Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wish I lived in the Netherlands (or Belgium)

89 replies

lucydogz · 04/10/2018 21:06

A mildly pissed post here, but I'm just coming to the end of a week's holiday in Belgium/ The Netherlands (in Rotterdam tonight) and would love to live here. Are there any downside s that would cheer me up about returning to the UK? The people here just seem to get everything right. Plus no litter and not much graffiti.

OP posts:
AlphaBravo · 04/10/2018 21:10

Not much graffiti? Is that a joke. Get on the train ffs 😂

Lovely place. Horribly racist though.

grauduroi · 04/10/2018 21:13

It's far too flat Grin
I did enjoy the lifestyle....but I couldn't get over the lack of hills!

reluctantbrit · 04/10/2018 21:22

The language. I do speak a bit Dutch, spent my childhood at the Dutch seaside and loving with Dutch television in Germany but I never got the throat sounds correct.

A friend lived in the Netherlands for over 10 years, it took ages for her to pronounce it correctly.

I love the area, I don’t mind the missing hills, I love flat areas.

TailEndCharlie · 04/10/2018 21:48

I can't pronounce my Netherlands address.... it makes me feel weirdly incompetent as a grownup. Also why in gods name do they call squirty cream Slagroom. It is some weird kinky shit. Be thankful you are returning to sanity and appropriately starchy values. And scoff as many Proffittjes as possible before you leave. Oh and stuff your hold luggage with Chocomel because Amazon will bankrupt you for it when you get home.... oh and remember the Dutch don't do Sunday Roast!!! Or any big lumps of meat really. So look forward the gloriousness of Sunday Lunch!!! Better?

BlatheringWuther · 04/10/2018 21:51

It's not flat in the mid and south of Belgium. Graffiti is considered an irreproachable art form over there. Another downside about Belgium is that they are incapable of processing holidays and tax in the year they are due - everything runs a year behind. The Netherlands is slightly more densely populated than England and has very small houses. I can't think of any other downside about either place compared to the UK, they are both much much nicer and I also wish I could stay!

Cripesalive · 04/10/2018 21:53

I left the Netherlands earlier this year and, although I agree with you they get a lot right, I was so happy to be home! Agree with pp they are very racist and there is a lot of segregation (they will not agree on this though, get very offended and talk about how tolerant they are etc). Also making local friends is very difficult, they can be quite insular. Also supermarkets are all shit!

Original poster
lucydogz · 04/10/2018 21:57

Cheers charlie i do feel better. Is it more racist than the UK alpha? It seems so relaxed.

OP posts:
Wincarnis · 04/10/2018 21:57

Higher taxes and expensive health insurance. Even worse, no crumbly cheese!!!

Growingboys · 04/10/2018 22:03

No crumbly cheese - massive problem.

Dutch men are so hot though.

DopeyDazy · 04/10/2018 22:04

love Netherlands esp Appldoorn and Delft. Was in Delft for last Coronation, everything was orange. Not racist more national pride imo and very welcoming although friends who have been to Europe say things are much cooler since Brexit vote

Disquieted1 · 04/10/2018 22:12

I couldn't do it. Couldn't miss Jeremy Kyle.

Ohyesiam · 04/10/2018 22:16

No NHS.
Nice tall men though.

