jasper123

Thanks taffy duck for the Rolf Harris site, I have put it in my favorites, Taffy do you know how I could get old episodes of Steptoe & Son?
Rodney.

Taffy Duck

You can watch all kinds on youtube or if you want the actual videos you can find them on Amazon UK and Amazon USA not too much on Amazon Canada....if you want to capture the youtube there is a way of doing that ...you can download all kinds of free programs that capture the "flv" file and then converts them to any format you wish, you just have to do some searching to find the best one...

Cheers...Taffy

Tanto

Hello Everyone,
Have been lurking here for months and following all the exciting adventures with smiles, tears and admiration! What a joy it has been to read these remarkable, courageous stories!
Ed, congratulations - you kept opening the doors!!! Rodney - loved your words of encouragement. Relocateme - inspiring.
Have not posted before as I didn't know where to start. Thought I'd better join you all before another 3 months went by......I know it will help to just to get some words and thoughts on 'paper'.
Have been in the USA for over 30 years (how is that possible?) and currently living in LalaLand! Over 3 years ago I started to get terribly homesick and decided I needed to go back to the UK. Made a couple of trips back over during that time and then a 3 month stint last September - not a good experience! My cousins (who had agreed to let me have a base with them) turned nasty and I ended up scrounging places to stay with anyone who would have me!! Finally went to Berlin for a month to stay with old friends.
Am back now and confused - don't know where I fit in or where to go. Ed and TT (I think) suggested early on to start a centre for returning ex-pats - what a brilliant idea, I thought (still do).
I feel better already getting these words out and 'talking' to you all in the future - must get over my shyness! What a terrific bunch of people you are - thank you!
Tanto

nolimits

You sounded a bit of a rascal at School Mr Pastry! Some lovely stories.
Yes I too remember some of the radio programmes. I can remember family favourites on a Sunday lunchtime I think. I use to love listening to all the places where the soldiers were posted.

nolimits

Big welcome Tanto. What a shame about your cousins, families!!!! They can be a real let down at times. Thank goodness you had friends to rely on.
Where abouts are you in USA?
It must be difficult after all the years in US to think about coming back to UK, but I guess at the end of the day, for most people it is still home.
Did you make many good friends in US?
I really hope you will feel settled soon. This forum is great I have not been a member for very long but I sort of feel I have been here for ages. My story is not courageous or inspiring. My family and I were being sponsored by a close relative (for 10 years) but now they have changed their mind, so we never actually got to live in US. Just going to enjoy some holidays there now instead.

Mrs Sully

Welcome Tanto, it took me ages to get on board as well. You will find lovely people in the forum and I know the advice certainly helps me. We are toying with going back to retire but are realistic enough to know that the family has changed as has the country. I just know one thing, no matter how long I live in Australia (34 years now) and despite lovely children and grandchildren I will always feel like a spectator rather than a participant. Maybe that is the reality the acceptance of it all. Lovely Quoll goes back for a visit every year, read her posts and your heart will lift in an instant. Just keep in touch and everyone here will at least give you a little laugh...sometimes a cry. ED how are things today...still on cloud nine

jayde

I am another lurker, I have been reading every word, and going up and down the roller coaster of emotions with all of you. I have only been away from home for 5 years but it seems the US is not where my heart is, so our plans are to return to Oz as soon as practical. We are in the throes of trying to get our stuff returned but may have to sell and donate it, as shipping is So expensive,

Congratulations on the job ED, how exciting, you will have a great time, with your positive attitude.

I just wanted you all to know how you have made a real difference to many people because this thread is real. My very best wishes to all who are not living the life they wish and hope that the future plans work out for the best.

dgjamison

Hi Tanto, and welcome to the tread, and sorry to hear of your bad experience at home, I too think it would be great if there was a place for epats to return too, would'nt it be great for people returning until they got help? I hope all works out for you

Tanto

Hello Nolimits. Thank you for your welcome! Yes, thank goodness for friends!
I am in Los Angeles (previously NYC/Dallas) at present and have a few friends here - most are scattered around the country and world...
So sorry to hear your relative (what is it with relatives?!) changed their mind about sponsorship - how disappointing for you. Long holidays might do the trick - how long can you stay in the US on a visitor's visa?
Grateful for your words of support.
Tanto

Tanto

How lovely to hear from you all - many thanks for the encouraging words and support. This website made a huge difference to me when I first discovered it - nobody here (LA) could identify with what I was going through (in the UK also). Suddenly here were hundreds of people with the same thoughts and feelings - I was already half-way home!!!
We need to work on the returning ex-pats centre.......
Tanto

J.J

Hello Mrs Sully, similarly I explain my time here in USA as living 'amongst' americans, but never as one.

A camp for returnees sounds like a good idea, maybe there is space to set up one outside Calais with all the others heading to Britain. Or preferably our stopping off point should be that seniors bar in Malta with aes1?

