Returning To The UK

[snoop1130]

Returning To The UK

written by John Wilson

 

 

Travel is akin to science fiction because the grossly unfamiliar constantly mixes with the real. One not only traverses space but also epoch and culture. My first impressions: a large number of old people, an abundance of charity shops, turtle-shaped women, not many cops around but road cameras everywhere, twice as many cars, a lot of obvious wealth by comparison with other countries and a strange kind of stick-in-the-mud aggression coming from somewhere.

 

Consumer products always look very new. I spent money like water. For some reason I felt nervous in talking to strangers – my fault? Or a visitor’s subliminal awareness of the psychic field in which the British now live as a set of warnings: (“Don’t get too close to my intentions.” “Don’t challenge my individualism.”) But then oddly moderated by their contrastive cheerfulness or a pumped-up bonhomie, a bit like the advertising, (“Have it your way”, “Live your own life.”) Strange signs in pubs invoking people to be joyous. Nobody gets up until 9am, so I usually had three hours of peace and reflection. Wonderful clean cold air. I tried to remember the names of plants.

 

The British are now under a lot of pressure to live in a certain way – almost an imposed individualism. (How about that for a puzzle? – a totalitarian individualism.) Things happen pretty fast. There is too much of everything. Moderation can only be construed as failure. The roads have been changed into white-lined lanes where imposed snap decision making causes the driver to think he is being perpetually channeled into something.

 

Full Story: https://expatlifeinthailand.com/travel-and-leisure/returning-to-the-uk/

 

-- © Copyright Expat Life In Thailand 2017-7-5

[al007]

Don't do it, stay in Thailand, the land of smiles

 

Remember when you return to the homeland disillusioned with Thailand; you take yourself with you

 

Look at all the beautiful and positive things here in Thailand, and there are many

 

Keep smiling  T I T 

[gmac]

Yes, England.............good for a visit but I wouldn't want to live there anymore.

[humqdpf]

Returning to the land of Brexit? I hope you are not going there to improve your economic situation.

[colinneil]

Who is their right mind would ever consider going back to the UK?

With all the lying, thieving, corrupt clowns now running the place the UK is doomed.

At least in Thailand everybody knows that corruption is going on, and make some feeble attempts to stop it.

Whereas in the  UIK, they always try to appear whiter than white, which is just a smoke screen.

[goldenbrwn1]

Imagine people just took to social media and news outlets to make their mind up about Thailand?  I find that the exact same thing happens to me when I am here for more than 3 months concerning the UK. I watch the news and use social media to keep up with events in the UK. And I think wow the country has turned to sh## in the last few months!! What the hell has happened!?...then I go back.

[helloagain]

1 hour ago, al007 said:

Don't do it, stay in Thailand, the land of smiles

 

Remember when you return to the homeland disillusioned with Thailand; you take yourself with you

 

Look at all the beautiful and positive things here in Thailand, and there are many

 

Keep smiling  T I T 

Really ? 

[faraday]

Perhaps you don't remember how 'orrible the weather is.

Or that in November it gets dark at 4:30  & gets "light" around 8:30 am.

And, the persistent bloody rain! !

[Pilotman]

I have just left UK to live here in LOS.  I didn't even look out of the aircraft window when I left.  I have had my fill of the place.  The people are bloody awful,  the traffic is terrible,  it's expensive,  the weather is crap,  the politics is as corrupt as you will find anywhere,  the NHS is a disgrace and a lottery,  public services are appalling and to cap it all,  the so called national airline is a laughing  stock.  Not for me.  

[al007]

7 minutes ago, faraday said:

 

And, the persistent bloody rain! !

I have some observations; you are not describing the rain very well

 

It is very wet, very cold, very uncomfortable, very depressing, and very very awful, it destroys ones mind

 

Here the rain, is wonderful, it is invigorating , it creates lush vegetation, and when getting really wet, it is very OK, and it is not  most important of all cold

 

I love the rain here and hate it at home such different views

[ginjag]

16 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I have just left UK to live here in LOS.  I didn't even look out of the aircraft window when I left.  I have had my fill of the place.  The people are bloody awful,  the traffic is terrible,  it's expensive,  the weather is crap,  the politics is as corrupt as you will find anywhere,  the NHS is a disgrace and a lottery,  public services are appalling and to cap it all,  the so called national airline is a laughing  stock.  Not for me.  

