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If you're a foregneir in UK...

155 replies

CrocoShriek · 03/01/2023 21:29

...what are the things you love and hate about living here?
I'll start (apologies, it's a bit England-centric)
Love:
-the countryside
-Sunday roasts
-London's melting pot
-low expectations on being fashionable ( I think!)

Hate:
-sticky Pub floors
-lack of proper blue sky in winter
-obsession with cards...thank you/ xmas/birthday etc.

OP posts:
BeatriceBatchelor · 04/01/2023 18:02

This thread is so London centric!

Other vibrant, multi cultural cities do exist in the UK 🙂

EmmaGrundyForPM · 04/01/2023 18:04

As a Brit I find this rather heartwarming.

I'm intrigued by the Australian poster who says that Brits take the piss out of Australians - my sister lives in Australia and says its the othercway round there, loads of deregogatory comments about "Poms".

Mummyford · 04/01/2023 18:06

BeatriceBatchelor · 04/01/2023 18:02

This thread is so London centric!

Other vibrant, multi cultural cities do exist in the UK 🙂

Very true, but I suspect a large percentage of expat jobs are relatively London-centric.

LevantineK · 04/01/2023 18:26

I don’t really hate anything here. People tend to be generally welcoming, helpful, polite, respectful…

I particularly admire my neighbour’s commitment to different causes, volunteering, fund raising… not sure if that’s more common where I live in London and if it reflects a less individualistic type of English people.

What I struggle with (but respect) is the difficulty in going beyond the surface in conversations, weather-talk… I miss having messier, more personal and, for me, more relaxed and more meaningful conversations (something I normally have with foreigners in the UK, but rarely with British people).

reluctantbrit · 04/01/2023 18:29

SirChenjins · 04/01/2023 16:40

But the majority are talking about parts of England - esp liked the post about the country being very flat! It’s a really interesting thread though.

They clearly haven't been to the South Downs, not flat at all.

RampantIvy · 04/01/2023 18:32

Hinged windows.

? @ComtesseDeSpair?

The country being very flat, no proper mountains or ski opportunities

The entirety of the British Isles isn’t flat. Do you live in East Anglia? What we don’t have is the weather for skiing, especially as we are now dealing with global warming.

I am British and don’t disagree with most sentiments. I guess that the posters who think we have low academic standards hail from countries where children are hot housed from a young age and spend an inordinate number of hours being educated. Or that their experience is from bad schools.

Lack of cycling culture. People seem to really hate cyclists and I don't know why!

I can assure you that the cycling culture is alive and well in Yorkshire @SirChenjins. Ever since the Tour de France passed through my neck of the woods the cycling culture has really taken off.

their food and lack of cooking skills or healthy eating.

With respect, that is total bollocks @Sandra1984. You need better friends.

They clearly haven't been to the South Downs, not flat at all.

Or Yorkshire, but to be fair it isn’t really skiing country either.

ShutTheFrontDory · 04/01/2023 18:34

talomon · 04/01/2023 12:43

Love
London culture, concerts, galleries
Restaurants, nowhere in the world you can get so many authentic cuisines in one place
London parks and green spaces
Beautiful architecture
Animal friendliness
Good quality of food for a good price and great supermarkets.

Hate
Social climbing culture
Very money minded culture, both in terms of own money and also wanting to find out about others' income and expenses.

The country being very flat, no proper mountains or ski opportunities
The class system: the huge obsession with class and at the same time the denial of it. Calling people "common", sycophantic worship of the upper classes, stately homes, what the upper classes do, country piles etc
Ignorance and whitewashing of the atrocities of the empire
Being very two-faced and not saying what they mean. Fake friendliness and suffering and fuming in silence

Erm there are lots of hills and mountains in the UK??

