OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
Apr 28th 2010, 8:48 pm
#2881
Home Sweet Home
Joined: Jan 2010
Location: Surrey, England
Posts: 5,128
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
She's picked up the lingo then 
I've lived in three countries and of those three, America is the only one that seems obsessed with being #1. I just don't understand it.
I don't get anyone calling any country 'the greatest country in the world.' Based on what criteria?! For scenery, America has to be right up there. For safety not so much, what with all those gun deaths!
I know it's harmless enough but it really bugs me (especially when most of the people who say it have never even been to another country).
OK, rant over!
I've lived in three countries and of those three, America is the only one that seems obsessed with being #1. I just don't understand it.
I don't get anyone calling any country 'the greatest country in the world.' Based on what criteria?! For scenery, America has to be right up there. For safety not so much, what with all those gun deaths!
I know it's harmless enough but it really bugs me (especially when most of the people who say it have never even been to another country).
OK, rant over!
My answer to her was..........."In your opinion."
She was quite shocked when I met up with her after returning and I told her that I hadn't really wanted to return to the land of milk and honey.
Last edited by Beedubya; Apr 28th 2010 at 8:50 pm.
Apr 28th 2010, 9:07 pm
#2882
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2010
Location: Brixham, Devon
Posts: 311
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
Hello to all in this group. I have been following now for about a month and cannot believe how active this is. If I miss a day there are so many new posts to read. All of them so interesting and everyone with a different story. Those that have moved like Easterndawn (what an inspiration you are) and those just moving now and those like Rodney hoping to as soon as health permits and so many many others.
The forum has given me so much more confidence about making the move back to the UK and I now believe it will really happen.
My story is as follows : I am 57 years old and have been in Canada since I was 21 in 1973. My partner and I (we are a gay couple) who is 53 are hoping to be there by the end of the year. We have both worked in the hospitality industry for most of our working careers and are planning on buying a small B & B or Guest House either in England or Wales. My partner is Canadian so will be applying for a Settlement Visa. We are not at that stage as yet. We will have family in Devon to stay with on arrival in England. Our preference is anywhere in the south as that is where family and friends are located. Devon and Cornwall seem to have more reasonable prices than Sussex, Dorset, Hampshire and Kent. Wales has some interesting properties also and the prices are good.
We have started with the yard sales and preparing our home for selling. Living in Vancouver which although is a great place to live it is time to go back to the UK for reasons already stated by so many others on this forum.
I know I will have tons of questions for others on this site as time goes on .
Thanks for listening.......Cheers, David
The forum has given me so much more confidence about making the move back to the UK and I now believe it will really happen.
My story is as follows : I am 57 years old and have been in Canada since I was 21 in 1973. My partner and I (we are a gay couple) who is 53 are hoping to be there by the end of the year. We have both worked in the hospitality industry for most of our working careers and are planning on buying a small B & B or Guest House either in England or Wales. My partner is Canadian so will be applying for a Settlement Visa. We are not at that stage as yet. We will have family in Devon to stay with on arrival in England. Our preference is anywhere in the south as that is where family and friends are located. Devon and Cornwall seem to have more reasonable prices than Sussex, Dorset, Hampshire and Kent. Wales has some interesting properties also and the prices are good.
We have started with the yard sales and preparing our home for selling. Living in Vancouver which although is a great place to live it is time to go back to the UK for reasons already stated by so many others on this forum.
I know I will have tons of questions for others on this site as time goes on .
Thanks for listening.......Cheers, David
Apr 28th 2010, 9:13 pm
#2883
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2008
Location: Prince Edward Island
Posts: 203
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
Hello Guys...
I have a question for you, I know its not moving back to UK related but its something that has been bugging me for some years, I have asked my in laws but nobody can come up with the answer, I'm hoping that someone here may have the answer.
I'm looking for a name to describe a kitchen cabinet we had for many years, a one word name, some people I have spoken with called it a tall boy but that isnt the name I'm looking for, it may have been a generic or slang term, I'm not sure, I will know the name when I hear or read it.
Back in the 50/60s there were some free standing kitchen cabinets, every home seem to have one of these cabinets, I think they were made by a company called Eastman, These cabinets were about six feet tall, and maybe three feet wide, they were usually divided into three sections.
On the bottom were cupboards for storage with painted wooden doors, I think we had tall boxes of cereal in one side and pans in the other.
In the middle section at waist height was a large door that pulled down so you could use it for a worktop, I think the door had a formica type surface inside, it was counter balanced so it was easy to pull down, behind the door on one the right side was a place for bread items, like a built in bread bin, the bread bin door was also a cutting board, there was also a place to store your bread knife.
