Pistolpete2

Well she's the spouse of a head of state! like a Queen? but not like THE Queen

From the Times:
"When Michelle Obama put her arm round the Queen at Buckingham Palace, some of the more excitable elements of the media - particularly the Americans - suggested she may have been guilty of a breach of protocol.

They missed the real story, however. What was far more interesting was that the Queen put her arm round the First Lady. "

Some coverage said the Queen actually appreciated Michelle Obama, the way she related to the Queen, which is why she was personally invited back with the children for a special excursion round the Palace at a later date.

windsong

I get the same thing.

I am in touch with friends from high school and university on the Friends Reunited web site. I mentioned last year that I was considering moving back. They all said "Nah, you don't want to come back here . . . anywhere but here . . . prices are going through the roof, etc. etc."

Must be a totally British trait. Of course, their comments had no effect whatsoever on me

I do feel there is tremendous truth in the statement that you must have lived outside the UK to really appreciate it.

bandrui

Having kept an eye on this thread I would say that we can focus on (and indeed have focused on) reasons to be unhappy in any country.

Posts in other threads have repeatedly shown that the problems that the UK is experiencing are not only over-exaggerated but are usually less severe than problems experienced in other western countries.

The unemployment rate is higher in both the US and Canada and not so much lower in Australia. Young people wear hoodies everywhere. Because they dress a certain way or even act with a certain bravado does not turn them into scary mobs. The price of petrol is rising everywhere. The economic slowdown has hit everywhere. In fact, economic growth cannot continue. It is, as has been pointed out for the last 40 years, unsustainable. The US economy was based on oil at $4/barrel. It's a bit higher than that now. They are deeply in debt, held primarily by China and Japan (which probably explains the announcements in Japanese that I heard at Detroit airport, and quite floored me).

When I last went back to the UK (2009) I noticed how everyone I knew seemed to have more disposable income than I and were generally enjoying a better lifestyle than I.

Of course, there are problems but this is not the sole domain of the UK.

For most of us planning to return to the UK, the focus is on the positives that are only available to us there. I won't list them all but high on the list for me is the diverse beauty of the UK. In all my travels to many other countries, I have never found another that could match this beauty.
Because of the diversity of the UK, there is access to so many more interesting places than in any other country I have visited, and all within a relatively close distance, not to mention the access to other places in Europe.

I do believe that over-population is a problem, particularly compared to places like Canada, but that alone is not enough to keep me here. And yes, I do feel that immigration there has got a bit out of hand. I'm sure this will be addressed where necessary. There are so many places that I went in the UK and experienced a sense of peace, tranquillity and lack of crowds. This will be the type of place that I seek out, but know that I will also have access to interesting towns and cities.

We have compared budgets and seen that overall we are better off there.

All in all I am still feeling primarily positive about returning to the UK. I take what I read in the media anywhere with a pinch of salt and this is probably a good idea when it comes to the media there. It all depends where you want to place your focus.

Pistolpete2

I have to laugh at the fact that so often we as expats used to harp on about the fact that the only thing wrong with Britain was the British themselves.

I'm laughing again here bandrui for the same reason but I have to agree with you that the positive attributes that you've named are practical in retirement/semi-retirement as key reasons to return IF you have ready access and the time and maybe money to linger in the most beautiful areas if you are not able to actually find a spot to live in their midst.

dunroving

I agree - I don't have the bloody time to see anything other than my house, my office, and the road in between. Still, I could be living in Easterhouse (sorry if anyone is from there!)

sallysimmons

You know, my friends are far from wealthy but they seem to have tons of time for holidays and weekends away. It amazes me actually. One is in the US right now on a two-week trip around the Western states having got back recently from a weekend in Venice. One spends frequent weekends up in Cumbria on walking trips. And I just got in touch with an old college friend who works for his local council in Devon and whose wife works part-time. Three months ago, they went for 10 days in Cumbria. Now he tells me that in two weeks they're off for a week in Cornwall. Another holiday??

Like I said, these are not wealthy people.

Englishman43

Same here seems like everyone I know in England is off hither & yonder every 5 mins.

Pistolpete2

There's a couple I know that compare, who spring to mind. They also would not be described as wealthy but they each receive a senior teacher's pension plus and they have no dependants or descendants or mortgage. So they should still have plenty to spend on those trips and break even on an annual basis but the chat on other threads here is not, it seems, looking at a pension(s) of mid-twenties for two even so that lifestyle may be a bit of a reach for many, possibly me included. I'm trying not to post blasé.