We have been making our steady step by step approach to returning for months now. last year we said well lets get ready to go then decide in Jan if we really will - then we decided that this is the year to make the move. Now providence interupts and first I was laid off and today my hubby was told his office will be closing and his only option is to move to the new location 200 miles away or be laid off. Well we are 2 weeks from having the house ready to put on market, 2 years from retirement so the lay off thing is just by-the-by at this time and Britain here we come. A few years ago we would have reluctantly relocated with the Co or been devastated by the lay off but now we see it as the signal to make our return to home. Our cat will have reached his end date of vaccination probation in mid-March so even he is ready. The next big step is to get the house on the market and sold.

Relocateme

Woh! ....Welcome Tanto, Jayde and anyone else I missed...our thread is really taking off hey? just wait till AES1 gets back from her hols and sees this lot!! ho ho

ED two jobs wow..spoiled for choice now sister?...your doing the right thing at the seaside though I think..much more variety and some free shows to boot!
Oh and dancing Ed..there's bound to be dancing, cant recall the last dance I went to. Remember when we used to get dressed up to the nines to go out on a Saturday night? ha all the guys wore the suits and ties and asked nicely if you wanted to dance/ Maybe some of it is still going on..Maybe at our expat relocation centre hey?

I have been on a roller-coaster myself at the weekend with my stuff.. I can tell you. I sold loads of small things on Friday evening and then the ppl who were to buy the big stuff (arranged since last November) came over Sunday after the game with only half the cash...... thats all they had,. they said! What the....!

I told them that was not the deal. They said they heard I had to leave by end March... (Oh I get it)

To cut it short I gave them their deposit back and sold it all on Sun and Mon to friends who said they always liked the furniture

I think I learned a lesson....first come...first served only..no layaways



Here's some of the good questions:


will you sell the chair and ottoman separately and how much would you charge,

...can you deliver it,. its too far for me...

how long have you had the couch...


So now its me, the tv, the laptop, a twin mattress and one small saucepan to make tea in...for a week and a half. Its alright actually! I am nice and warm and its like camping in one's own house

Got through most of the food in the cabinets and the rest I am taking to my friends house in the City when I leave my village

Got new pics from England today of the house I am going to stay in

I have total use of the greenhouse...Rock On!!!

The garden is green with foliage and some of the flowers are starting to come through..Oh to tread on soft ground again. Its been 6 months now on the ice and snow

This morning I found a song on Youtube that I haven't heard since I was sixteen by a Brum group called the Rockin' Berries.."I'm a Poor Man's Son" it bought tears to my eyes..the instant I heard it I recalled every person who was connected with me at the time of that song

Music certainly is a trigger for the soul. I was back. I was there, in that Place. I wonder if the bands who played then are aware of how great a part they p layed in our lives when we were young?

I added it to my playlist list of 60's music that I dance to every morning after my toast ( or sometimes with toast in hand) life is great and its getting exciting now!!

trottytrue

First of all can a say Congratulations to Easterndawn. You really deserve it you have worked so very hard to get a job. Things are really coming together for you and if others dont understand how hard you have worked at it they need to go back and read your posts.
Second... Can I say that it shows when a forum is really not just a lot of words strung along but when people really understand and feel for you. I dont know many places where people would mention that they had missed someone...... Thankyou. I did not mean to worry you but it was out of my control.

Some of you may not have heard but here in New England we had the worst storm, first snow then terrible rain for days and then hurricane force winds then snow. The winds brought down many tree's and off course power lines. The river at the bottom of our garden took a different route because of the ice flow so it was coming close to the house but that wasnt the worst. When you have no electric you have no water nothing. Our generator did not work the first day. Thankfully we got it working the second day so we could get water and light in selected rooms. The hum of generators could be heard up and down the road. We got our electric back last night. Was I thankful.

My husband is feeling much better but still has to have some tests done to see what the actual problem really is. I have decided I am not giving up on my dream its been with me too long. I am just going to take 'one day at a time' as my mother would often say. She even sent me the poem that it comes from. So we will soldier on. Little steps.

To all those new to the board welcome you wll get plenty of help here and encouragement.

Tanto... Don't base going home on relatives ,decide whats really in your heart. Relatives can be the worst. My Mum got tired of me after a couple of weeks, it was just the way she was. We got on fine when we lived close just not that close. Most of us dont like our space being invaded.

Again Thankyou for all your concern. I am fine...... It was just one of those days......

Mrs Sully

Lovely to hear from you Tottytrue. I'm glad to hear things are a little better for your husband. Our health really is the main consideration for most of our major decisions and even more so as we get older. As for today everyone in the forum seems a little chirpy and that is good news, it is also lovely to know we can write down our worries to like minded people. I just wish there was an antidote to 'homesickness' until then I will keep logging on

Fish n Chips 56

Trottytrue, Its so good to hear from you again, and with Great news, Thats the spirit, Dont quit until there is no choice, I like your attitude, its amazing what a good weekend can do or some bad weather in your case.

Follow your dreams and your Gut feeling, I hate regrets.

Good Luck to you and your husband.