pompeyblonde

You know what gets me with Australia...the weather....its all a lot of expats talk about...take the weather away and then what? Im not saying weather isnt important but you cant surely base your whole life on it??

but thats just me!

chris955

There are a couple of people in the other part of this forum that would have you believe that the weather was the most important thing in life. The weather and living near a beach, it is just so shallow.

sallysimmons

Ah I see what you were getting at. No, I don't see the contradiction at all. I am on the Moving Back to the UK forum, discussing my experiences with other people who are only here because they want to move back. I hope I'm being helpful.

But when I was happy in America, it would never have occurred to me to come on the 'moving Back to the UK' forum and tell everyone how great America was and how fantastic it was to live there. I'd assume no-one here cared or needed to know that.

Just as now that I'm in the UK and genuinely thrilled to be here, I wouldn't dream of going on the USA forum and telling everyone how fabulous it is here and why they should stay.

I think when people do that, they are going beyond just sharing their happiness and veering into something that feels a lot like self-justification. In truth we're all at different stages of our lives, and we all need or want different things. The best we can do is share our experiences with those who need or want the same as we do.

Hope that clears up any confusion.

Bud the Wiser

Phew!!!! That's okay then. One would hate to think you really meant what you said.

Bud the Wiser

Nope. Still confused. On the one hand you said......

"For a long time, I was happy abroad and during that time it wouldn't have occurred to me to come on a site like this and aggressively state how happy I was. No need - I was happy and therefore it didn't matter what anyone else thought."

on the other hand here you are doing exactly that except you are now back in England and not abroad.

Doesn't make sense. Can't have it both ways. Saying you wouldn't have said that on this part of the forum is evading the point I make.

Still, I'm glad you've found happiness.

Homeiswheretheheartis

The only person I can see who isn't making sense is you? I understand what Sally is saying and I'm easily confused

Most people come onto moving back to the UK, to find out peoples experiences of moving home. Sally posts her experience which has been positive, I am sure she would have posted if her experience had been bad as well.

I would not expect to go onto the US part of the forum and expect people to be posting an update of their everyday lives. Their moving experiences or their first couple of months, yes because it helps people. Sally couldn't have done that as she had I believe been in the US for a long time.

I would wonder why someone would need to tell you how fab their life is, regularly. But, then I find people on facebook saying 'look how fab, my life is' odd.

Maybe, if I log on here in 7 years and Sally is still regularly posting about the UK, I would wonder why (sorry Sally).

sallysimmons

It really does make sense and I'm really not trying to have anything both ways but I guess I'm not finding the words to explain properly.

What I am objecting to is (a) a person butting in to a section of the site that's about moving home in order to declare how happy they are in America/Australia/somewhere else OR (b) a person butting into the US/Australia/wherever forum to state how great Britain is and how dumb those people must be to leave it. (Not sure I've ever seen the second one but hey, miracles can happen )

But if an expat in Australia posts in the Australia forum about how much they love it there ... well that's what the forum is there for. Good on them!

I am still here because I used to hate it when people went back home and stopped posting just when I most needed to hear from them. I understood why they lost interest but I was so eager for scraps of information that I wished they had found the time to share. I clung to the posts from people like Jasper123 who stuck around even after he got back and I wanted to give back in the same way. I work at the computer all day so it doesn't take much effort to check in and share experiences or answer questions. And I'm a writer by profession, so I write quickly.

As for telling people I'm happy ... I waited years and dreamed for years about coming back here and at times I thought it would never happen. I'm not going to fell bad about sharing my experiences now that it has, but if it makes you feel better I'm sure bad things are just around the corner for me (I never think happiness can last )

brits1

Same for me really, I use to like hearing people's stories about AFTER their return to the UK, it helped and hopefully I might help someone who is going through the ups and downs of migrating (both going and returning), if not all well and good as I will keep on popping in for a nosey whenever I can for as long as I want to......

SharonCrawford

Nice post......

chris955

Yep, same here, it makes perfect sense to me, I cant see where the confusion is coming from to be honest.

Bud the Wiser

Not your original quote.

Still, I'm glad that you are happy and that you can find the time to share your happiness with others. I'm sure your posts have helped many to reaffirm and prop-up their decision to return to the UK. Hopefully they'll be as fortunate as yourselves and find their piece and peace of England you so eloquently describe.

To make an analogy, yours and some other posts remind me of the marvelous Olympic opening ceremony where all that is/was good about the UK was rightly shown in splendid extravagance, yet at the end of the day most people accepted it for what it was, a show. and once the euphoria faded, reality returns.

BTW, I never want bad things to happen to anybody, your comment was infantile.

sallysimmons

Bud the Wiser, it seems everyone else understood my original quote and my subsequent attempts to clarify so I will just chalk this up to one of those times two people are not really hearing each other and move on with no hard feelings.

As for the other stuff you said, if you really can't believe that some of us are genuinely pleased to be back and having fun, then you don't have to.

Bud the Wiser

errrrmmm......... the second line of my previous post says..........

"Still, I'm glad that you are happy and that you can find the time to share your happiness with others."

I understand that the majority of the people on this part of BE will be prejudice to all things British, that's only natural. However, some posts would have you believe that the sun always shines in beer gardens regardless of the weather, everyone walks around displaying shiny ivories and saying "Good morning" no matter what time of day and the consumption of food morsels from a distant past brings about orgasmic delight. Hell, I'm even beginning to think there are villages in the UK where the dogs carry around their own toilet paper.

I honestly think a bit of balance is needed.

feelbritish

This goes for me too! I relish the information and posts about moving back to UK because we want to go in 3 years time so I enjoy reading posts by Sally and Jasper and everyone else! It makes my wait bearable.

feelbritish

Perhaps you are leaning more towards hearing negative experiences in order to validate something? I have found most people moving back are pleasantly surprised as this forum says. Lots of people have been back on holiday and also say they were pleasantly surprised. In a world today with so much strife and hardship due to the economy etc, is it not surprising that so many people are suddenly finding that the UK was not so bad after all? It is still home for lots of people even though they move away