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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

My soul aches for England

232 replies

Supertatofortea · 03/12/2023 09:56

I live in another European country

Seeing all the snowy posts and the variety of fun Christmas things to do has made me pine for it more 😢

OP posts:
Crushed23 · 03/12/2023 11:48

I love England beyond comprehension.

I am due to move abroad for work next year and I already know I am going to miss this fantastic country deeply every single day (I will come back after my stint overseas).

Souvenir81 · 03/12/2023 11:49

TerribleWoman · 03/12/2023 10:24

The worst thing about middle class England is that we cannot see, despite the issues, how incredibly lucky and privileged we are to be living here.

It's a country that isn't too hot or too cold. It isn't too wet or too dry. It isn't dangerous; we aren't going to be washed away by a tsunami or have our houses shaken to oblivion by an earthquake. No volcano will spew lava over our cities. We can walk in the countryside alone without a bear or lion stalking us. We can put shoes on without a scorpion check and don't have to panic that any spider in the dark corners of the kitchen cupboard is likely to kill us.

Our government is a bit shit of course, but we have options to change that; and it's a bit shit as opposed to despotic or psychotic. Anyone coming on to draw a parallel between the Tories and right wing dictatorships in South America, don't go there. They are not the same.

We get healthcare free at point of use, and yes it's hard to get to see a GP but no one will go bankrupt because they got cancer, like in USA, or watch helplessly as their child dies from diarrhea for want of clean drinking water and dehydration sachets like in rural sub Saharan Africa.

We are some of the luckiest people on the planet in the grand scheme of things, and yet it's de rigeur to do our country down and moan continually. I don't understand why.

Well said; I appreciate many people are struggling but so they are in other countries; let’s focus on the positives

Alargeoneplease89 · 03/12/2023 11:49

Finlesswonder · 03/12/2023 10:11

I moved back to UK a few months ago and it's great.

The UK has always been down on itself, most of the chronic whiners can't quite bring themselves to try somewhere else...

Yup!

WildflowersInAMasonJar · 03/12/2023 11:55

Mumsnet is a strange place. So many spend their time slagging off other places but when someone ‘praises’ England, they can’t wait to slag that off too. 😅

I guess I can write ‘All English people are miserable fuckers’ based on these posts, because mumsnet were fine with a post titled ‘all Americans are lazy cooks’ the other day based on a few blogs.

Non English person on England OP and it’s lovely today. Lots of kids are out playing in the snow, and it looks beautiful.

WildflowersInAMasonJar · 03/12/2023 11:56

*IN England

SerafinasGoose · 03/12/2023 11:56

It's home.

I've lived overseas, and I loved where I was and at one point considered staying there permanently. Even so, and despite the fact that where I was people were less pessimistic and reserved than the British are overall, I was homesick. That's quite usual.

Loulou599 · 03/12/2023 11:59

@ToWhitToWhoo
In my country the emphasis for Christmas is that it is "magical" and the goal is for things such as meals to be sophisticated. In the UK there's an element of joyous hysteria that's very different. I like it. In the UK it feels closer to the mood of a pagan winter festivities, in my country it feels more Christian IMO.

porridgeisbae · 03/12/2023 11:59

My soul aches for somewhere bloody warm!!

Amen, sister. I'd have summer all year round.

BIossomtoes · 03/12/2023 12:01

porridgeisbae · 03/12/2023 11:59

My soul aches for somewhere bloody warm!!

Amen, sister. I'd have summer all year round.

And me. My dream is to spend November to March in Australia or New Zealand.

whereaw · 03/12/2023 12:01

As someone who was not born in England, it is a wonderful, charming, unique, inspiring, historic, and cultural place to live and it makes me very proud. But of course the done thing by the Brits (and even immigrants) is to slag it off, and ignore all the monumental and great things the English people past and present have done, or how lucky we are to live in a free and tolerant secular society that cares not only for its own people but others too. There are opportunities and chances for everyone here in a way that is just not true in many parts of the world, it is not perfect but humanity is not perfect and so no country or government ever will be. But on the grand scale of things, we have it pretty good!

ILookLikeAPinkBlancmange · 03/12/2023 12:09

@Ginmonkeyagain you didn't leave it outside to get darked on last night, did you?

Ginmonkeyagain · 03/12/2023 12:15

I did. Shocking I know!

VickyEadieofThigh · 03/12/2023 12:20

Nitgel · 03/12/2023 10:02

London is fab this year. London is great reat of uk meh 😉

Speak for yourself! We live in a small town on the East coast - we can hear the sea from our house and walk to the beach in a few minutes. It's fabulously Christmassy in town (we had our big lights switch-on at the weekend and the high street was closed off to cars, lined with stalls selling Christmassy things and comestibles, all the cafes were jammed, Christmas music playing and everyone smiling and having a great time) and a lovely, community feel in general all year round.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 03/12/2023 12:26

A French friend of dd, now living back in France, said recently that she really misses the U.K. at Christmas and during the run-up - it’s so much more Christmassy than the French version, which she now finds very boring and a lot less fun.

