Aunt Agatha Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 What are/were your misgivings about moving back to the UK/your home country? Did they turn out to be unfounded? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 I honestly didn't have any....maybe will the weather get me down but that was about it and it hasn't, at least not as much as the heat in Perth did. I did worry that we'd ping pong, we certainly didn't hate Australia and I worried once back in the UK the rose tinted glasses would appear. When we moved to Australia I was absolute that it was a forever move and I was of course wrong so I kind of doubted my own mind - I thought I wanted to return to the UK but did I really.... I largely let myself off the hook though and accepted that dual nationality meant a lifetime of being able to choose and there was nothing at all wrong with making different choices at different times in our life. So far no rose tints at all - in fact if anything I have to remind myself it wasn't all bad!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3FatCats Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 None for me so far, for the OH it will likely be different. He will be gloomy about the weather and lack of good diving (his opinion). I am never going back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 None...weather much better for me in the UK and quality of life much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunt Agatha Posted August 30, 2014 Author Share Posted August 30, 2014 This is all good news! I am not usually one for rose tinted glasses but I am concerned I may develop a pair in the depths of an English winter - not the nice crispy ones but the freezing, wet, gloomy ones - or when I have to try and pass another car in a street the width of a pencil. I don't have an idealised view of the UK now (as much as I love it) so perhaps I'll also be immune when the situation is reversed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Can't think that I had any really. If I had, it certainly wouldn't have involved the weather! After half a lifetime of Aussie weather, this is fabulous (and no, it is by no means grey every day - not even close!). Given our circumstances I suppose the hardest thing is not being there for the grand kids but watching them grow up on Skype - if we weren't as constrained as we are, then all would be peachy because we could both take a holiday back to see the kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunt Agatha Posted August 30, 2014 Author Share Posted August 30, 2014 The stupid thing is the weather didn't particularly bother me when I lived in the UK! Well, except for those occasional days when I had to leave the house at 5am in winter to catch a train from London to our Cardiff office! I must have absorbed all the UK = Grey propaganda :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinker78 Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 i think growing up and spending 30 years there, i can't honestly say the weather bothered me, it wasn't until I came here that I realised i prefer warmer climates....which overall I do, except, not the summer, and I'll be glad to see the back of worrying over skin cancer, using sunscreen, being paranoid my child will get burnt in 5 secs, and all that jazz. But I can't say weather features in my memories of the uk- it was a non feature until I had something to compare it too. i actually have some brilliant memories of winter growing up and during adolescence- there was nothing more freezing than trying to smoke on the top floor of a double decker bus with the window open during a snowstorm, or, all those new years eves queuing up outside pubs or clubs huddled together for warmth. I have really fond memories of bonfire nights too, which were always a big thing in our village, or being wrapped up to go outside in the playground for a quick breath of icey air. i don't mind the cold, but i do think the lack of daylight will take a while to get used to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunt Agatha Posted August 31, 2014 Author Share Posted August 31, 2014 I should probably clarify that I'm not genuinely worried about the weather in any real sense. Rather that the absence of sunshine on a particularly drab may make me wistful for the kind of day I am enjoying right now. Conversely I absolutely won't miss slathering sun cream on the kids all the time or hiding from the sun in summer or the lack of truly changing seasons. I share all those fond memories @thinker78! I suppose I used the weather example because it's an easy one. What I was trying to say is that I'm concerned that a long winter/local play area covered in graffiti/litter/"chav" encounter/whatever may cause me to develop rose-tinted glasses about our lives here. Obviously some comparison is natural but I don't want to torture myself. Overthinking as usual I'm sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortlepuss Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 I really do struggle with lack of daylight here in Brisbane - it's hard to get used to it being dark early all year round, even if it is hot and dark (and I never got into the get up at 4 a.m. in summer to make the most of the day thing). I think I will find the first winter in the UK pretty exotic, and then maybe struggle a bit Jan to Mar as I used to.... but the payoff is the long summer evenings and I'm more than willing to make the swap now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortlepuss Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 i think growing up and spending 30 years there, i can't honestly say the weather bothered me, it wasn't until I came here that I realised i prefer warmer climates....which overall I do, except, not the summer, and I'll be glad to see the back of worrying over skin cancer, using sunscreen, being paranoid my child will get burnt in 5 secs, and all that jazz. But I can't say weather features in my memories of the uk- it was a non feature until I had something to compare it too. i actually have some brilliant memories of winter growing up and during adolescence- there was nothing more freezing than trying to smoke on the top floor of a double decker bus with the window open during a snowstorm, or, all those new years eves queuing up outside pubs or clubs huddled together for warmth. I have really fond memories of bonfire nights too, which were always a big thing in our village, or being wrapped up to go outside in the playground for a quick breath of icey air. i don't mind the cold, but i do think the lack of daylight will take a while to get used to. BTW some rather lovely memories in this post have kicked off my homesickness! I didn't actually have a heated room until I was in my early 20's - Got used to ice on the inside of the windows... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunt Agatha Posted August 31, 2014 Author Share Posted August 31, 2014 Oh me too @Chortlepuss! My parents got central heating about 10 years after I left home - until then it was one gas fire in the living room, one in the dining room and a fan heater on the landing. Given I grew up on the NE coast it was mighty cold in winter! Of course that same hardiness allowed me to go out in Newcastle on a Saturday night in winter with no coat so it's not all bad ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacaranda Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 I did'nt have hardly any concerns tbh,maybe abit worried how my aussie kids would settle into new schools but that turned out to be fine.I think alot depends on where you came from/heading back to myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunt Agatha Posted September 4, 2014 Author Share Posted September 4, 2014 I'm confident about where we are moving back to thankfully - not that I know for sure where that is but I know that won't be a council estate in Conventry (no offense to council estates or Coventry intended!!) I suppose I'm wondering if 11 years away will change how I view things that previously didn't bother me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zephyr Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 No issues' for us either. We've been back 15 months now and have settled back in fine. I sometimes get a bit wistful of what 'could have been' if we'd stayed but then I remind myself of why we came back and how lucky we are to live in such a great place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 I know this is probably a silly concern, but looking at the terrorist alert and the worries about Ebola and so on, the UK just seems so much closer to all that awful stuff that I wonder if I might be better off high-tailing it to Tasmania... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 I know this is probably a silly concern, but looking at the terrorist alert and the worries about Ebola and so on, the UK just seems so much closer to all that awful stuff that I wonder if I might be better off high-tailing it to Tasmania... Actually part of our reason to moving to Australia in the first place and terrorism is not a 'silly' concern but for me anyway these things always seem less concerning when you're actually living somewhere - probably to do with the way they are reported in the media, when you're on the ground you just get on with every day life. I know growing up during the IRA campaigns London always seemed and incredibly scary place but when I lived in London I gave little thought to it then after moving to Scotland and 7/7 I actually told my employer I was no longer willing to travel to London - I had a year old baby and was in that hyper sensitive phase anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunt Agatha Posted September 11, 2014 Author Share Posted September 11, 2014 Not silly at all. On the flip side, I'm looking forward to being able to avoid long-haul flights latter the Air Malaysia stuff. I think given Australia's involvement with the "war on terror" they are as much a target as anybody else and I'm pretty sure that Australia is just about to raise it's terror threat level to match that of the UK. I know what you mean about Ebola etc. feeling closer in the UK but I just saw the news about a suspected case here with a returning aid worker. It turned out to be nothing but I think it shows that with the ease of travel these days nowhere is truly safe and yet at the same time most first world countries are fairly safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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