Manc

we have trains, trams and buses in the north you know

Bob

You can have some of the cold we get here then

Bob

Yeah, being able to walk places is nice, though now in a "city", though it's got a population off 3K, so hardly counts, and can walk across it in a couple mins, and there's nothing to do here, but at least can walk to the post office, which couldn't do last year....and real bacon...yum

syllk

Can't really say as I really miss anything at all...my home is here now, and if I went back to the UK, I would start to miss the things that I've taken for granted over here.

Bob

That's very true, the price of being with who you want to be with, and makes life interesting, I don't mind being here, but still miss some of the comforts of home, but having said that, I don't really give a shite either country, both have pluses and negatives, and the mates can always get off there arses and come over for a holiday *l*

Brit'n'TX

I don't miss things or the lifestyle, just people - my family and friends. We haven't been back since arriving here 2 1/2 years ago and I know my parents are becoming frail through age and I'm missing my nephews and nieces growing up.

Hopefully I'll be going back for a week in November (just think of the lovely weather!) and can do some catching up.

anotherlimey

Ok this is going to sound stupid but I miss the 'grimeyness' of London, here in the 'burbs of Chicago everything is pretty sterile, it all looks a bit like the 'Truman Show'. I think London has a lot more character.

I also miss some foods, especially battered sausage and chips, nothing even comes close here.

Has anyone else been to a Costco World Market? They have food imported from all over the world there, I got Heinz salad cream and chocolate oranges from them.

-tom

rochdalediva

Tom,
I've just moved from the Chicago burbs, have you tried the Meijer stores? They have an "International" aisle which holds such goodies as Heinz Beans, Tomato soup, Curry paste, Ribena etc. Definitely worth a trip. Also if you're anywhere near Naperville there is an Irish store in the downtown which sells English chocolate bars, it's almost like going to the sweet shop. She sells them singly so you can get a mix of Flakes or bags of Buttons.

Englishmum

It's funny how everyone seems to miss certain food items from Blighty!

Actually another thing I miss is reading a really good Sunday newspaper....used to love reading the 'Sunday Times' (they flipping well charge for it online grrrrr) or 'The Observer', but it's not the same as reading the newspapers in bed on a lazy Sunday morning with a mug of tea and some toast. We did get the "New York Times" but it's nowhere near as interesting as the UK newspapers in my opinion.

Sometimes if I'm in NYC or Hoboken I happen to pass a shop where they sell imported newspapers from around the world, sometimes the weekly condensed edtions for expats of the "International Express", "Weekly Telegraph" or "The Week" (Guardian)...a few days ago I was able to buy a copy of "The Daily Mail" @$2.25 which is actually printed in the US each day and virtually identical to the UK edition apart from a few ads for retail outlets in Florida.

For anyone not living in Florida or major US cities, there is a postal subscription service of the "Daily Mail" where they mail it out to your home. You can just order the "Mail on Sunday" or a 'weekend package' (Sat DM, Mail on Sunday and Monday DM). There is a freephone number: 1-800-624-5274.

fatman

<Sob> I miss the English pubs too! going to your local for a nice quiet pint of bitter and a bag of pork scratchings, there's nothing like it, in America they all sit around in coffee houses till one in the morning, but I suppose if your national beer was budweiser you wouldn't want to sit in a pub, sigh

DaveC

Yeah, I miss that too. I can usually finish the Sunday rags here in 30 minutes whereas it used to take me a week to finish the Sunday Times and Scotland on Sunday. I also miss summer evenings when it doesn't get dark 'til 10ish.

But that's about it, overall I don't miss too much about the UK as I still feel as if I'm in holiday mode. If ever got a job then I might start to pine for the UK.

Watching Location Location Location on BBC America does make me slightly homesick although by the end of the program I'm usually convinced that I'm better off over here than in a tiny, expensive house.

Eyebee

I can walk to a branch of the Atlanta Bread Company here, and get real fresh made bread. I agree that is unusual in many parts of the US. I much prefer driving here than in the UK, more room, less hurry, just find it more relaxing. Some folks here complain about rush hour traffic, but it's nothing like the M25. I also like being able to go out for a drive on the weekend, and not have to think too much about the cost of another tankful of fuel.

ElsieTheMaid

Miss the pubs too! That's probably the biggest thing I miss. Getting a decent lager and lime, playing the one arm bandits and a good game of darts.

Being able to get decent chocolate anytime
Raspberry Ripple
BREAD - OMG what I wouldn't give for a decent slice of toast!
Being able to speak comfortably and be understood.

Love it here though and would never go back. I get to:
Drive a nice car AND afford to fill up the tank
Fry out on the deck in 95 degree weather with a book and a margarita
Live in a big ass house without having to be a millionaire
Live a lifestyle to which I should have been accustomed, but never was.

Eyebee

I agree that one has to adapt, and those that don't want to will never settle elsewhere. Nowhere in the world is perfect of course.

I can't help but agree on most of what you say. I don't miss the pubs, not when I can go to a local bar here in happy hour and it's ventilated, have a couple of drinks each, and a good helping of fresh wings all for about 7 bucks. Heck in England the beer alone would have cost that...

It's also nice to be able to go downtown on a weekend evening, and enjoy the atmosphere occasionally, without those mingers (and morons) you talk about.

OK sometimes the customers service is plastic, but yes, it's nice to be smield at, and greeted, and I never really tire of that... not after the more-often-than-not grunt you get in a UK store.

I'd like some brown sauce to put in my occasional bacon sandwiches, and I'd prefer nice meaty rashers (Canadian Style isn't the same either). I'd like to have Branston to put in my cheese sandwich sometimes, and I can't find ordinary baked beans... I don't like the brown sugar laden ones here.

However, there is so much more choice when eating out here, and American restaurants (even the chains) sem to be able to cook a steak so much better than British ones. Here in the low country of SC, we have an abundance of fresh seafood too....

so really it's only every now and again I hear myself say to my wife "I wish I could have ... to eat right now".

As for the TV, I didn't watch it in the UK, except for the news sometimes, and I'm the same here. In fact, if it were down to me, I'd probably not even have one... whichever country I was living in...

Bob

Yup, miss the papers too, far more interesting and amusing in blighty, helps there national papers, out here, the only big one is the crap usa today...
there ain't any decent national papers, and local stuff, might as well wipe ya arse with it for the news it has...