Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Living overseas

Whether you're considering emigrating or an expat abroad, you'll find likeminds on this forum.

Original poster

Paddington made me homesick

32 replies

AmericasTorturedBrow · 31/01/2015 13:13

I know it's whimsical and totally unrealistic (we'd never be living in a massive house like that in chalk farm "Windsor Gardens) but I actually sobbed when DS said he didn't recognize the natural history museum.

Just confirmed for me that I do eventually want to move back

OP posts:
fatowl · 31/01/2015 15:09

me too, I'd had a grim christmas, being the first one DD20 didn't come out, and paddington on Boxing day did nothing for my homesick mood (I did enjoy it though!)

anotherdayanothersquabble · 31/01/2015 20:39

Me too!!! I wanted the stain glassed windows, the tiles in the hallway but did pick holes in the fact that the staircase was wrong and there is no way that the streets would have been that empty!!!

Original poster
AmericasTorturedBrow · 01/02/2015 03:41

I just want to among that throng of miserable commuters in the rain. With their matching black umbrellas

OP posts:
jigglywiggly · 01/02/2015 04:06

Have not seen the film, but can't wait to go home either. Just miss the humdrum of UK life I suppose. I live in a country that is far too hot to do anything outside withh my Ds and he asks every day to go into the garden to play :(. We actually don't have a garden here, and if we did I would be worried about snakes etc anyway. I want to be able to wrap him up warm and make snowmen or just go for a walk in the woods at home etc.......
Sorry....went off on a tangent there!

castlesintheair · 01/02/2015 07:56

We stayed in London over Xmas at a place very near to where Paddington was filmed. Very similar. It was just lovely. Every bit as wonderful as the film portrays it.

Original poster
AmericasTorturedBrow · 01/02/2015 16:55

We live in SoCal so quality of life is very good and very easy and the DC love it. I like it very much but ultimately want to go home and seeing films with london particularly (I grew up there) make me pine for my Favourite place on earth and my culture and my friends and family the nooks and crannies that only we know about.

And I can't tell you what a blessed relief it was talking to HMRC in the phone last week and them understanding every word I said!

OP posts:
LexLoofah · 03/02/2015 15:14

jiggly we are the same, at certain times of the year too hot to play out and when it is cool there are mozzies about and then it goes dark so that is that. What I wouldn't give for a walk in the woods right now.

We are moving back this year, not to Paddington film territory but UK all the same. I suppose this time next year I will be on here moaning about the cold, wet, windy weather but for now am rather looking forward to it

idlevice · 03/02/2015 15:30

When I was living abroad seeing the 2011 riots on the news made me so homesick I cried Blush (Disclaimer: I was pregnant at the time)

I've loved re-discovering the seasons here with the DC the last couple of years. We recently had two snowfalls that were small but lasted for a few hours into the morning - perfect for a mini snowman & making footprints. We've had ice in the pond & puddles which is exciting for the DCs to poke & smash. & are going on a snowdrop walk at the weekend. I have invested in proper outdoors clothes (well, secondhand for the DC as they grow out of it each year) & it's a bit of a pain to store but I much prefer getting outside here, no bitey ants for a start!

itsveryyou · 03/02/2015 15:42

OP Could've written that myself! I spent most of the film in a glossy-eyed state of missing everything about home, from the smelly train stations to the surly shop staff and chaotic, rainy, dark and dismal city streets. I miss the smell of England, the sureness of its history, small houses and cosy pubs. I miss dark mornings and frosty dawns, hills and lush green valleys. I miss graffiti and ready salted Hoola Hoops. I miss snowdrops and crocuses popping their heads up in spite of everything. I miss robins and tweeting garden birds. I miss the grey sea. I miss walking in the woods and having tea and cake at the local garden centre. I miss train travel and castles and quaint old buildings.
Disclaimer: I reserve the right to complain about all of the above when we return to the UK later this year We are having an amazing time in USA and there are so many positives, but I will not miss worrying about people carrying guns, or having them in their cars or houses when my kids are there, or the schools doing emergency drills, or the tornado warnings, or evil spiders hiding under logs, or snakes climbing up walls and getting into my dryer vent, or people saying 'my car needs fixed'...

anotherdayanothersquabble · 03/02/2015 16:37

Beautifully written, itsvery! Write it down and seek those things out when you move back. (I want tea and cake in a garden centre..)

