callé

I paid 16 pounds. Got it off ebay from a shop. New in package and works great. just search for your computer brand name.
Oh, and good evening to you now.

reeni

Calle - how long have you been back ....how has it been? how are your kids doing - do they like it?

jasper123

trottytrue are you takeing your PC with you too, is that possible, would our american PC,S WORK IN UK?
That would be great and save a lot of money, but how are you getting it over there? PC,S are kind of bulky and heavy arent they, I suppose you will ship it back huh, but with the shipping charges would it be worth it?
Rodney.

sallysimmons

Rodney, We'll probably Fed-Ex ours over or maybe even take them as luggage. The iMac is all in one - just a monitor with no big box. So moving it is just like moving a light, flat screen TV. We kept the boxes, which have handles, so we can carry them! If they won't let us take them as luggage, we'll Fed-Ex them.

Computers work fine in any country as long as you have a plug adapter.

DDL

We're transferring everything off our PC hard drives onto a portable hard drive which we will hand carry over, then giving the PC's to the kids.

Tony's bringing over his U.S. laptop and I'm bringing over my U.S. netbook to use until we can afford to purchase PC's.

I've just spent the better part of this afternoon scanning in all of our medical records.

jasper123

Hi Calle,
So if I buy a laptop here in US and take it back home to UK when I go all I would need then is a plug adapter and a new charger cord which I would have to buy in England sspecificallyfor my brand of laptop and Hi presto I will be good to go --- right,
If I shop on ebay like you did for a UK charger cord AND I could get it cheap something like the 16 pounds that you paid, that would be good, even better if I sshoppedon ebay for it while I am still in US, --- I wonder if that would be possible? then I will be good to go as soon as I get to England, what do you think about that?
Rodney.

Mummy in the foothills

Yep, but not so much of the gay part

Yep take your lap top over, and either buy a plug converter or a new wire from the UK for your brand, that plugs it into the wall. Presto your good to go

KevinS

Hello fellow refugees, we have been existing in New Zealand for the past 7 years, I have finally come to my senses and agreed with my wife that it is time to go home. My daughter can't wait and her facebook page probably has a countdown clock on it by now! We are moving back to Norfolk, although we are from Yorkshire originally the last 6 years in the UK were spent near Norwich and we liked it there. There are some things we will miss I guess, but not the gangs, drugs and crap drivers.
We are bringing our cat and dog back with us and are currently decluttering the house, will put it up for sale in November and once it is sold head home.

Kevin and Linda

Mummy in the foothills

Congrats on the decision Kevin and Linda, I hope it all goes smoothly and you are home in no time.

eastender2

That's a great time to make the transition. Mine graduated at 18, went to London, and at 25 is still there. The best thing about me waiting this long to follow her is the home prices went down about 50% where I live, and at least I'll have a little flat to visit and bring the nephews when they want to come for their American holiday. I'd say within one year of th kids graduating, or you spend years 'have to do this, have to do that" - then it gets bloody scary.

trottytrue

Rodney.... Yes we are taking our computer back with us its fairly new so we will ship it with the rest of the stuff. Also my Bose radio which was a present I will get more use out of it in England. The TV will stay even though I love it but my daughter cant wait for it to come her way.

Easterndawn..... I am so sorry about the job. But you are one of those people that does not feel sorry for yourself, you pick yourself up dust yourself off and start all over again. I think when a new employer reads your CV they will see how adaptable you are and find that a very good quality. Onward and Upward

The house.....What can I say... The estate agent called to say that she had never known the market to be so quiet at this time of the year..Well that figures...I think Saint Joseph must be asleep on the job...Perhaps I should dig him up and take him out of the plastic bag I put him in perhaps he cant breath or think

Tomorrow my two Grandsons are coming also the chimney sweep will be here I had forgotten about him. My daughter with her 3 legged dog and my puppy chasing it.

Kevin and Linda.... My friend just sold her home in Chester to move to New Zealand she just turned 70 she said that where she is moving you have to be careful or you can buy a house which doesnt see much daylight at certain times of the year something about the mountains. To buy where she wants is quite expensive, just for the land. Wish you all the best selling up and moving home.

Don...Have you started to clean out yet and you to Rodney you really need to get into that garage or you will end up throwing things away you should have kept. Doing things in a rush is not the best way. Cant say I am rushed here. I should apply for my passport but dont there is any rush do you.

