birdynumnum

Thats nice you can do that after so long away, having a love of both places JG
I do think after you've spent alot of time in another country, even if you want to go back 'home', you can end up a bit torn, you're bound to miss stuff unless you really dont like where you were. Can be hard not to compare but best avioded ........ remember that song
'torn between two lovers'.....


PS Sorry to to OP - hijacked for a mo

Jerseygirl

We feel like nomads to a certain extent...it's the cost of becoming an expat.

Fleaflyfloflum

We are the same, but i'm sooo over it now. Got the wander lust out of my system.

Jerseygirl

Yes my apologies to the OP too. If I could I would move these posts into a new thread.

gedge

i blame gedge

birdynumnum

no, I'm spartacus

SarahInTX

I wouldn't've got that comment if I hadn't watched the program about the top 100 movies the other week . . .

Even thought this has wandered away from the OP's original thread, it's rather interesting, isn't it?

Someone said to me, many years ago, "home is where the stuff is." At that time, that made a lot of sense. Along the lines of if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with. (I was in graduate school in Iowa.)

As I said on another thread, until about three years ago I had absolutely no intention of going back to the UK. But then something "odd" happened to me. It may have been my BIL's death . . . though I wasn't particularly close to him . . . but maybe it wasn't so much about him as about my sister and not being there to offer her support . . . I don't know . . .

Anyway, my point is that sometimes where you are can be "home" and then for no explicable reason it just doesn't feel the same any more. Maybe like relationships. But once that feeling overtakes you, it just doesn't go away. And suddenly "home" is where you WANT to be, not where you are. It's no longer where the stuff is, it IS where the heart is . . . for many of us, apparently, back in the UK.

Sarah in TX

birdynumnum

Very true indeed, well put

wombatboy

so true....feeling doesnt go away! it haunts you like a bad smell!!! oh well, its friday!!!!

Sue

Okay, you've got your own thread, I've moved the posts.

Jerseygirl

Thank you Sue. It was gedge's fault...he admitted it.

Geordie George

FWIW (very little) here's my thoughts on the matter.

Aus is home. I live here. I enjoy living here. I like Aus. In fact, I don't - it's stronger than that. I love the place. This is home in the emotional sense _ I feel tied to the place and like I could put down strong roots here. UK is home in the family sense. I miss the people, but not necessarily the place. Although there are elements about the place I am looking forwards to, too (mainly pubs ). So, through family and friends, I have ties to the UK, which makes it home (this will work vice versa when we're back in Blighty - Aus will always be home, too).

Home isn't a real location, for me. Home is a place in your head, where you feel comfortable and happy and safe. Where your stuff is doesn't really matter. Aus will always figure, because it's a place I associate with feeling at peace - just like in the UK.

I'm sounding far too zen and like I might have been dabbling in illicit substances, so I'm going to step away from the keyboard now. But I hope some of it made some sense.

Shakmaty

I can relate to this 100%. Home is a feeling rather than a place. I never felt comfortable in the UK, and therefore never considered it a home. Aus already 'feels' more like home to me. But that is the point....it is entirely my feelings that matter. Saying that, I think the emigration experience has broadened my horizons and I feel confident of being able to make another move successfully now, if it was needed.

Sally

I think sometimes when we say "home" we mean it in the sense of "the homeland". Depending on the age at which we left, we will have a cultural bond with the UK to a greater or lesser extent. Even my son who came here aged 12 has really struggled with this.

gedge

i knew i shouldn't have asked