What do you like about the UK?

[Killerkweef]

I am British bit have lived abroad for 15 years.

I miss the British sense of humour. When I make jokes in my country of residence people look at me like I have two heads.

I miss the choice in the supermarkets. Different flavours of the same product, different products at Easter/ Christmas and not just exactly the same as last year and each and every year before that.

I miss the rich history of the country, and the traditions that I hope are being upheld (Guy Fawkes night was always my favourite).

I am feeling really homesick tonight. Indulge me.

The things I miss are
The people
The shops
Ready meals
Decent sausage rolls & pasty
The pubs
The shop assistants who ignore you ( I don't want to be constantly asked if I'm finding everything ok)
The TV- I can watch some shows where I am if I get yet ANOTHER subscription
I basically miss everything. It's the best place in the world.

I’ve been out of the UK for much of the past 10 years and though I definitely see it through rose tinted spectacles, I honestly think some people don’t know how good they’ve got it there. (Obviously I don’t mean the people who are really struggling right now). For my husband’s work, I live in a place where there is nowhere to go and nothing to do at the best of times. No culture, no history, ugly landscapes of strip malls and highways, mean people, crappy shops, bad food. (I’m generalising, of course! It does have some good points!) In winter, which lasts about 7 months, it is about minus 30 degrees and there is about 2 feet of snow on the pavements.

England, with all its problems, looks like heaven to me from here! At the very least, you can always go for a lovely walk, even in the rain! When we visited last year, I was just so happy to be able to talk to people, find things in the shops and restaurants that I actually wanted to eat and go out without putting on 10 million layers of clothes! It’s the little things!

I moved to the UK 11 years ago.

I love working for the NHS.
I love the weather (not too hot thank you very much).
I love the sense of humour.
I love the quality of UK TV dramas.
Lastly I love Wales. Love going to the caravan, seeing all the sheep, the beautiful landscape and the lovely accent.

The weather is not too extreme (though getting worse)

I miss going to a café for a sandwich and having crisps and a small salad on the plate, all of which end up in the sandwich. I miss the variety of accents and proximity to Europe, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. All of which are accessible without flying. I love the bird song (also fabulous here in Melbourne) particularly blackbird and robin - it’s magical.

So many different flavoured crisps. Crisps galore.

People don't stare at you on public transport (in London at least). They generally don't make eye contact. But if you accidentally catch their eye, many will give you a small smile. I thought that was quite nice. It is different from where I am from where people openly stare at you if you are different, sometimes with a judgy look.

Rhubarb
Springtime
Inspector Morse
Beautiful cities
Amazing literature
Our language
Our history
Lakes and Meres
Mountains and hills
Thatched cottages
Village greens
Duck ponds
Kentish weatherboard houses
Windmills
Cider and Perry
Strawberries

History of the country
Countryside
Small villages (as opposed to huge cities with skyscrapers)
English Breakfasts

So so nice .

Not much at the minute. It's a dirty dump , the countryside is being eaten up with modern housing estates and every national structure in society is at breaking point or corrupt after 13 years of Tories. So many people are lazy and selfish and couldn't give a shit about the environment- they drop litter, stuff all sorts down the drains, buy fake grass and get rid of gardens, dump pets.

Oh yes, to the green. Here the grass dies off in the winter and everything is brown for months. It’s depressing!

Being close to the sea.

Getting a decent cup of tea.

British sense of humour.

Chatting in shops.

Queuing!

I live in a big busy city in Asia and really miss quiet country or sea side.
Cold, wet Sundays with a roaring fire.
Sense of humour and please and thank you.
Greeting and thanking the bus driver, I always make a point of it.
Getting in a lift and there's automatically a designated lift person who asks your floor and pushes your button.
I'm from Glasgow and I love our multiculturalism, I love hearing a broad Glaswegian accent from an Asian or Italian person.
We were on holiday recently at a resort in Malaysia and a member of staff dropped a glass. DH and I gave the usual response, sadly our cheering didn't go down well!

The weather and the inflation of the cost of food in the supermarket.

Nah only joking.

I like that my family all live in this country. Also good people live here, I like how polite and orderly most people are here.

I left the UK a long time ago, and there are only a few things I miss. If I could have a shop in Waitrose and M & S food hall, followed by an afternoon in a decent pub with the weekend newspapers and my mum that would just about cover it.

Wonderful thread!

• North Devon Coastline is stunning
• Yorkshire gold teabags
• dairy milk
• desserts like banoffee pie
• friendly banter with the local Tesco express staff
• amazing parks (Battersea, Hyde, st James)
• strawberry picking in the summer!
• British crime dramas are another level of epic (line of duty, happy valley)
• hugh grant - love him in rom coms!
• lbc and James o Brian and the way he calls people sir!
• english breakfast!

I am second gen in the UK but I love everything about the UK! Right now it’s very difficult to live in and it’s so sad.

THE DESSERTS?? JFC what sort of hellscape are you living in now that you think British desserts are the best, or even mostly edible?

I miss British media. Not the TV - not sure why everyone thinks that's so great - but the newspapers (yes, even now), many magazines etc are still much better than so much elsewhere.

Sorry, I should have said "what sort of hellscape are you FROM"

Really? In a country where fashions, music tastes, lifestyles, religions and sexualities are diverse and often protected by law, you genuinely think there’s not tolerance of difference?

where do you live that’s better?

There are a lot of people on this thread who don’t seem able to comprehend that other people have different experiences/tastes to them 😂

Fascinating how many people aren’t able to answer a pretty straightforward question, or even to just scroll on by.

instead they feel the need to express their opinion on an entirely different subject.

I guess they must think their unrelated opinion is super important and we’re all desperate to hear their complaints!

how odd.

The scenery and how green it is
Market towns
The community of small villages
The wild life - on the school run yesterday I saw hares and roe deer and red kites and jays. I've not seen that in any other country
The choice of food in supermarkets - Polish, Indian, Chinese, Thai
ParkRun,
National parks and footpaths. The right to roam
The quality of universities
The richness of local food produce - ciders, beers, sausage, cheeses, pickles etc

I'm British but haven't lived there since 2018

My family
Green fields and coastlines
Greggs!!
Supermarket bakery jam doughnuts
Churches
History
Galleries, museums, theatre - all culture really
Primark
Cream teas with clotted cream, everyone here claims whipped cream is clotted cream and it IS NOT
A summer that's a few weeks long rather than all year round (but I hate cold, so can't win on that one)

Moderate weather
No nasty snakes, spiders or dangerous wildlife.
Nowadays lots of vegetarian and vegan options in supermarkets and restaurants
Ordely queues

Yes our desserts are the best; jam roly poly, blackberry and apple crumble, sticky toffee pudding and banoffi pie spring to mind.

where do you live that’s better?

I live in England. I didn't say I lived somewhere better. I hear people denigrating other people's colour, gender, sexuality, appearance, speech, faith, beliefs and origins every day. I see endless people buying and reading papers with hate-filled headlines on the front page. I hear political parties encouraging people to blame other people who are different from them for all of their problems, and I see people willingly following them.

I rarely meet anyone outside my work who I would describe as tolerant.