louise

Jul 30 2007, 02:52 PM

Well after living in Melbourne for 4 years we felt we should go to the UK for a visit to catch up with family and old friends.
Expat friends had commented on when they have been back how unfriendly in the UK seem compared to Aussies and about avoiding eye-contact, no smiling etc. We didn’t find this although we avoided London and spent the majority of our time in the North. We did witness one fight and one slanging match in the middle of the day which was a bit scary but I’m sure in some suburbs of Melbourne you would see the same.

In the 27 days we were there it rained for 26 days. Our children were so excited that we had so many different names for the type of rain and insisted on going outside to ‘experience what it felt like’ we had pouring, belting, lashing, bucketing, down like stair rods, showers, freezing cold rain where you can’t feel your fingers and your face feels like you’ve had a face-lift ….and wait for it how excited were they ..HAIL. Please bear in mind it is summer in the UK. The main thing my son wanted to see was ‘that fine rain that wets you through’ courtesy of Peter Kay!

Well after day 4 when we had caught up with a few people the novelty had worn off for my hubby. I’m sure it would have been nicer if it had stopped raining but we didn’t go for a holiday we went to catch up with people. We even got stranded down south as the M1 was closed for 6 junctions because of the flooding but at least we were safe lots of people lost their homes and I think 6 people lost their lives. Even that though, the positive attitudes we would have seen in Oz after disasters (Fires, tourists in Tsunami, Bali Bombing etc) wasn’t there. People were on TV complaining that the council hadn’t got enough sand bags distributed to everyone and how they wanted to sue them.

We came to Australia with the attitude of “it’s not better, it’s not worse it’s just different” and I think this really helped us settle in straight from the beginning – I still feel this but I’ve jotted down a few things to remind people who haven’t been back for a while things that we take for granted.

Differences good and bad:
Walking around the streets, nobody seemed to be out walking unless they had a dog (dog muck need I say more) or they’d gone for a paper. We walk a lot and we didn’t really pass many people. People would look at us in horror when we’d say that we were walking to places 2 miles away as if they couldn’t possibly dream of walking that distance.

Lack of seating – no benches, we bought a Boots Sandwich deal at a outdoor retail shopping centre and there was not a single bench to sit down and eat at but yet there was a McDonalds (minus play areas), KFC and Pizza Hut.

Catalogue shops (Argos) this was useful and wished there was one in Aus to get rough idea of prices for things when we first moved here.

Food – great to have old favourites but so expensive (and lots not particularly healthy) – enjoyed revisiting our favourite Indian Restaurant and although we have a great one where we live in Melbourne you can’t top your UK favourite I feel. Pudding,chips,peas and gravy on your way home from the pub Mmm! Deep fried mushrooms with garlic dip, Yorkshire puddings (mine haven’t risen since being in Oz – mysterious?), lack of vegetables and salad accompanying meals in standard restaurants and pubs (mainly peas). Oh really struggled to find a place to go out for breakfast especially on a Sunday. Coffee! I didn’t have a decent coffee all the time I was there even in the city.

Shopping lack of fresh produce. So much more packet food and frozen food but try and find fresh noodles and you have to go to a big shopping store and even then it’s hard.
I don’t spend as much time food shopping here as the stores are so much smaller you whiz round in no time. I know I’ve seen people on this forum saying how food is just as expensive here as it is in the UK I didn’t find that. I suppose it’s where you shop and it took us a while to ‘eat Australian’ – you eat things when they are in season rather than eating what you are used to in the UK.

Crisps – such choice of snacks! Pickled onion monster munch, frazzles, skips, wotsits, Worcester sauce French fries ….must I go on.

Entertainment – how expensive! We went to a petting farm – you know guinea-pigs, rabbits, goats, pigs and (one) horse. It cost us $100 for 4 Adults and 3 children – we could have gone to a zoo for that price here. Petting farms are often free within other things here (fairs, fetes, mazes) Myuna farm is $20 for a family of 4 and grandparents get in for free!

Parking – you have to pay to park in so many places – shopping centres and railway stations not just in the city.

Security guards in parks – after 4pm security guards patrolled the parks in a bid to stop crime. My parents bowl and they have had bricks thrown at them in the past and they’re in their 70’s.

Materialistic – we had forgotten how materialistic people (lots but not all) in the UK are. The place we lived was a village surrounded by farms and fields. Local pubs were filled with mainly farmers, milkmen, teachers, police officers. It’s a nice area and it is affluent BUT people would talk about the cars they drove BMW, Mercedes, open-topped sports cars etc… Full-time mums would be picking up their kids from school done up to the nines in stiletto’s latest fashion and full make up on. I noticed the opposite when my niece visited us in Melbourne she was saying “look at what she’s wearing” and that’s one of the great things (in my opinion) about where we live now – nobody is judged on their clothes and fashion – nobody bats an eyelid if people walk down the street with nothing on their feet. People are comfortable with what they are wearing – yes some are more dressy than others but people are unique and aren’t dictated to by fashion trends on the whole.

Some friends of mine were worried that we would not want to come back to Melbourne when we went back ‘home’. It’s the place I grew up in, I have fond memories and I’m sure I will visit again, although I’ve no desire to go back for some time. I came back home to Melbourne and I know it’s not for everyone but wouldn’t life be boring if we all liked the same things.

Hope I’ve not put where we used to live in a bad light but it really opened our eyes going back as a visitor. There were quite a few times we didn’t feel overly safe walking through and again I’m sure there are places in Melbourne that we would feel the same.

Has anyone else experienced the same or different things going back?

Louise

coupy73

Jul 30 2007, 06:21 PM

totally agree louise, we went back a month ago after two years. and would echo everything you say.
:D had to smile at the argos reference. was telling people at work about it only the other day. Every home should have an argos catalogue!!! :D

Kapri

Jul 30 2007, 06:08 PM

That was a great post Louise :)

Whereabouts in the UK were you?

koalakim

Sep 1 2007, 10:41 AM

That's the bit I miss most is my friends and family - perhaps we could just tow the UK downunder - perfect!

Will be interesting to see how we feel after the next trip back!

Kim