People who left for the worst of it and are now flocking back into the UK

[pinkcups]

It's unreasonable to be annoyed, but it is a bit annoying. It's also unreasonable that I used the term flocking.

Lighthearted post..

My colleague went to Portugal a year ago and is still there (we're all still wfh). She's Portuguese and she moved back in with her parents so that she had family support while she tried to wfh with a small child at home with her. I'm not sure why anyone would have a problem with that?

@Triffid1

No idea what you're talking about. I keep reading articles written by people who left the UK on the basis that if they're working from home they may as well do it somewhere nicer/closer to family, but I haven't actually met anyone who did this in real life.

It's a tiny number.

I have heard that a lot of people who were in jobs like hospitality and retail and came from other parts of Europe went back because they couldn't survive here with no income or massively reduced income so chose to return "home" and live with their parents/family for a while. That doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

And yes, this too. I can think of quite a few Polish people I know vaguely who worked in bars, hotels and restaurants and went back home to stay with family when it was obvious the sector was going to be closed for months.

I know a young family from Eastern Europe who did this. At the time their country’s numbers were really low compared to ours. It’s all equalled out now but they are still there, I assume to stay close to their family. I expect they will come back at some point. I don’t blame them one bit.

Problem is, I think a lot of people went away and then couldn’t get back. The flights got cancelled and people were being asked not to travel.

My friends parents, who are in their 90s, went to visit him in NZ just before the pandemic but they're still there and as far as I can tell they're showing no sign of leaving.

I know multiple people who did this. Although I was jealous at the time that they had the option and I didn't, I was also happy for them that they could get away and be with their families overseas which they definitely needed. It does seem oh so easy for them to swan back in now and scoop up a jab and enjoy life now things are better... but really I would like to think I wish none of us had to go through it, rather than that more of us did. I am not an angel though so I do still feel a bit odd about it, like "it's alright for you" even though I know full well they suffered their own struggles entirely separate from mine.

I can't think of any countries off-hand who 'had it easier'. If people left, for the overwhelming majority it was to be with their families or because they no longer had an income.

The hospitality industry desperately needs them to come back. It's not about 'swanning back and scooping up a job', it's about maybe be returning to their old job after having no income for a year. That doesn't sound so enviable, does it?

I hardly think moving countries for a year is “swanning off”. uprooting children, jobs and routines would have been disruptive and unsettling. Surely only a tiny few would have been able to do this, not “flocks” of people.

Why is it annoying?

Some of the staff my son manages have gone abroad each lockdown. The Romanian kitchen staff go home to see family. The others travel around. Normally they all work such long hours with not much time off. So they have made the best of getting furloughed.

No point them just sitting around in staff accommodation watching TV all day.

I know someone who owns a chain of care homes and retreated to their holiday home in the Mediterranean as this began. Meanwhile the elderly folk in the care homes have been isolated and without family contact for even longer than they might have been because the owner was not getting plans signed off

I’d love a holiday home to flock to...

misses point

@QueenOfTheDoubleWide

I know someone who owns a chain of care homes and retreated to their holiday home in the Mediterranean as this began. Meanwhile the elderly folk in the care homes have been isolated and without family contact for even longer than they might have been because the owner was not getting plans signed off

Oh hell. I wish I’d read the thread before posting.

That’s disgraceful.

As expected op hasn't come back.

The global 1%?

Most of my friends went to India and Pakistan during the worst of it there because they wanted to be closer to family during the crisis & make sure they got help as needed.

Given how the Prime Minister responded (or to be more accurate, did not respond) in March last year, I don't blame them one bit.