Things I miss about the UK

[shiningcuckoo]

I have lived out of the UK for more than 20 years now and still get desperately homesick at times. Here’s a list of some of the things I miss.
country churches
british wildlife - hare, foxes, moles, otters etc
Radio 4
fish and chip shops
massive Sunday papers
christmas lights
pubs with open fires and dogs
proper beer
wood pigeons
a jug of Pimms on a summer evening in the garden with your mates
m&s and John lewis
m&s sandwiches
london pubs
pantomimes
clotted cream
Cornish pasties
Cornwall in general
brass bands playing Christmas carols
sunday dinner

anything else that might go on my list of sentimentality?

Queueing?

When I lived abroad I mostly missed cultural references, humour and the weather.

Public footpaths and bridleways

Distinctive scenery, local accents,
hedgerows and winding roads.
The seaside, the smell of the water and the air that tells you you are home.
Being able to pop into a sweet shop and choose your favorite treats.
The beautiful and distinctive patchwork of green fields that is so typical of Britain.
As was mentioned previously, the witty humour that is typical and uniquely British.

Tea served in cafes with actual boiling water

Sharp apples

The greenness

The mix of architecture

The massively varied scenery squished into a small country

The humour

Massive variety of restaurants

Quite good ready meals, compared to practically anywhere else

Pubs

Relatively good manners, compared with most places

A very rich history (albeit very dark) so a huge variety of heritage type stuff

Immigration - great variety of people and culture

I think the rest probably depends on where else I was living

When I lived abroad it used to be:

the higher standard of driving,

good manners in general, especially with queuing and personal remarks/questions in social situations,

Customer service and efficiency,

British supermarkets quality of food and prices, especially Tesco. I’d be like a kid in a sweet shop on trips back home in there marvelling at how cheap everything was!

British chocolate

Sadly all the above has gone to pot in the years after we returned to the UK.

A great British roast dinner with Yorkshires and gravy. As well as a cup of strong builders tea and buttered crumpets.. My attempts to recreate those were never the same when living abroad.

Vegetarian options (I’m a veggie). May have changed now but I never found a country other than the UK that offers such a good range of meat free protein replacements and veggie dishes in supermarkets and restaurants. Really struggled with that.

I remember while living in Western Canada and Malaysia desperately missing the fresh summer breezes that we’d get in the UK when the heat there was stifling and there was no let up day or night.

The relief of the friendliness and professionalism of passport control on entry back into the UK, especially on the Eurotunnel after driving through borders in Eastern Europe, when we lived there for a few years. Not really something you miss until you come back!

When was your last visit back @shiningcuckoo and which country are you in now? A lot of the things you mention are not as good as they used to be. Rose tinted specs and nostalgia are powerful things. The only things I miss are Warburton crumpets and my friends. I split my time though, but where I am overseas is actually where I consider to be home. Family circumstances dictate that I have to be in UK some of the time and I always feel homesick when I am.

Those London long summer evenings when the pubs are full and everyone spills out onto the pavement.

Bluebell walks, that extraordinary sudden haze of blue and the scent as you walk through the trees, feeling every second of the spring after a long winter.

The exploding shocks of blossom along the roads in May with the verges foaming with Queen Anne's lace.

Radio 3. (Tbh can you get the World Service? I listen to that a lot anyway).

Branston Pickle

Dry stone walls. Patchwork fields and rolling hills.

I miss crisp winter days with blue sky and shiny sun
London has much better food variety - vegan and vegetarian easier in the UK albeit the quality is often poor

I did wonder where you are though as I have M&S, there is a pub that does a good roast etc and politeness being high in UK is a bit amusing

I’ve only been abroad for five years, but I do miss an occasional “british” chinese.

London in summer for the reasons someone mentioned above. Rome just gets too hot.

I’m not from the UK, but I lived there for many years, and this is what I miss. And the art, classical music and theatre offerings of London, but I nip back for a weekend if there’s something I’m keen to see. It’s not possible to replicate on a brief visit my years of living in a village and only having to step out my door to be on a field path. There’s no equivalent where I live now, though there are some long-distance way marked walks.

Fancy a cuppa?

Whatever the situation... First thing in morning, getting home, visitors arriving, fire brigade turning up as your house is burning down... the first priority is getting the kettle on fir a cuppa.

I know this is only one thing on your long list, but you're probably able to get Radio 4 online.

I honestly don’t miss a thing (apart from family and friends).

There are sheep and cows in the fields. I am always so happy when we land, start driving up to my mum's, and I see a field with livestock in it. I remember many years ago my kids being utterly amazed at how big cows were!

I can get Radio 4 online but it's not the same. And I cook my own roasts and I know I can get M&S on line too. It's the whole package that makes me sentimental. I live in NZ and last visited the UK in 2023. I am so so far away from home sometimes it hurts. I am averagely witty - a bit dry, a bit sarcastic but nothing special. Here I am absolutely hilarious!

I’m here at the moment (I live overseas). The prices have shot up massively. I love it here in the summer.

I live between the UK and another country (school abroad and holidays in uk) so idk if I can say properly what I miss but as a Londonder I miss the most spices, ease of access to world foods. Granted I literally take these things back with me so it's not that awful but if i didn't have that! Also dettol is mad expensive where I am but the quality of fruit and veg is shocking! So I have to admit I get best of all worlds by going back home, shopping, and going back to amazing fresh food and great weather WITH my world foods. World foods here are expensive and knowing if I plan well I can have it all 😊

I do miss the museums but when I go with the kids I get fed up at the huge amount of people there are everywhere 😂 I wonder how I tolerated it my whole life. I miss my family though!
I do miss cheddar prices that's something I can't take with me. I overpay baaaaadly but don't like the various cheese available here and the cheddar is posh too I miss waitrose nr 3 medium haha

Give me your address and I'll happily post the little mole bastards that are wrecking my garden as we speak, I certainly wouldn't ever miss bloody moles!

Another one missing the bridlepaths and public rights of way.

It wasn’t until I’d lived for a few years in a Med climate, that I realised how utterly beautiful the UK spring was.

Having later lived in a climate with no seasons except hot, and stinking bloody hot, I appreciated it even more.