On the left side was an open storage area for various items including butter dishes and maybe a small shelf for salt, pepper and spices.
In the top section were sliding glass doors ours were made of frosted ribbed glass, I know my mother kept her tea cups plates and glasses in ours.
Ok Guys lets see what you can do, and Thanks Very Much.
I have a question for you, I know its not moving back to UK related but its something that has been bugging me for some years, I have asked my in laws but nobody can come up with the answer, I'm hoping that someone here may have the answer.
I'm looking for a name to describe a kitchen cabinet we had for many years, a one word name, some people I have spoken with called it a tall boy but that isnt the name I'm looking for, it may have been a generic or slang term, I'm not sure, I will know the name when I hear or read it.
Back in the 50/60s there were some free standing kitchen cabinets, every home seem to have one of these cabinets, I think they were made by a company called Eastman, These cabinets were about six feet tall, and maybe three feet wide, they were usually divided into three sections.
On the bottom were cupboards for storage with painted wooden doors, I think we had tall boxes of cereal in one side and pans in the other.
In the middle section at waist height was a large door that pulled down so you could use it for a worktop, I think the door had a formica type surface inside, it was counter balanced so it was easy to pull down, behind the door on one the right side was a place for bread items, like a built in bread bin, the bread bin door was also a cutting board, there was also a place to store your bread knife.
On the left side was an open storage area for various items including butter dishes and maybe a small shelf for salt, pepper and spices.
In the top section were sliding glass doors ours were made of frosted ribbed glass, I know my mother kept her tea cups plates and glasses in ours.
Ok Guys lets see what you can do, and Thanks Very Much.
We bought a bed after that.
but my neighbours accused us of starving her!!!
Apr 28th 2010, 9:37 pm
#2884
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Back home now in my home town in England U.K. after 36 years in U.S. now retired and loving it,
Posts: 3,208
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
That's funny because I literally just finished e-mailing a British friend who said to me that America is 'the greatest country in the world' !! 
She is originally from Cornwall. She and her husband have lived in America for years and run a British Shop in Florida. She can't believe that we want to return to the UK.
Different strokes .....
She is originally from Cornwall. She and her husband have lived in America for years and run a British Shop in Florida. She can't believe that we want to return to the UK.
Different strokes .....
I think ones circumstances over here makes a lot of difference, like your friend and husband own a business, and say its very successful and there making a ton of money, and so have no money problems or concerns of whats going to happen if there health suddenly gets bad, they probably have great health insurance, nice house, money in bank, nice cars in there garage and so on and so on ----- the big American dream right !!! and good for them, good life for some right, but others well like I said circumstances play a big role in our decisions to move back home,
And like me for example ---- most of the 33 years I have lived in the states I have been quite happy, and enjoyed the lifestyle over here, and the freedom and the wide open spaces, and if you were to have asked me as recently as say 2 years ago ---- do I think that I would ever like to go back to UK and live, I would have said no probably not ---- at that time I was quite content with my 3 week holidays over there to visit Mum and family once every 4 or 5 years,
The burning desire that I have now to return to my birth land only came to me about a year and a half ago maybe two years tops, before then I had a good job making really good money, still only had one friend here, but on the whole I was still quite contented with my life, then I was laid off my job along with 32 others, my life changed dramatically, the prospects of getting another job was grim with all the mass unemployment, but I did manage to get another one where I work now but the money is very low, prospects of ever earning the same money as I was before are pretty well zero cause of my age and the economy,
So I guess for about two years now I have given so much thought about moving back to UK, I have done a lot of research in that time, and so weighed up all the pros & cons, the pros far out weighed the cons, and now at my age and circumstances for me to move back home is a no brainer,
Then suddenly a while ago maybe 6 or 8 months ago my heart was (REALLY) into moving back home, and in all the months that has followed till now has just increased 10 fold, now there is not a single doubt in my mind that this is the thing that I need to do now, this is the time for me !!!!