ShutTheFrontDory · 04/01/2023 18:35

socialmedia23 · 04/01/2023 13:31

Love:

  1. weather
  2. the diversity and tolerance
  3. the period housing stock- there is something so romantic about living in a 1930s flat
  4. the history
  5. the fact that most people believe in public services and don't think the poor deserve to be left to the whims of the free market (maybe i am generalizing but I haven't even met many Tories like that); having spent a week with my American BIL, i am completely appreciative of that
  6. London
  7. the history
  8. British humour
  9. love of the countryside/animals/desire to protect nature
  10. How vocal local communities are against fighting injustice- people are very civic minded- it brings tears to my eyes sometimes.
  11. overall beauty of the country
  12. lots of day trip options from London
  13. People are less materialistic- some people can be quite competitive about their careers/houses/extensions but overall no one seems to care what clothes you wear or what kind of car your drive or how 'successful' you are.

Hates:

  1. class system
  2. Brexit
  3. no big three or 4 bedroom flats even in the cities (not everyone wants a suburban house with garden to start a family!)
  4. Very expensive childcare
  5. high poverty rate/crumbling welfare system but yet lack of close-knit family ties (i have a friend who is mentally ill/homeless but yet her father thinks its the responsibility of the state and her friends to help her; but the problem is there is no spaces in assisted living for her and the NHS mental healthcare system is broken)
  6. healthcare
  7. Tories (though to be fair right wing politicians in many countries aren't much better)

As someone who builds housing, there are lots of big 3 and even 4 bed social housing flats in London just not private properties.

socialmedia23 · 04/01/2023 18:37

ShutTheFrontDory · 04/01/2023 18:35

As someone who builds housing, there are lots of big 3 and even 4 bed social housing flats in London just not private properties.

I am looking at an Ex LA flat in Crouch End where the freehold has been bought by the residents but it is few and far between!

my DH did find a £4 million huge flat (private) in Bayswater but that is way way way way out of budget!

JassyRadlett · 04/01/2023 18:50

I've been here 18 years and live in England.

Love:

Beautiful and varied landscapes and outdoors pursuits.
Ease of travel and proximity to a variety of different languages and cultures.
Decent public transport including between cities (I know it's not great everywhere but it's a damn sight better than in my home country.)
Green spaces in cities
Increasing culture of nice independent cafes and restaurants (though I know this is in part driven by the failure of so many over-leveraged chains)
Summers are lovely
Great online services, both private sector and public services.
Multiculturalism and all the benefits of living among people from lots of different cultures
A culture that's built around more local areas and is more supportive of walking/cycling to local services and not a huge car culture.

Not so keen on:
The education system is a bit mad, both how early kids start and how early the specialise and do major exams in secondary, plus the fragmentation of different kinds of schools.

England seems to struggle with an idea of national identity and pride which does seem to exist more in Scotland and Wales - it feels like a lot of people see that sort of thing as quite naff and are very sneery about it, which feels like it can contribute to divisons in society including Brexit. Then the flipside is a resistance to reckon openly with the past - which I think contributes to that uneasiness with the concept of English/British identity.

The lack of investment and creativity in public infrastructure and lack of pride in it - it's kind of assumed that anything nice will get vandalised/nicked/ruined anyway so why invest in it in the first place - this feels like a vicious cycle.

Healthcare, including the resistance to any change and the narrative that it's either the NHS or a US-style Wild West.

The weather . The sky feels so low and suffocating and it's so dark.

Consumerist culture.

The houses - the size, the windows, the identikit housing estates and lack of self-build culture.

No plug sockets in bathrooms.

JassyRadlett · 04/01/2023 18:51

Oh yes and don't like the urban sprawl and the culture where a house is considered invariably superior to a flat - and the lack of decent flats as a result!

Crikeyalmighty · 04/01/2023 18:56

@jacketchips As a Brit who has just come back in May from living in Copenhagen- my list would have been very similar.

JassyRadlett · 04/01/2023 19:01

EmmaGrundyForPM · 04/01/2023 18:04

As a Brit I find this rather heartwarming.

I'm intrigued by the Australian poster who says that Brits take the piss out of Australians - my sister lives in Australia and says its the othercway round there, loads of deregogatory comments about "Poms".

