geeandtee

We had no choice - we had to return to the UK after 8 years in AZ. I was worried that the UK would've changed too much for us to feel 'at home' here.

Happily, I was wrong.

We're skint at the moment, but we're happy. Hubby has a job he really loves, our son loves his new school and has made more friends there in a month than he did in the insular little AZ town we lived in. I can't find a job and I'm hoping things will improve in that direction after Christmas.

The only tough thing is that my parents live in the US. We speak once a week and keep in touch by email too. When my Dad and I spoke at the weekend he said "You sound really happy."

So, I guess coming back was the right thing to do. The country has its flaws, but what place doesn't? It just feels right to be Home.

TimberHut

That definitely is the classic 'the grass is always greener'!

As much as the ability to be able to use public transport to get to work sounds great (when you haven't got any like a lot of us in the USA) I don't think it would take too many wet Monday mornings waiting for a crowded bus to trudge through the commuter traffic for that rose-tinted-ness to wear off.

Each to their own though. Only you really know what you wanna do. Happiness is measured in many forms...

That fact that you are thinking about it probably means that you are off back to cursing that the Number 58 is 20 mins late again & that you wish next door would turn their f#ckin music down. Annoying gits.

Good luck. Hope it works out.

Jerseygirl

So very true...thanks for posting that Bevs.

I'm so pleased things are working out for you back home. with your search for a job.

HumphreyC

I certainly would - but then i'm probably shallow, materialistic and corrupted by bourgeois values.


Ah the overladen, yob ridden bus to Brent Cross shopping Centre - how I miss it so. Mind you it would be nice if the commuter rail here had been updated since the 1960s.

The rest i'm not too fussed about to be honest - but this is a good point. On four separate occasions now - at a Vietnamese resteraunt, Aubuchon hardware, the Liquor store and at Walmart - I have encountered people walking around in their pajama bottoms. British people would have more class than that.

AmerLisa

Actually, so would most Americans. Don't tar everyone (in this big and diverse country) with the few you encounter. Just as you wouldn't want everyone to think that British people are the chavs they've encountered.

Jerseygirl

I found the first 10 years here very difficult to come to terms with. I've now come to the conclusion that the UK isn't better than the US it's just different. Somethings are better in the UK...somethings are better in the US. Much depends on your personal circumstances and your personality.

The poem that Bevs posted hits a nerve with me...the younger you move to a new country the better. I would miss the US if I moved back to the UK...I will always think of the UK as home. There is something that feels safe and very comfortable about the country I lived in for so many years.

HumphreyC

Only fair to point out that my American inlaws were horrified as well (My MOL tooted her horn at the one outside the resteraunt to let her know what she thought but she just flipped us the bird). You know it could just be a local 'fashion' in the town I live in. I was going to write to the local paper about it till my Grandmother in law pointed out that the kind of people who wear pajamas to the liquor story aren't the kind of people who read the paper.

Hubcaps

Actually, no they don't!

TimberHut

Exactly this.

There is no answer to 'is the UK or USA better?'. It all depends.

For a start the USA is like a load of different countries in one. How can you compare living in NYC, New Orleans, a small MidWest town, San Diego or Montana? Totally different places.

Just like living in Cornwall or London back in England. You may like one - but not the other.

If you have moved to the USA and are unhappy then you may (if at all possible - I know it ain't easy) consider moving somewhere else before totally giving up and moving back to the UK.

Like I hear people complaining that USA workers always work at least half an hour (and way more) beyond their set hours - 'it is what is expected'. Not where I work it isn't - out of the door at 4.30 sharp. You're a bit strange if you ain't. This is the Midwest where family seems more important than career (loose generalisation). I fitted into the lifestyle here well - if I'd gone somewhere else I may well have ended up hating living in the USA. Who knows...

HumphreyC

OK, I take it all back.

"I've got lovely pairs of pyjamas, with bears and penguins on them. I've worn my best ones today, just so I look tidy."

What is the world coming to! Here is another one from Belfast

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ne...-14657665.html

Jerseygirl

I found it easier to think of each US state like a different European country.

Bluegrass Lass

Wish the same would go here in our midwest city. My OH recently went for an interview with a company who straight up told him he was expected to work 8-6 everyday (at least 5hrs unpaid overtime per week). So one could imagine the 'unvoiced' expectation of additional overtime. Esp since, when the HR guy called to offer him the job, it was 9pm! Needless to say, he didn't accept the offer. That is definitely one aspect of the culture here that my OH does not like, and I can't say as I blame him. I had a boss tell me once that I should plan on working 50hr/wk, and hope it winds up closer to 45.

Its very true to consider each state to be distinct. That's one of the reasons we've hesitated on moving to the UK, as we are contemplating a move to elsewhere within the US that may better suit us. And then if that doesn't work, I reckon the next step would be to try Britain and see if we are happier there.

dunroving

Are you talking about those "classy" shell suits and Burberry caps?

Hubcaps

I think if I ever thought that moving back to the UK would be better than living in the PNW I would have to seriously ask if I needed sectioning for my own good.
I have absolutely no rosy tinted specs when it comes to the UK, none at all. If the worst comes to the worst and we have to leave here then we would consider a move to another part of the world, the UK is somewhere I hope never to set foot in again.

dunroving

Because ... ? (just interested in the details).