Original poster
AmericasTorturedBrow · 03/02/2015 18:24

itsveryyou you have made me weep all over again SadI don't know if we'll ever move home. I want to but DH does not so to put off the conversation for a few more years we're planning a trip to South America for several months. Cos that's the grown up way to deal with life as an expat

OP posts:
HerRoyalNotness · 03/02/2015 18:30

Me too, and I'm not even from England.

DH (who is English) and I laughed the loudest and most in that movie. We got all the little funny things and really miss the humour.

We're in Texarse and won't miss the way they can't deal with a child who doesn't fit in their particular mould, and are too scared of other parents complaints to see that actually, that child is just being a child, and it's no big deal. or the guns, or the traffic, or the fake politeness

HerRoyalNotness · 03/02/2015 18:32

... posted too early.

Dh has stated many times though, we will never live in the UK again. We are doomed to be nomads across the globe. I'm already plotting how I can have a snuggly little cottage where I can set down for a couple of years to see the DC through the last years of high school and into uni, while he works away.

Original poster
AmericasTorturedBrow · 03/02/2015 18:35

Ha ha me too - pointing out to DH that the DC need to live in the UK for a few years before university in order to pay resident and not foreign student fees hasn't swayed him.

I might threaten that we'll go home and just join him in California in the holidays

OP posts:
HerRoyalNotness · 03/02/2015 18:39

That's exactly my fear brow I've started saving for international fees already, but I sure don't want to pay them!

DH is all a bit, don't worry, it'll all work out etc..... head in sand.

itsveryyou · 03/02/2015 19:17

HerRoyal We're in Texland too...couldn't be further removed from Englandshire could it?! Sorry for making you glum AmericasTortured, it all just kind of spilled out...may I add Bonfire Night, and not having to explain where I'm from and why we're here and whereabouts in London we live (we don't), and fog and opening the windows to get fresh air in and hanging out washing on a proper line! We're moving back this year so DS can start high school, it was always the plan to spend just a few years here. Though trying to apply for high school place from overseas, ooh that's a beauracratic local government joy and a pleasure. Not.

BadgersRetreat · 03/02/2015 21:17

Didn't make us homesick, but there was a wide shot of London with some bloody great new fancy building and we muttered 'what the fuck is that?" to each other Grin

fizzycolagurlie · 04/02/2015 03:22

I miss the ability to speak my mind, openly and even do so in a vaguely negative, or dare I say, confrontational way. Anyone can do that in England no matter where you live or what you do. Its a certain freedom.

Can't get away with that kind of thing in LA.

Original poster
AmericasTorturedBrow · 04/02/2015 04:12

And irony. For the love of god I miss sarcasm and irony

I just weep with joy when I have to call some customer service in the UK and they understand every single word I say.

OP posts:
stop · 04/02/2015 04:47

Oh I can relate to every word Americastorturedbrow I also asked ds about the natural history museum and got a blank look (gulp) I consoled myself that he couldn't recognise it because there wasn't eleventy billion people swarming through it Grin
Another one in US pining for home here, maybe next year, fingers crossed.
YY to missing sarcasm/irony, hating their gun obsession and sick of eating their cake bread.....

somuchtosortout · 04/02/2015 05:42

I'm also with all of you! Trying hard to appreciate the big house and garden,the mild climate, the fact iI have more time on my hands (too much even!). My dds love all their friends here but with my adult eye I can see they don't enjoy their friendships as much as they did in the UK, because they don't have as much in common here. I know its great to broaden your horizons but to be honest their classes were more diverse in central London than in thispprivate international school!

Original poster
AmericasTorturedBrow · 04/02/2015 17:37

We have that trouble too - mild climate all year, detached house with a big garden, bike to the local good school, 10min drive to the beach.

But...but...but....

OP posts:
tomandizzymum · 05/02/2015 08:23

I'm with fizzycolagirlie. Haven't seen the film yet, no cinema in town. I've seen the trailer and thought, England is nothing like that!! Lived in London for 7 years, even with a decent sized house. Never again!!
I do miss the museums though, nothing like the natural history museum, spent my childhood in there and used to take the older two when they were little! First place I go :)

Beachcomber · 05/02/2015 08:30

Me too. I'm in France and it is perfectly nice, but Paddington made me miss home and want to take my children to London (don't have family there anymore so no reason to go when we visit the UK).

I'm lucky that it isn't too far away for me.

itsveryyou · 06/02/2015 16:33

Just had another pang...am missing the lady on the local market who sells bags of broken biscuits. I mean, can you even for a minute imagine that ever being a 'thing' in America?! She sells the most delicious 'seconds' cadburys and the like by the pound. SO good.