And even if its hard at first and the adjustment of fitting in again to a completely different lifestyle is overwelming and the culture shock and the whole nine yards --- thats it Im prepared in my mind for all this, but Im going there and Im staying there, and I will be with my Mum, and all the rest of my family and thats where I need to be (NOW)
Also getting back to circumstances, with me another thing I think of for wanting to return to my roots is going home is the only way I will ever be able to retire, as I will have my US social security and a partial UK old age pension too for the years that I worked over in the UK before I became a Gypsy, and although it is not a huge amount, it will be enough to be able to live on as long as I do not have to pay rent, as I will be living in Mums house and paying half of all the bills & food & everything, and I strongly have felt for a long time that Mum will out live me ------ bless her heart,
Life in the US for me would mean that I could (NEVER) retire I would always have to work, I could not manage paying the rent over here and bills & everything on just my social security, and then what happens when they put me out to pasture and say sorry your too old and your heath is getting worse we have to let you go, --- and then whos going to hire me? so thats it as I said before Mum is the big reason that I want to go home for, but also the rest of my family too, and as I have mentioned in this particular post there are many reasons for me as I have listed above, so for me in my stage of life now and my circumstances it is totally a no brainer for me, and I am sure there are a lot of people out there who are in a simular age and circumstances as me, married or not right?
And lastly I would like to say if I was not going to be 65 when I return home, and say I was in my early to mid to late 50,s like a lot of people on this thread ---- I am not sure if I would be wanting to go home with the problems of finding a place to live and paying rent and finding a Job etc etc,
So to all of you out there who are already over there, and to all of those who are getting ready to leave in that age group and circumstances and I know there are many of you ---- I take my hat off to you all, and you are all a big inspiration to us all too, I have nothing but respect and admiration for you all, and I wish everyone of you the very best of British luck on your adventures.
Rodney.
Apr 28th 2010, 9:45 pm
#2885
Finally Home!
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Used to be New York, now North Yorkshire
Posts: 3,610
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
My story is as follows : I am 57 years old and have been in Canada since I was 21 in 1973. My partner and I (we are a gay couple) who is 53 are hoping to be there by the end of the year. We have both worked in the hospitality industry for most of our working careers and are planning on buying a small B & B or Guest House either in England or Wales.
But maybe on my holidays I can come and stay in your B&B!
Apr 28th 2010, 9:57 pm
#2886
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Back home now in my home town in England U.K. after 36 years in U.S. now retired and loving it,
Posts: 3,208
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
Hello to all in this group. I have been following now for about a month and cannot believe how active this is. If I miss a day there are so many new posts to read. All of them so interesting and everyone with a different story. Those that have moved like Easterndawn (what an inspiration you are) and those just moving now and those like Rodney hoping to as soon as health permits and so many many others.
The forum has given me so much more confidence about making the move back to the UK and I now believe it will really happen.
My story is as follows : I am 57 years old and have been in Canada since I was 21 in 1973. My partner and I (we are a gay couple) who is 53 are hoping to be there by the end of the year. We have both worked in the hospitality industry for most of our working careers and are planning on buying a small B & B or Guest House either in England or Wales. My partner is Canadian so will be applying for a Settlement Visa. We are not at that stage as yet. We will have family in Devon to stay with on arrival in England. Our preference is anywhere in the south as that is where family and friends are located. Devon and Cornwall seem to have more reasonable prices than Sussex, Dorset, Hampshire and Kent. Wales has some interesting properties also and the prices are good.
We have started with the yard sales and preparing our home for selling. Living in Vancouver which although is a great place to live it is time to go back to the UK for reasons already stated by so many others on this forum.
I know I will have tons of questions for others on this site as time goes on .
Thanks for listening.......Cheers, David
The forum has given me so much more confidence about making the move back to the UK and I now believe it will really happen.
My story is as follows : I am 57 years old and have been in Canada since I was 21 in 1973. My partner and I (we are a gay couple) who is 53 are hoping to be there by the end of the year. We have both worked in the hospitality industry for most of our working careers and are planning on buying a small B & B or Guest House either in England or Wales. My partner is Canadian so will be applying for a Settlement Visa. We are not at that stage as yet. We will have family in Devon to stay with on arrival in England. Our preference is anywhere in the south as that is where family and friends are located. Devon and Cornwall seem to have more reasonable prices than Sussex, Dorset, Hampshire and Kent. Wales has some interesting properties also and the prices are good.
We have started with the yard sales and preparing our home for selling. Living in Vancouver which although is a great place to live it is time to go back to the UK for reasons already stated by so many others on this forum.
I know I will have tons of questions for others on this site as time goes on .
