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March 28, 2024, 10:44:19 AM

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Moving back to England

Started by Nowhere Man, December 08, 2018, 10:14:44 AM

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Nowhere Man

Yes fans, it is true. Illinois, USA was not to be and I am moving back to England in mid January. A sense of melancholy that it didn't work out but what are ye gonna do? Of course now it means my Yankee wife's gonna have to get a visa to move over, which is a pain, but honestly i've missed England, and we have our personal reasons for wanting to move back to the UK.

To those of you that have moved back to old blighty, how did you feel moving back? Why did you move back, and do you have any regrets? Pros and cons?

and yes, it is 04:13 am where I am right now. Healthy sleeping patterns are for silly buggers

Sin Agog

When I moved to Canada as a kid, I got acres of girl-pussy on account of my fancy British accent. When I moved back to England as a kid, I got an imperial ton of girl-pussy on account of my fancy Canadian accent.  So yeah, the main benefits are yielded if you're 8 and unmarried.

Nowhere Man

I will say that it's a bit mad that i've missed England, considering it's always been a bit crap in my life. But I think i'm mostly just shit at integrating into other cultures beyond the one i've already known. I've come to terms that American culture is just too alien for me to feel comfortable here. So i'm moving back even though there's not really much there for me in England. It's almost like i'm someone who doesn't mind wallowing in mediocrity as long as they can get to a nice pub at the end of it. Grim.

Yeah, just feeling pleasantly depressed to be honest

Sin Agog

Did you not think about moving to another part of the U.S. first?  Seems like America is about 100 different countries rolled into one.

I am one more rainstorm away from buggering off to some abandoned house in Rhodes or somewhere.  I'd put England about third after South Africa and Australia in terms of the likelihood you'll hear some racist bilge out in public.  The kids are alright, but a decade of Tory rule has clearly taken its toll in attitudes and number of bedraggled tents speckled about the place.  It's a country for wallflowers and homebodies, I guess.  Still, it beats everyone in the U.S. staring at you with completely blank faces every time you crack a joke because English humour is 'so dry.'

It is weird how our mother countries get hardwired into our DNA, no matter how cosmopolitan we imagine ourselves.

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Nowhere Man on December 08, 2018, 10:14:44 AM
Yes fans, it is true. Illinois, USA was not to be and I am moving back to England in mid January. A sense of melancholy that it didn't work out but what are ye gonna do? Of course now it means my Yankee wife's gonna have to get a visa to move over, which is a pain, but honestly i've missed England, and we have our personal reasons for wanting to move back to the UK.

To those of you that have moved back to old blighty, how did you feel moving back? Why did you move back, and do you have any regrets? Pros and cons?

and yes, it is 04:13 am where I am right now. Healthy sleeping patterns are for silly buggers

mate of mine has an american wife in the UK, & they've had a properly, properly shit time with the home office & her 'indefinite right to stay' status, which has already cost them thousands & a ton of paperwork.  just... look into that a bit, unless she's already secure by way of parentage. little britain.

Blinder Data

Quote from: a duncandisorderly on December 08, 2018, 11:18:20 AM
mate of mine has an american wife in the UK, & they've had a properly, properly shit time with the home office & her 'indefinite right to stay' status, which has already cost them thousands & a ton of paperwork.  just... look into that a bit, unless she's already secure by way of parentage. little britain.

I was going to suggest this. Don't want to put you off coming back but I've read tons of horror stories about international marriages, visas, home office, etc

Nowhere Man

Quote from: a duncandisorderly on December 08, 2018, 11:18:20 AM
mate of mine has an american wife in the UK, & they've had a properly, properly shit time with the home office & her 'indefinite right to stay' status, which has already cost them thousands & a ton of paperwork.  just... look into that a bit, unless she's already secure by way of parentage. little britain.

It's all been a bit of a clusterfuck to be honest, I still haven't had a proper job yet on account of the initial visa application getting fucked up when the money payment apparently got lost in the post (we didn't track it, FUCKING IDIOTS) and as a result we had to almost start again resending in documents and all that shit.

I can't take it anymore. I've been massively fucked and already lost a shit ton either way. But we've talked about moving back anyway, so might as bloody well do it now anyway rather than with any further complications (i.e, a kid)

I'm just fed up to be honest, I miss too many creature comforts and family and all that bollocks. Plus i'm in my mid 20s and don't fancy spending upwards of 10,000 for my wife to pop out a sprog.  Plus a lack of incentive to drive a car on my part decreases my means of finding a nicer job, and I just generally feel isolated from the culture here. To be honest her family's a bit of a shit support network too. I've got more qualifications and family support in the UK that would be able to help us out security wise.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Sin Agog on December 08, 2018, 11:14:50 AM

I am one more rainstorm away from buggering off to some abandoned house in Rhodes or somewhere.  I'd put England about third after South Africa and Australia in terms of the likelihood you'll hear some racist bilge out in public. 

There are racists everywhere. Particularly, in Europe. Why does the UK get singled out?

Because he never been in a country that don't speak English!!!

mothman

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on December 08, 2018, 11:40:27 AM
There are racists everywhere. Particularly, in Europe. Why does the UK get particularly singled out?

Because they're being racist in forrin and thus we can't understand it.

Bazooka

Good luck in your future endeavors, having lived overseas and then moved back to the UK, and then lived overseas again, I don't even know what the rules are anymore.

Sin Agog

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on December 08, 2018, 11:40:27 AM
There are racists everywhere. Particularly, in Europe. Why does the UK get singled out?

