Surely, in the most literal terms, it simply refers to someone who lives somewhere other than their home country?

And you really think your life in the UAE is just the same as it was in some small town in Scotland? No different at all? If so, that's actually a little sad.

i left 'some small town in Scotland' (how pathetic and typical of ****in londoners) when i was 16. Ive been living in the UAE for 6 years. I wouldnt count the interim as being an expat

So its not sad..

Did i say i thought my life was the same? no i didnt...

Interesting question and not so easy to answer. I don't think I ever had deep roots in the UK, as I moved around a great deal as a child and spent years in the Far East. Leaving the UK was easy and there are few things I ever miss. We're 99% sure we won't go back and living abroad for many years gives you a different outlook that people who have never travelled cannot share. I tend to find many Brits to be very narrow-minded with really no clue about what goes on in the rest of the world.

I hope I am a better person that I used to be, although there are times I find myself being very cynical indeed, although perhaps that's what Dubai does to you?

Well I didn't miss your aggression. I wasn't being patronising. In an early post you stated 'no difference'. So, yes you did say that.

And I am not a Londoner. I just worked in Central London for many years.

and i didnt miss your patronising posting style..

you were inferring something with your 'small town in Scotland' jibe.

i know you were a forces child, and having seen plenty of them, it was a major factor in me leaving the forces

its great to be back

[QUOTE=Meow;8965295]Interesting question and not so easy to answer. I don't think I ever had deep roots in the UK, as I moved around a great deal as a child and spent years in the Far East. Leaving the UK was easy and there are few things I ever miss. We're 99% sure we won't go back and living abroad for many years gives you a different outlook that people who have never travelled cannot share. I tend to find many Brits to be very narrow-minded with really no clue about what goes on in the rest of the world.

I hope I am a better person that I used to be, although there are times I find myself being very cynical indeed, although perhaps that's what Dubai does to you?[/QUOTE]

I agree and raising Mitten here has definately been better than raising her in South Shields contrary to what my family think

(went to Etisishit today and they were shut! )

As I said I wasn't being patronising. Most people come from small towns.

Anyway, do carry one being rude. And you wonder why people stop posting on this forum?

I like these posts.

What I've learnt from this thread is that you aren't the shallow self-obsessed assholes I thought you were.


That counts for something right?

I nearly spat my coffee out. Ha !

Weasal- you're irish? love the irish! are you hot?

Wasn't being rude. And I'm sure this is not the reason behind the demise of this forum.

I really think that all the questions have been asked to death

Hmm.

Being an expat allows me to be racist, sexist, chauvinistic, materialistic, greedy, rude, narrow-minded, oblivious and obnoxious....and get away with it.

On the flip side, it makes one wonder no matter how well bred or "indoctrined" people might be back home, what really lies hidden in private thoughts?

Being an expat has made me much more appreciative of home, warts and all, and of the basic fundamentals of everyday life that we take for granted. But it's also allowed me to look at home with a more critical eye. In some aspects I grew up a permanent expat, shuffling back and forth between the US and UK, a foot in both countries and not wholly of one or the other. Things I never tolerated in the UK such as bad service I owe to my American experiences. But life in the UAE is different. As a student of history living here is brings me fairly close to what life must have been like in Victorian Britain, when the class system was much stronger and huge economic disparities not only existed but was thoroughly tolerated. So far it's been an interesting experience and one I'm glad to have had - it does broaden the mind in ways that is not possible in Britain or in exceedingly insular USA.

you're back! how is the penis keeping up with the constant abuse?

Have you read some of his posts? And stop being racist, please. The Irish are no better and no worse than the Welsh, the Scottish or even (God forbid) the English.