Thanks for listening.......Cheers, David
Take care,
Rodney,
Apr 28th 2010, 9:58 pm
#2887
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,606
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
Do you see how things that used to be everyday words just fall away into no mans land,
Yes Fish ---- like the Copper that Mum used to boil all the white sheets in to wash them, she used a very hard large bar of clothes washing soap that she rubbed on the sheets with the help of a skiffel board was it called? or shuffle board? and dont forget the mangle that you put the sheets through to wring all the water out of the clothes ---- you had to feed the sheets through the rollers and turn the handle, and then they were ready to hang on the line in the garden,
the rest of the clothes Mum washed in the big kitchen sink full of water, I think she used that big bar of soap for all the washing,
Im not quite sure if washing machines were invented yet? this was all through the 50,s and at least half way through the 60,s that I remember until I emigrated to Oz, But if they were invented I dont think many people could afford to buy one,
I often think how hard People especially Women had to work in those days, Like my Mum held down a full time Job, and so did my Dad as a carpenter, but Mum would come home from work and she did all the cooking and housework too, I remember my Dad was making 7 pounds a week in those days, and Mum less then that, and when I left school to go to work in 1960 my wages were 2 pounds 10 shillings per week after all taxes & stamp for a 6 day week full time, I was 15 at that time, remember the little brown envelopes we used to get our wages in, (notes and coins) I paid Mum 30 shillings per week for my keep and I had one pound for myself,
Our rent I remember for our 3 bedroom house was 30 shillings per week, or one pound 10 shillings,
Well those were the days alright, what do we call them ---- the good old days Huh, well life was I suppose hard and money was scarce and most people that I knew were poor, but still life was much simpler way back then, and I was fortunate to have very good parents, never spoiled, at times disciplined but not abused, taught right from wrong and so on,
Well you take care,
Rodney.
Yes Fish ---- like the Copper that Mum used to boil all the white sheets in to wash them, she used a very hard large bar of clothes washing soap that she rubbed on the sheets with the help of a skiffel board was it called? or shuffle board? and dont forget the mangle that you put the sheets through to wring all the water out of the clothes ---- you had to feed the sheets through the rollers and turn the handle, and then they were ready to hang on the line in the garden,
the rest of the clothes Mum washed in the big kitchen sink full of water, I think she used that big bar of soap for all the washing,
Im not quite sure if washing machines were invented yet? this was all through the 50,s and at least half way through the 60,s that I remember until I emigrated to Oz, But if they were invented I dont think many people could afford to buy one,
I often think how hard People especially Women had to work in those days, Like my Mum held down a full time Job, and so did my Dad as a carpenter, but Mum would come home from work and she did all the cooking and housework too, I remember my Dad was making 7 pounds a week in those days, and Mum less then that, and when I left school to go to work in 1960 my wages were 2 pounds 10 shillings per week after all taxes & stamp for a 6 day week full time, I was 15 at that time, remember the little brown envelopes we used to get our wages in, (notes and coins) I paid Mum 30 shillings per week for my keep and I had one pound for myself,
Our rent I remember for our 3 bedroom house was 30 shillings per week, or one pound 10 shillings,
Well those were the days alright, what do we call them ---- the good old days Huh, well life was I suppose hard and money was scarce and most people that I knew were poor, but still life was much simpler way back then, and I was fortunate to have very good parents, never spoiled, at times disciplined but not abused, taught right from wrong and so on,
Well you take care,
Rodney.
I can totally relate to all you wrote.
Those were the days, I truly believe people were happier and more content back then, Not so GREEDY as people are today, I know my parents had a lot of fun times even though they always seemed broke, It was safer too.
Apr 28th 2010, 10:00 pm
#2888
Home Sweet Home
Joined: Jan 2010
Location: Surrey, England
Posts: 5,128
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
Hello to all in this group. I have been following now for about a month and cannot believe how active this is. If I miss a day there are so many new posts to read. All of them so interesting and everyone with a different story. Those that have moved like Easterndawn (what an inspiration you are) and those just moving now and those like Rodney hoping to as soon as health permits and so many many others.
The forum has given me so much more confidence about making the move back to the UK and I now believe it will really happen.
My story is as follows : I am 57 years old and have been in Canada since I was 21 in 1973. My partner and I (we are a gay couple) who is 53 are hoping to be there by the end of the year. We have both worked in the hospitality industry for most of our working careers and are planning on buying a small B & B or Guest House either in England or Wales. My partner is Canadian so will be applying for a Settlement Visa. We are not at that stage as yet. We will have family in Devon to stay with on arrival in England. Our preference is anywhere in the south as that is where family and friends are located. Devon and Cornwall seem to have more reasonable prices than Sussex, Dorset, Hampshire and Kent. Wales has some interesting properties also and the prices are good.
We have started with the yard sales and preparing our home for selling. Living in Vancouver which although is a great place to live it is time to go back to the UK for reasons already stated by so many others on this forum.
I know I will have tons of questions for others on this site as time goes on .
Thanks for listening.......Cheers, David
The forum has given me so much more confidence about making the move back to the UK and I now believe it will really happen.
