Impressions of a visit to England – from someone who emigrated to Australia over 5 years ago.

[buzzy--bee]

OK, I appreciate that this post is in danger of becoming an Australia vs UK debate, however I would like to post my impressions of my first visit back to the UK since I emigrated from West London to Melbourne with my wife and twin 2 year old daughters over 5 years ago.

 

We just came back from 3 weeks visiting England and there was quite a lot that surprised me.

 

My very first impression was that I was astounded how many people smoke in England. Young, old, middle aged, rich, poor, so many people smoke it is really noticeable. And while the advertising in Australia is along the lines of “don’t smoke, it will cause death by cancer”, advertising in England is all about making sure you put your fag out so you don’t cause a house fire. One follow-on from all this smoking is the massive amount of fag butt litter.

 

I had forgotten the visual impact of every house having white plastic windows.

 

I was surprised how clean and nice the kids playpark was near where we were staying. There was no broken glass and no outwardly visible graffiti. Unfortunately this was spoiled by one of my daughters stating she was upset by some writing she had found on the playpark. I asked her what it said and she replied “it says – Casey you are a ****ing bitch”. My daughter has never used this word before and we have never seen such explicit graffiti in Melbourne, just meaningless tags. Very disappointing.

 

Supermarkets in England, as we all know, are way cheaper and have far more choice. Or do they? They have far more choice in prepared and processed foods certainly, I didn’t see more choice in fresh food though, I think Australia definitely has the edge there. But supermarket shopping in England is hell on earth. You are bumped and jostled and banged by the sheer number of shoppers, people bashing you with trolleys, queueing for ages, wait for people to get out the way before you can choose something off the shelf, driving round and round to try and spot someone just coming out of a parking space. I would not choose to shop in an English supermarket again in my life.

 

Shopping for clothes is phenomenally cheap in England when you are converting from AU$, we did a lot of clothes shopping. Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush is incredible.

 

The cost of Transport is an art, not a science. We were given prices by National Rail Inquiries, TFL, the ticket machine and the man behind the counter of 60, 40, 18 and 12 pounds respectively for the same journey so we took the cheapest offer! Then we had to pay over 7 pounds to go a couple of miles on a bus! The trains are much quieter and smoother in England, they swoosh instead of “clackety clack”.

 

Driving in the UK – 100kph does not feel as fast in England as it does in Australia, and we did go much faster at times, but we were very aware of how many more fixed speed cameras there are now than there used to be, and how people seem to be obeying the speed limits much more in England than they used to.

 

My kids were very surprised when I had to “pay and display” – “but why do you have to PAY to park the car Dad????”

 

Weather – mainly OK, although I never had that much of a problem with London weather, it was the winter early dark that used to depress me. But what was weird was the finding that 15 degrees in London didn’t feel as cold as 15 degrees in Melbourne. And people in England wear shorts and short skirts in 15 degrees. Nutters!

 

It was funny having to teach the kids not to touch stinging nettles, and seeing how enamoured they were with squirrels.

 

London was looking surprisingly clean and done-up. Our English friends said that this was just for the Olympics, even so, it was looking pretty good. And people were friendlier than I remember, people offered us seats on trains, talked to our kids, were generally very good-humoured.

 

But I did notice a lot more shouting and swearing in public. My children were upset by overhearing a man on the bus shouting into his mobile phone that he was going to “smash someones ****ing face in.” I heard several other instances of people shouting aggressively in the street.

 

Weekends - in Aussie we might take the kids to the beach, or to the park. In the UK people seem to take their kids to expensive theme parks of various sizes, pay a lot of money to get in, a lot of money for food/drinks etc and then come home and moan about the cost of it.

 

But I felt the only massive downside to life in England, one of the reasons we emigrated, and the biggest item to stop me wanting to live in England again, was the lack of space. There is just not enough room in English houses to live the lifestyles people live now. If you bang your elbow when you turn round in the shower, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. If you have to move the dining room table to eat a meal, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. if you have to sit on the toilet diagonally this means there is not enough room for you in your house. You have to squeeze your car in between others – I found I had forgotten how to parallel park with any degree of accuracy! People in the UK seem to put in an enormous amount of effort to build an extension that actually gains them a very few square feet more of space, like a porch or something.

 

One of my daughters summed it up well when I asked her if she thought she would like to live in England. She said “I don’t think so Dad, it’s too squashy!”