scaryteacher · 04/10/2018 22:34

Downsides to living in Belgium

  • It's bloody expensive
  • 21% VAT on books, children's clothes, children's shoes, gas, electricity and heating oil.
  • Car tax is horrendously high
  • Flemish is a bugger to learn
  • Bureaucracy
  • The Belgians do it dreckly like the Cornish, or like the Spanish mañana, but without the sense of urgency either of those two words convey.
  • They drive like fucking lunatics, and the fabled 5 lane crossover from fast lane to exit without looking in the mirrors or indicating in rush hour on the Ring is incredibly scary when you are one of the cars they in the lane and space they are trying to occupy.
  • There isn't anything quite as rapacious as a Belgian landlord when you have your inventory check out (I still glare at my last landlords who tried to gouge us when I bump into them in the supermarket).
  • Lack of Lurpak
  • Tea had to be bought at the British Store (v expensive0 or the car boot gets filled with most of Sainsbury and Waitrose when I'm back in UK
  • UHT milk when you buy a coffee out
-They can't make tea to save their lives; Liptons and lukewarm water does not a good cup of tea make.
  • No Persil non bio capsules
-They don't do bacon like we do
  • Chickens are tiny and expensive...looking forward to moving home next year and getting a chicken that is over 1.4kg and doesn't cost a fortune
  • Food is samey
  • No roasting joints as we would understand them
  • No baking potatoes, and all the spuds taste the same whatever you do to them
  • Lots of the architecture is very weird. I have a book called 'Ugly Belgian Houses'. The title does not lie.
  • The bank/shops shutting at lunchtime
  • Some shops being shut on a Monday as they have been open at the weekend
Ditto restaurants Ditto bakeries
  • Priority from the right - they don't even look when coming out a side road, and they cut off the corner all the fucking time when turning off the main road - it's my lane you wanker.
  • Strikes
  • not picking up their dog shit
  • No lemon curd yoghurt
  • constant diversions (without warning) in the summer because of yet another cycle race
  • not being able to exit where you live without hassle because of yet another cycle race
  • road works at the most inconvenient times - more diversions that are badly signed and get you totally lost

How am I doing so far?

explodingkitten · 05/10/2018 05:32

How do you feel about 42-52 % income tax.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IncometaxxintheeNetherlands

Plus you have to pay around 100 euro a month for the cheapest health insurance and the first 400 euro of costs a year you have to pay yourself.

CoalTit · 05/10/2018 06:05

What a great thread! That post-holiday infatuation I know so well, then all the disheartening details that you come across when you actually live in a place. It makes me want to start one about the Canary Islands. Or Vienna.

AngeloMysterioso · 05/10/2018 06:14

My batshit crazy Dutch ex flatmate has put me off Dutch people for life.

Original poster
lucydogz · 05/10/2018 06:15

Thanks all! There's a Facebook page called Ugly Be lgian Houses scary which is hilarious.
Perhaps part of the reason I love it here is because I can't understand what people are saying at all.

OP posts:
MrsTerryPratchett · 05/10/2018 06:16

My friend married a Dutch man and it turned out he held a grudge against me interfering in their relationship for MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS. It's a sample of one but really!

SoaringSwallow · 05/10/2018 06:17

Racism - yes very much and it's almost a taboo to discuss it because (White) Dutch don't consider themselves racist at all, therefore they're not.

You'll see people of different ethnicities but you rarely see them socialising together - it'll be different groups of ethnicities.

The wind. You can cycle everywhere, but at least half the year you'll be in a wind tunnel with a cold shower.

Makeup: if you wear any, it'll have to be 100% waterproof (see last point).

You'll spend a lot of time learning a language that very few people speak internationally - unlike French or Spanish.

But, sorry to say, there's a lot that makes up for it. Wink

Pinkhorses · 05/10/2018 06:19

You see the nice side of countries when in holiday . I lived in Belgium for a while. Seems like thevUK in that there ar some lovely places where everyone seems busy and content and some deprived bits with high unemployment and social problems . Friend from Charleroi ( spell?) said some parts she finds it hard to walk through because she gets a lot of street harassment .

madvixen · 05/10/2018 06:20

Lucydogz, I'm in exactly the same boat. Leaving The Netherlands today after an awesome week and I really don't want to go home. We visited Den Bosch yesterday and I've already picked out the house I will buy when I win the lottery. I will also insist on shares in Mona Puddings!

Original poster
lucydogz · 05/10/2018 06:22

Mine's in Mechelen vixen. I love Mechelen.

OP posts:
LifeEhFindsAWay · 05/10/2018 07:45

Belgium is lovely but the racism is bad yeah.. much worse than the UK.

BluthsFrozenBananas · 05/10/2018 07:54

Apparently there are no charity shops in Belgium. Whenever my mum has her late husband’s Belgium relatives to stay a trawl round the town’s charity shops is a highlight of their trip.

rightreckoner · 05/10/2018 07:55

Lived in Belgium twice. They drive like drunk Italians - it’s insane. Not the nice calm N European driving you expect. It’s basically the Italy of the North.

Graffiti is horrible. Large parts of Brussels are horrible: See that lovely 19th century park? Yeah we put a dual carriageway through it.

Quite parochial in terms of food. Belgian food quality is really good - but there are other foods and they haven’t really noticed. And yes as a PP has said - the tea is an abomination. They have a big dairy industry so what’s with the UHT guys?