What are we going back to?

[DolomitesDonkey]

I left the UK in 99 and now we've plans to go back 2015, but - I'm not sure if I want to go back to what I see. Please reassure me it's not all mad.

I realise I've lived away long enough now to be quite direct and "Dutch" and I'm not sure I'm going to cope.

I'm watching Gavin & Stacey on bbc entertainment right now and just before it came on there was a warning about offensive language, offensive topics and parental supervision - put it this way, I was expecting human centipede, not a comedy from South Wales.

Is it just a daft veneer of paranoia and PC, or are in fact the inmates now running the asylum?

Fwiw, we won't be going to the south east if that makes any difference.

Gavin and Stacey is not a realistic version of how most of us live! Its taking the extremes!!!

Yes, the UK has changed in the past 12 years. Were up north, and apart from the fact that its currently snowing, and its been wet for ages, there are still good points.

I can imagine it will still be a bit of a shock, and not what you left tho

BBC Entertainment is an outside UK channel, so don't be worried about the warnings. It broadcasts worldwide and the warnings are for the audiences in conservative regions, such as the Middle East.

Have you not even been back for a visit since 99?
My family lived abroad from 92 and I returned in 2000. I was quite nervous about returning but we've made our home in the south west and love most aspects of life. Most...

espresso Actually that's what my husband said - that they need to put these warnings on because it's being broadcast in more restricted places. Phew!

I have been back a few times - I think the longest I went was about 5 years. I've spoken to a few people and they reassure me that outside urban hubs (particularly SE-centric) that life goes on as normal...

Now just to decide where to go! Aberdeenshire, Loch Lomond, West Wales or Northumberland? Choices, choices!

TicTac I am scared shitless - I know it sounds daft, but I don't even "get" Uk car-registration plates anymore... I have no idea what sort of bollocks we're going to get from the utility companies or anything.

Sometimes the thought of change is far worse that just getting on with it. The whole world has turned in 14 years, including wherever youhave been living for 14 years. The reality is that people are the same all over the world and all of the things that seem strange here now were probably strange when you first relocated. Some media reporting has become quite hysterical and dramatic.......I'm sure there is no need for you to become hysterical too!

We came back 18 months ago after 8 years away.

We too made the south west our new home as we knew we didn't want busy and crowded after living rural. Never lived out this way before but very happy apart from the bleedin' weather.

Basically, the quieter/more rural area you'll pick the less likely it will seem the UK has changed since you left