Things you miss about Britain

[Marisawright]

20 minutes ago, Blue Flu said:

I used to spend a lot of time in Portugal and thought it as an ideal retirement spot. Work wise not great as checked that out. Not a big fan of The Algarve but so many places in the regions very affordable at the time and most Portuguese learn English, especially these days to allow plenty of time to learn the basics of the language, which is not easy to speak. Hard to compare the coastline really. Portugal has some wonderful coastal locations with lots of charm and coves and beaches. One of the best surf beaches in Europe is in Nazare I place often stayed. 

Why is a place where there's nothing to do but play golf or go to the beach always clasified as "the ideal retirement spot"?  My idea of utter boredom.

[Tulip1]

6 minutes ago, HappyHeart said:

I've never seen them here. Maybe in the specialty British bakery? I was a bit obsessed  with them in the uk and those little mini ones with chopped up egg mayo inside. Yes- the variety of ready and convenience food/meals and snack foods is far superior in the UK...

Very easy to make scotch eggs.  I haven’t for ages but this post has made me fancy making some.  I just hard boil eggs, mix up sausage meat (usually just a pack of sausages) in a bowl with my hands. Wet your hands with water (keeping them wet) and mould the sausage meat around the eggs. An egg in the sausage meat may bind it easier but I never bother adding one. Cook in the oven for about 25 minutes or you could deep fry if you wanted to.  So easy and lovely with chips and beans and cold for lunch over the next few days. 

[Wanderer Returns]

57 minutes ago, Red Rose said:

I think what is hard to beat with the UK is our proximity to things. It feels like we are a global hub, in the middle of everything. The biggest draw card as others have mentioned is Europe, which cannot be beaten anywhere in the world for diversity, history or culture. If you love Africa, that's not far away. If you love New York that's, what, about 7 hours. That's why so many Aussies come to London (which in itself is a world in one city), and don't want to leave because they are suddenly on the cusp of everything. 

Yes, I was always happy when I was getting on a plane to somewhere warm and sunny. Never quite so as the plane touched down back in rainy EMA. I think the one exception was when I went on holiday to Ireland! 

[Lavers]

I miss good car drivers

[Skani]

3 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

Why can you not buy Scotch Eggs over here?? 

I've bought them in  local delis here in Hobart, also had  them on the menu in local pubs.

[Johndoe]

Aldi is doing a Brit produce this Wednesday. Can't wait to get my hands on some decent mint sauce (colemans)

 

[Rallyman]

24 minutes ago, Johndoe said:

Aldi is doing a Brit produce this Wednesday. Can't wait to get my hands on some decent mint sauce (colemans)

 

Should do your own   We have mint growing in garden , great to pop outside pick some ad chop up add some vinegar and sugar, spot on with lamb

[HappyHeart]

38 minutes ago, Johndoe said:

Aldi is doing a Brit produce this Wednesday. Can't wait to get my hands on some decent mint sauce (colemans)

 

Yeah, what is with that thin vinegary stuff with very little mint in it? Coleman's all the way....

[Bulya]

5 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

Why can you not buy Scotch Eggs over here?? To quote one of my students, "It's just sooooooo retarded!"

You can.  

[Blue Flu]

5 hours ago, Red Rose said:

I think what is hard to beat with the UK is our proximity to things. It feels like we are a global hub, in the middle of everything. The biggest draw card as others have mentioned is Europe, which cannot be beaten anywhere in the world for diversity, history or culture. If you love Africa, that's not far away. If you love New York that's, what, about 7 hours. That's why so many Aussies come to London (which in itself is a world in one city), and don't want to leave because they are suddenly on the cusp of everything. 

 

Quite correct. Being so connected with cheap flights to many parts of the world as well as easy access to EU by train, ferry or coach worth a lot as well. Especially in the age. Getting a good quality camper van and touring Europe on a longer basis , perhaps across to  Morocco as well, more appealing than the Grey Nomad thing in Australia to my mind. But already done a lot of Australia by such means years ago. If I hadn't may think differently. 

[newjez]

7 hours ago, Tulip1 said:

The nhs ones are a bit chunky although nothing like they used to be.  Actually they’ve come on a lot but still nhs I guess. If you want the tiny ones that are barely noticeable then you’ll have to pay for them.  I only know that because about 4 years ago my mum got some. She didn’t like the look of the nhs ones and even at almost 80 it bothered her that they could be seen. She paid £1600 for these tiny ones.  They ended up gathering dust as she never remembered to put them in and even when reminded to she said they were fiddly. I think she wore them twice.   

