My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Whether you're considering emigrating or an expat abroad, you'll find likeminds on this forum.

Living overseas

All you incomers - please tell me something great about the UK

59 replies

MaisietheMorningsideCat · 02/05/2010 19:58

2 sets of neighbours have emigrated recently, and are due back for a visit soon. One has gone to Switzerland where apparently everything is so clean, people so polite, great weather, great scenary blah blah, and the other to Australia - weather fantastic, great beaches, people so friendly, so many opportunities, huge house blah blah blah.

Apart from Britain being so tolerant , please tell me something (anything!) else about this country, and why you love it, because I'm thinking of being away somewhere when they arrive back to bore us all with their stories of their fabulous new homelands and do the usual "I could NEVER move back to the UK".

OP posts:
Report
fruitshootsandheaves · 02/05/2010 20:01

It is never TOO hot

You don't get poisonous spiders, scorpions, malaria or really big mountains where you can break your leg.

Report
fruitshootsandheaves · 02/05/2010 20:02

(actually the really big mountain where I broke my leg was in France but we were supposed to go to Switzerland so it counts anyway)

Report
QuintessentialShadow · 02/05/2010 20:04

Dont sweat it. They are just trying desperately not to be homesick, so they have to convince themselves AND you how fab their new place is.

Report
chocolateshoes · 02/05/2010 20:06

For me the things I always loved & missed about the UK when living overseas were:

  1. the comedy - there's no other humour like it - especially stand-up. But that was in the days when you didn't have satellite etc so maybe its no longer a valid point
  2. the fashion - I love the fact that you can wear what you like & dress how you like here. Anything goes.
  3. the eductaion system (and I admit I only know about certain other countries here)I like that its free, that on the whole kids are pushed to develop their potential, that it isn't elitist, that you don't have to succeed in every subject to succeed overall


Otherwise I dunno & as someone who is always toying with the idea of moving will watch this thread with interest!
Report
chocolateshoes · 02/05/2010 20:07

PS have plenty of Refridgerator Cake, Jaffa Cakes, Tunnocks on offer. They don't have them in Switzerland

Report
mizu · 02/05/2010 20:20

Yes, when I've lived abroad, i've always missed British comedy. Also I missed the seasons and the smell of autumn. And Christmas and the build up to it.

And proper chocolate.

Report
WidowWadman · 02/05/2010 20:30

You're never more than 70 miles away from the coast. Proper ale. Great cider and perry (I mean the proper stuff, not the junk which is marketed as to be served over ice).

The Dales, the Moors, the Peak, the Lakes, Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire.

Report
taipo · 02/05/2010 20:30

QS is spot on - when you first move abroad you try to cover up how much you are struggling to cope with tales of how much better certain things are in the new country. Have done this many times in various countries.

We're in Germany now and am mostly settled and happy here but of course there are a few things I miss, e.g:

British TV - still haven't got round to sorting out our satellite so that we can receive telly from the UK and am stuck with watching German TV which is mostly dire.

Supermarkets, particularly when you get to the till - here everything is flung at you at high speed which gets me all flustered.

And most importantly, family and friends, probably the toughest aspect of moving abroad.

Report
MaisietheMorningsideCat · 02/05/2010 20:41

Thanks everyone, this has made for interesting readin - I've got to confess to a huge fair bit of envy, as both as countries that I'd love to have lived in. Sadly though, neither of us have jobs which are required overseas.

I'm tempted to go with the chocolate thing, but suspect my Swiss ex-neighbour might be able to trump me there!

OP posts:
Report
londonboots · 02/05/2010 20:45

from an aussie in london...

i LOVE that there are no mosquitoes and flies here and you can leave the windows wide open in summer - all night! - and not get bitten.

i LOVE that we can be in every (?) major city in Europe in under 3 hours.

i LOVE the parks in London on sunny days in every season - glorious.

i LOVE pret, eat, m&s etc - brilliant and convenient. i LOVE that ocado delivers in 1hr windows. i LOVE the huge array of great restaurants.

i LOVE that there is so much history. i LOVE the art galleries and major exhibitions, i LOVE the museums and culture, i LOVE walking most places and i LOVE the tube/transport system when we can't walk, i LOVE the diversity of the nursery my little boy goes to and i LOVE that he now says 'hiya!'

i do love australia, but i don't love being so far away from the rest of the world, the necessity of having a car even when you live in the inner-city, the heat in summer (35+ degrees! for days on end? great on holiday, but horrible for working/living), the lack of online shopping, the parochialism...and it's getting almost as expensive as london!!

Report
MaisietheMorningsideCat · 02/05/2010 21:51

Thanks London - it's very hard not to pull a face when she posts yet more photos of them having fun at the beach in 30 degree heat, when you're looking out at horizontal rain in April!

