Is it just me or does there seem to be members on this site that can't wait for returning peeps (back from the UK) to post the Yes its still all C**P message.

Everytime someone posts they are returning for a holiday there are people who want "come back and tell us we've done the best thing and the UK's a toilet"

Get a life.........over there in Adelaide, why does someone else's thoughts on the UK matter if you are living and loving your dream. The reasons people leave in the first place are particular for them surely, and if life for you is so great over there what does life over here matter anyway.....

IMO (for what thats worth) we thought life in Adelaide wasn't a patch on what our UK lives were so we came back, now I don't want Australia to be on it's a**e, so why would you be happy if the UK was??

Rant Over
Bev :dance:

I agree!

It's almost like people need reassurance that they've done the right thing! (Weird)

After our recent visit home we come away thinking that it wasn't as bad as we first perceived it and that we could easily fit back in!

Si :D

Hi Bev, "how ya doing ?"
I went back late last year and saw you coming out of Debenhams in Meadowhall !!
had my Mum with me in wheelchair and you had gone before I could get to you !!.Nice to "see" you though ! ;)


Julie x

different strokes for different folks.....

I went back in Jan after 8 years and although i didn't originally leave because I thought the UK was particularly on it's a**e, (and I wasn't there long enough to know if it's on it's a**e now.....), I do know i will never live there again.
I wouldn't even consider a holiday (unless it was paid for).

It was an interesting experience....but I'm glad it was only two weeks.........



just my experience

Now this one will be an interesting thread to watch. I can hear the hobby horses being dragged out as I type!!!

I don't think the differences between living in the UK and Adelaide are that great. It is possible to "live the dream" in either places depending one what your starting position is and what exactly your dream is. If you are unhappy with your lot in the UK you could possibly make life that bit better just by changing your life patterns, choices and where you live without moving all the way over here.

It all comes down to the personal drivers that will be almost unique for each set of individuals.

I think we probably didn't realise how good our life in the UK really was until we found out that the "dream" that we pictured isn't really available in Australia anymore. Not in Adelaide anyway.

Having said that we plan to give it a bloody good go and if it doesn't work out we will just go back, look upon it as a (rather expensive) adventure and get on with our lives with no chip on shoulder or axe to grind either way.

I can only assume that this is a pop at me ,i have a life thank you ,and a better one than i had in the UK .My post on the other half was meant to be lighthearted,(oh no the wife is going back lets hope she does'nt want to stay) but yet again someone has got on there high horse, and taken it in a way it was not meant.
You want to rant then bring it on !!! Game on.

Fair comment iron,

I think spaview is spot on with their rant as some people do seem to hanker reassurance and feel the need to slag off the uk.

Although in this case the rant has been off target if it was intended as a dig.

Everyone is different & I for one couldn't wait to get back here when we went for a holiday there last year :D

you have obviously not sampled the extreme delight that is Oldham outdoor market on a Thursday...

it's the place to be if you need to purchase some pot towels, tablecloths or broken biscuits in bulging white sweet bags...

DEEP JOY ;)

Its just you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!................................and whats this "living the dream" youre talking about :D

Iron, I wasn't having a pop at any one person at all!! Why would I? I don't know you, or hardly anyone on this site, I am not getting personal about this it's just my observation and opinion., and something I have wondered about for quite a long time. Just why it seems to happen???

The 'living the dream' comment that I refer to is what many a person has written in their post in the past. Not that I could explain what it really means, one person's dream could surley be anothers nightmare

Having been a member of this site for a couple of years, I think that there is many a time when someone is going back to the UK, that some people hope that their on return posting contains nothing complimentary about the UK, I just find that strange, like people need confirmation they have made the right move.

Nobody has to agree or disagree but then again, it is allowed to read any postings on here, form an opinion from what you read and make a comment if you so desire.

Plus I think the debate section needed livening up a bit......reel 'em in ;)

Hello Julie......sorry I missed you.( Catching me coming out of a shop would be no suprise says Kev) Hope you all well xx

Bev x

:lol: :lol:

I try and keep out of these threads now as they can soon descend into catfights...........but.