Just saying, for the benefit of those hordes of MNers who invariably think that absolutely everything is invariably better everywhere else. 🙂

Original poster
Supertatofortea · 03/12/2023 12:40

@RedHelenB That sounds amazing! Where do you live?

OP posts:
losingmymind97 · 03/12/2023 12:40

hby9628 · 03/12/2023 10:04

I'm in England. Tiny smattering of snow that now makes outside just look grey & soggy. It's also freezing cold. Hope that's helped!

This! It's bloody miserable! 😭

FinallyPregnant23 · 03/12/2023 12:40

I lived in another country for a few years and have done lots of travelling when I was younger, and I honestly love England. We have our flaws, but we do a lot of things right too, and it's just home.

Toomanyemails · 03/12/2023 12:41

I moved to the UK a year ago after living in different European countries. The snow's pretty, but most of northern Europe has gorgeous snow right now, and to me, the terrible public services, poor quality of housing that leaves everything damp and freezing, rubbish attitudes towards maternity and childcare, and divisive/hateful tone in politics, all cloud my view of England a lot :(
Are you enjoying the festive traditions in the country you're living in now?

Original poster
Supertatofortea · 03/12/2023 12:42

The run up to Christmas in the U.K. is so so much more fun and has something very unique about it, like children excited for Christmas Day. There are celebrations where we are, but no way near the same

OP posts:
UnpalatableButTrue · 03/12/2023 12:51

VegetablesFightingToReclaimTheAubergieneEmoji · 03/12/2023 10:14

And me.

Show quote history

I thought that was what this thread was going to be about, and I was going to agree.

Ramalangadingdong · 03/12/2023 12:53

AhBiscuits · 03/12/2023 10:15

It's a lovely time of year.
Being a miserable fucker is a typical British / Mumsnet thing.

How do you know why they hate this time of year? Maybe it reminds them of loved ones they can no longer share it with; perhaps they are alone and lonely; perhaps it is the anniversary of a traumatic event. There is usually a reason people don’t like this holiday and it is not usually or only because they are, as you so elegantly put it, “miserable fuckers”.

Isthisblocked · 03/12/2023 12:54

Your soul should ache for England …… so many discontented people failing to realise how lucky they are. And I am not rich….. I live in the north east of England in a small house, but there is a fire in my hearth and on my stove, lentil and vegetable soup, bubbling away to have with good bread and even better cheese when I return from a walk in the snow. We have many freedoms and opportunities in this great country….. there are many wonderful people from my very ordinary neighbours to artists and scientists of world renown. I am just an ordinary English woman and I know how lucky we are

Littlelucas · 03/12/2023 12:57

So many misery-guts on here - doing ourselves down seems to be a national sport. I feel incredibly lucky to live in England and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be at Christmas. Off to have a festive lunch in a beautiful local garden centre soon and will buy our Christmas tree. Went to a gorgeous market town yesterday to look around the Christmas markets , had a few mulled wines and were regaled with carols and songs from a local choir which almost brought me to tears it was so lovely. It was busy and bustling and everyone was wrapped up and having a great time shopping and eating and drinking. Bought some lovely handmade gifts from a pop up craft fair.

I for one feel very happy to be here and I’m not an especially cheerful person but I do know which side my bread is buttered.

Ask me again in January/February though and il be pining for sun and contemplating jetting off to the canaries!

bombastix · 03/12/2023 12:57

Christmas is fantastic in England, agreed. Also not necessarily all that Christian; more the "gosh it's dark and cold and we must cheer ourselves up". I don't like the tat element but the food and parties and decor are fun. Also doing things like going to the panto with children, the emphasis on silliness and fun. It's not very pious!

AboutYouTalk · 03/12/2023 12:57

TerribleWoman · 03/12/2023 10:24

The worst thing about middle class England is that we cannot see, despite the issues, how incredibly lucky and privileged we are to be living here.

It's a country that isn't too hot or too cold. It isn't too wet or too dry. It isn't dangerous; we aren't going to be washed away by a tsunami or have our houses shaken to oblivion by an earthquake. No volcano will spew lava over our cities. We can walk in the countryside alone without a bear or lion stalking us. We can put shoes on without a scorpion check and don't have to panic that any spider in the dark corners of the kitchen cupboard is likely to kill us.

Our government is a bit shit of course, but we have options to change that; and it's a bit shit as opposed to despotic or psychotic. Anyone coming on to draw a parallel between the Tories and right wing dictatorships in South America, don't go there. They are not the same.

We get healthcare free at point of use, and yes it's hard to get to see a GP but no one will go bankrupt because they got cancer, like in USA, or watch helplessly as their child dies from diarrhea for want of clean drinking water and dehydration sachets like in rural sub Saharan Africa.

We are some of the luckiest people on the planet in the grand scheme of things, and yet it's de rigeur to do our country down and moan continually. I don't understand why.

Absolutely this. We take it for granted.