 

BB

[Jacaranda]

I'm guessing you were glad to return back home to Australia?lol I've been to Shepherds Bush a few times(for gigs)and no its not a place I'd like to live,but then cities never did cut it for me anyway.I'm a country girl at heart and after visiting London,it always feels good to head back to the countryside where I belong.Ok firstly,I mix with alot of people that are parents,and none of them spend up big taking their kids out.They do the same thing you do,go to the beach,park,maybe abit of shopping with lunch thrown in,have sleepovers and so on.None of the kids expect to be at Alton Towers on a regular basis!Unfortunately your child found the graffiti on the park equipment,and thats a shame,but I recall finding the same thing in the burbs of Adelaide (before I moved up country)when my kids were little.Yes public transport is expensive here,not sure why either considering the amount of people!As for the people shouting,swearing and smoking,I live near Bath,and go into that city maybe once a month,and not once have I heard foul language,people shouting and you might see the "odd"person smoking,but its not in your face.Anywhere near any city you are going to find parking a problem.We usually get the bus into Bath which solves that problem.As for small houses.Yes they are smaller here,but reading your post,do you think maybe you are being greedy wanting so much space in a house?I visited my sister in Adelaide and she has a 3 bed with a large kitchen,family room,dining room,lounge room,ensuite in her room,plus an outhouse with a bar/snooker table.Her 3 kids have long gone but what I noticed when staying with her and her OH,was they really only used the family room(mainly cause its joined onto the kitchen so they don't have to walk far!lol)and their own bedroom ensuite,the rest was unused!!!!What a waste of space!!!! Sorry if my reply to your post sounds like I'm coming down heavy,but....having spent alot of time in India and other non western countries,you really do become aware of how greedy some folks are in the west and that all most people are doing are trying to keep up with the Jones's,something we personally don't get caught up in.I lived in a small house in a small country town in Sth Oz,and I was quite happy doing that.Yes all cities are crowded,you have to expect that right?Did you manage to head out in the countryside?Only 8% of the UK is urbanised,there's plenty of space!

[Bob1]

I really enjoyed your post and thank you for taking the time to write it. The only thing I am going to comment on is the smoking. I go back to the UK every year and it is the thing I notice every time - people walking down the street smoking, I can't remember the last time I saw that here - months ago. The smoking message seems to have got through in Oz which is a good thing.

[Rachael R]

We have been over in Adelaide for 6 mths and oh my do I miss Asda and Tesco. SA is not a cheap place to live. There is alot of parks but also lots of dog poo in them. As for driving dont even go there they are mad! We went to the race way this weekend and it seemed that every other word was the F word. The kids was of school and when they went back the was tags all round the school. As for smoking poeple smoke wherever you live. I come form a small place in the UK and the poeple where very friendly to anyone form wherever you came form but not here. its sure is not an easy place to live. On saying all that looking for to summer.

[BestyBlue]

Thanks for your post, I really enjoyed reading it & even though we haven't even left the UK yet I could totally see where you are coming from.

 

I can't wait for our adventure to begin, even if I fear it is going to be a longer process that I first hoped. :wacko:

[Bob1]

You must be scared to leave the house despite it being nearly summer - bad driving, dog poo everywhere, all the smokers puffing away, graffiti everywhere, swearing, unfriendly people and no good shops to go to. Gosh, must be awful where you live.

[an1ta]

OK, I appreciate that this post is in danger of becoming an Australia vs UK debate, however I would like to post my impressions of my first visit back to the UK since I emigrated from West London to Melbourne with my wife and twin 2 year old daughters over 5 years ago.

 

We just came back from 3 weeks visiting England and there was quite a lot that surprised me.

 

My very first impression was that I was astounded how many people smoke in England. Young, old, middle aged, rich, poor, so many people smoke it is really noticeable. And while the advertising in Australia is along the lines of “don’t smoke, it will cause death by cancer”, advertising in England is all about making sure you put your fag out so you don’t cause a house fire. One follow-on from all this smoking is the massive amount of fag butt litter.

 

I had forgotten the visual impact of every house having white plastic windows.

 

I was surprised how clean and nice the kids playpark was near where we were staying. There was no broken glass and no outwardly visible graffiti. Unfortunately this was spoiled by one of my daughters stating she was upset by some writing she had found on the playpark. I asked her what it said and she replied “it says – Casey you are a ****ing bitch”. My daughter has never used this word before and we have never seen such explicit graffiti in Melbourne, just meaningless tags. Very disappointing.

 

Supermarkets in England, as we all know, are way cheaper and have far more choice. Or do they? They have far more choice in prepared and processed foods certainly, I didn’t see more choice in fresh food though, I think Australia definitely has the edge there. But supermarket shopping in England is hell on earth. You are bumped and jostled and banged by the sheer number of shoppers, people bashing you with trolleys, queueing for ages, wait for people to get out the way before you can choose something off the shelf, driving round and round to try and spot someone just coming out of a parking space. I would not choose to shop in an English supermarket again in my life.

