sallysimmons

And I now want to see your neck of the woods - maybe one day we can do a house swap

I'm starting a list of places I've never been but want to visit. So far I have:

Devon
Ireland (all of it)
Scotland (all of it)
Somerset
Bristol
Norfolk
Cambridge
Oxford
Northumberland
Kent coast
Herefordshire

The list keeps growing every time I watch a British TV show! I'd better get home soon or I'll never have time to see it all.

dontheturner

somerset gal - Well, back in '63 when my first wife, decided my best friend, could provide an ''Extra need'', I got custody, of my daughter in court, along with the divorce, and put her through High School, and that was our ''closeness' - so I do think we have a special bond - even her handwriting, looks like mine! How strange is that? - But - I would have loved a son! love dontheturner

dontheturner

SS, and if you don't add Wellington Shropshire to that list, then you will never enjoy, a massage from my Thai Wife, Tim, so there. Love dontheturner xx

SomersetGirl

OK, its a deal, but first we have to find a house to swap Don't forget to add Cornwall to your list...its beautiful...have to get my West Country fix from watching Doc Martin!

SomersetGirl

My Dad was hoping for a boy when I was born, that's why I got a train set for my 5th birthday (I loved it!!)

curleytops

Trotty....Thanks for the household clearout tips, I'll give it a shot. I know how I'll be spending this weekend, dreading it but it's got to be done. Not like I can even have a yard sale at this time of the year but I'm sure all will work out. I've got some incentive to start the packing detail now, the new luggage arrived today. Stay warm and hope you don't get too bombed by that big arctic blast!

Mummy in the foothills

Welcome Curlytops, that was my nick name as a kid Mop of black curls that my mother fought with and lost each day.

trottytrue

dontheturner....Your life ahead is going to be full of happiness. You are so blessed. My husband has that special relationship with our daughter, to be honest he is far closer to her than he is to our sons. She is alot more thoughtful. I think many daughters start looking at their Fathers in a very different way once they get older. I always loved my Dad but it wasnt till I was in my twenties that I really began to appreciate him. Sadly he died when I was 28. I miss him for what we didnt that extra time, so you are really lucky that you can have that special time with your daughter.
When we dig this house out of the snow and sell it I will certainly try my best to come and pay you a visit. I did see one of those house shows on British tele and the people were looking for a home in the Shropshire area I didnt realize how beatiful it is.

dunroving....Thankyou for posting your reasons for returning to the UK, it really is good to get both sides of this issue. I must admit that first post of yours sounded pretty idyillic, I am not sure if I had been in the same situation as you I would have wanted to return home. But then its that little thing inside us that keeps niggling at us. You have really stuck it out its not as if you didnt give it a chance. Have you ever thought perhaps of moving to a different area of the UK. But what you said really does give food for thought. A few years ago I did think I might give it a try here in the US in a different town but I could never quite find the right place. Thankyou again.

Curlytops....I cannot tell you how many times I have gone through my boxes which I thought I wanted to take with me. Today I went through all my VHS tapes and put to one side those I am going to convert to DVD's, once my OH buys me the DVD converter from Staples. I have given him enough hints. Now I have another large box with all my exercise tapes and old movies I will never watch all ready for the Salvation Army.

Somersetgirl....I was like you when my OH asked me about coming to the US I did it without any thought of what I was getting into no lists nothing. But I was young and lived for the day it was so exciting I never thought about the future and the consequences of my actions. When I see postings on the other forum of people moving to other contries I want to tell them to stop and really think about it. But who knows perhaps with me it was meant to be. I made the choice when I agreed to marry someone from another country. Back then you didnt walk away from marriage you really worked at it and we both did. So now its time for some more excitement but the pro's and con's have weighed heavily on me, the biggest con is leaving my daughter behind. If she asked me not to go I wouldnt. No one can say life has been dull. I do understand what you were saying.

There are so many places I have not been to in the UK thats one thing I want to change when I get home I want to travel and see as much as I can.

dontheturner

TT, Just make a note, ready to type into your Sat Nav:- TF1 3QF, and where the road ends, I will be there, with my Lovely Tippawan, standing on the doorstep, looking at you. love dontheturner xx

dontheturner

Hello Rodney, Have sent you a PM.. Regards dontheturner

Beedubya

Lovely post TT, it brought a tear to my eye. Being away from my daughter for a year has taken us to a different level of relationship and I thought my eldest grand-daughter would be the one I missed most, but she is now a 15 year old teenager and more interested in iPods and boys than dear old Nan.