The NHS ones look identical to the ones my father paid a fortune for with his hbf private medical insurance.

[newjez]

5 hours ago, Rallyman said:

Should do your own   We have mint growing in garden , great to pop outside pick some ad chop up add some vinegar and sugar, spot on with lamb

My mum used to do that. It's really not quite the same as mint sauce. 

Although to be honest I'm a bit of a horseradish man.

[Paul1Perth]

16 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

Why can you not buy Scotch Eggs over here?? To quote one of my students, "It's just sooooooo retarded!"

You can get scotch eggs, pork pies, pasties in our local IGA deli. Used to take them to work sometimes. Lots of Aussies have never seen or tried them.

[Paul1Perth]

15 hours ago, Red Rose said:

I think what is hard to beat with the UK is our proximity to things. It feels like we are a global hub, in the middle of everything. The biggest draw card as others have mentioned is Europe, which cannot be beaten anywhere in the world for diversity, history or culture. If you love Africa, that's not far away. If you love New York that's, what, about 7 hours. That's why so many Aussies come to London (which in itself is a world in one city), and don't want to leave because they are suddenly on the cusp of everything. 

 

I hear that so often but in reality, when you live there, it's just a place to live with pretty average weather and too many people.

How many times does your average working class person go to Europe? Maybe once a year for a guaranteed sunshine and beach holiday for a couple of weeks. Either that or a couple of weeks snow skiing if you like that.

Then start saving up for the next year. I had nearly 40 years living there and oonce I started going abroad, about 16, I spent the rest of my working life saving up for the next holiday.

[Paul1Perth]

15 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Why is a place where there's nothing to do but play golf or go to the beach always clasified as "the ideal retirement spot"?  My idea of utter boredom.

There's just as much to do as anywhere else with golf and beaches and good weather as an added bonus.

[Paul1Perth]

14 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

Yes, I was always happy when I was getting on a plane to somewhere warm and sunny. Never quite so as the plane touched down back in rainy EMA. I think the one exception was when I went on holiday to Ireland! 

Never been to Ireland and only once to Scotland and that was on a work trip.

[Paul1Perth]

10 hours ago, Blue Flu said:

Quite correct. Being so connected with cheap flights to many parts of the world as well as easy access to EU by train, ferry or coach worth a lot as well. Especially in the age. Getting a good quality camper van and touring Europe on a longer basis , perhaps across to  Morocco as well, more appealing than the Grey Nomad thing in Australia to my mind. But already done a lot of Australia by such means years ago. If I hadn't may think differently. 

Sounds great. Never able to afford it though.

[Marisawright]

21 minutes ago, Paul1Perth said:

Then start saving up for the next year. I had nearly 40 years living there and oonce I started going abroad, about 16, I spent the rest of my working life saving up for the next holiday.

Exactly!  That's what struck me forcibly when I was in the UK.  When I was growing up, we never went abroad - I remember going to Spain for the first time in my 20's, how exciting - but now, most Brits seem to go abroad once a year and some even twice, not to mention the occasional cheapie weekend trip.  And for some, especially some of the retired people I met, it felt like all they did for the rest of the year was save up for and look forward to their holidays. Almost as if they're only really living for their few weeks abroad each year.  

[Toots]

10 hours ago, Blue Flu said:

Quite correct. Being so connected with cheap flights to many parts of the world as well as easy access to EU by train, ferry or coach worth a lot as well. Especially in the age. Getting a good quality camper van and touring Europe on a longer basis , perhaps across to  Morocco as well, more appealing than the Grey Nomad thing in Australia to my mind. But already done a lot of Australia by such means years ago. If I hadn't may think differently. 

Husband and I did all that before leaving the UK to come to Australia.  I showed him where I had worked for the 2.5 years (3 different countries) then we went to Finland and all the way down to Morocco and Tunisia.  Our trusty old VW bus never let us down.  I'm glad we did it then as I have no inclination to do any of that anymore.  

[Paul1Perth]

10 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Exactly!  That's what struck me forcibly when I was in the UK.  When I was growing up, we never went abroad - I remember going to Spain for the first time in my 20's, how exciting - but now, most Brits seem to go abroad once a year and some even twice, not to mention the occasional cheapie weekend trip.  And for some, especially some of the retired people I met, it felt like all they did for the rest of the year was save up for and look forward to their holidays. Almost as if they're only really living for their few weeks abroad each year.  