Some British people seem to have a real chip on their shoulders about Australia and Australians that they don't seem to have about eg Canada or New Zealand. It's really weird.

The British are the largest immigrant group in Australia - from my (old) experience there was previously and may still be a stereotype that the English in particular would rock up and start complaining and expecting Australia to be a warm version of England. Not necessarily fair and probably on the Australian side a bit chippy ourselves about the former colonial power.

But then the Australians also take the piss out of everyone.

BestName · 04/01/2023 19:12

Ha I'm not a foreigner but my DP is and he doesn't get the card obsession or Christmas either however after 6 years he does oblige and writes the most beautiful things to me so he can't hate them that much anymore.

Snoken · 04/01/2023 19:19

I left the UK a year ago, but I lived there for a long time.

Love:

The people, especially cabbies, market stall holders and other jolly and talkative people

The politeness. I love how everyone apologises all the time. If I bump into someone I'll apologise, and then they do it too.

Yorkshire dales, beautiful and less populated than Cotswolds or Lake District.

Quaint gardens

Hate:

The damp air all year around

How poorly the houses are built

Consumerism (especially at Halloween and Xmas), a lot of plastc tat

The British food and binge drinking culture

Crikeyalmighty · 04/01/2023 19:23

When we were living in Copenhagen loads of people asked what we missed(if anything) - when I sat and thought about it these were the main things and ironically I notice lots of you lovely ex pats/immigrants on here like the stuff I missed

High quality Ready meals- a shit option in Denmark

British self depreciating humour -

Old , warm gastro pubs

My friends!!

M&S and T K Maxx

Being able to buy physical UK magazines - Brexit has killed this both in terms of supply and expense

A good greasy spoon (although Stockholm has a great small chain called 'greasy spoon'

I also missed hearing much 'English' strangely and being able to listen in or understand other peoples chats ! Weird I know

A wide variety of towns/cities. Devon or Dorset is very different to say Liverpool or Bath or London Lots of Denmark (which is lovely) all looks very similar.

Things I didn't miss from the Uk

The Tory's
Brexit related stuff that in my opinion totally sucks
Healthcare being a constant worrying issue
Empty shelves
Constant stuff on TV ref covid - it was well managed but not a 'constant'
Constant travel issues
Rain- have to admit I thought there was more sun and Less wind and rain , although Danes don't think so!!

Catoneverychair · 04/01/2023 19:30

like:

  • Everything is green, almost all year around.
  • The NHS is still way better than anything in my home country.
  • If you say you're a vegetarian, noone tries to convince you that you 'need' to eat meat.
  • The fact that I can speak English, every single day.

dislike:

  • Having to tiptoe around and having to be careful about offending someone if you actually say what you think
  • The taps: ones that don't mix and even certain mixer taps when you still feel the two different temperatures
  • All the bloody switches work the opposite way: they should be flicked up to switch 'on' and down for 'off'.
CrocoShriek · 04/01/2023 19:45

I am really enjoying reading all these posts, and surprisingly agree with 90% of likes/dislikes...
(Yes sorry, love /hate was a bold choice of words. Oops)
I'll add to my list:
Likes
-period homes and resulting stretscapes
-gardens and parks
-work opportunities
-sense of community amd neighbourhood

Dislikes
-Brexit, of course
-Carpets everywhere
-school system - not too familiar with this but I understand GSCE score can preclude many oopportunities and it seems just insane that this happen at such a young age.

I am not sure I get the biscuit variety thing. The fear of having to prepare tea the English way is real though...

OP posts:
GrouchyKiwi · 04/01/2023 19:52

I've been here 16 years.

Likes:

  • the history
  • proximity to Europe (or anywhere else, frankly. NZ is so incredibly isolated.)
  • pubs
  • sausages are superb here compared with NZ
  • variety of ale
  • public transport, especially Edinburgh buses
  • how cheap dental care is

Dislike:

  • narrow roads (I know this is because of the age of country, but I hate driving here because of them)
  • party politics even at local government level
  • the national religion of the NHS
justasoul · 04/01/2023 19:55

Oh yeah, OP, carpeted bathrooms Confused

TheWayTheLightFalls · 04/01/2023 20:05

From a commonwealth country, live in London.

