TheEmperorIsNaked

Absolute ditto!
In Aus there is a phrase: 'white anting'. (These little pests thrive on slowing eating out wood; are white; and are a real problem here. One finds out in the hardest way that these have very slowly eaten away the wooden structure of your home).
The phrase has been picked up to show a gradual and imperceptible decline-'eating away at the foundations of your life'.

I feel white anted.
I am not the same person anymore, this country changed me inexorably. I have completely lost who I used to be......


........and this is the reason why!
I am a strong character, but because of this guest thing, I have repeatedly stayed silent when so many myths about the UK are spewed out. When the UK is ridiculed, I cannot say what I'd dearly like to say in return; because this is my 'home'.

The end result of that to be very frank, is that I am embittered, and becoming increasingly physically ill.

Personally, I will not be as comfortably financially off as I am here,-but I will feel 'in sync'-and I have to believe that that will do me a whole heap of good.

Crikey!! Aren't we honest on here!

happyglow

I'm on it - lots of hill walking is keeping the chubs at bay.

Tell you what though, I could put on 100kg and fit right in - there are hugely obese people everywhere these days, very different from when I left and there was a little dog... well, I was so tempted to just grab his lead and haul him off, poor little thing was so fat

gailc

You have just described the way I feel, curleytops.
We would leave family as well, but I have always said, no matter where we live - there will always be two families to miss.
Our biggest problem is the news regs they came up with and whether we can afford it.
You are right - about the regrets - very draining. I have never felt like this is where I belong. The 'holiday' thing was spot on. That was the way I felt at first - like I was on a holiday that just went on and on. I do know that if I had come over first to see what it was like, I never would have left. Even as I got on that plane, which was the hardest thing I ever did - I can still hear my little sister calling "Bye Gail".
When we go back to England - which is getting harder to do each year due to the cost of tickets, we both feel like we never left when we go down to the town for the first time.
The only reason I have ever wanted to come back was for the pets, and I have never sat on a plane waiting (to go to England) to take off when I didn't wish our animals were on it as well.
It isn't a case of what we want to do - it is a case of whether we can afford to do it. I wish there was some kind of a fairy godmother who could say it is the right thing to do and all be well. Unfortunately, there isn't. Nothing we have ever done in all the time we have been here seems to have turned out right, so moving back to England would be the last mistake we made, if that was the way it turned out to be.
By the way - your description of the busses was spot on. My Mother had a bus stop right outside her house and my sister has one just a few feet up the road from her house. It is lovely, to be able to walk up there get on a bus and leave the driving to someone else. There are no busses where we live, so if you can't/don't want to drive, you are up the creek.
My husband always goes down to buy a paper every morning when we are there and he always comes back saying - I saw so and so and we stopped to talk. So much different than here. Our neighbours almost seem like they are afraid to get to know anyone - other than a Hello, how are you? sort of thing.

gailc

Well, we wouldn't have to worry about friends.
We tend to overeat when we are there as we know it will only last for a few weeks, but I think if we lived there, it wouldn't be much different than what we have here - not when you know you can go get it anytime you want
Happyglow : I tried the bread thing, but it really makes my arms and shoulders ache. I have a machine, but it makes such small loaves and they have a bit hole in them, it is hardly worth the effort, although I have cooked them in the oven after it has mixed it all up. I like it much better when we can go to Tesco or Morrisons, or somewhere, and buy it fresh from the bakery =