To ask what you like about living in the U.K.?

[glabicki]

I'm pregnant, and we are moving back to the U.K. I'm nervous about it.

So, could you tell me some of the reasons you love living there to calm me down a bit?

A lot of the time, I read quite a lot of negative things, but I know the positives out way the negative!

Help!

For the hell of it im going to keep going

• the love of backing an underdog, including the England football team
• our quietly cheery patriotism
• the wife variety of good pubs
• the gastro pub in all its glory
• woodlands
• Sunday roasts
• free museums
• heritage steam rail attractions
• clotted cream
• a sense of fair play

In my experience it is a much more flexible job market here. Much more of an emphasis on transferable skills which makes it easier to move into a variety of different roles.

Indian Takeaway
Fresh milk and cream

Nowt else

Humour
Access to Europe etc
History
People
Open mindedness
Peculiar ways

All in no particular order and there are many more...

@GrouchyKiwi

How sad is it that I (almost) miss the earthquakes! (Not the really big ones. They weren't nice at all.)

But in the spirit of this thread, I love, when something makes the house judder, like the double deckers going past, and my daughter just reflexively tenses up, being able to just quietly say - remember where we are now love - shitload of rain, but no earthquakes. . .

Springtime here is glorious and such a happy relief

The cities are diverse with multiple cultures and favours living together in relative harmony

Its green . Very green !

We have great parks

It’s rarely too hot or too cold , you can
Always get out for a walk

In general you can get help . No it’s not ideal
Or perfect but competitively . There is a support net

Primary and secondary education is free !
Healthcare is free !

There exist free museum and galleries accessible to all

I could stand corrected but educate us free in Germany too!! In fact it has a very good education system and in terms of university education it is “free” also. Maybe 1-3k per year for registration etc etc. but cheaper than the Uk so I am lead to believe.

And although the healthcare system is not free...it does have one of the best healthcare systems in the world with little to no wait times!!

When I was an expat in Spain I missed UK supermarkets so much you just can't beat the range here. If I wanted something specific in Spain it was usually very hard to find and super expensive in some tourist shop.

Congratulations on your pregnancy 🌷

I’m glad you’re getting excited about coming over/back now!

Make the most of living in London while you’re there! Yes, you will be able to visit his parents (lucky you), but living there is fabulous and great with a baby too! Then the NW to be —smothered— doted on by your parents...

Moving from Germany now England, i think the thing I’d miss the most about Germany is the bread. Fabulous bread, even in cheaper bakeries. Mind you, I’d be the size of an office block if I lived there with permanent access to it 🤣

When are you coming home?

I love the fact I'm from the North West, I find everyone friendly here. Liverpool, Manchester, Chester, Warrington etc... Are good areas to visit.

Bury Market is worth a visit, I love it

Proper fish and chip shops in Yorkshire

B&M and home and bargains are great shops

Can get a good house in the North West for a fraction of what you'd pay in the south.

Good TV channels

North Wales is lovely to visit

Car boot sales are good fun to get bargains or sell

The negatives - trying to get a GP appointment

Jillyhilly that’s very true, good point. You take a qualification to be a bakery assistant in Germany (true).

London:
-The food market at the back of the royal festival hall on the southbank.

• All of the museums, all of galleries. Fabulous and free!
• Our incredible parks, the royal ones and also the little and large local ones. Clissold Park, Wanstead flats, Highbury park in the summer.
• Outrageously good independent bookshops, coffee shops, restaurants, and luxurious Everyman cinemas (2-for-1 on Monday’s!)
• Societal freedom! People don’t turn their noses up if you go for a run when out of shape, eat alone, stay single, get married, be a single parent, gay relationship, straight relationships, we don’t sneer. Some dickheads will, but Londoners don’t, in my experience.
• Carnaby Street, Liberty’s, Hampstead village, even weird and wonderful extravagant Harrods (strictly looking, for me), farmers markets, Shoreditch, Mayfair, Dalston, Kings Cross and Granary Square. Even a walk round St Pancras station is interesting!

Ooh I love my city!

The rest of the UK. Well, incredible countryside, wonderful cities, market towns, chocolate box villages, mountains and valleys and streams. Kind and welcoming locals I think just about everywhere I’ve been. Notable loveliness has been - all of Wales, Northumberland, Yorkshire all over, Liverpool, Dorset, Somerset. Oh everywhere, I’ve never felt unwelcome anywhere, thank goodness. We are a mixed heritage family, too, if that makes any difference.

Queuing- I hate it elsewhere when people just barge!

Roundabouts rather than lights

Pavements

Decent homeless accommodation/ women’s aid

Costume dramas

A variety of architectural styles in a small space.

Double decker busses

Cheap flights

Lots of islands

Safe roads

Very few toll roads

Bonfire night

Cheap books

Lots of magazines

Wear anything fashion

Postal system

Cheap medicine

Midwives

Brexit (thank goodness)
Countryside
Healthcare
Pubs
Beaches
Netflicks
Dogs and dog walking
Cheap public transport

ROFL, why is it always brexiteers and tories who thank goodness all the time?

Why not thank fuck?

Netflicks (Netflix) is not British fyi

Ofthread I just realised that I’ve written “thank goodness” on my post. Not a Tory or a Brexiter, thank fuck 😅

London is a special kind of wonderfulness but overall :
1)The people. People are always so kind, welcoming, chatty and absolute strangers have helped me.
2)Multiculturalism and how normal it is here.
3)Family life, there's lots to do when you have kids.

@verily1 also costume dramas 🤣

The seasons! Some countries have just a rainy season and a dry one.

Beautiful coastland all round the UK

Moors, hills, dales, fens, mountains, estuaries, lakes etc

Less religious extremism than many parts of the world- most of us can practice our religious beliefs in peace without threat of persecution

Our humour

How socially awkward, self deprecating, shy and "musn't grumble" we all are. Can make life difficult but also entertaining.

Our love of pets, especially dogs.

The way how we have a slightly sunny day in early spring and suddenly we are out in our sunglasses and t shirts

and we have Northumberland, Yorkshire and Cornwall. God's counties.

cream teas

pies. proper pies. and pasties.

fish and chips and such delights as mushy peas and dandeliona and burdock to go with them

charity shops everywhere

Tolerance
NHS
Education system that values kids.
Variety of birds and birdsong.
National Trust, RSPB.
Libraries
The sea.
Villages
Religious freedom
Criminal justice system.
Calmac ferries.
Supermarkets.

Yorkshire
Irn Bru
Tunnocks teacakes