 

Shopping for clothes is phenomenally cheap in England when you are converting from AU$, we did a lot of clothes shopping. Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush is incredible.

 

The cost of Transport is an art, not a science. We were given prices by National Rail Inquiries, TFL, the ticket machine and the man behind the counter of 60, 40, 18 and 12 pounds respectively for the same journey so we took the cheapest offer! Then we had to pay over 7 pounds to go a couple of miles on a bus! The trains are much quieter and smoother in England, they swoosh instead of “clackety clack”.

 

Driving in the UK – 100kph does not feel as fast in England as it does in Australia, and we did go much faster at times, but we were very aware of how many more fixed speed cameras there are now than there used to be, and how people seem to be obeying the speed limits much more in England than they used to.

 

My kids were very surprised when I had to “pay and display” – “but why do you have to PAY to park the car Dad????”

 

Weather – mainly OK, although I never had that much of a problem with London weather, it was the winter early dark that used to depress me. But what was weird was the finding that 15 degrees in London didn’t feel as cold as 15 degrees in Melbourne. And people in England wear shorts and short skirts in 15 degrees. Nutters!

 

It was funny having to teach the kids not to touch stinging nettles, and seeing how enamoured they were with squirrels.

 

London was looking surprisingly clean and done-up. Our English friends said that this was just for the Olympics, even so, it was looking pretty good. And people were friendlier than I remember, people offered us seats on trains, talked to our kids, were generally very good-humoured.

 

But I did notice a lot more shouting and swearing in public. My children were upset by overhearing a man on the bus shouting into his mobile phone that he was going to “smash someones ****ing face in.” I heard several other instances of people shouting aggressively in the street.

 

Weekends - in Aussie we might take the kids to the beach, or to the park. In the UK people seem to take their kids to expensive theme parks of various sizes, pay a lot of money to get in, a lot of money for food/drinks etc and then come home and moan about the cost of it.

 

But I felt the only massive downside to life in England, one of the reasons we emigrated, and the biggest item to stop me wanting to live in England again, was the lack of space. There is just not enough room in English houses to live the lifestyles people live now. If you bang your elbow when you turn round in the shower, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. If you have to move the dining room table to eat a meal, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. if you have to sit on the toilet diagonally this means there is not enough room for you in your house. You have to squeeze your car in between others – I found I had forgotten how to parallel park with any degree of accuracy! People in the UK seem to put in an enormous amount of effort to build an extension that actually gains them a very few square feet more of space, like a porch or something.

 

One of my daughters summed it up well when I asked her if she thought she would like to live in England. She said “I don’t think so Dad, it’s too squashy!”

 

BB

 

 

I found this very interesting. Im going home to England ffor a holiday In Feb and I'm so looking forward to it. I know it will be cold I can't wait. I never had a problem shopping in Asda or tescos, and always found loads of places to park.

 

I see kids and adults smoking everywhere I go, just like I did in the UK.

 

We also had to pay for parking in the UK just like we do in NSW...

 

My house is a lot smaller here in OZ but I spend more time outdoors here so thats not a problem.

 

As for parks I cannot speak of them, I do find there is a lot more dog mess here in OZ than there ever was in the UK.

 

I really can't wait to go home and see my family and friends but Im going to enjoy every minute of it when I'm their. But I know Im going to also know that in 3 weeks time I will be on a plane ready to see and enjoy more of what Australia has to offer me

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

My cousin came back for the first time from living in Townsville, he also lived in Cairns and he emigrated 34 years ago, I was going with him, we were £10 poms and he said, everything seem cramped and grey and the houses were tiny he said he was glad he came back to see family but couldn't wait to get back to Australia.

[starlight7]

I haven't been to the UK for many years and I was very interested to read your post because it seems nothing much has changed. I remember being horrified at the smoking in places where people eat ( I think that might have stopped now, hope so )and very frustrated not being able to park the car anywhere. I remember trying to visit Hastings and having to drive on because there were no car parks anywhere in town- that was 10 years ago so I am sure it wouldn't be any better now. I also remember lots and lots of dog poo- we just don't see it here , people use the pooper scoopers . And the litter-- ugh. Hopefully that has improved too. As for the supermarkets- fights with trolleys, trying to get a decent piece of meat , pushing and shoving. Nah- you can keep the extra 'variety'- I like to have a peaceful experience shopping.

[sally04]

A great post. From my visit back home in June I would coment as follows:

More smokers in the uk and more people swearing / shouting in the street.

having to pay for car parking everywhere in the city in the uk all the time.