If you are still working and have the time off then you are quids in and should go for it. When I was working I used most public holidays to jet off to the States on ticket sales and redeemed miles and AAdvantage specials. Those were the days!

But, as bandrui has said, that sort of lifestyle, if you buy into it, is a big reason to return to the UK and I for one see something similar as my reason for spending a fair amount of time there. I can't actually see myself wanting to do much other than pottering around which could add-up, which is why I say maybe money.

A big advantage when retired is that your time is your own and so you can grab those travel bargains and low ryanair/easyjet BA/AA fares as it suits you, sometimes with incl. hotels and sometimes those trips are much cheaper than traveling in the UK, so I've just come up with an added reason to return. It costs a fortune to get off this particular rock.

I would like to know where people stay on those trips as a typical B&B in the UK can now set you back 55 quid even out of season. Maybe there are deals or promos we don't know of.

Beedubya

Same here SS, my sister I am staying with is in Turkey, she returns on Monday then is off to Paris next weekend, my other sister went to Spain this morning with her husband, my mother is off to Spain in November for a month, Me??? I have been no further than here for at least the last decade or two.............

bandrui

Hi Pete. I'm a bit baffled... at what's funny? This is, from my heart, how I feel.
I don't think retirement/semi-retirement, time or money have anything to do with this. My father worked very hard, we didn't have a lot of extra money and never had a car but every Sunday we went for picnics in the countryside. I think it's more a matter of priorities at any age. We find time for the things that are important to us; access and money are not the issues here. The countryside is all around us there, in every county.
Just trying to understand where you are coming from??

Pistolpete2

I'm not belittling your rationale for returning, please don't get me wrong.

I'm laughing because few of us (me included) seem to want to go back to the UK to be amongst our own fellow Brits when it comes to actually listing the reasons. Admittedly those younger Brits living in the US and Canada in particular seem more isolated due to cultural differences and find it harder to make real friends.

sallysimmons

The negativity is only one aspect of Brits though, and I think that's why we can want to be back among our own kind while also being irritated by aspects of their personality. Its like a family. You love them but certain things they do drive you nuts.

Pistolpete2

I've been trying to arm myself with a proper sense of where the UK finds itself right now, to make better use of this particular thread.

This article seems to have a finger on the pulse:

Google it if you need to read the entire article.

Thatcherism and the End of the Post-War Consensus
By Dennis Kavanagh

Conclusion:

...........................Society has also become more individualistic, as seen in the passion for home ownership and in Blair’s emphasis on choice in the public services. Britain's one-size-fits-all, post-1945 public services are seen to be less responsive to consumers. There remains a north-south (more accurately, London and the south east versus the rest) divide in terms of economic wealth and opportunity.

London has gained greatly from the globalising economy, while the north remains heavily dependent on public spending for jobs and economic activity.

And despite rising living standards and greater opportunity for many, society has become more 'broken' and an 'underclass' has emerged. Indicators of these trends are divorce, which has increased twentyfold, the prison population, which has increased sevenfold, and the fact that Britain has more births outside marriage and teenage mothers than any other European country.

sallysimmons

I understand. I've been trying to do the same - my observations come from my family and friends rather than from newspapers, but I think we're all on the same page - trying to learn.

I think one problem with newspaper articles and books is figuring out how to use the information. For example, "London has benefited from globalisation" sounds like the kind of thing people say about New York. And it's certainly true - for the well-off people. Everybody else finds themselves increasingly priced out of being able to afford decent homes. My understanding from my friends in London is that the same does indeed apply there. The people I know in the north and in Devon have a better standard of living then the people I know in London.

On the other hand, taking friends' experiences as guidance can also be misleading. Their experiences might not be ours. Their lifestyle might not be one we can have. Or if we got it, one that we would want.

In the end I suppose like everything in life, it comes down to following your intuition and then making the best of it.

johnh009

Having recently returned from Canada, I question if I have done the right thing. Britain is mired in a recession and quite frankly, given how slow everything happens here and the amount of red tape, I doubt they can dig themselves out of it. Low paying jobs in call centres are replacing decent paying jobs in the traditional industries. I suppose Margaret Thatcher thought she could turn all of those miners and engineering workers into network administrators overnight. Countries that pump a large amount of their wealth into the conflicts in Iraq, Afganistan, and Libya have little chance of gaining any ground.

I suppose the country has been in the doldrums for more than 20 years. It was just that the previous Labour government pumped lots of cheap credit into the economy that gave an illusion of wealth. Now, the party is over, make no mistake about that. Sure, the countryside is fantastic, try living off that. By 2010, 10% unemployment will be the norm in the north.