Derrygal

Yikes!!!! That's not good!! Unbelievable!! BTW, I love Edinburgh too - many favorite British city - let's hope it stays British in September. I am half Scottish (my mum was Scottish).

tonrob

I've been here for nearly 10 years now.

For the first couple of years I had incredibly bad homesickness. My wife coped fine, and couldn't understand the way I was feeling. Everything felt strange and alien to me - everything was different to back home, everything (or so it seemed) and I found that my motivation at home and at work just dropped and it sapped me of motivation, enthusiasm and energy.

I'm lucky in that my job sees me return to the UK for a week or more several times a year, so I got to see my friends back home and eat curries and drink British beer and generally get my fill of UK-ness quite often. Slowly, over a period of time, I noticed that my experiences in the UK seemed more "alien" and the feeling that I got driving home from the airport in Boston were like "coming home".

I still enjoy my trips to the UK very much, but for quite a few years now the US seems "home" to me. Part of it might be that I moved around a lot in the UK during my adult life, and where I live now is the longest time I've spend anywhere since I was a teenager.

Steve_

I've moved around a lot so I'm not sure I can relate, but the trick to moving anywhere I find is to focus on the positives.

And as for the UK, the last time I was there I nearly went mental. Too noisy, too many people, too crowded, overcast, etc. I could never live there again. When I moved here it took me three months to get used to how quiet it was.

And the thing I notice is that because I rarely visit, I notice just how much more crowded it has gotten, people who live there don't realize the gradual change.

Sally Redux

Any positives?

Steve_

What, about the UK? Um... humidity was a novelty, forgotten what that was like.

The other thing that blew my mind thinking about it were British accents. Maybe I've just gotten used to US and Canadian accents or maybe I always had a problem with British accents and never realized, but watching British TV for example with everyone talking with British accents, couldn't do it, gave me a headache. Ended up watching American TV on the web. I actually had difficulty understanding what people were saying too, really had to concentrate, people speak so quickly.

Sally Redux

The trick is to focus on the positives.

Steve_

If it had more positives, I'd be living there. Moving anywhere has downsides, my point was that everyone gets cold feet so to get over that you focus on the positives. But when you actually plan on moving, you try to look at it objectively, which is how you come to make the decision in the first place.

jeepster

There are two Englands, London and the English Countryside. The English countryside is absolutely beautiful. I liked nothing better than walking along their footpath system where you get to enjoy the scenery. I like English cuisine which I think is very underated. There's nothing better than a roast beef, lamb or pork roast dinner with yorkshire pudding. I liked driving the "B" roads with a manual tranny. I liked the English coastline. If I lived there I'd have to get a sailboat (yes, I know the seas are rough). I liked having tea and a biscuit half way through the day at a proper tea house. I liked having a beer at an English pub (of course).

But I told my wife when I married her that I couldn't live in England (socially I wouldn't fit). But I did toy with the idea of buying a second home overlooking Robin Hood Bay (that's where I seen the sailboat, hugging the coast).

Of course when you move back you won't take advantage of what England has to offer, instead you'll pine for LA.

tonrob

The only problem is when you grab the wrong stick.

Jensmate

Both counties have their positives and negatives but I must admit I find English towns congested to the point of inhumanity! We stayed in Lewes, East Sussex which is a lovely Georgian town with VERY steep streets. I got very tired of being bumped and jostled on the sidewalks and close to being mown down by drivers who clearly thought that driving down a one lane backstreet was an invitation to try out for the Indy 500. The antidote was taking long train rides to Eastbourne and Southampton across acres and acres of lush, verdant ( and virtually uninhabited) farmland.
A clear plus is the quality and choices of foods. At the South of England Show I bought 3 kinds of duck sausages which were unequaled in flavor and cost - 8 pounds for a kilo! The cheeses are fabulous and the bread.....warm bread fresh from the oven with good butter is the ultimate comfort food!
This may sound old fashioned and fuddy-duddy but I was shocked at the use of bad language in the streets by kids and the disrespect shown by kids to adults. I encountered a family on Southampton Central railway station, two teens, a parent 2 grandparents and a great-grandfather who had just returned from a cruise and were arguing about having had to spend 20 pounds for a taxi from the docks. ( I got this from sharing a lift to the platform with them). The argument escalated with the kids shouting f words and c words at the grandparents on the platform as they were entering a train.
Call me a fragile flower but I've never heard that kind of language used in public by American families and I was numbed by the ugliness of it all.
Another shocker was public drunkenness. I encountered quite a few sloppy drunks while taking the bus in the evening from Uckfield to Lewes and on my evening walks around town. Perhaps this all occurred when I lived at home and I just didn't notice it?

Sally Redux

Well thanks a lot.

Tegwyn

Man, the urge to grab those teens by the scruff of the neck and shove some soap in their mouths would have been overwhelming.! Does not say much for the parents allowing that. The rude vulgar behaviour is one thing I did observe with the younger folk when I was back in Scotland. I think the national past time is beer and footy, obviously plonked in front of a telly in a pub somewhere. Many of the young lasses seemed to want to compete for the most hideous styles complete with badly dyed red/pink hair. Nothing like skin tight leggings with skimpy top with a lovely muffin top overflowing. Oh well, such is life.

Steve_

Yes public drunkenness and general rudeness is something I don't miss.

Steve_

I think you'd be better off moving somewhere else in the US, I wouldn't want to live in southern California either, and I could if I wanted to. The traffic on I-5 etc. is just insane.

Sally Redux

We've considered it, we have to go where the work is, other offers in Memphis and Charleston didn't appeal. We are getting older now, it all looks different with health issues as well.

At least I've had a nice hiatus in this apartment and enjoyed the fun side of life here recently.