I had to go back to the UK twice last year and really did not want to as I am having a good life here.

Everyone who knew me wanted to see my reaction after 5 years of living here.


I was surprised by how much the country had changed in that short space of time.
It certainly felt as if it was not my country anymore mixed with Deja vu.A really weird experience I can tell you.

All I wanted to do was to get back HOME.

The UK seemed much more crowded, dirty and to be honest threatening and cynical.
Huge emphasis on money, possessions and having to tell people how much you had paid for a thing.

I suppose that I have changed rather than the country of my birth.

Sorry but I dis own the UK now.

I do note that a lot of people still refer to the UK as "Home".
We stopped calling it that from nearly day 1, it seems to have helped......"Home is where I hang my hat " .........and all that
;)


Yup - a cliche that most people hate........... but we are nearly living the dream.

Each to their own though.

If there is one thing I know for a certainty - in a large group such as this forum you will have a large group of opinions......

I had that......a stranger in a familiar land feeling.....most odd.

I had found that my outlook on life in general had changed..........i assumed it was because I had just got older...but when over there, I met up with some old friends, and found that it wasn't that........they were still exactly the same, (which i didn't particularly feel comfortable with).....it must be something different.....I have been Adelised, or Australianised....for better or for worse.........:D

Even just talking with family was a surreal experience....... "knew them but didn't know them"...... kind of thing. The patch of common ground we previously may have shared had become very small.

Again, not particularly "positive" or "negative" about either country.....just experiences

Find myself agreeing with Tyke & Andy, I enjoyed my time when I went back but felt like everything was at a stand still, I had moved on & to be quite honest I have changed a lot.

I think that when you move to another part of the world you do change, you have to do everything for yourself, you become more independent as there's only you & no close family/friends network.

I personaly think that it has made me a much stronger, independent person & we should have made the move years ago. I don't think that we'll be going back again for a very long time.

My definition of HOME: The country where I was born and brought up.

When we visited back 'home' we thoroughly enjoyed it of course there is an argument that we were in holiday mode but we both felt that we could easily fit back in and it made us realise that our life there wasn't as bad as we first thought.
What we enjoyed most was seeing friends, going out, the culture and realising the architecture and the history of the place.

I think it's great that everyone who's been back to the UK for a visit has an opinion on how they felt there and then being back here. However I do feel there is a way to express that opinion in a more constructive way rather than resorting to its 'crap' or it's a 'toilet'.

Si :D

I like the version on wikipedia.....

"Home is often a place of refuge and safety, where worldly cares fade and the things and people that one loves becomes the focus", works well for me, but I do like the concept that home could be a time rather than a place....... :)

We have been in oz for six months now and so far so good.

I would hope that moving to another country would not make me lose the bond with family and friends.

Must have been a lot harder for immigrants 40-50 years ago unlike today where the world has a more global village feel.

Even after a long time apart it should be easy to pick up where you left off with family and good friends (even the inlaws!) at least you would have plenty to talk about.

I know everyone's different but "going back seemed weird" "a stranger in a strange land" "deja vu" sounds like a bad acid trip to me. Surely just moving to another country should'nt change you to the point where you cant relate to people that where a part of your life for so long.

Darren

Oh but it does for a lot of people, very regularly, and that's part of the "problem" (if it is indeed a problem). I for one can't see how anyone can go through leaving everything they know and love and is familiar to them behind, to move half way around the world, set up a new life, make new friends, often start on the bottom of the career ladder again, go through all of the stages of culture shock, eventually adapt and find their little place in their new country and still claim to be unaffected by it. It's just not possible IMHO.

Shaz has hit the nail on the head about it making (most of ) us stronger, more independent, and more adaptable people. It's the best thing we've ever done.