Remember out here you get no increment increase in your pension,     in Phil  you do  ?      so since 2007 my pension is still at 87 quid.- go back and you do not get NHS for 1 year,  amazing UK.

 

[pugwash1]

I need to go back to the UK in October to sort a couple of issues out,that are best done in person. It will be my first visit back for 3 years,and i really could do without it. A couple of previous contributors have described what the place has become,very well. It is'nt the same country now that i grew up in. Thank god i am back in Thailand before Christmas (if indeed you are still allowed to call it that)

[al007]

24 minutes ago, ginjag said:

Remember out here you get no increment increase in your pension,     in Phil  you do  ?      so since 2007 my pension is still at 87 quid.- go back and you do not get NHS for 1 year,  amazing UK.

 

No one says everything if fair, I believe the lack of pension indexing to be very unfair and discriminatory, and I choose not to break the law

 

On the other side of the coin, there are many many things that more than offset this financial unfairness, if in the Uk my annual tax bill would be £5/6000 more than here, no council tax, generally far lower costs, its all a balance

 

Thailand wins hands down, despite the frustrations like 90 day reporting, seldom points on ones driving licience however

[goldenbrwn1]

54 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I have just left UK to live here in LOS.  I didn't even look out of the aircraft window when I left.  I have had my fill of the place.  The people are bloody awful,  the traffic is terrible,  it's expensive,  the weather is crap,  the politics is as corrupt as you will find anywhere,  the NHS is a disgrace and a lottery,  public services are appalling and to cap it all,  the so called national airline is a laughing  stock.  Not for me.  

'The people are bloody awful' ?? Wow. I hope everything works out for you here mate because you might need to call on those bloody awful people one day..

[Greenhill]

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

I have just left UK to live here in LOS.  I didn't even look out of the aircraft window when I left.  I have had my fill of the place.  The people are bloody awful,  the traffic is terrible,  it's expensive,  the weather is crap,  the politics is as corrupt as you will find anywhere,  the NHS is a disgrace and a lottery,  public services are appalling and to cap it all,  the so called national airline is a laughing  stock.  Not for me.  

 

Sounds pretty much like Thailand, to me!!!!!!!

[jacko45k]

There now, pleasant enough when the sun shines and it isn't cold.

That would be about 10 days a year.

 

 

[perthperson]

The UK has most certainly changed.  

Xenophobia is openly displayed, terrorism remains uncontrolled, the Brexit mob are braying, thousands are 'working' on min.pay zero hours contracts and social care for the elderly/disabled has all but collapsed.  I could go on but that would be cruel ! 

[billd766]

1 hour ago, al007 said:

I have some observations; you are not describing the rain very well

 

It is very wet, very cold, very uncomfortable, very depressing, and very very awful, it destroys ones mind

 

Here the rain, is wonderful, it is invigorating , it creates lush vegetation, and when getting really wet, it is very OK, and it is not  most important of all cold

 

I love the rain here and hate it at home such different views

 

I am just the opposite to you.

 

I hate the rain here as it makes the damn grass grow too fast and too high.

 

I have an ongoing project to cut the grass and scrub down for an hour a day, 5 days a week. When I have finished I start all over again.

[sgracer]

1 hour ago, goldenbrwn1 said:

Imagine people just took to social media and news outlets to make their mind up about Thailand?  I find that the exact same thing happens to me when I am here for more than 3 months concerning the UK. I watch the news and use social media to keep up with events in the UK. And I think wow the country has turned to sh## in the last few months!! What the hell has happened!?...then I go back.

 

and it has turned to sh##

[al007]

7 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

I am just the opposite to you.

 

I hate the rain here as it makes the damn grass grow too fast and too high.

 

I have an ongoing project to cut the grass and scrub down for an hour a day, 5 days a week. When I have finished I start all over again.

Not necessarily, so different, here I can afford a six day a week lady gardener, I love the way things grow, I just tell the wife to get the gardener do this do that,

 

In the UK i can afford to live in a cold bedsit

 

[Enoon]

 

"What about my entitlement"  very popular in contemporary Britain.