Charley girl... hope you enjoy you time away.

trottytrue

Eastender2....Course you can join it might take you that long to sell your house. Weve been trying to sell ours for 3 years. I agree with you about the tea, they have no idea how to make a good cup of tea... Show it the water and then pull it out. The most awful tea I have ever tasted I dont know what I would do without my English tea. My Mother had a name for it when she came to visit. Cant mention it on here.

Easterndawn

Good Morning Everyone, Went yesterday and have a lovely cup of coffee with the lady I stayed with when I first came here. She was not a great landlady but is a good friend. In 2 months I will have been here a year, can you believe that? In some aspects it feels like I just arrived but I think that comes from the fact that I am still not fully settled yet. I thought I would list some of the things I have noticed have changed dramatically since I left 45 years ago.

More garbage on the streets, the beach near where I live, used to be a wonderful clean beach and although I have only been down there a couple of times this summer, it was filthy, plastic bags, pop cans etc.

There is certainly at lot more young women with babies, they seem to meet in the mall and like young men with their cars, show off their prams. Some seem very young and I wonder what will happen to these babies whose mothers are babies themselves.

Up here in Scotland at least, I have found the lack of community, it seems to be everyone is out for themselves. I am not sure if that is just here or is this general in UK now. Perhaps someone could let me know.

There are times when I think I may have left it to late in coming back and I feel sometimes disconnected from place and people. I still love being back, most of the time but if I am honest with myself, now and then these niggling thoughts wiggle there way in. Of course again this is probably because of my inability to find that permanent position and home and also the fact that half of me is still back in Canada. I also have to admit to myself that I came here with only the memories of 45 years ago and it has been a huge culture shock to find that it has changed so much in that time. I had prepared myself as best I could but until you return then what you remember is what you hope you will see when you get here. I think the one thing I have found out about myself is that I am really more Canadian than I thought and that I should of come back and visited and perhaps I would of settled more back there but hindsite is a wonderful thing to have, not very productive though.

There are many positives and I think once I am more mobile, have the rest of my family, have a more constant employment situation and place to live many of these things will change. This is my homeland and warts and all I still love it.

KevinS

Thanks Trottytrue, I guess your friend would have family over here, very brave at 70. My In-laws came over at 65, they have enjoyed the medical facilities (hip replacement and bladder cancer treatment) which they probably might not have had as quickly in the UK. True about the hills, we get all day sun, which makes a huge difference with the heat of the house and the mildew outside.
We have had enough now, and I think my in-laws might follow us back (just can't escape ) Will keep the forum updated as we progress.

Kevin and Linda

aes1

ED, this is a great post. Very thoughtful and realistic. I must say that my feelings are now very similar to yours, even though I am not in my home country per se, being in Malta, I am still back in Europe, my home, and not the USA. I know my thoughts and feelings today are very much influenced by recent events (took my teaching practice yesterday and only just scraped through, now wondering what the h___ I am doing with my life), and I think your feelings - as you say yourself - reflect still not being settled after one year. I guess I should allow myself more time, as I have only been here 3 months, just long enough to not be considered a tourist any more! Also, not having your husband (and my not having anyone who knows me) with you in your new home, which is still a foreign country in some aspects all this does make a huge difference. It is so much harder to fit back into a life you once lived culturally when you are trying to do it on your own. It totally changes your perspective of things when there is no one beside you to help you stop thinking negative about certain things. Here, like the beaches where you are, there is so much litter around, it is hard to ignore it. Yes, there is that sense of lack of community like you say. And it is so, so noisy here in a busy town on a busy island. This morning there is loud drilling noise from construction at 7:15 am on a Saturday!!!!! I think the whole world is moving faster, full of people on roundabouts, and it is very hard for the outsider to jump back on to one. Yes, I hear myself speak and think I seem more American (not in accent, but in subject matter), like you feel more Canadian. I find myself always comparing life here to life in the USA, and that is not productive. For my exam I had to buy coloured sheets of paper. 6 sheets cost me as much as a whole ream of paper in Walmart!!! I think you, ED, and I are in the same boat. Understandable we have those 'niggling' doubts from time to time. We are trying to do everything all by ourselves when we are not spring chickens any more!! New home, new job, friends, foods, interests, environment, way of life - not an easy task to do at any age, never mind ours, when we mentally add in that extra element of time and think we are running out of it.

So my advice to you and myself, and anyone else going back all by themselves, is SLOW DOWN. Try and just enjoy everything as it SLOWLY evolves. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day, not even a year.