 

However, due to house prices and rental demands in Melbourne, where we currently live is tiny in size compared to our house in the UK and this for us greatly affects our Aussie experience.

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

A great post. From my visit back home in June I would coment as follows:

More smokers in the uk and more people swearing / shouting in the street.

having to pay for car parking everywhere in the city in the uk all the time.

 

However, due to house prices and rental demands in Melbourne, where we currently live is tiny in size compared to our house in the UK and this for us greatly affects our Aussie experience.

 

 

Its rare that happens, can't you move a bit further out and live in a bigger place, there's some massive houses, really new and fairly cheap rentals at Point Cook, we like the look of there and it's not a long commute to the city.

[Guest Guest26012]

OK, I appreciate that this post is in danger of becoming an Australia vs UK debate, however I would like to post my impressions of my first visit back to the UK since I emigrated from West London to Melbourne with my wife and twin 2 year old daughters over 5 years ago.

 

We just came back from 3 weeks visiting England and there was quite a lot that surprised me.

 

My very first impression was that I was astounded how many people smoke in England. Young, old, middle aged, rich, poor, so many people smoke it is really noticeable. And while the advertising in Australia is along the lines of “don’t smoke, it will cause death by cancer”, advertising in England is all about making sure you put your fag out so you don’t cause a house fire. One follow-on from all this smoking is the massive amount of fag butt litter.

 

I had forgotten the visual impact of every house having white plastic windows.

 

I was surprised how clean and nice the kids playpark was near where we were staying. There was no broken glass and no outwardly visible graffiti. Unfortunately this was spoiled by one of my daughters stating she was upset by some writing she had found on the playpark. I asked her what it said and she replied “it says – Casey you are a ****ing bitch”. My daughter has never used this word before and we have never seen such explicit graffiti in Melbourne, just meaningless tags. Very disappointing.

 

Supermarkets in England, as we all know, are way cheaper and have far more choice. Or do they? They have far more choice in prepared and processed foods certainly, I didn’t see more choice in fresh food though, I think Australia definitely has the edge there. But supermarket shopping in England is hell on earth. You are bumped and jostled and banged by the sheer number of shoppers, people bashing you with trolleys, queueing for ages, wait for people to get out the way before you can choose something off the shelf, driving round and round to try and spot someone just coming out of a parking space. I would not choose to shop in an English supermarket again in my life.

 

Shopping for clothes is phenomenally cheap in England when you are converting from AU$, we did a lot of clothes shopping. Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush is incredible.

 

The cost of Transport is an art, not a science. We were given prices by National Rail Inquiries, TFL, the ticket machine and the man behind the counter of 60, 40, 18 and 12 pounds respectively for the same journey so we took the cheapest offer! Then we had to pay over 7 pounds to go a couple of miles on a bus! The trains are much quieter and smoother in England, they swoosh instead of “clackety clack”.

 

Driving in the UK – 100kph does not feel as fast in England as it does in Australia, and we did go much faster at times, but we were very aware of how many more fixed speed cameras there are now than there used to be, and how people seem to be obeying the speed limits much more in England than they used to.

 

My kids were very surprised when I had to “pay and display” – “but why do you have to PAY to park the car Dad????”

 

Weather – mainly OK, although I never had that much of a problem with London weather, it was the winter early dark that used to depress me. But what was weird was the finding that 15 degrees in London didn’t feel as cold as 15 degrees in Melbourne. And people in England wear shorts and short skirts in 15 degrees. Nutters!

 

It was funny having to teach the kids not to touch stinging nettles, and seeing how enamoured they were with squirrels.

 

London was looking surprisingly clean and done-up. Our English friends said that this was just for the Olympics, even so, it was looking pretty good. And people were friendlier than I remember, people offered us seats on trains, talked to our kids, were generally very good-humoured.

 

But I did notice a lot more shouting and swearing in public. My children were upset by overhearing a man on the bus shouting into his mobile phone that he was going to “smash someones ****ing face in.” I heard several other instances of people shouting aggressively in the street.

 

Weekends - in Aussie we might take the kids to the beach, or to the park. In the UK people seem to take their kids to expensive theme parks of various sizes, pay a lot of money to get in, a lot of money for food/drinks etc and then come home and moan about the cost of it.

 

But I felt the only massive downside to life in England, one of the reasons we emigrated, and the biggest item to stop me wanting to live in England again, was the lack of space. There is just not enough room in English houses to live the lifestyles people live now. If you bang your elbow when you turn round in the shower, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. If you have to move the dining room table to eat a meal, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. if you have to sit on the toilet diagonally this means there is not enough room for you in your house. You have to squeeze your car in between others – I found I had forgotten how to parallel park with any degree of accuracy! People in the UK seem to put in an enormous amount of effort to build an extension that actually gains them a very few square feet more of space, like a porch or something.