Love-
How meritocratic it is.

Range of restaurants and cafes.

Free, high-quality museums.

… and lots of other things that others have mentioned.

However-
Everything about property in this country. How it’s built, bought/sold, preserved (or not), fetishised, legislated over, the whole fucking kit and caboodle.

Weather Dec-March, when you open the curtains at 7am and realise you needn’t have bothered.

The cost and quality of childcare.

Infrastructure going down the crapper.

DaisyCornflowerBlue · 04/01/2023 20:15

I'm a British person and this has opened my eyes!

FYI, everyone has an opinion on how to make tea. My best cuppa is made with leaf tea in a pot and using a strainer, but I also use tea bags.

We take the piss out of everything, including religion, politics, Michael Fabricant's wig, which can seem insulting but it's not intended. It's just observations on the absurdity of life. Always deprecating, always moaning, but "gotta keep buggering on". And we do!

BuddhaAtSea · 04/01/2023 20:40

Love: the lack of bureaucracy. You change suppliers, open bank accounts, apply for a driving licence etc just like that, you go on line and you do it. Simples. Love it!!!

Trustworthiness. The system trusts the people. If I say my meter reading is x, my address is local (when you go to the dump, in my town they ask to see proof of address), returns…you get the gist, what you say doesn’t have to be proven.

The UK driving. It’s civilised. You give way, you wait, you don’t think the whole road belongs to one person. Well, there are exceptions, obviously, but overall, it’s a dream to drive here.

It’s not a patriarchal society. Women are encouraged to be independent, to drive, to have careers and interests beside child rearing and cooking, knitting and so on.

The access to culture. If you want it, it’s there.

The sales. Comparing to other European countries, the British sales are proper bargains. Or used to be.

Dislikes

The education system. Speaking as a mother, who’s child attended only UK schools.

The superficiality of social interactions.

The passive aggressiveness and the arrogance that seems to accompany it.

The loneliness a lot of people suffer from here.

Hate

How small and poorly built the houses are. With that, lack of plugs in the bathrooms, washing machines in the kitchen, small windows, dampness.

How expensive the public transport is. It’s practically robbery.

It’s obviously much more to it than that, but this is what comes to my mind now.

SnowAndIceLobelia · 04/01/2023 20:46

Very true about the lack of bureacracy etc. (I am not from here but have lived here for 20 years plus).

I lost my drivers licence, applied online, got it in 48 hours. No fuss.

I also use the Gov UK site alot for work (I am a solicitor) and it is brilliant. It repeats alot of the questions, but bloody hell it is straightforward otherwise. tick this or that. Submit. Sometimes it glitches (land registry seemed to glitch a bit when they transferred over for example) but otherwise it is so so easy.

I also agree with pps who talk about British film tv and radio. fabulous. And I really agree about British food being under rated and under appreciated. I think British cuisine is wonderful.

Chcattn · 04/01/2023 20:51

17 years in the UK , not London or any big city.
I love:
Generally friendly and laid back people who will always try to help.
British humour.
The BBC and many British films.
The countryside and how green things are year round.
Climate (I am from a cold country) - very mild winters, lovely spring time and autumn.
Laid back fashion and no pressure to look a certain way.
Patience with people generally, in places like hospitals for example.
Politeness.
How most things can be done online.
Passion for history and preserving things.
Animal welfare.
Diversity.

Dislike:
Plastic tasteless vegetables (tomatoes!) and fruit in supermarkets - even when in season.
Cost of public transport and its unavailability outside of big cities.
Drinking culture (I come from a very drinking country and always hated it there too).
Class system and snobbery (the latter probably not a typically British thing though).
Stupid design of most even modern recently built houses - with zero provision for any storage.