Remind me what you hate about the UK

[AllMyFriendsAreWasted]

4 months in to a new life overseas but having a major wobble this week and I'm seeing uk through very rose-colored-glasses. Give me a reality check and remind me what I'm not missing....

Tories
Lately, Brexit
Hereditary monarchy
Letting agencies and their fees

Maybe but believe it or not there is another mumsnetter who has a cattle ranch in South America and one who has a farm in Central America

I didn't find anti-social behaviour as bad when I lived in big cities outside the UK (I have in a couple). There's crime, just outright crime though. But it's not the same.There is just something "special" about the louts in the UK. Maybe if I wasn't from the UK I wouldn't find them so exhausting and depressing. I do think the USA has zero tolerance policing which makes it less noticeable, but there is just something different about the UK experience that I can't put my finger on.

poster user1473087081 Awww I'm so jealous. I visited a friend who lived in Singapore a long time ago and absolutely loved it. She really made the most of living there by visiting all the local countries in SE Asia (e.g. Thailand, Cambodia etc) on short and long trips. Plus there's the MerLion, Universal Studios, no litter, polite people, amazing weather.... :)

Lorelei I am in the north wales coast. We get mild, coolish weather most of the year. Last winter there wasn't a frost, and that's not unusual. I love snow, ice, frosts that last days, proper can't-see-the-pavement-for-weeks winter

However we get little to no anti-social behaviour - the occasional OAP holding up the traffic because they've stopped their car in the middle of the road to chat to a neighbour that was walking down the street

Hopefully that won't make you too homesick OP

Elvira, both the weather and the lack of anti social behaviour sound great. I actually visited North Wales for the first time this year and loved it - and it was sunny there and rainy at home in London!

There are things that irritate me about the UK because we could be doing it better (like the NHS), but after almost a decade abroad I can't wait to go and live there again. It is and has always remained home in a way that Belgium can never be.

'Shops mostly open 9 to 5. If you want to shop on a Sunday, you're weird' made me crack up. In Belgium very little is open on a Sunday, and in the smaller towns, shops are shut on a Monday if they have been open Saturday, and some close two days in the week if they have been open at the weekend. Some shops and businesses close for two or three weeks in the summer, so god help you if the boiler goes in that time, or you've forgotten to collect your dry cleaning. Some place still close for lunch as well including the banks and the Post Office.

I think it is important not to dwell on what you have seemingly lost but to concentrate an making your host country a home.

I think it's a case of 'same shit, different location'. I can go back to the UK very easily, any time I want to, as I can get a ferry or hop on the Eurostar, so I haven't 'lost' anything; and as I have a house and relatives in the UK, I am still dealing with things in two different countries.

Having to deal with house repairs, tax forms, local government, doesn't change, just the language in which you do it. I get frustrated with Belgian bureaucracy and the cost of things here is so expensive compared to the UK.

Things I don't miss:

Leaving to go to work in the dark.
Coming home from work in the dark.
Being cold all the time.
Rain all the time.
Moaning, in fact I should have put that first.

Blaming the government for anything that isn't going in one's favour.
Houses so close together you can hear your neighbour fart.
Houses so small.
No garden space.
Attitude to having dogs. I disagree that if you have to work, you shouldn't have a dog.
My mil
Keeping up with the Joneses.
The fact that someone can pull out of a house sale even after papers have been signed.
Black pudding.
The fact that you can get a entire breakfast in a can.
Ditto to pies in a can.
Beans with every meal.
The price of meat and fruit.
Pubs.
Obsession with sun cream as soon as the sun makes an appearance.

Hope you settle in well OP. I think it takes more like 2 years until you will be properly settled. Of course you will be homesick from time to time, it is totally expected and normal. Enjoy Spring

Yes it does rain a lot, but where I am now, in Scandinavia, it's dark at 14pm in winter.

I don't miss feeling like I have to fight every time I go to the doctors or to the hospital.

I don't miss black snot and feeling like I need a shower every time I come back from spending time in central London (or most anywhere in London, actually).

I don't miss my very depressed high street in SE London.

I don't miss very expensive petrol!

I don't miss the lack of bakeries, aside from Greggs.

I don't miss fruit and vege that taste like nothing and that have been flown half way around the world so I can eat whatever I want, even though it's not in season.

I don't miss shitty, watery dairy products!