 

One of my daughters summed it up well when I asked her if she thought she would like to live in England. She said “I don’t think so Dad, it’s too squashy!”

 

BB

 

 

Nice post! Obviously you are going to get an oz v uk response! I enjoyed reading your post and am always interested to read different perspectives on trips to the uk! I won't go into the oz v uk thing as they are totally different countries! But nice post as I said!

[PontePom]

Nice post! Obviously you are going to get an oz v uk response! I enjoyed reading your post and am always interested to read different perspectives on trips to the uk! I won't go into the oz v uk thing as they are totally different countries! But nice post as I said!

Completely agree with what you said

 

Really enjoyed what you said and as these are your views who are we to say you are wrong

[Guest chris955]

I dont think it is a case of saying the OP is wrong but quite clearly there are some already that are scratching their heads reading some of the observations.

You pay for parking in any city anywhere. It sounds absolutely nothing like where we live to be honest, that doesnt mean the OP is wrong but it doesnt seem to be in anyway representative of the UK as a whole. Of course others will jump and totally agree with every word and that is their right of course. It is equally right for those who know it in no way describes the country generally to also stand up and have a say.

Our feelings since getting back are as far away from the OP's as it is possible to get, it is actually quite disappointing to read some of the things in the context of them being sort of UK issues when in fact they seem universal. I fully realise someone who has made such a huge move to a new country will to some degree either intentionally or not focus on any negative they can see and also ignore the very same things in their new home. I'm not saying that is the case here. I know I will inevitably get the usual ridiculous comments about this but as someone who has lived in both countries it just seems at odds with what I am seeing actually living here.

[Guest The Pom Queen]

Nice to have you back BB, missed you around x

[Guest Guest26012]

I dont think it is a case of saying the OP is wrong but quite clearly there are some already that are scratching their heads reading some of the observations.

You pay for parking in any city anywhere. It sounds absolutely nothing like where we live to be honest, that doesnt mean the OP is wrong but it doesnt seem to be in anyway representative of the UK as a whole. Of course others will jump and totally agree with every word and that is their right of course. It is equally right for those who know it in no way describes the country generally to also stand up and have a say.

Our feelings since getting back are as far away from the OP's as it is possible to get, it is actually quite disappointing to read some of the things in the context of them being sort of UK issues when in fact they seem universal. I fully realise someone who has made such a huge move to a new country will to some degree either intentionally or not focus on any negative they can see and also ignore the very same things in their new home. I'm not saying that is the case here. I know I will inevitably get the usual ridiculous comments about this but as someone who has lived in both countries it just seems at odds with what I am seeing actually living here.

 

 

These were the op's impressions so they are allowed to have those! I'm sure they know that it's not everyone's impressions, and that's fine! No ridiculous comments from me lol! It will enevitably make people defensive but we have to remember its their impressions not anyone else's.

[Guest Guest77374]

What an interesting post. Here are some of my thoughts on it.

 

OK, I appreciate that this post is in danger of becoming an Australia vs UK debate, however I would like to post my impressions of my first visit back to the UK since I emigrated from West London to Melbourne with my wife and twin 2 year old daughters over 5 years ago.

 

We just came back from 3 weeks visiting England and there was quite a lot that surprised me.

 

My very first impression was that I was astounded how many people smoke in England. Young, old, middle aged, rich, poor, so many people smoke it is really noticeable. And while the advertising in Australia is along the lines of “don’t smoke, it will cause death by cancer”, advertising in England is all about making sure you put your fag out so you don’t cause a house fire. One follow-on from all this smoking is the massive amount of fag butt litter.

21% of UK population smoke, almost exactly the same in oz (23% of men and 19% of women). As a rough estimate I would say 50% of my friends in Brisbane smoked. In the UK I would say about 25%. I had people saunter along in front of my in Bribane puffing away, polluting my lungs and I have had the same experience in the UK. I would say about the same (maybe once every few weeks). I am amazed you had so much experience of smoking in the street in 3 weeks than I have had in the year since I have been back.

 

I had forgotten the visual impact of every house having white plastic windows.

 

I was surprised how clean and nice the kids playpark was near where we were staying. There was no broken glass and no outwardly visible graffiti. Unfortunately this was spoiled by one of my daughters stating she was upset by some writing she had found on the playpark. I asked her what it said and she replied “it says – Casey you are a ****ing bitch”. My daughter has never used this word before and we have never seen such explicit graffiti in Melbourne, just meaningless tags. Very disappointing.

