Originally Posted by DDL (Post 9065629)

Originally Posted by trottytrue (Post 9066093)

I did laugh at my sister in law she went into great detail to tell me what she had made for Boxing Day dinner. After she had finished with the menue I asked her when had she become such an accomplished cook. She said she had bought most of the meal from Marks and Spencers. Even the dessert.

Originally Posted by trottytrue (Post 9066093)

DDL...Once again an absolutely lovely post. I was with you every step of the way especially at the table of eats:) and the Charles Dickens museum.

I agree with you entirely about Christmas. To me it very quite lives up to Christmas Past and I always have this sad feeling. I have three Grandchildren but even though we only live 2 hours away from them we are way down the toten pole so we dont get to see them. My son did call and say they hope to make it on New Years Day. I thnk it was guilt that made him call. But even without that little aggravation it still would be a let down. When mine were little we lived in a little English village outside Chester and it was just special and my childhood was spent in a village in Lancashire it was just a quieter time. I think more into the little things of life.

I did laugh at my sister in law she went into great detail to tell me what she had made for Boxing Day dinner. After she had finished with the menue I asked her when had she become such an accomplished cook. She said she had bought most of the meal from Marks and Spencers. Even the dessert.

Originally Posted by Taffy Duck (Post 9065585)

AVERAGE MONTHLY COSTS FOR A 2 BEDROOM BUNGALOW JULY 2010
COUNCIL TAX...........................92
HOUSE INSURANCE....................30
CAR INSURANCE........................50
TV LICENCE.............................12
MOT AND CAR TAX....................15
ELECTRIC BILL..........................20
GAS BILL.................................100
PETROL...................................40
WATER ON METER.....................30
FOOD FOR TWO........................300
BROADBAND AND PHONE.............30
MEALS OUT.............................60 ?????? ALL DEPENDS
CLOTHES................................50 ?????? ALL DEPENDS
MISCL....................................50
PUB VISITING..........................200

TOTAL....................................1079 POUNDS PER MONTH

ALL THE ABOVE IS APPROXIMATE

Cheers....Taffy I hope this gives everyone an idea

Originally Posted by dunroving (Post 9065524)

Council tax for a single person, moderate size house in a halfway decent area is circa £1,000 per year. Mine includes "water rates" at a fixed amount, but in other regions you can ask to have a water meter fitted so you pay less (if you live alone). I pay the same amount for water as the people next door, a family of 5 ... but in this part of Scotland you can not opt to pay for metered water, completely unfair.

If you rent when you come back, you will be liable for the council tax, not the landlord, unlike the States where the homeowner usually pays the property taxes and takes account for this by including it in the rent.

Originally Posted by DDL (Post 9065565)

Hello everyone!

Thought I'd pop in for a cuppa. ;)

As always, I've enjoyed reading all the posts. It appears that we all survived the holidays regardless of which side of the pond we were on.

Our Christmas was rather quiet. To be honest, it was quite difficult for me ... thinking about my grandsons back home opening all their presents on Christmas morning, etc. etc. and more etc. But sacrifices such as these are the reality of my life and I simply have to accept them. To be honest, Christmas has never really been the same for me since my children grew up so it seems like every year my personal Christmas changes and evolves and is still a "work in progress", I think. As I grow older, I seem to enjoy more and more my recollections of Christmases past such as when my children were young and, even more melancholy, remembering Christmases when I was a little girl. I'm lucky to have had the most brilliant childhood/family and am so thankful that I have these memories.

Ahem. Sorry. :o Moving on....

Tony has a 52-year old [mentally] handicapped brother who lives here at home, and it was a complete joy, truly, to watch him opening his presents on Christmas morning. He attends several centres/schools and has quite a large circle of friends who are in a similar situation to his, and they all exchange gifts with one another. Between family and friends, he must have had close to 50 pressies to open!

Tony loves giving little "gag" gifts to people. He has nicknamed his Mum "Bunny" because she's always running to and fro, always busy, never sits still. He found a little pink "Energizer bunny" ornament on Amazon and it really made her laugh when she opened it. :)

After Tony made phone calls to his 6 children, we drove into London. As I had been quite ill for the previous couple of weeks, we decided to forego the Dickens Walk around London and instead visited the Charles Dickens House Museum in Bloomsbury. I had been there 2 or 3 times before, but Tony had never been - and Dickens is his favourite author. It is one of the few places open in London on Christmas Day and of course it had a special 'Victorian Christmas' atmosphere there.