I do agree though that it's not helpful to call the country of your birth horrible names etc. It not a positive and healthy thing, but it does happen extremely regularly. Its even recognised by psychologists as one of the stages of culture shock. It happens to all migrants and I see it on the other forums I visit as well (not just for Brits). It seems to be some sort of phsychological need which somehow helps people to cut the apron strings. People are funny old things and don't always react logically or even rationally to situations. It seems to be some sort of primitive remnant stuck somewhere in our brains. There is either the tendency to completely slate the "old country" or to completely romanticise it, and often a bit of a combination of both depending on how long you've been away. It eventually settles down, but it is a rare person who ends up with a truly objetictive view of the whole situation. Humans are just not put together that way for some reason... :blink:

Give it a couple of years, then try it......... :)

Well said Annette, :yeehah:
TUX

You would like to think so, when some of the people you have known for all your life, but in some cases it is not always the case! There are some people in my life that just dont know what to say to me after a year when on the phone, and it is getting to the stage where I dont know what to say to them any more either:( .
I think what Shaz says in true, this expirience changes a lot of people so much, in a lot of ways. But that said, I think it changes the people left behind too. In my case because they thought we would never go through with it, hence when they realised we would it was the biggest shock they could ever have had.

[QUOTE=sarahsmartiepants,Jun 17 2007, 05:07 PM]





[/QUOTE]
You would like to think so, when some of the people you have known for all your life, but in some cases it is not always the case! There are some people in my life that just dont know what to say to me after a year when on the phone, and it is getting to the stage where I dont know what to say to them any more either:( .
I think what Shaz says in true, this expirience changes a lot of people so much, in a lot of ways. But that said, I think it changes the people left behind too. In my case because they thought we would never go through with it, hence when they realised we would it was the biggest shock they could ever have had.[/QUOTE]

very true :blink:

I'm even getting like that with family. :(

To say it happens to all migrants is a bit of a blanket statement. I have lived abroad before and have maintained friendships. I agree it is hard but if you share a close bond with family/friends then living in another country does'nt mean it's finito.

Maybe a lot of people are so busy building a new life they understandably have other priorities and distant families/friends become exactly that.

I cant recall anyone saying they have been totally unaffected by emigrating?

Obviously people change but it does'nt mean it's out with the old life and in with the new life lock stock.

I don't think I've been affected by emigrating.

I liked my life in the UK and I like my life now. We've only been here a couple of years but when we went back for a visit, we just slotted back in - which seemed weird to everyone, including me!

I think - and this is only me and my opinion - I never expected life here to be radically better than our lives in the Uk, and I've always gone with the flow / rolled with it etc. I made a conscious effort not to refer to the UK as home, and we try not to compare..what's the point?

I knew someone in the UK who slated it off big-time...then had to eat humble pie when they returned less than six months later!

I guess the point of my post is that everyone is different and one of the annoying things about this site (IMHO) is that it sometimes seems that people are happier if everyone has the same opinion. And that's just not healthy, or helpful.
But that's only my opinion, ok!
Caroline.

We`ve been here 17yrs never been back to the UK and really don`t want to, the time may be quite near that we have to go back as Freds mom is not too good, she`s 84yrs old and it may be the last time that he see`s her. After 17yrs, every where will have changed and what the rellies say about the UK its not good, really not looking forward to it one bit. I think this is a sad, but I don`t call England home any more

Sheila

I am very ashamed to admit that this is my first post in just over 2 years, :sign07: after getting waylayed to "another place", (not BEP!!), Tyke will know. Sorry, I will take the punishment.........

My OH had to return to the UK last November after the very sudden and unexpected loss of his father. When he got back here just under 3 weeks later, he said, and this is a direct quote I will never forget: "Every reason I ever had for leaving the UK was reinforced before I even got out of Heathrow". He said that after getting through customs it just went down hill from there - no one willing to help; a "courtesy bus" driver to the car rental depot who arrived over an hour late because it was raining ( :blink: ); the rental car company receptionist who was rude and very unhelpful & who obviously did not want to be there at 7am, the queue to get out of the airport, the queue to get off the spur road, the queue to get on the M4, the slow, slow crawl around the M25 then the long haul up the M1 whilst all the time it was pouring with rain.