 

Doesn't travel (to Thailand) very well.

 

As frequently demonstrated in these pages.

 

 

 

 

[peterb17]

Last time I was there- had a brilliant time- acted as a tourist- went to stunning restaurants, caught up with the West End shows, umpteen galleries, eating out on the South Bank at night was beautiful- it was fabulous to be back in London again- I miss the culture and history- you can wander past architecture that is over 1000 years old

 

Downsides- just FAR too many people, the city was rammed with people. 

It probably cost me more for 2 weeks in London than 6 months in Thailand . I met up with my brother and wife for lunch by the river at Somerset house - beautiful setting- for a bit of pate , couple of beers- bill was £127 ! 

 

Then off to Suffolk- not changed at all- great sea food from shacks on the beach, countryside wonderful, quiet, nothing to hear except the birds singing. 

 

I miss the place- but it has become a dichotomy of the countryside and the cities- now overpopulated by the citizens of the world.

 

Back again this November for a wedding- not looking forward to the cold too much, but if it manages to be clear and sunny- am looking forward to those vast skies and special light you get in Suffolk. 

 

PS we will be fine after Brexit- will take a while. 

[TKDfella]

Like most long term stayers in Thailand, I have had my problems and frustrations but when I left England I knew that I wasn't going to paradise. It really is a matter of changing one set of problems for a different set of problems. Having said that, I didn't leave England because I felt I had to, it was just that I 'fell in love' with Thailand and here is where I want to stay. Once again, having said that, if, say, immigration requirements changed so much that I didn't qualify would I go back to England? If I had the choice I would go to New Zealand where I have family and not England (where I also have family).

[Thingamabob]

I'm sorry to say the UK has become a dump. Short visits only for me, and not very often.

[4MyEgo]

Follow your hearts desire, as for me, I will stay here until my money runs out in 31 years, should be dead and 88 by then 555

[perthperson]

27 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

I'm sorry to say the UK has become a dump. Short visits only for me, and not very often.

My son a Brit who is now also an Australian went back to the UK a couple of months ago to 1) Attend a professional conference and 2) To visit friends.  His trip took him to London, Oxford, Swindon, Bath, Blackpool. Whilst pleased to meet up with old friends and colleagues he did not enjoy his trip overall for many reasons not the least being outrageously expensive rail fares ! 

[Mansell]

I left the UK in Nov 1973. I returned occasionally to see friends and family. When I have returned I always felt as if I was in limbo and time has stood still, but the prices have soared. It is cheaper to live in California than England. When I left I paid 5 pounds a week for rent, and another five for food....and that was for two of us. I think an Indian meal was under ten shillings. There was Watneys Brown Ale at the pub.......very few foreigners if you lived outside of London. Not much traffic on the roads in the Cotswolds. I could drive from central London to Cheltenham in 90 minutes with only a little bit of motorway, the rest on the A40, and it was 96 miles. Now you cannot pass anybody on regular roads because there is to much traffic. I do understand that the population of the world has doubled since the 1960's. Okay for a visit, but not to live anymore. My England is but a memory now.

[Dene16]

4 hours ago, faraday said:

Perhaps you don't remember how 'orrible the weather is.

Strangely enough that used to be the one thing i hated, never 2 days went by without it raining 

However the last 3 or 4 years have been amazing, with fantastic summers and very mild winters.

 

 

 

[473geo]

UK has been good to me and continues to be so

 

Thailand - I will arrive to live full time, and relax, when my journey in the UK is done, and, continue an enjoyable Thai experience

 

My Thai experience will be enhanced by the base the UK has provided

 

 

[Thaimike370]

I came for a couple of months holiday in 2008 liked it and been here ever since apart for a short holiday.  I went back in 2010 for 2 weeks holiday and wanted to come back home to Khon Kaen after 4 days.  I have not been back again, I could never go back to live there full time again.  If Thailand had the same arrangement as the Philippines regarding pensions etc a lot of us would have a lot more money to spend here.  I feel very safe here, the Thais are very friendly, it is their country, they have their way of doing things, so just enjoy it as nothing we can do will change anything.  Learn to drive like a tuk-tuk driver you can then even survive on the roads.