I am going to miss my daughter terribly and you know if she had cried and asked me not to go, then I wouldn't have done, but she didn't because she knows how I feel. (That's how I missed out on my BA cheap fare )

I just hope I get this job with my present company to allow me to get staff discounted airfares then I won't feel as far away if I can just jump on a plane at a whim or if needed. Easier to find a few hundred dollars than a few thousand dollars........or should that be pounds???

Beedubya

How come I didn't get an invite?

dontheturner

Barb, Dear me - our relationship, was our little secret - now everyone knows, that it also includes you ,too love dontheturner. - to chat sitting in airchairs, would be divine.

Beedubya

Update on Cyclone Yasi in Queensland

Well as much as there has been devastation and destruction to many, many homes and businesses, thank God there has not been one death reported so far though 2 people have been reported as missing, which given the ferocity of the cyclone is pretty amazing.

I think most people listened to the Government warnings and took shelter in evacuation centres, ie shopping centres, basements, etc.

BTW 3 babies were born in the midst of the storm, one in Cairns shopping centre, the mother said she will NOT be calling the baby girl Yasi.

So I would say that Rosie and Celticspirit's family members are more than likely OK.

between two worlds

Curleytop, welcome! Thanks for stopping the lurking and saying hello.

Dunrovin thank you for these interesting and informative posts, your feelings one the eve of leaving US in 1996, your feelings in Scotland now, your disillusion--mainly due to your work circumstances, I gather--very understandable, as work is such a big part of one's life. You've obviously thought long and hard about these issues, so I can't tell you anything you don't know--but would it help to make a list (! those lists! as others have mentioned, we so often don't bother when young, eager for adventure, in love, or whatever!) of what you like about UK/Scotland, in itself--separate from the job. Countryside, pubs (?!), walks, architecture, sense of history--the whole atmosphere; all that stuff, separate from the working day--is it enough to keep you here? Would you miss it if you go back to US? Or not???
Your posts are what this thread should be about--so, see, it's not going to hell in a handbasket!--and of course Trotty helped by asking, as she does, a great question.

Islandwoman Rosie, please don't leave!
Unless it's just that you have become really busy with your new life in Frome....
Your posts, like ED's, DDL's, Rodney's and others who have posted immediately on getting back to UK, are so helpful. They are what this forum is all about...showing the ups and downs, the depression that can hit when things--people, places, weather, whatever--aren't as we'd hoped they would be; then the ability to pull yourself up out of it...your experiences have showed us so much--one of the most important things they've shown is the importance of being in a nice PLACE in UK--they aren't all as nice as each other!--especially if family ties there are not dictating the choice of where to live. Since we have chosen to go back because of issues of place, it's important to pick the place where we can feel content!

DDL/Denise I somehow missed that you got a job, I knew interviews were coming up--congrats! That's fantastic.

Beedubya/Barb I DO hope they come through with the details of that job offer soon! You must be on tenterhooks!

Trottytrue Yes, like you, I fell in love with an American man and went to USA because of him, swept up in the adventure of it all, with nary a backward glance....but somewhere in my mind I thought it would be temporary, as our Italian sojourn was....I just wasn't thinking it through! (Thinking isn't a big part of what goes on when one is young and in love!) Now I would recommend to couples in this situation that they have some sort of agreement...if after a certain (agreed-on) number of years, the spouse who is leaving his/her country is still unbearably homesick, the family will go back to that country.....We didn't have any such thing, plus (a major factor) my husband was the breadwinner, I was home with children and earning a little here and there in my work from home...but the whole family depended on his job situation...and so the years went by! I was often unhappy about it, and yet, I don't know that I'd exactly say I have regrets at how it has all turned out...the "kids" had the benefit of being raised in a nice small USA town and doing all their schooling there in a rather good public school, and they are great kids and all doing well, and happy...unlike many on this forum who live in USA, I did make close friends....so, anyway, I still think an agreement between couples is a good idea. And I hope to get to spend those uninterrupted months in England eventually!

Tina