They served mulled wine and mince pies, and there were readings of 'A Christmas Carol'. Each visitor also received a free gift of the souvenir guide, a pencil, and 2 postcards. You could also tour the 4-story house. And the gift shop was open. :thumbsup: We enjoyed it very much and were glad we arrived early because by the time we left, the queue to get in went all the way down the street.

London is surreal on Christmas Day - quite empty - although there are still a number of people walking about. We drove up the Mall to Buckingham Palace but the road was blocked at one end. Since I had recently mentioned wanting to see the Emmeline Pankhurst statue at Westminster Park, we drove over there, parked up, and made a quick run to the statue (it was freezing outside!!!) long enough for me to snap some pictures.

We were trying to kill a bit of time before arriving at Tony's aunt and uncle's house. Since they live very near Heathrow, we decided to go to Terminal 5 to see what it was like inside. And very nice it is.

After that, we stopped by his aunt and uncle's for about an hour, then headed home. The refrigerator was full of sliced turkey, gammon, etc., for Mum's Boxing Day drop-in, so I fixed us plates of all the goodies, made my phone calls back to the States, then we spent the rest of Christmas evening in front of the telly watching all the Christmas specials.

Boxing Day saw more family here for Mum's drop-in, which was very nice. On the table: turkey, gammon, chicken, cold potatoes, potato salad, shrinp vol auvents, egg vol au vents, scotch eggs, sausage rolls, sausages wrapped in bacon, cheese wrapped in bacon, beetroot, pickled egg, 3 different types of cheese and crackers, tomatoes, salad, pineapple/cheese bites, stuffed potato skins, bread rolls ... gosh, and loads of other things I can't remember. Oh yes, 3 types of homemade TRIFLE, and of course Christmas Cake and other desserts.

So now we're back to normal, although the tree is still up and all the Christmas cards are all still standing at attention here in the lounge. A new year is just around the corner, Tony starts work on January 6, and hopefully 2011 will be our best year for ALL of us. :fingerscrossed:

Originally Posted by Taffy Duck (Post 9065585)

AVERAGE MONTHLY COSTS FOR A 2 BEDROOM BUNGALOW JULY 2010
COUNCIL TAX...........................92
HOUSE INSURANCE....................30
CAR INSURANCE........................50
TV LICENCE.............................12
MOT AND CAR TAX....................15
ELECTRIC BILL..........................20
GAS BILL.................................100
PETROL...................................40
WATER ON METER.....................30
FOOD FOR TWO........................300
BROADBAND AND PHONE.............30
MEALS OUT.............................60 ?????? ALL DEPENDS
CLOTHES................................50 ?????? ALL DEPENDS
MISCL....................................50
PUB VISITING..........................200

TOTAL....................................1079 POUNDS PER MONTH

ALL THE ABOVE IS APPROXIMATE

Cheers....Taffy I hope this gives everyone an idea

Originally Posted by Taffy Duck (Post 9065700)

I may also add that the list I posted was compiled by myself at my brother's house on my visit last July. It could vary quite a bit e.g.
1) TV is based on using ( free to Air ) if you choose ( sky ) or something else your monthly costs would be more..

2) If you have a mobile phone this could come from your miscl exp. as in my case I bought ( a pay as you go ) phone for 10 pounds it lasted me 3 weeks and I didn't use all the mins.

3) The gas and electric could switch depending on your type of cooker and heat.

4) The 200 pounds for the pub speaks for itself...he! he!

5) If over 60 free bus service

6) Mortgage payment...

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD ANY COMMENTS OR ITEMS I MAY HAVE OVER LOOKED. OUR FRIENDS WHO HAVE ALREADY RETURNED COULD SHED SOME LIGHT WITH THEIR OWN EXPERIENCES AND IN THE END WE ALL WILL HAVE A GENERAL IDEA OF WHAT TO EXPECT........
Cheers....Taffy

Originally Posted by windsong (Post 9066404)

I just noticed the HUGE difference between gas and electric costs. I wonder why that is. Overall, they are still much cheaper than in the U.S.