OP posts:
Report
TheBossofMe · 03/05/2010 05:37

The TV - exceptionally good and very hard to access British programmes in Bangkok.

The weather and the changing of the seasons.

Proper tea and proper sausages - don't give me any of that german crap, which seems to be the standard here.

The parks - so good.

The culture - apart from NY, I don't think I've ever lived in a more cultured city where so much is cheap or free.

Can you tell I'm a little homesick????

Report
TheBossofMe · 03/05/2010 05:37

Oh, and there is horizontal rain that is wetter than anything I've ever seen before here in Bangkok.

Report
Mookymoo · 03/05/2010 05:57

Some of the best countryside in the world
The sense of humour
Proper sausages, roast potatoes, gravy
Stiff upper lip (in that we don't go for 'therapy' if a neighbour cuts our hedge by mistake)
The olympics soon!
British film, theatre and music
Festivals in the summer
Fish n Chips by the good old british sea side
Camaraderie in whinging unsurpassed by anywhere else in the world!

Report
oftenpurple · 03/05/2010 06:00

The seasons, definitely, and the weather. I love waking up and having to have a look at what the weather's like. DC and I are beyond excited that it's cloudy and windy today - we live in the Middle East and the heat and sun get very old, very quickly.

The countryside, the beautiful fields and the animals, oh the animals! Cows and sheep - newborn lambs in the spring.

Going to the supermarket and actually being able to purchase the item you require rather than trying four different shops and failing, miserably.

Decently priced, well made clothes that are fashionable rather than over-priced tat that no-one else wanted three years ago.

Being able to walk places, catching a train to a nearby city for a day out, buses that actually go where they say they are going.

Being able to 'pop' to other Europeans countries for a short break and having things to do.

Our main reason for coming home is our family and friends. I can't wait to move!!!

Report
ZZZenAgain · 03/05/2010 14:10

the gardens and parks

history

nice pubs

dry humour, people smiling at each other when they're held up, when the weather is foul etc.

Polite drivers, people who will call you "love, chuck, dearie" - I just like that.

Friendly posties, good bookstores, nice little old ladies in their fluffy cardigans (there are some, I know there are and they sure beat sharp elbowed big-mouthed old toughies they grow elsewhere)

Proper greasy fish and chips with vinegar - and no mayonnaise in sight (sorry Holland)

Report
ZZZenAgain · 03/05/2010 14:16

.. mind you I have to admit somehow or other Spain does a better job of growing nice old people IME...

Report
CaptainNancy · 03/05/2010 14:18

The food of course!

Report
hannahsaunt · 03/05/2010 14:31

The BBC.

The NHS.

Those were the biggies when we lived in Oz.

Report
MaisietheMorningsideCat · 03/05/2010 19:02

Thanks everyone

I actually thought of this thread today as I drove home from work on a lovely Spring day, looking out at the blossom and the lambs, and thought, the UK ain't so bad, really.

OP posts:
Report
ZZZenAgain · 03/05/2010 19:03

ahh there you go

Report
cory · 03/05/2010 19:31

(Swede here)

I'd say a lot of the good things I enjoyed back in Sweden are the same that I find here too:

lovely countryside (just different)

functioning health system

reasonable educational system (am able to compare as have Swedish nephews of similar age to dcs, and the UK does not always come off worst in comparison)

nice people

relatively safe and crime free place to bring up dcs

Some nice extras are:

more cultural activities in provincial cities

easier to get around on public transport

pubs

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

CantSupinate · 03/05/2010 19:40

Appreciation of intellectualism -- I come from the West coast of the USA, btw.

The spirit of the law rather than the letter -- the police force attitude here is mostly absolutely wonderful.

Cakes, cream teas, Pasties, cottage pie.

Knowing how to make a proper cup of tea.

Self-deprecating humour.

Good level of population density (leads to strong sense of community and regional identity, don't have to travel miles for everything).

Having standards (sometimes double edged that one, though!).

History.

If you were born and raised here: Family. Living 5000 miles from my nearest relatives kind of sucks, and gets far far worse to endure as I get older.

Report
CantSupinate · 03/05/2010 19:46

Ooh, that point about the lack of venomous wildlife is a good one!

No poison oak, no black widows or brown recluses to worry about. Or seasonal wildfires started by arsonists or idiots. Or drive-by shootings and crystal meth epidemics (okay, they happen, but not like at 'home').

No rabies, although I find the British hysteria about rabies quite .

Report
Salbysea · 03/05/2010 19:49

there are real seasons. a proper winter, spring, summer and autumn, unlike say ireland where they just sort of blend together. but they're not extreme and scary like the dramatic weather they can get in Oz

I love walks in autumn when the leaves change. I love crisp winter mornings, I love spring and summer

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.