PAT M

Morecombe and Wise singing Positive Thinking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKN7aWTUrIU

I hope the link works, You Tube is great for trips down memory lane. Noel Edmunds was mentioned, he is still going strong and has been presenting Deal or No Deal 6 days a week on Channel 4 (I get UK TV through MyExpatNet ) for the last five years.

I wish TT well with her house showing/viewing and everyone else like me who is waiting for the house to sell to be able to move on and back to UK.

When we last lived in South East London, we had foxes, grey squirrels and lots of birds, my favourite being the blackbird, visiting our small garden. There is nothing like the sound of birdsong in an english garden.

This thread is great, good luck to everyone.

islandwoman120

Have a look and stop worrying so much: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/

They have answers to all sorts of weird and wonderful questions, answers we on this site may not have to hand when someone asks for help. I found them to be not only helpful, but kind and compassionate, which is what we need when we are feeling confused - like I was when I saw them a month ago. They did not treat me like an idiot, or a doddering fool, just as a person with questions.

islandwoman120

I watched the Two Ronnies Christmas special yesterday. It was so good to see them acting up - the show was from about 2005, and had snippets from earlier shows, but it was still good to see them. 'It's Goodnight from Me and it's Goodnight from Him'. Brilliant!

Here is a link to UTube - I don't think it is the 2005 version, but still fun to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsWX8wDG1f0

Derrygal

OMG - that is ridiculous - and I thought I paid a lot ($5K a year for a 2 bedroom condo)!
Yes - you're right about the commission - I begrudge giving it to realtors for I honestly don't think they earn it - of course a lot of them are hurting right now with the downturn in the housing market - they aren't making anything at all or very little.

windsong

lol! Thank you. I know I am probably worrying needlessly but when you are alone you have to cover all bases. Of course, the REAL worry would be staying in the USA!

windsong

Ha ha! I enjoyed that! Thanks.

islandwoman120

We all have had our times of worrying - either whilst deciding to leave our adopted country, or after arriving in the UK. If you look at many of the previous postings on this thread, and on other threads on the British Expatriates website, you will find all sorts of questions, and all sorts of answers. You need to make a list of the things that worry you, then do some research to see if someone has answered your questions previously. Usually that is the case. When I was going through many months of indecision - shall I leave the US, how can I do this, how can I sell all these wonderful things I have collected over 24 years, what shall I do with my oil paintings, and many more too numerous to remember - I read this site from one page to the next - I was obsessed with it. I also looked at UK Yankee, but am not as content with it as I am with BE. I feel that I have made friends on this site, and have exchanged private messages with many people on various subjects, as well as posting on thie thread publicly. I am now a seasoned veteran of about 7 months on the site, and 2 months back in the UK, and am happy to give information from my own research and personal expereinces since being back here. I have had a full 2 months - I can hardly believe all the things I have done and the places I have visited - I took the first month and travelled and visited, then got down to the serious business of staying here. Once the gloss wore off and the reality set in, I got back down to work on my needs and a place to live for maybe 3 to 6 months. I do not have any family who care to know me over here, so I am dependent on the kindness of two friends, both of whom are female and work, so have little time for my questions. So then I turn to this site, and also get up and go into whichever town I am currently staying in - Purley or Ealing - and mix and mingle with local people. That is very good for the soul. The first few weeks I just walked about, looking at all sorts, going into the local Tesco and looking at product on the shelves, looking at labels, looking at prices, looking at everything - because it is so very different to the USA. Sizes of packets are different, everything is in metric measurement and weight, and that takes a huge mental adjustment. Temperature is in Centigrade, which often leaves me clueless: will I need a jacket if I go out and it is 20C? Not a clue - so I managed to find a weather site which allows you to set the details in Farenheit - now I know what to do. At 20C I do not need a jacket!
Basically, all this rambling is to let you know that the streets are not paved with gold, the people are friendly, they will help if you ask for help - sometimes they will volunteer help, but not always, you need to use your eyes to observe, your ears to listen and you will learn a lot. We have all been away from here for many, many years, and will not readapt to a place we call home in a few weeks. Maybe a year and I will feel totally adapted, but after two months, I think I am doing fine. if you are computer literate you will adapt faster, as so much is done on line, from grocery ordering, to Advance Rail ticket ordering.
Questions anyone?

