Brightongirldownunder yooohooooooooo

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

Hi BGDU, just wondered if you were back from your trip? And if so if you are ok.

Or is that wierd and stalky? Hope not . . .

[esselle]

I was wondering this last week too. I hope you have had a nice break from everything and made some decisions...

I will now crawl back under my rock.

[brightongirldownunder]

Helloooo - oh its so nice to be missed!! Def. not weirdy and stalky, Claudia!

Yes I had an AMAZING time back in the UK and made my decisions whilst I was over there. I called DH up and told him I wanted to move back to Brighton as I really couldn't see how we could live under so much pressure any more. Strangely enough he agreed. So now we're just deciding how this is gong to work as he maintains his life is now in Sydney and he doesn't ever want to live in Brighton again.
Looks like single parenthood could be on its way...oh well, I'm remarkably positive about it. It was so good to see DD playing with her cousins and spending lots of time with family. As much as I love Australia I had a support network over there that allowed me to spring back into my old happy go lucky self. I just don't have that here. So we're talking about DD and me moving back in April 2010. We have tenants in our Brighton home until Sept so I'll have to find somewhere to live. I hope I don't sound selfish but I've given up so much for so long and I need to something for myself now.
Great to be back on mumsnet!

[sunnydelight]

Maybe we were back in Brighton at the same time! It's funny, I had a fantastic time catching up with friends and family, but came home thinking that I could never live there again. My kids are older so obviously we have a different focus but their lives here (and school) are so much better than in Brighton. My 16 year olds' mates are all drinking/ clubbing/shagging while he's playing sport and going to youth group! I hope it all works out for you and you and your DH manage to come to an agreement

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

ooooo Hiya , how lovely to hear that you're back and that you had such a wonderful time.

Well done on being so positive, you sounded so miserable before you left, it's lovely that you now have something to look forward to. Obv not ideal that dh is staying here (or maybe it is????!), but it does sound great for you in Brighton. I can totally understand why you want to move back. I loved living in Brighton and miss it and my lovely friends to say nothing of my lovely family (sob).

April isn't long at all, you'll be back in Blighty for the spring. Any BGDU, you don't sound selfish at all. I really hope things work out well for you.

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

Funnily enough I was trying to explain to an Adelaide mate here why I missed Brighton so much. After a long rather fond rambly reminiscence about the pebbly beach, funky shops, street life of freaks, she looked totally bemused and I was longing to get back there amongst real life.

[savoycabbage]

I'm in an almost spookly similar situation. My dh took a job in Australia without consulting me. He has been here for a year and I have been here 9 months. I have created a good life for myself and our family but I would love to go back home.

It really bothers me that my dcs do not have anyone at all in their lives who loves them apart from their parents. Nobody to tell about their first day at school or other achivements. Nobody to take them for a day out, nobody to show their new shoes to. And of course I have no help at all. I can't even ring somebody up if I am having a bad day because everyone is sasleep.

My dh wants to live here and I think that we will come to a similar solution. Yes it's sunny here but it's not my home and it's not where I want to be.

[brightongirldownunder]

I think for me, SunnyD, it was the cultural side of things in the UK that I missed. Brighton and London are meccas for great art and music and DD had been brought up around those things. I really find we miss out here. Plus there's the multiculturalism that really doesn't exist in Sydney.I love the fact that the school DD would go to in Brighton has a samba band and the art even at primary school level was amazing. Academically fantastic as well.

Not every 16 year old in Brighton is drinking/clubbing/shagging (nieces included there) and I have to say that after experiencing Byron bay in Schoolie season I no longer believe that Aussie teens are the pure innocent kids they're made out to be - shocking!!

I can understand why you have chosen to live out here and maybe things would be a bit different for me if DH accepted us more as a family - oh and earned mega bucks - because, lets face it, you have to to live in Sydney!
Where are you based again?
We never did meet! I'm going o set up another meet up soon with Ninedragons and arfishy, so let me know if you fancy coming.

Who's to say I won't come back? I

[brightongirldownunder]

Oh savoy - thats been my main problem too - with DD. I have an amazingly close knit family and they all adore DD. And yet everytime she does something new I have no-one to show apart from DH. She's just potty trained herself which is bizarre but amazing and I wanted to tell the whole world but couldn't...

We have some fab friends here but they just don't replace the ones I've left behind.

Claudia - haha! I know what you mean when you describe Brighton to an Aussie - they do look bemused!! I think the pebbly beach is probably the thing that puts them off the most. Its so weird but I miss the pebbles. Saying that we went to Palm Beach before this vile weather hit off and it was beautiful.

[brightongirldownunder]

Oh and I really miss the street life of freaks!!

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

Sigh, I so miss Brighton street life. When I was there last year I wondered though the North Laine on a normal weekday sunny afternoon and practically everyone there looked interesting. You know, kind of odd and completely mad (60 yr old woman in bunches and little girl outfit on scooter, anyone?) but interesting. Here in Adelaide we all look the same. So dull.

[brightongirldownunder]

I like the manky teeth and the muffin tops. Makes me feel a bit more normal!

[sunnydelight]

I've got a whole iphone full of photos of North Laines street life but I still wouldn't want to go back there I sat having a coffee in the Dorset in the same seat where I went into labour with DS1 17 years ago which was truly bizarre, and looked in the window of the house where I gave birth to DS2 (because Brighton, unlike Sydney totally supports homebirth), but it still wasn't enough for me! I guess one of the issues for me is that I'm not British so even though I always said "if I have to live in the UK I'd never live anywhere other than Brighton" it wasn't "home" in the same way (though some of DH's family live there now).

I'm in Turramura Brightongirl, and I would love to meet up before you go back. Did you ever come to the Brighton mumsnet meetups? Lots of fab women, I nearly envy you that ...

[lulalullabye]

We feel exactly the same way and luckily we both want to go home, so off we go back to the uk in Feb, flights booked etc etc and back off to Leeds !