When he stopped for a break at the services, the general cleanliness was poor, the attitude was one of uninterested disdain and God forbid they should go and replace the suger satchets when he couldn't find one!

We have both aclimatised into the Australian habits and attitudes - saying hello to a complete stranger as you pass in the street is something I would never have done before. I'm only just getting used to it now, 18 months later. Sir said he did it a couple of times out of habit when he went back but was looked at like he was off another planet!

I have not been back. I found it quite difficult to settle when I first got here - didn't like the small town we are now living in, hated everything about it in fact. Im just beginning to settle in, but I think I need to make the return trip, just to see if what we have here really is better. My children are certainly allowed more freedom here than they would ever be given in England.

So, thats my 10 cents worth, anyway.

Im off now to sit in a corner and contemplate my actions for not visiting for 2 years.......

Hiya Mrs Muppet.

I'd say "Choclateless" for a whole week for your inaction ;) ;)

Both Mrs Tyke and I had to return back to UK due to family illness.
Our visits confirmed that HOME is HERE now.

I can join in this one now .. :D

Sitting typing this in my Mum's cottage in rural Herefordshire :clap:

We have been back about a week (still a week and a half to go, so things could change) It hasn't stopped raining - well only on and off, we have spent hours on the motorways, some of which at under 30MPH and honestly ... We are LOVING it!!

I don't know if it was attitudes on here or a need to justify the move, but I had altered my opinion of the UK. I must point out that we never moved because we were unhappy here, just that we were bored and wanted an adventure. Also we never said we were moving for good, we always said we would give it 2 years and reassess then - that 2 year mark comes up in 2 weeks!

We have been having a great time here doing all those things we haven't been able to do in Aus. We have been to the Lakes for 4 days, visited Alnwick Castle, spent a day in our old area of Brum (that wasn't my best day!). Spent the day yesterday with one of my best UK friends and her kids at Alton Towers. Had takeaways, been shopping etc.

I had forgotten how green the UK is. I had built up a congested, dirty image in my head which is so far from the truth. I had forgotten how many interesting buildings there are along driving routes and I loved the drystone walls in the Lakes that I had never really noticed before. I think it takes time away to open your eyes, as when you see things day in day out your mind shuts up. There was one place that I have been that I thought was very depressing (a place that I have lived in in my past) and that was really sad, it is hugely run down and their unemployment rate is horrendous. I won't mention where it is as there are bound to be people on here that still live there.

It is so nice that we can get in the car and drive to my Mums and know every twist and turn and pass places with memories. It is so bizarre though that nothing has changed, my neighbours all have the same cars and one of them walked past and had a strange conversation with me like I had seen her yesterday! Everything is so familiar and comfortable!

I know that all my Aus friends are panicking now!! I can hear them from here :lol:

We had a good life in the UK and we were happy and we have a good life in Australia and we are happy. I won't say we won't ever come back to live in the UK, because that would be naive and narrow minded, but for the moment we are happy living in Australia and have no plans to move anytime soon. There are positives and negatives to both countries and we could equally live in either!

Having a wonderful time here and I hope we can afford to come back every few years. Mind you, off to the in laws for the next week today, so hold the front page.

Nikki
xx

I dont get the need to slag off the Uk either!! There are places and factors of UK life that are s**t, BUT I also feel the same about life in Oz!! No where is going to be 100% perfect to live!

We have only been here coming up for 6 months, and have all settled really quickly, all love it here, BUT we also had a really good life in the UK to, had a nice house (all be it about 4 times smaller than the one we have now), both drove better cars than we have here, both had good jobs paying good money (more than we get here!!) had a brilliant group of friends and and our family were close by, although at times wished they were further away, BUT we still chose to move to Oz, we do prefer our lives here in Oz, but like others would never say we wont return to the UK as who knows what will happen in the future!!