That's what it felt like to us. We had our first mortgage and first child, lived near Stockport in a typical first time buyers end terrace you couldn't swing a cat in and for the first time since I was 16 we couldn't afford to go abroad. We were both working full time too.

Summer that year was crap in the UK, highlight of the weekend was taking the youngster in the pram with the wet gear around it to the local park duckpond, then scraping the dogshit of the pram wheels when you got home.

Reckon that's when we started thinking " is this as good as it gets" and applied to emigrate.

[Paul1Perth]

24 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Exactly!  That's what struck me forcibly when I was in the UK.  When I was growing up, we never went abroad - I remember going to Spain for the first time in my 20's, how exciting - but now, most Brits seem to go abroad once a year and some even twice, not to mention the occasional cheapie weekend trip.  And for some, especially some of the retired people I met, it felt like all they did for the rest of the year was save up for and look forward to their holidays. Almost as if they're only really living for their few weeks abroad each year.  

I went to Benidorm with 3 friends I'd been at school with when I was 16. None of us had been abroad before. Thought we'd landed in heaven, first night sat there with a litre pot of beer, cheaper than a pint in the UK, girls galore, getting about in skimpy gear, topless bathing, no closing times. A 16 year olds idea of Utopia. Learnt to waterski that holiday too.

Those days I was living at home with Mum and Dad and giving my Mum about 5 bob board and went abroad with mates every holiday I had. Think we went to Scarborough once, or Skeggy, didn't quite have the same vibe.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Paul1Perth

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Paul1Perth said:

There's just as much to do as anywhere else with golf and beaches and good weather as an added bonus.

It depends on your interests, as I've pointed out before.   I'm into the arts.   A large city has multiple cultural activities, classes, shows, art galleries, etc etc.    I have never found a truly rich selection of such things in a city of less than a million people.  The whole of the Algarve has a population of about half a million and the biggest city is only about 100,000 people.  Nuff said.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Marisawright

[Toots]

55 minutes ago, Paul1Perth said:

I went to Benidorm with 3 friends I'd been at school with when I was 16. None of us had been abroad before. Thought we'd landed in heaven, first night sat there with a litre pot of beer, cheaper than a pint in the UK, girls galore, getting about in skimpy gear, topless bathing, no closing times. A 16 year olds idea of Utopia. Learnt to waterski that holiday too.

Those days I was living at home with Mum and Dad and giving my Mum about 5 bob board and went abroad with mates every holiday I had. Think we went to Scarborough once, or Skeggy, didn't quite have the same vibe.

I went to Majorca with 3 friends when I was 18.  After a couple of days I really disliked it.  It was super cheap and I dare say we didn't have the best accommodation.  The place was full of screechy, young people getting drunk.  Put me off for life.  You get what you pay for I guess.

Years later travelled a bit around Spain and really enjoyed ourselves.  We went in the autumn which was nice.  Also been to visit friends in Madrid in the winter and it was absolutely freezing.

[Paul1Perth]

10 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

It depends on your interests, as I've pointed out before.   I'm into the arts.   A large city has multiple cultural activities, classes, shows, art galleries, etc etc.    I have never found a truly rich selection of such things in a city of less than a million people.  The whole of the Algarve has a population of about half a million and the biggest city is only about 100,000 people.  Nuff said.

 

11 minutes ago, Toots said:

I went to Majorca with 3 friends when I was 18.  After a couple of days I really disliked it.  It was super cheap and I dare say we didn't have the best accommodation.  The place was full of screechy, young people getting drunk.  Put me off for life.  You get what you pay for I guess.

Years later travelled a bit around Spain and really enjoyed ourselves.  We went in the autumn which was nice.  Also been to visit friends in Madrid in the winter and it was absolutely freezing.

I would have been one of the people getting drunk, when we weren't water skiing. 

Hopefully not one of the screechy ones, leave that to the ladies.

[Wanderer Returns]

4 hours ago, Paul1Perth said:

You can get scotch eggs, pork pies, pasties in our local IGA deli. Used to take them to work sometimes. Lots of Aussies have never seen or tried them.

@Paul1Perth your IGA is only 3,000 miles away, but thanks for the tip