As Melza pointed out, I have come across grafitti in both countries, but no where near the amount I saw when I went to Rome a few months ago. Now thats what I call graffitti!

 

Supermarkets in England, as we all know, are way cheaper and have far more choice. Or do they? They have far more choice in prepared and processed foods certainly, I didn’t see more choice in fresh food though, I think Australia definitely has the edge there. But supermarket shopping in England is hell on earth. You are bumped and jostled and banged by the sheer number of shoppers, people bashing you with trolleys, queueing for ages, wait for people to get out the way before you can choose something off the shelf, driving round and round to try and spot someone just coming out of a parking space. I would not choose to shop in an English supermarket again in my life.

I live in north west london. There are several supermarkets near us including brent cross shopping centre. not once in the year since Ive been back has my dad had to drive out of a car park for lack of space. And as for the jostling and queues, you would get that if you went shopping at peak times (like say a friday evening), but if you time your shopping trips at low peak times, like during the day (my dad works shifts so does his big shop during the week about 10am) or during the evening on a non weekend night, say a wednesday night instead of a friday, it is not too busy. If i was on holiday in the UK I would not shop during peak times.

Shopping for clothes is phenomenally cheap in England when you are converting from AU$, we did a lot of clothes shopping. Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush is incredible.

I agree, my wardrobe has never looked so healthy!

 

The cost of Transport is an art, not a science. We were given prices by National Rail Inquiries, TFL, the ticket machine and the man behind the counter of 60, 40, 18 and 12 pounds respectively for the same journey so we took the cheapest offer! Then we had to pay over 7 pounds to go a couple of miles on a bus! The trains are much quieter and smoother in England, they swoosh instead of “clackety clack”.

I agree, public transport is way too expensive! (if you buy advanced rail tickets it tends to be a lot cheaper). The mega bus is a good cheap option too, but adds a lot on to your travel time.

 

Driving in the UK – 100kph does not feel as fast in England as it does in Australia, and we did go much faster at times, but we were very aware of how many more fixed speed cameras there are now than there used to be, and how people seem to be obeying the speed limits much more in England than they used to.

 

My kids were very surprised when I had to “pay and display” – “but why do you have to PAY to park the car Dad????”

 

I know the cost of parking is one of my dad and step mums big annoyances. People tend to get round it my parking outside town and walking in the rest of the way, or parking in supermarkets which all have free parking and staying within their 2 hour limits (mind you my dads gone over a few times and there is no consequence. Apparently supermarket car parks have no legal standing to make you pay those excess charges.

 

 

Weather – mainly OK, although I never had that much of a problem with London weather, it was the winter early dark that used to depress me. But what was weird was the finding that 15 degrees in London didn’t feel as cold as 15 degrees in Melbourne. And people in England wear shorts and short skirts in 15 degrees. Nutters!

When I first moved to Brisbane it was 22 degrees and everyone kept harping on about how cold it was and wearing jumpers. I thought they were nutters! I never got used to the hear over there and love our seasons. Admittedly I live in London which tends to not be quite as chilly as other parts of the Uk, but I don't think our weather is horrible. I love all the seasons for their differences.

 

It was funny having to teach the kids not to touch stinging nettles, and seeing how enamoured they were with squirrels.

 

London was looking surprisingly clean and done-up. Our English friends said that this was just for the Olympics, even so, it was looking pretty good. And people were friendlier than I remember, people offered us seats on trains, talked to our kids, were generally very good-humoured.

I have always wondered where brits get their stuck up reputation from. I think we are a friendly bunch as a whole. And I think London has always been relatively spruced up, being the tourtist centre of Britain, olympics or no olympics. Going into central london never fails to thrill me, for the buzz, the culture, the amount to see and do. When I was a kid growing up, I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world living so close to London. (though I am sure other youngsters feel the same about where they live.)

 

But I did notice a lot more shouting and swearing in public. My children were upset by overhearing a man on the bus shouting into his mobile phone that he was going to “smash someones ****ing face in.” I heard several other instances of people shouting aggressively in the street.

Do you know this amazed me. I honestly cannot think of the last time I heard anyone hollering swear words in the street. It amazes me that people here for a few weeks experience come across far more bad stuff than those who live here. I don't know if its because they are scrutinising everything and have their ears and eyes open to negative things in a way us returnees have stopped doing, or what it is. It is interesting though.

 

Weekends - in Aussie we might take the kids to the beach, or to the park. In the UK people seem to take their kids to expensive theme parks of various sizes, pay a lot of money to get in, a lot of money for food/drinks etc and then come home and moan about the cost of it.

