Bud the Wiser

Incorrect guesswork.

feelbritish

sorry

sallysimmons

Also, some of us didn't think the UK was bad when we lived here. I left because I was 24 and an exciting opportunity came up. I thought 'why not?' And it was mostly fun even though I was sad for the last year or two. But I didn't ever have a problem with Britain.

Sunnyone

I loved living in Spain and quite honestly didn't think I would ever want to live in UK again, however, after 17 years abroad coming back to UK was wonderful and I am still loving it apart from the weather that is lol

feelbritish

that is the difference, I also never left because I was unhappy there! I loved it! An opportunity came for us to go to Canada and we had to go or lose that opportunity but I have run the course of where we are now and looking forward to going back. Not having children settled here probably has helped this along. I have also seen that after living on 3 continents that no where is perfect, it is where you are happy at the time in your life!

pompeyblonde

Yes, I think we're almost getting into some sort of existential discussion here! Which is fine by me! Happiness is basically a state of mind and is experienced by different people in different ways....real life is always out there and always in our own head...You dont need to justify yourself to anyone, BUT its fine to listen with an open mind to the experience of others...but its just that.... their experience...

So, really theres no debate, just sharing our thoughts and feelings?? so its not about agreeing or disagreeing?? I liked the example of the Olympic Opening ceremony, totally mad and fanciful but captured the feelings of a lot of people.... Thats what love is... a chemical fuelled illusion!!!!

brits1

Same for us....we just wanted a different experience and was nothing against our lifestyle or the UK when we applied for our visa's for Aus. We were happy to migrate and we are certainly very happy to have migrated back to the UK.

chris955

Life in our little village just seems to get better, I was outside working and a local wandered by, we started chatting and 5 minutes later he invited me down to the pub to buy me a pint. He introduced me to a few of the other locals and on the way back I got chatting to a bloke restoring an old chapel. I cant get over the friendliness of the locals and fail to see all the long faces and misery I was warned about.

Bud the Wiser

That’s nothing.

The first day I got home the neighbours came around at 7.30 a.m. to give me breakfast in bed. Yorkshire tea, English muffins dripping in Cornish butter with lashings of Robertsons jam, followed by real back bacon on proper toast with H.P. sauce.

Whilst I was eating me breakfast, they ran me a Scots pine aromatic bath with English rose petals floating on it. I thought I was in heaven, especially when, whilst soaking in the bath, I heard the neighbours from the other side mowing my lawn.

Managed to spend the rest of the morning catching up on great British T.V. programmes, Jeremy Kyle and re runs of El Dorado that I had missed. A knock at the door interrupted my viewing and there was the boy scouts doing bob-a-job week. You know they still only charged me a shilling for digging the foundations of my new conservatory.

The neighbour from across the road called by and we went down the pub. Never put me had in my pocket once, the landlord even gave me a ploughman’s lunch, “On the house” he said, “ Welcome back.”

Meal!!!! There was enough for Bob Geldof to feed the world. A lump of Cheddar the size of a gorge and pickles the size of a judge.

Anyway, ten pints later and having won every game of darts, dominoes, crib and the meat raffle, I decided to call it a night.

“Have another one, “ said my neighbour from number 34, “ and whilst you drink it, I’ll nip home to your house and put on your electric blanket.”

“Aye, and I’ll fetch the limo and give you a ride back,” said Arthur the local taxi driver.

Well, what a night. I was just about to settle when there was a knock on the door and the couple from number 36 had come across to give me their winning lottery ticket.

Oh, it’s great to be back. All the children I see are in school uniforms, carrying satchels and will doff their caps in reverence as you pass by. That’s if they’re not helping old ladies across the road. Everyone has ten jobs and 54 weeks holiday a year. Doggies scoop up their own poop during their daily 400 mile walk through uninterrupted countryside. The weather is always much nicer than whatever it is doing somewhere else and I’ve never seen an Al Queda terrorist in our village.

Rule Brittania

chris955

I really dont know what your problem is to be honest, apart from the huge chip on both shoulders. I'm not going to lie about my life to make you feel better. Many of us are having a great time back in the UK, others dont find it so easy but that really isnt my problem.
I suggest you dont read feel good threads as they obviously disagree with your delicate constitution.

Bud the Wiser

Lighten up Chris.

chris955

No, sorry I wont. If you choose not to believe that returnees have a great life and are genuinely very happy to be here then that really is your problem. I will not downplay how we feel to be back, my wife said the other day that she still has to pinch herself when she thinks about what we have achieved since being back. Sorry but it's just the truth.

Bud the Wiser

Your quote..............

So with your quote in mind...........

Don't mistake my............

Wub

Love it!
Actually, I do get what you're saying here Bud and while I too am ecstatic at being home (for the summer), its fascinating to here the 'godzoners', wax madly lyrical on here whilst the never-lived-abroad-indiginous declaim cantankerously (at times!) about how Britain's gone to the dogs.

Zen like, I try to walk a middle path.......

sallysimmons

I don't get the anger to be honest. It just seems like an ego battle now. "I'm happy" "no you're not" "yes I am!" "well, you won't be for long!" "yes I will!" "well, you're an idiot then!"

To say that you're enjoying life back is hardly to claim that England is an idyll or that you are euphoric. I suffer from chronic pain on a daily basis so I can't remember the last time I felt euphoric. Most days are hard to be honest. But when I was in America, there were a lot of things that made life even harder - political things, cultural things and also the lack of real friends, and the distance from my family.

Since I've been home my life has become richer in so many ways. Now, while I'm still in pain, I'm also surrounded by people I love. But the things I appreciate are all the things most people already have and don't appreciate. Like last weekend I got to visit my 96 year-old nan who has Alzheimers and is in a home. I honestly used to think I wouldn't see her until she was in a pine box and yet there we were holding hands and talking. Brilliant! I took my mum away to a posh hotel for her 70th birthday a few weeks ago. Being able to do that is a real treat. Yesterday we drove 30 minutes up the road and went for a walk in the wild moorlands of North Yorkshire, then came back and cheered on Andy Murray with friends. Next weekend we're going for a 4-mile walk in the Dales and pub lunch with two of our oldest friends. And two days later we're off to a friend's wedding. I love to paint and I've been so inspired by the countryside here that I just signed up for a long-distance art degree program - something I'm genuinely excited about.

Are any of these earth-shattering? Of course not - they're quite mundane really. But they're all things I've been without for longer than I can remember, and so they give me great happiness. Unsurprisingly though, life is still not perfect. My pain is still there, it rains a lot, I still have challenging days at work, I have an annoying neighbor blah blah blah. But all in all, I find the pluses far outweigh the minuses and I couldn't say that when I lived in New York, despite the fact that from the outside my life must have looked pretty good.