My story is as follows : I am 57 years old and have been in Canada since I was 21 in 1973. My partner and I (we are a gay couple) who is 53 are hoping to be there by the end of the year. We have both worked in the hospitality industry for most of our working careers and are planning on buying a small B & B or Guest House either in England or Wales. My partner is Canadian so will be applying for a Settlement Visa. We are not at that stage as yet. We will have family in Devon to stay with on arrival in England. Our preference is anywhere in the south as that is where family and friends are located. Devon and Cornwall seem to have more reasonable prices than Sussex, Dorset, Hampshire and Kent. Wales has some interesting properties also and the prices are good.
We have started with the yard sales and preparing our home for selling. Living in Vancouver which although is a great place to live it is time to go back to the UK for reasons already stated by so many others on this forum.
I know I will have tons of questions for others on this site as time goes on .
Thanks for listening.......Cheers, David
As much as I love Wales and I really do, it is not as prosperous as the South of England so your B & B plans may not be such a good thing there though I am no expert just as a paying guest.
Being from the North myself, I found that the country got more prosperous and of course warmer the further south I headed.
Devon or Cornwall, what a fabulous choice you have to make.......sigh..........
Apr 28th 2010, 10:02 pm
#2889
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Back home now in my home town in England U.K. after 36 years in U.S. now retired and loving it,
Posts: 3,208
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
My Mum's in the 1950's & mine in the late 1960's were called a Kitchenette. Is this what you mean? When my daughter was 10 months old, she climbed out of her cot one Sunday morning, crawled downstairs & got a loaf of bread out of the down flap, crawled back upstairs to our bedroom and laughingly woke her parents with a slice of bread. There was a trail of sliced bread on every tread of the stairs.
We bought a bed after that. but my neighbours accused us of starving her!!!
We bought a bed after that.
but my neighbours accused us of starving her!!!
Apr 28th 2010, 10:05 pm
#2890
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,606
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
Back then you'd pay weekly, maybe you would go back to the Furniture store where you bought it and give them the cash. maybe a few Bob.
We had it till we emigrated in 76.
Apr 28th 2010, 10:06 pm
#2891
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,606
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
Apr 28th 2010, 10:09 pm
#2892
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2010
Location: Brixham, Devon
Posts: 311
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
Hello David and a Big welcome to our thread, Wow you have been following this thread for a month now Huh and this is the first time I have seen you post, now just like we tell other new posters ---- put the old kettle on make a nice cuppa and sit down relax and --- dont be shy, any questions you have Im sure will be awnsered by lots of people on this thread, we talk about anything and everything as you can see,
Take care,
Rodney,
Take care,
Rodney,
Apr 28th 2010, 10:15 pm
#2893
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2010
Location: Brixham, Devon
Posts: 311
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
I love Yorkshire too. My first job out of college was at a Hotel in Swaledale. loved it up there and the people are so friendly.
Will let everyone know where we end up. It is very exciting but scarey too. Yes do come and stay !!
Apr 28th 2010, 10:24 pm
#2894
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 2,606
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
Wow those are Great pics... Thanks for posting them, I must say I love the deep sink, I remember us having one of those in 64 -66 infact that was the only sink we had in our house, I dont expect many to understand that, its a Long Story, I wont bore you.
What about that Ascot water heater, Ive used one of those many times, they were great...
I may have been to this place, Ive been to York a few times, I have to say that Jorvick tour has some funny smells hahahaaaaa.
Thanks again for your help Barb, I hope Oz is treating you right.
What about that Ascot water heater, Ive used one of those many times, they were great...
I may have been to this place, Ive been to York a few times, I have to say that Jorvick tour has some funny smells hahahaaaaa.
Thanks again for your help Barb, I hope Oz is treating you right.
Apr 28th 2010, 10:28 pm
#2895
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2010
Location: Brixham, Devon
Posts: 311
Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK.
Hi David, you are going to love this thread!! Lots of help and advice given and received.
As much as I love Wales and I really do, it is not as prosperous as the South of England so your B & B plans may not be such a good thing there though I am no expert just as a paying guest.
Being from the North myself, I found that the country got more prosperous and of course warmer the further south I headed.
Devon or Cornwall, what a fabulous choice you have to make.......sigh..........
As much as I love Wales and I really do, it is not as prosperous as the South of England so your B & B plans may not be such a good thing there though I am no expert just as a paying guest.
Being from the North myself, I found that the country got more prosperous and of course warmer the further south I headed.
Devon or Cornwall, what a fabulous choice you have to make.......sigh..........