I REALLY don't miss overpaying for crappy coffee.

I've not long moved back to my home country after 8 years away and there is an awful lot I do miss though

Meals in a tin

This thread is not working for me because everything mentioned is worse where I am, except for public drunkenness and we do have better fruit and veg. Bugger.

How can you not miss pubs? I don't drink and I miss pubs.

The worst thing I can think of about the UK is that it is nearly impossible to bring your spouse to the UK if you aren't the
main breadwinner which is why I am not back.

I've just been back for a very quick weekend... I miss black snot!!!

Not very helpful. Make a list of the reasons you moved and make sure you make the most of / silently celebrate something on the list every week.

Nigel fucking Farage.

How can you not miss pubs? I don't drink and I miss pubs.

So true.

Pubs are vital for the community. Like corner shops.

Thats the reason I wouldnt ever move back to Australia OP. It goes dark at 6.00 in Queensland and about 7.30 in Western Australia ( if i remember).
I love the light nights here where you can stay outside till 11 at night. Sorry not much help but Im Australian and it was too hot for me and I really do love with weather here. Sorry.

Pubs are vital for the community. Like corner shops.

I don't miss the smelly smoky spots, where sad Jim sits in the same chair every night, ordering the same drink at the same time. And then the pub grub, well lets just say I would rather go to a good steakhouse with a group of friends instead of hanging about in a pub. Clearly I am in the minority here.

We entertain more in our homes, the weather is great for that, so we have lots of bbqs and outdoor entertaining in our homes. We take along what we will eat and drink to each others houses. We do street events, where there is a huge fire on the go, we all bring our chairs and food to cook and socialize that way.

It seems to me that the things that people don't like are London / City living issues? As I don't recognise the place that you describe.

Weather is far from grey here (north), proper seasons, friendly people (generally) and always up for a laugh and a bitch about the tories. Generally speaking shops are open when you need them. Cost of living is manageable in comparison with other areas of the country (and world - brother is in Aus and I don't know how he manages). Lots of beautiful places to visit / drive through, theatres museums etc within easy travelling. Can't speak for buses but trains are fine.

However, the Brexit mentality drives me batty, young lads walking along drinking cheap lager with their shirts off as soon as the sun comes out make me want to shout at them and the quality of education in a lot of schools (not all) round here is pretty poor.

Oh yes, petrol is too expensive here - but I have never struggled to get a doctors apt or medical treatment when I've needed it. In fact I wandered in on a Friday afternoon a couple of weeks ago on the off chance of an emergency appointment later in the day and got seen straight away. And it's free at the point of contact, brother is currently beg borrowing and stealing (not literally) money to pay for daughters mental health treatment and schooling in Aus.

I agree murphys

We have bars, same local feel but you can sit outside and watch the world go by. Rather than watch a bunch of pasty looking men who look like they might keel over at any minute from a diet of beer and carbs.
The night coming early means you can sit under the moon and stars. I've never seen such clear nights and amazing views of the moon. Even in the Highlands. The sky just seems low in the UK. Here the light is different. I noticed that about the USA as well, it's just less grey, even in winter it's lighter than the UK. You notice it when you land in the UK or see TV programs from there, we sometimes try to adjust the colour on the TV until we realise there is just less colour. Anyone else notice that?

I did enjoy living in rural England more than London or Manchester but for most of the year the day ends at 6pm, so having three days sometime in June where it is warm enough to sit outside until 10pm doesn't really compensate for that. The long bleak winter in the rural midlands was not my thing. I would walk to the village shop and see maybe three people. Now I walk in the village near our farm and the whole village is outside. The children are playing and people are all out on their verandas, the bars are full and with horses tied up outside. It's got life and soul.

We also socialise a lot at home or at the sports club which has gym, tennis court, bar, pool, football pitches, a playground, a river to swim in and BBQ pits. There's something for all the family and the kids can get there on their bikes, we wouldn't have that if we were UK farmers. We'd be ferrying kids all over the place.

I don't think trying to find the bad bits about living in the UK will make you any happier about living where you are.

I think you should try to focus on the good bits of your current situation. It is very common to feel a bit home-sick after about 4 months, that's just normal. If it hasn't passed in a year, maybe you are in the wrong place.

We go back to the UK for about 8 weeks a year, and we love it. But our day to day lives belong a few thousand miles away.