stllurnin48

I just wondered if anyone else is feeling completely bowled over by the feeling of uncertainty that this situation brings. I wish I could look 6 months down the line and see that I have everything back to "normal".

It is a strange feeling to be back, even after 6 years away and will be glad when that feeling goes! Does everyone feel that?

Nu-Shooz

Yes, i know exactly what you are talking about. I hated emigrating in the first place, never mind ponging back.
I just wanted to shut my eyes and open them when all the hard work was over
Not possible. So i had to toughen up and i made decisions and got cracking.

Don't stress too much, it's a short life, enjoy it

stllurnin48

Thanks Nu-Shooz! You don't really have much choice, do you? It is good to hear that you feel the same way. I find the busier I am , doing stuff, the less time I have to think about it all.

Nyz

Yes, I'm already stressing about all the packing and unpacking and settling back into a normal life - I just want it to be a year from now and we will hopefully be settled. (I'm also worried that once we move back we'll regret it - but that's a whole other thread and I've already posted on there!)

stllurnin48

Yep. I am hopefully back in the UK with my eyes open to all of the problems in the UK as there is in any country. If it doesn't work out for me or my wife we will do something else. I am kinda getting used to this gypsy life.

Someone once said to me that what you have to do about the UK is don't listen to the media at all and get outdoors as much as you can. He found that was a good way to get over the transition and stay sane. I will try that out I think.

Nyz

Yeah, I'm trying to make this move with my eyes open, and while I've always wanted to go back, now its actually going to happen - I'm getting really stressed and we're not even going back until the summer.

Wishing you loads of luck!

aasmith1957

we moved back a few months ago.felt very stressed with selling our house,organizing everything,new grandie due as well (born before we left au).GUILT+++ is the hardest part (for doing this) but we felt we had to do it,if it does not work out we can always sell up and repeat the process.feeling quite settled at moment. that maybe due to the fact we are ripping the guts out of our house and are keeping busy.i also speak to my children and grandies every few days, 5 pounds a month to call australia with sky talk,as long as you dont go over 59 mins.just hang up and start again.(keep getting my times muddled up though kids are cooking dinner or bathing the grandies sometimes).daughter tends to ring here at midnight so they are having breakfast and she can talk while doing that.second hardest thing about moving back has been the bitterly cold weather and no central heating put in yet.wearing thermal vest,teeshirt,jumper and cardigan today.wearing my ugg boots too,havent had them off since before christmas.!!! its lovely and sunny here in the scottish highlands today,a braw day

bloomfieldtj

Interesting post. Just wondering what pulled you back to the UK when your family were in Au? That must have been such a difficult decision to make.

Beedubya

I don't know how old you are but judging by the fact you have grand-kids I would say you are ahem, no spring chicken! Have you seen the thread 50's and 60's moving back to the UK. You will be surprised at just how many of us have done that or are in the process of doing so.

Lots of us there know all about the GUILT believe me.....

Barb

dunroving

Yes, this is the flip side of the "incisive" British media (which seems like a big plus from the perspective of the US, Oz, and other places where the media are predominantly facile, superficial and biased). The concept of being critical (i.e., insightful) seems to be misinterpreted as meaning necessarily "negative" (focusing on the bad side of what's happening in the UK). I get tired of reading/hearing about the worst of society in every other news item, so I too have stopped watching/listening most of the time. It does help.

Beedubya

I agree dunroving, I am sick of hearing of Broken Britain. You never hear Aussie media carrying on like this, nor the USA or Canada either no doubt.

These journalists should try living in another country (not just on a cushy contract assignment) and see it's not all beer and skittles in the rest of the world.

The UK has an awful lot going for it if people would just look around them........getting outside is a great idea.....

aasmith1957

we are in our early fifties, still young things (in my head anyway).the heat was really getting to us,parents getting old and infirm and we wanted a change of lifestyle,time to do things for us and enjoying the next 20 years or so together .financially we will be better off in the uk as we now have no morgage on our house.didnt see the kids much as we lived 3.5 hours away from them.all doing their own thing with their own families.the way i see it our kids are only on loan to us.we try and give them the tools etc to live a happy and productive life.we will always be there for them,no matter where we live.

dytopia

I disagree. If you read a quality paper, like the Guardian, Times, Telegraph, you will find that the UK's journalists are the best in the world. It's better to have choice. Nobody is forcing anyone to read muck like the Daily Mail, but as long as people buy it, they'll keep producing it.

Comparing quality UK papers to papers available in NZ, for example, is like comparing a premiership football team to a 3rd division bunch of nohopers. The gulf in quality is that apparent.

Example? NZHerald front page lead story a few weeks' ago was about the New Zealand flag and what is should be changed to. Then they ran with that for weeks, debating what the flag should be.

Example? I can't remember the last time I picked up the daily NZherald, Dompost, and read something about the Afghanistan conflict.

It was the same when the gulf-war was on. It's like it never took place!

Example? Is there a winter olympics taking place? I think somebody mentioned it...

I think in the whole of NZ there is ONE investigative journalist, Nicky Haager.

Sorry for the rant, but NZ's press stinks!

Bijilo123

Horrible banks, horrible shops, horrible weather, the price of petrol, getting a job (which took me three months!), disgusting beer and the television.

britvic

Are you talking about the UK

Thats the sort of thing I would say about the part of USA I live in.