i go i will book it. ( i thought he already had done it).

I agree about the trains and the huge stations. I have travelled via Liverpool Street twice this week and it has been a good experience. The trains were not always on time due to track problems, but that was fine. I was travelling outside of rush hour, so was prepared to wait in peace. I also went to the West Country via Paddington Station (complete with its Paddington bear sculpture!) and that was an even better experience. Train travel is my favourite mode of transport - wish the USA had more available.

I agree about the trains. Generally very good, local and long distance.

Bev

Great post confusedenglishrose !

For me, I am seeing England through different eyes now. We have been back for a month now and today while I was making myself a cup of tea, I finally acknowledged to myself that I am truly happy..really deep seated happy.

I started a job last week and now the worry of work is lifted I can finally enjoy being here. It is a lovely sunny but cold day, the trees are losing their leaves and the variety of colours is beautiful.

It is good to be back isn´t it?

confusedenglishrose: well, you don't sound so confused! So glad to hear of a happy return, your updates make delicious reading.

geeandtee: "It just felt right to be back. I'm getting more and more moments like that. I really love being back home, regardless of how uncertain the future is."

That feeling just right, regardless of any uncertainties, I suppose that is what all this hinges on isn't it? I'm sitting in a situation right now in a luxury house, in an amazing area in terms of it's prettiness, with loads of the trappings and luxuries that evaded me in the UK all those years ago, and I haven't really got much hope of living in a similar standard upon the return, but if what it boils down to is feeling 'right' then the move is good.

Hopefully those returning will fall on their feet and feel right.

Oh WHitby, I cant wait to go back and go to Whitby, I want some fish n chip and some winkles too - I am DYING to have some winkles - they don't even know what they are here

It has been a few days and the weather has certainly been up and down. Yet still I am finding the rain and wind very comforting. I keep questioning my own sanity on that point and hope it is not just a 'honeymoon' period.

When the sun does shine here it is bright clear and very very fresh. Perfect for walking. Watching TV the other night I was reminded of just the little details that make living here so pleasant. The local weather lady wished everyone goodnight at about 1015pm since the weather was blustery and cold. The sincerity was clear. Not caught up in ones own persona as so many of her over the pond contemporaries often appear to be. Not so much a criticism as an observed difference with definite preference on my part.

Today I embarked on an expedition to the local town, banking and shopping. I spent over half an hour in one shop just talking to people. I don't think in 15 years I have ever talked to a stranger in the USA! God forbid either they or I might think either of us were weird? Again differences differences.

Today's shopping was with wind and rain, cows in fields, market traders shouting their fruit and veg wares. But overwhelmingly the green neatness of the little town and fields was just peaceful.

I am returning from a city culture with distinct areas of beauty. I find myself embracing my current surroundings. I have read others here who say pick somewhere different on your return which has been my intent and certainly the countryside is gorgeous. I have yet to delve back into London which I love but am not missing.

Have to agree....for me it just feels like home...even in todays climate work wise.....even with my Oh still working in Aus...and thats been hard....it still feels like home....I just have to walked down into the High Street and have a good old chat to a complete stranger about the price of this and that....the countryside....we are in a very small rental in the U.K ...having sold our very large home in Aus....we are trying a different area and so far we are enjoying it very much....the other day someone asked me why had we come back....well really it just comes down it "its home".....

That's it, precisely.

We were down in Wiltshire on Monday looking at rental properties and we drove from Foxhill into Aldbourne. The view south from the top of the Downs was incredible, it was a bright sunny day and it just felt so damned good to be home. Even our son, who's not given to appreciating things like 'views' was seriously impressed.

He's already said he prefers living here to the US and that's something considering he spent 8 out of his 12 years there.

i actually feel really guilty for admitting this, being an australian born person, married to a brit, and having returned to australia 1.5 yrs ago, after 7.5 yrs in london ....but, i think we might be off back to the uk again too....at least for a while!
we moved back here to the gold coast with dreams of acreage, and a good life for the kids, only to think "what the hell were we thinking?" after a year , so we moved down to sydney.
we loved the gold coast-for a while ,but had had enough.
sydney's fantastic, really enjoying living here again, but we have been racking our brains about how we can afford to live here?
my husband earns a good amount, but it is all eaten up in rent and utilities, etc, and we are always struggling here.our longterm goals are to be published songwriters, but we have to stay up till 3 am a lot of mornings to get any songwriting /recording done, after dh does his work, and we get the kids to bed.
yesterday, i was kind of thinking about a solution, and we did some sums, and it cost us half the amount to live in the uk ,as it did here, for an equivalent lifestyle!
we were blown away!
no wonder we can't save any money any more and are struggling!
we decided we will find someone to take over our lease, head off to the uk, and live around the uk, enjoying much lower rents in rural areas, and having time to follow our dreams instead.
we currently pay $650 a week in sydney for a suburban house, and will look to pay under 650 POUNDS A MONTH for rent instead.
food is tons cheaper too, as were our utilities...
we may try scotland for 6 mths, devon, wales etc? who knows...but why spend our whole lives struggling to pay the bills when we can see the uk, in a way we couldn't when we owned a place there,and have time to follow our ambitions too...
theres no way we could ever afford a house in sydney to buy, and i don't want to spend my whole life paying a mortgage anyway...
why would we not just do it...the uk feels as familiar to us as australia now anyway, and i kind of think it may be cool to just live where we feel like, when we feel like!
australias a great country, but its a damn rip off now...
and you know what did it for us?

seeing tesco advertise the orange halloween pumpkins at half price -50p , and in woolworths here, the same kind of pumpkins are on sale for $25.00!!!!

not that we even buy them, but it was just the icing on the cake!

Yeah a lot of people go on and on about how expensive it has become to live in the UK when in reality the cost of living in the UK can be relatively cheaper or as cheap as anywhere. Ive come to learn that standard of living is what you make it and its taken about 10 years or hopping around to realise that.

Coming from a Mexican perspective I earn about 1/4 my UK salary and a weeks shopping here costs the same as in the UK! Fuel here is about a third the price, electricity and water are not even worth speaking of as they cost so little...but can we save? Not really. Can we afford to buy an apartment? Nope.

Not that these things make a huge difference to our choice to come home to the UK, however, seeing the flip side and getting a more accurate or..well informed picture of the UK is huge. Like I say it took me 10 years to get to this stage, sometimes I guess home is home. (and this coming from a Scotsman moving to England)

Have not disappeared and certainly have not stopped enjoying it here. I have been busy looking at different cars and continuing to walk hills and beaches At risk of sounding repetitive Autumn here is just beautiful. I just keep thinking what have I been missing. In just a few short weeks the colours have changed and being able to witness the change is great.

Have been to the top of Roseberry Topping twice now in seven days. the first day was sunny with clear blue skies if a little crisp. Passing a cross section of young and old alike all out enjoying the walk. I got slightly lost eventually walking through a field of cows into a small village before making my way home. Such a gorgeous walk. For those who don't know it look it up on Google. It even made the Daily Mail photographs earlier this week.

Exciting news!

For the first time in many many years I have invested the grand sum of ten pounds on sparklers and fireworks, should be all of a two minute display but coming from a place where fireworks were the ultimate 'no no' because of fire hazards I am looking forward to tomorrow evening.

Oh I am so jealous. I have such happy memories of bonfire night. Our village had a big communal bonfire and every one brought food. Our next door neighbor made the best treacle toffee! Enjoy.

I just found out my oldest friend's mum has cancer. He's so upset. I just want to be able to drive over to his house with a big cake and a few bottles of wine and sit and listen. But the phone will have to do. Has anyone ever mentioned that it sucks being away from home?