I cannot think of any of my rellies who take their kids to theme parks more than say once a year for a special treat (like a birthday outing.) Your relatives must be loaded!! My younger cousins get taken to the park, museums (all free in London), cinema, bowling, friends houses etc. I have an aunty in somerset and she is always out and about with her kids taking the dog for long walks in the country side or on the local beach. The weather is rarely so terrible you cannot go out at all. Just wrap up when its cold.

 

But I felt the only massive downside to life in England, one of the reasons we emigrated, and the biggest item to stop me wanting to live in England again, was the lack of space. There is just not enough room in English houses to live the lifestyles people live now. If you bang your elbow when you turn round in the shower, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. If you have to move the dining room table to eat a meal, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. if you have to sit on the toilet diagonally this means there is not enough room for you in your house. You have to squeeze your car in between others – I found I had forgotten how to parallel park with any degree of accuracy! People in the UK seem to put in an enormous amount of effort to build an extension that actually gains them a very few square feet more of space, like a porch or something.

Houses here are smaller, but what we lose in space we gain in character and cosiness. When we moved to oz I just remember thinking how soulless the houses were. Square and charmless. My house now is much smaller than my house in oz ( i lived with mum in brisbane and now dad), but its an edwardian house now and I find it far cosier. I love the big edwardian fireplace in the lounge. I love the coving and the picture rails. I dont have to sit diagonally on the loo or bang into walls in the shower. Its far from a big house (3 bed semi), but its not a shoe box and most of my friends and relatives live in lovely homes. Not huge homes, just really lovely homes. And the few relatives that have had extensions or as my dad has had, a conservatory added on, do enjoy the extra space it gives them.

 

One of my daughters summed it up well when I asked her if she thought she would like to live in England. She said “I don’t think so Dad, it’s too squashy!”

Even though I live in London, we often go for drives in the country side. Only last week my boyfriend and me went to St Albans for the day and they have a lovely park and lovely shops. We had lunch in a great cafe for a fiver a head and headed home well fed and happy. As Melza said, there is sooooo much countryside in the UK to escape to if you need a bit of space. I love living in London, but I do enjoy getting out of it from time to time too. Glad you had a good holiday. It seems to have confirmed for you that you don't want to live in the UK and I think the most important thing in life is to find out where you feel most at home. For me its England for you its oz.

 

BB

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

Its rare that happens, can't you move a bit further out and live in a bigger place, there's some massive houses, really new and fairly cheap rentals at Point Cook, we like the look of there and it's not a long commute to the city.

 

 

Just checked the map and see your at the other side of Melbourne, forget what I said.

[Guest chris955]

These were the op's impressions so they are allowed to have those! I'm sure they know that it's not everyone's impressions, and that's fine! No ridiculous comments from me lol! It will enevitably make people defensive but we have to remember its their impressions not anyone else's.

That is actually exactly what I said

[ali]

Nice post! Obviously you are going to get an oz v uk response! I enjoyed reading your post and am always interested to read different perspectives on trips to the uk! I won't go into the oz v uk thing as they are totally different countries! But nice post as I said!

 

Totally agree, as someone who hasn't yet returned (and been here almost 6 years), I find it interesting to read peoples perspectives on things. Won't go into the Aus V UK debate either - different horses for different courses and all that.

[Guest chris955]

What an interesting post. Here are some of my thoughts on it.

 

I wish I could give karma for a post, that one deserves it.

[Guest Guest26012]

That is actually exactly what I said

 

And I agree with you totally!

[PontePom]

I think some members can't understand that someone who has just been to the UK and returns to Australia to give their own view on what they found some have to point out this that and the other

 

I thought it was great reading and I took it as what another person thought about something

 

nothing more nothing less

 

So said thanks and moved on

[dianaos]

When I arrived in the UK from Oz over 10 years ago, these are the things that I noticed as well. Remember 10 years ago you could still smoke in pubs! I have never smoked and struggle with cigarette smoke so to be introduced to a smoked filled English pub was rather disturbing.

 

However while I didn't like the smoke or the cost of public transport or heaven forbid "pebble dash" I did come to love the UK. It has history, and landscape that you find very little of in Australia.

 

I hope this doesn't turn into a comparison argument and I hope that readers don't start trying to "protect" UK idiosyncrasies by denigrating Oz in a "***-for-tat" manner and take your posting as what it is. You have been away 5 years and in those five years things have changed both in the UK and your perspective.

 

No doubt when I return to Oz in November I will notice a lot of changes and probably some will be good and some bad! Having read many posts on PIO regarding cost of living especially things like clothing, I have had fun in the last few months of my time in the UK, shopping for lots of new clothing including 12 new bras from M&S. Can't beat M&S bras so have to stock up. :biggrin:

 

OK, I appreciate that this post is in danger of becoming an Australia vs UK debate, however I would like to post my impressions of my first visit back to the UK since I emigrated from West London to Melbourne with my wife and twin 2 year old daughters over 5 years ago.