sallysimmons

I feel bad for a lot of realtors - people often forget that they don't make a penny until they sell a house, and they usually have to split that 6% fee with the buyers agent (unless they're lucky enough to find a buyer themselves). It's another example of how corporate America is set up to use and abuse people - the people running the real estate companies do fine and they don't even have to pay a salary to the people who do all the work.

btw, I'm not a realtor

Our property taxes are about $13,000 per year. Nuts!

Fish n Chips, I am a bit like you. I kept in touch with the UK all these years, mainly by continuing to watch the TV shows and listen to the radio. Before the web, my friends would send me DVDs of things I'd like - I discovered The Royle Family that way, and Alan Partridge and Peter Kay and Little Britain and hundreds of other shows. Once the web came along, I was in clover. We've watched all the big shows over the years and lots of minor ones and I think it does keep you in touch a bit.

But of course there will still be culture shocks I'm sure. Still, I have a few years to prepare so I'd better go and watch some more British TV

windsong

That's one thing I am - very computer savvy. I am often called a "geek".

I went to the Age UK site and one of the first things I saw was a link for people to learn about computers and the Internet. My first thought was, "I have written courses for that and taught it". One of the courses I wrote was specifically to teach computers to seniors and show them the Internet and what they can do with it. It was all designed to be "senior-specific", too. It was written to be taught as a night course in a community education program in a local community college here in the U.S. I might even be able to teach night school over there.

I forgot completely about the metric system and the weather. I have to brush up on that. I believe the UK is still using the decimal monetary system which they switched to about five years before I left. Weights and measures didn't change then, though. They must have changed after I left.

cheers

They are different on UK Yankee. I think they are upward mobile Americans and some of them can be plain nasty on the forum. They also have different issues than we do, the main one being staying in the UK legally.
Yea! for MBTTU.

Thank you for your continued posts IW! I find them very informative. You have been one of the few to stay in contact with us when you arrived.

Keep up the good work!

Questions, probably a ton of them but can't think of one of them right now.

windsong

Sally - May I ask what the main shows on TV are in Britain? The only one I watch is Coronation Street but would like to begin watching some of them if I can find them on the Internet just to get reacquainted.

By the way, my proxy anonymizer still won't work. I can't play the ITV player to get Corrie Street. I have to depend on people posting it to YouTube. Actually, the proxy works but there's no way I can dictate which country's proxy I want to use and in this case it has to be a UK proxy. The one I have been using is the Tor/Vidalia proxy.

windsong

I will be like a kid in a candy store my first few months back in the UK. Riding the trains nonstop, going in and out of the stores like you did. Trying out all the cafes. Trying to find out what a British shopping mall is like. Trying to find what used to be the Cash and Carry store where you buy in bulk (similar to Sams and Costco in the U.S.). I don't know if they even exist in the UK any more.

windsong

Cheers - I am thoroughly enjoying this forum. This one is my favorite. I do visit the UKY forum, though. There's lots of good info there. You see things from the "other side" going there and for someone who has lived in both countries, it's helpful.

Celticspirit

As a realtor since 1978 (now retired) I can tell you that 3% goes to the selling brokerage, split between broker and agent and same for purchasing brokerage - 1.5% to broker and 1.5% for agent unless the company has made other arrangements.
Does anyone know what brokerage fees are in the UK?

windsong

I just realized something . . . I think what I am REALLY worried about is how I am going to survive the next 3-4 years in the U.S. with this job market. I need the job to save to go back to the UK. Once I have a job, I think my most of my fears will disappear.