Today is our first major test in that our best mate is getting married today, and we spoke to him this morning and both really tried to hold it together on the phone, it is hard knowing that while I type this message all our mates in the UK will be listening to him say his vows, and then the party will really start and we are not there, thats really hard!!

BUT in the long run we are talking about one day and living here in Oz is about the rest of our lives!!

That really does depend where you live. I met my husband in Sydney when one WHV. He is from Manchester, I am from Cambridgeshire.
He moved to Cambridge with me where we lived for 3 and a half years. He says hello to eveyone. Most people will say hello back, but lots would totaly ignor him (including Rory McGragh, however that is spelt). It used to drive him mad how rude southerners were. He used to get told to go back up north where he belonged quite often, but we did live in a village.
We have now been in Manchester for 4 years. Where we live everyone says hello when they pass you. Not in the city, but anywhere like parks etc, or on the street in non-city areas they do. I often have random people talking to me and the people are mostly very friendly.

BUT, personaly I hate it here. I have wanted to move back to OZ ever since getting back. I am at the sort of age to start thinking about having children, but I can't even consider it while in Manchester.
Although people are more friendly when passing, they all seem to think here that the world owes them, and that they should be able to do whatever they like no matter what the consiquences. For example, there was a programme on the other day, a young couple who had managed to get debts of about £22k. They didn't pay any rent, had a company car, both worked, and still managed to owe that much. When they asked them why they had spent £thousands on a skiing holiday when they couldn't afford it, they just say because they deserved it.
I see mu neighbours who won't get jobs, chuck their kids out the back door n the morning and don't want to see them again until the end of the day, swear at the kids constanatly etc etc. I can't wait to get away. Manchester is FAR worse for this than Cambridge was.
If I could afford to live in a nice area here I'm sure it would be better, but I can't.
I know I won't earn as much in Australia as here, but I also will be able to move to an area where I won't have to live with neighbours pactically living under my windows. I could move back to Cambridgeshire for the that though, with more pay, but then I couldn't afford a house (one of the reasons we left). And we are back to rude people.
Anyway, I really am rambelling now. :D

WHV.....sorry if I am being thick.........but what does that mean please?

Working Holiday Visa, I think.

Our hardest test was back in November with the death of my Father-in-law. It really hit home then just how far away we are. If we were "back home" then we would have been back at his parents place within 4 hours. The OH may have had a chance to say goodbye, he may not have. We would certainly have been there to be with his mother, instead of him making the trip alone 4 days later.

Our second, not quite so hard test, was a couple of months ago when I had was admitted to hospital. It too, was unexpected and of course, no Granny here to take the children! Sir had to take 2 weeks off work, which in hindsight was a bit of a pain in the wallet, but it could have been worse, the week beforehand he had been up in the far north! Friends were very good, all offering to help but then it was the school holidays so they were off doing their own things too!

It has, however, given rise to the realisation that we need to have a "plan" in place. So, we have arranged with some friends that they will take temporary custody of our children if the need to should ever arise, until someone from the UK can get here.

But enough of this, Im off to paly that bloomin bubble game from the fun and games section. 3 hours last night.......... :rolleyes:

Too :sign53: right. Get right back here now!!!

:D

xx

Yes, WHV is working holiday visa. :D

Totally agree.

We were back a couple of months ago.. and I luvved every minute of it.

Were quite happy to check out elsewhere in Oz .. although would never rule out moving back if i never felt " settled" in the end. Just enjoying the experience at the moment.

K

I think it must be great for people who really hated life in the UK and just love everything here....... much simpler. But for me it isn't simple

Yes I got to Heathrow (last xmas) and realised how miserable everyone looked and it made me chuckle! BUT I had such a laugh with my old friends, never laugh like that here... I miss British humour, intelligent conversation a bit short here too, but I don't feel I want to go back either...its all very confusing really!! :sigh:

so do I,

Dear Jim,

can you fix it for me to bring back Bernard Manning?

I would be very happy if you could do this for me


yours sinsurly,

S

And......Tommy Cooper ;)