 

We just came back from 3 weeks visiting England and there was quite a lot that surprised me.

 

My very first impression was that I was astounded how many people smoke in England. Young, old, middle aged, rich, poor, so many people smoke it is really noticeable. And while the advertising in Australia is along the lines of “don’t smoke, it will cause death by cancer”, advertising in England is all about making sure you put your fag out so you don’t cause a house fire. One follow-on from all this smoking is the massive amount of fag butt litter.

 

I had forgotten the visual impact of every house having white plastic windows.

 

I was surprised how clean and nice the kids playpark was near where we were staying. There was no broken glass and no outwardly visible graffiti. Unfortunately this was spoiled by one of my daughters stating she was upset by some writing she had found on the playpark. I asked her what it said and she replied “it says – Casey you are a ****ing bitch”. My daughter has never used this word before and we have never seen such explicit graffiti in Melbourne, just meaningless tags. Very disappointing.

 

Supermarkets in England, as we all know, are way cheaper and have far more choice. Or do they? They have far more choice in prepared and processed foods certainly, I didn’t see more choice in fresh food though, I think Australia definitely has the edge there. But supermarket shopping in England is hell on earth. You are bumped and jostled and banged by the sheer number of shoppers, people bashing you with trolleys, queueing for ages, wait for people to get out the way before you can choose something off the shelf, driving round and round to try and spot someone just coming out of a parking space. I would not choose to shop in an English supermarket again in my life.

 

Shopping for clothes is phenomenally cheap in England when you are converting from AU$, we did a lot of clothes shopping. Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush is incredible.

 

The cost of Transport is an art, not a science. We were given prices by National Rail Inquiries, TFL, the ticket machine and the man behind the counter of 60, 40, 18 and 12 pounds respectively for the same journey so we took the cheapest offer! Then we had to pay over 7 pounds to go a couple of miles on a bus! The trains are much quieter and smoother in England, they swoosh instead of “clackety clack”.

 

Driving in the UK – 100kph does not feel as fast in England as it does in Australia, and we did go much faster at times, but we were very aware of how many more fixed speed cameras there are now than there used to be, and how people seem to be obeying the speed limits much more in England than they used to.

 

My kids were very surprised when I had to “pay and display” – “but why do you have to PAY to park the car Dad????”

 

Weather – mainly OK, although I never had that much of a problem with London weather, it was the winter early dark that used to depress me. But what was weird was the finding that 15 degrees in London didn’t feel as cold as 15 degrees in Melbourne. And people in England wear shorts and short skirts in 15 degrees. Nutters!

 

It was funny having to teach the kids not to touch stinging nettles, and seeing how enamoured they were with squirrels.

 

London was looking surprisingly clean and done-up. Our English friends said that this was just for the Olympics, even so, it was looking pretty good. And people were friendlier than I remember, people offered us seats on trains, talked to our kids, were generally very good-humoured.

 

But I did notice a lot more shouting and swearing in public. My children were upset by overhearing a man on the bus shouting into his mobile phone that he was going to “smash someones ****ing face in.” I heard several other instances of people shouting aggressively in the street.

 

Weekends - in Aussie we might take the kids to the beach, or to the park. In the UK people seem to take their kids to expensive theme parks of various sizes, pay a lot of money to get in, a lot of money for food/drinks etc and then come home and moan about the cost of it.

 

But I felt the only massive downside to life in England, one of the reasons we emigrated, and the biggest item to stop me wanting to live in England again, was the lack of space. There is just not enough room in English houses to live the lifestyles people live now. If you bang your elbow when you turn round in the shower, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. If you have to move the dining room table to eat a meal, this is an indication your house is not big enough for your lifestyle. if you have to sit on the toilet diagonally this means there is not enough room for you in your house. You have to squeeze your car in between others – I found I had forgotten how to parallel park with any degree of accuracy! People in the UK seem to put in an enormous amount of effort to build an extension that actually gains them a very few square feet more of space, like a porch or something.

 

One of my daughters summed it up well when I asked her if she thought she would like to live in England. She said “I don’t think so Dad, it’s too squashy!”

 

BB

[Guest Guest68570]

I am just sick to death of the UK. It is just rubbish compared to Oz there isn't really any two ways about it. People go on about it being closer to Europe, the countryside and the wonderful old buildings well these are all things I have no regard for. Give me wide open spaces and beaches over that any day. Sorry but its true.