Probably because when England ruled the waves (invented the concentration camp) we were practically an ethno-state, and the main cultural difference since our power got neutered by WWII is our population diversifying.  Couple that with having some of the most egregious newspapers in the world who are constantly trying to get us to focus our ire on the most powerless segments of our population, and it's no surprise I overhear a waterheaded mother telling her daughter to cross the road because this is a 'mozzie street.'

Replies From View

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on December 08, 2018, 11:40:27 AM
There are racists everywhere. Particularly, in Europe. Why does the UK get singled out?

Because it is so awful.

Nowhere Man

On another note, maybe it's just my experience in the midwest, but as nice as some of the US craft beers maybe, even a lot of their nicest pubs have the atmosphere of a morgue. Be nice to have a nice ale and bit of the old banter again.

Brundle-Fly

Be honest, Sin Agog, have you lived in other cities or towns of Europe to make any comparison?

Sin Agog

For years my parents used to drag me all across the world circus performing, so I can triangulate a bit more than your average parochial loudmouth, I guess.

Even if I hadn't, I've never been a fan of this 'such and such are bad too' line of thinking to excuse problems at home.  Even Ed Gein could talk his way into angelhood using that logic.

Brundle-Fly


Paul Calf

Quote from: Sin Agog on December 08, 2018, 11:14:50 AM
Did you not think about moving to another part of the U.S. first?  Seems like America is about 100 different countries rolled into one.

I am one more rainstorm away from buggering off to some abandoned house in Rhodes or somewhere.  I'd put England about third after South Africa and Australia in terms of the likelihood you'll hear some racist bilge out in public.  The kids are alright, but a decade of Tory rule has clearly taken its toll in attitudes and number of bedraggled tents speckled about the place.  It's a country for wallflowers and homebodies, I guess.  Still, it beats everyone in the U.S. staring at you with completely blank faces every time you crack a joke because English humour is 'so dry.'

It is weird how our mother countries get hardwired into our DNA, no matter how cosmopolitan we imagine ourselves.

I'd put India above either of those and Thailand above the lot, but whatever you say.

Replies From View


Brundle-Fly

If you like Barbados so much, why don't you go and live there!!

hamfist

I moved back here (York) after about 20 years living in Switzerland.

I did it because of the kids and school and stuff, plus all my team are in Leeds - it was a pain managing them from Switzerland.

Switzerland was great, mountains, hiking, clean, good trains, low tax. But also very clinical, huge social pressure, expensive as fuck and a lot of miserable people.

I am happy to have moved back. It seems easy here to make friends and have a laugh with a stranger. I earn less, I'm taxed to fuck, I don't have good trains, I don't have a network of hiking trails to run on.

But it's friendly and accessible and I can afford a place with a garden for the kids.

Brundle-Fly

#21
Quote from: Sin Agog on December 08, 2018, 12:01:36 PM
For years my parents used to drag me all across the world circus performing, so I can triangulate a bit more than your average parochial loudmouth, I guess.

Even if I hadn't, I've never been a fan of this 'such and such are bad too' line of thinking to excuse problems at home.  Even Ed Gein could talk his way into angelhood using that logic.

I wasn't excusing Britain of any of its many shortcomings but there is more to discussing racism than just moaning about 'gammons' and 'GARYS' all the time. (which I know you weren't specifically but you get my drift?)

Yes, the notorious cannibal serial killer's lawyer probably did mention Vlad The Impaler during his defence.

Replies From View

Quote from: hamfist on December 08, 2018, 01:02:15 PM
plus all my team are in Leeds - it was a pain managing them from Switzerland.

Any particular reason the Leeds team couldn't all live permanently in Switzerland?

hamfist

Quote from: Replies From View on December 08, 2018, 01:44:07 PM
Any particular reason the Leeds team couldn't all live permanently in Switzerland?

I bet most of them would if we helped with relocation.

But it's a bit mountain to mohammad.

It sounds like you have other reasons for moving back, but to be fair rural Illinois is not the greatest representation of what American culture has to offer.

Twed

Quote from: Sin Agog on December 08, 2018, 11:14:50 AM
Did you not think about moving to another part of the U.S. first?  Seems like America is about 100 different countries rolled into one.
Is it, though? There are different landscapes, but most places have the same sort of American undercurrent to them that can be alienating if you don't handle it properly. I'm sure there are areas of some major cities that aren't that way, but that requires some situational fortune, money, and even then might not be 'right'.

greenman

Did you try slowly walking across a mineral pool with a lit candle?

Ferris

Quote from: Blinder Data on December 08, 2018, 11:20:01 AM
I was going to suggest this. Don't want to put you off coming back but I've read tons of horror stories about international marriages, visas, home office, etc

It's one of the main reasons we moved to Canada - Mrs Ferris was told in no uncertain terms to leave the UK.

How long have you been in the US? Which bit of Illinois are you in?

Zetetic

Quote from: Twed on December 08, 2018, 05:03:45 PM
There are different landscapes, but most places have the same sort of American undercurrent to them that can be alienating if you don't handle it properly.
Is this about 'packing heat', as they say?

kngen

Quote from: Twed on December 08, 2018, 05:03:45 PM
Is it, though? There are different landscapes, but most places have the same sort of American undercurrent to them that can be alienating if you don't handle it properly. I'm sure there are areas of some major cities that aren't that way, but that requires some situational fortune, money, and even then might not be 'right'.
The South/Mid-Atlantic region is definitely different in feel than the North - a bit more homely and welcoming, even if that is a horrendous cliche.  And East and West Coasts have a different atmosphere in general. Maybe not different countries, but marked enough to delineate them. (Angry and cold vs warm and stupid). And Cleveland is batshit mental, LA's a hole, and Portland, Oregon, is just a silly, silly place.

If I had to move to a big city again, I'd go for Pittaburgh or Seattle. They're nice.