Poshpaws

This may not hold true anymore with the younger generation as much as the wrinklies...but did friends and kin wish you well when you broke the news you were leaving for greener pastures? I'm not talking about marring a yank here, but giving up everything ( both Brits here ) for a brighter future.

Can't remember anyone jumping up for joy when we left, all doom and gloom....much muttrering about murders, and no health insurance etc.

For the love of me, why can't Brits wish one well..even if they can't, or don't have the gumption to do it themselves.? Nothing was more daunting for us than the lack of goodwill that we experienced.

To this day I have maintained that the Yanks are blessed with a kinder spirit than us Brits ever will have..maybe that is their strength.

Yes I miss certain things about my homeland...but not their lack of kindness for others.

What do you say ??

Pulaski

I got plenty of good wishes, I left the UK just over two years ago and I am far from being a wrinkly.

Most of my colleagues, friends and relatives congratulated me on my decision and a good number said that they would do the same thing themselves if they had the opportunity. Only two, so far as I recall, muttered darkly about crime and cost of health care, and then a short while later even one of those was looking to relocate to New York!

I know that people have different views, and I have been rubbished for making this point before, but for me, and my friends and relatives, the grass in the US is a whole lot greener than in the UK. It was before I left the UK, and it still is now.

Poshpaws

Pul...Thanks for your viewpoint..having left only two years ago I think you belong to a different era than us. We left when 'leaving' was not so popular as such...especially as we had a solid career with pension prospects. Much tut- tutting this evoked, I can tell you.

Don't think I will get much endorsement here for my viewpoint as many married Americans, and cannot relate as such. Maybe England has become a kinder more gentler place since we left.

RoB1833

Nobody's rubbishing you for enjoying your new life more than living in the UK, it's the attitude you have towards your former homeland that irks more than anything.

I left the UK about 6 months ago, my dad has done the expat thing in Europe and so was extremely supportive. All my friends wished me well and many were envious about having the opportunity to live in a different part of the world. The only bad comments I got were because I moved to the south!

Pulaski

Maybe it just doesn't come across right? I love my homeland, I will always be British and a Yorkshireman, deep down inside, I even have a Union Jack in the front tag-holder of my car.

It's just that I can't see myself ever going back to the UK to live. Really I'd agree with the oft repeated view - that nowhere is perfect, everywhere has its problems, and its plus points. ...... And when I see somebody say that things were/ are so much better in the UK, sometimes I can't resist pointing out that they have a rose-tinted and/or overly nostalgic view of life in the UK.

doctor scrumpy

It does not matter where you are in the world, there will always be a large slice of you that belongs for home. I find myself comparing England to the US, not in a negative way to either nation, just thinking what would happen back home.

One thing I have noticed about the US that suprises me is that in VA you have to buy any spirits from an offical state run shop. ABC have the monopoly on the hard stuff. So much for the land of free trade then ! LOL

Pimpbot

My work collegues and friends were very supportive of my move and wished me well. My close family was a little more worried about me, but now that my mum has been out and seen where I live, she is more than happy for me. I think its helped also, that she has then gone back and told my dad and brother how comfortable I am here and how much I am enjoying it, and I believe you can actually hear a little relief in my familys voices now when I speak to them each week and talk about the things I've been doing, or the general American way of life I'm leading.

Pulaski

Sounds a little like my family back in the UK. My parents were a little taken aback when we told them we were leaving (two years ago), but since we bought our house earlier this year my mother has been to stay twice, and my father once, and they were more than impressed with the area we live, and our house. It is more than they, or I, could ever have even dreamed of owning in the UK. They have both said that we undoubtedly made the right decision, to leave the UK.

tony_2003

No offence but you seem to be confusing Britain and England. However if you are including brits outwith England then, uh no my familly were fairly supportive and my mum was rather upset to see me go. My brother and I talk a lot on the phone...more than when I was there.

jaytee

ick! I don't think that is true. You can't afford to be pessimistic in the US, but that doesn't equate to people being better. Let the facts speak for themselves.

Jabba1

You didn't happen to smoke any of that "grass" did you? LOL!

Only kidding......now put down that baseball bat.

Poshpaws

Jay,

I made no mention of folks being better etc; just find folks here in the US a kinder bunch. Americans do not view another's success as a threat, as much as Brit's do. Viewpoints are based upon experience, and as we experienced indifference to say the least when we left Blighty, I stand my ground.

MrsLondon

I think if you read americanexpats.co.uk you'd find that a lot of USC moving to the UK have also come up against negative responses from their families and friends. I think it's 75% upset that you are going to be so far away from them and 25% jealousy that you are widening your horizons by living in a new country.

Ash UK/US

I have lived here for almost 14 months now and for the most part everyone was happy for me.

I can understand people being more apprehensive about their families moving here in the past... after all things have changed a lot in the past couple of decades.

Remember the days when your only options for calling abroad was using BT at extortionate rates? or the days before the internet was so common place... even the prices of flights have dropped. It is a lot easier these days to travel and stay in touch.

Ash

Poshpaws

I think you may be right . When we came here 20 odd years ago, it was unthinkable to 'up and off' especially as we were giving up a good career.