What do you miss about the UK?
Discussion
Following on from Housen's thread ( What would you miss about Switzerland) I thought I would start a what do you miss about the UK?
- Being able to chat to anyone (depends what other languages you speak and where you live)
- Choice of food in the supermarket (you will need to learn how to cook here as next to no ready meals, pre-made food)
- Country Pubs (sitting outside with mates in the summer sun with a pint in hand), not flipping Pickwicks in the city centre selling flat beer!
- Living in a house (Houses in really good locations are hard to find and can be massively expensive)
- Family and Friends
- Cheap items and having choice.
- Shops open on a sunday (and not being closed for 2hrs at lunch time and closed early in the evenings)
- The sea (we are land locked, I miss the sea)
- Choice of good restaurants (other than pizza, and pasta)
- Take-away
- Biscuits (no flipping custard creams)
Agree with most of the comments.
I would add:
- a decent curry. Costs two to three times as much here and I've never had anything that was half as good as your bog-standard tandori available in every city, town and village in the UK
- decent crisps (slight improvement in the past few years but for a long time the choice was paprika or ready salted!)
- being able to do stuff on a Sunday e.g. wash your car, DIY, shop.
- not worrying that you are going to get deported for doing 31 km over the limit...
- British countryside. Swiss countryside is lovely but hiking in the Lake District, in crap weather, still wonderful (especially if you have a warm pub, open fire, decent British beer and a pub lunch ahead of you!)
- Race tracks and track days.
- proper sausages / morning fry-up
- public schools (overall I think the Swiss education system is better but the top UK public schools are very good and even the best probably cost less than sending your child to a Swiss nursery!)
- diversity of people and opinion - in general I've found people in the UK are a fairly tolerant and open minded, whereas I have found many Swiss (even friends) to be quite blinkered (i.e. openly racist) in their views.
- having a house with a garden and your own garage(s). Only available in CH at very high cost.
I'm sure there are more..
I would add:
- a decent curry. Costs two to three times as much here and I've never had anything that was half as good as your bog-standard tandori available in every city, town and village in the UK
- decent crisps (slight improvement in the past few years but for a long time the choice was paprika or ready salted!)
- being able to do stuff on a Sunday e.g. wash your car, DIY, shop.
- not worrying that you are going to get deported for doing 31 km over the limit...
- British countryside. Swiss countryside is lovely but hiking in the Lake District, in crap weather, still wonderful (especially if you have a warm pub, open fire, decent British beer and a pub lunch ahead of you!)
- Race tracks and track days.
- proper sausages / morning fry-up
- public schools (overall I think the Swiss education system is better but the top UK public schools are very good and even the best probably cost less than sending your child to a Swiss nursery!)
- diversity of people and opinion - in general I've found people in the UK are a fairly tolerant and open minded, whereas I have found many Swiss (even friends) to be quite blinkered (i.e. openly racist) in their views.
- having a house with a garden and your own garage(s). Only available in CH at very high cost.
I'm sure there are more..
WelshBoyo and Schnellmann have pretty much summed it up for me- all the small things like beer and bacon; but also some of the bigger things like being able to buy a decent sized house.
What I miss the most is not knowing where to go to get something, and not get ripped off! Example: both our cars could do with having their wheels refurbed; in the UK, I'd be off straight to Lepsons where I know what I'd be getting. Aside from the massive price difference, I have no reference for which places do a good job, who has the best reputation etc.
I also miss the huge number of Porsche independents the UK has (not that I could afford a Porsche when I was in the UK). I can't stand my local OPC.
But I'd still rather be here than back in the UK. the plusses easily outweigh the minuses for me.
What I miss the most is not knowing where to go to get something, and not get ripped off! Example: both our cars could do with having their wheels refurbed; in the UK, I'd be off straight to Lepsons where I know what I'd be getting. Aside from the massive price difference, I have no reference for which places do a good job, who has the best reputation etc.
I also miss the huge number of Porsche independents the UK has (not that I could afford a Porsche when I was in the UK). I can't stand my local OPC.
But I'd still rather be here than back in the UK. the plusses easily outweigh the minuses for me.
Proper bacon.
Curry - The curry available in Geneva SUCKS.
I miss the fairly lax attitude to speeding in the UK. Feel like if I even touch the throttle I might get a ticket for some infringement or other.
Family - Not just being able to "pop in". Each visit home is an event, which is nice but would just be nice to go for a cup of tea.
Cheap motoring - Everything to do with cars here is more expensive. Even the fuel is now equivalent to UK!
Neighbours - I tried with my neighbours in my apartment, but just can't be arsed, everyone here keeps themselves to themselves.
Mowing the lawn - I want a lawn.
I also miss the fact that I can't just go to the DIY store and find an infinite number of fittings for any job, like you can in the UK. I went to go and buy a U-bend for my sink the other day, and the market seems so sewn up by the plumbers that the most you could buy was a sink plug or a tap. Rubbish. This was the same for loads of places.
Other than that, there is not a lot I miss. It's fantastic for doing all the sports I love, so spare time is amazing. Good friends, job, girlfriend, apartment is ok, generally things are quite a lot nicer here.
Curry - The curry available in Geneva SUCKS.
I miss the fairly lax attitude to speeding in the UK. Feel like if I even touch the throttle I might get a ticket for some infringement or other.
Family - Not just being able to "pop in". Each visit home is an event, which is nice but would just be nice to go for a cup of tea.
Cheap motoring - Everything to do with cars here is more expensive. Even the fuel is now equivalent to UK!
Neighbours - I tried with my neighbours in my apartment, but just can't be arsed, everyone here keeps themselves to themselves.
Mowing the lawn - I want a lawn.
I also miss the fact that I can't just go to the DIY store and find an infinite number of fittings for any job, like you can in the UK. I went to go and buy a U-bend for my sink the other day, and the market seems so sewn up by the plumbers that the most you could buy was a sink plug or a tap. Rubbish. This was the same for loads of places.
Other than that, there is not a lot I miss. It's fantastic for doing all the sports I love, so spare time is amazing. Good friends, job, girlfriend, apartment is ok, generally things are quite a lot nicer here.
Sense of humour.
Understanding the concept of "fun".
Paperwork is optional.
Understanding the word "cheap".
Not shaking bloody hands with every b
d that comes in the office every day.
Decent fish and chips.
SAUSAGES SHOULD COME IN A fkING FINGER TYPE BUN, NOT A BLOODY STUPID ROUND COB!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gherkins dont come with everything.
Understanding the concept of "fun".
Paperwork is optional.
Understanding the word "cheap".
Not shaking bloody hands with every b
d that comes in the office every day.Decent fish and chips.
SAUSAGES SHOULD COME IN A f
kING FINGER TYPE BUN, NOT A BLOODY STUPID ROUND COB!!!!!!!!!!!!Gherkins dont come with everything.
Sunny Sunday weekend drives in the Cotswolds to a pub/restaurant for lunch that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
We went here on Sunday, traditional roast, two portions of fish and chips, pudding, coffee, £50
Http://www.calcotmanor.co.uk
I only really miss the quality of the roads in general, the loveliness of the light when it is sunny (and not caked in goddam snow for 5 months of the year), and the relative emptiness of the place as I hate crowds.
We went here on Sunday, traditional roast, two portions of fish and chips, pudding, coffee, £50
Http://www.calcotmanor.co.uk
I only really miss the quality of the roads in general, the loveliness of the light when it is sunny (and not caked in goddam snow for 5 months of the year), and the relative emptiness of the place as I hate crowds.
This seems to confirm what we've been saying!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2132916/Th...
Yes, I know, it's the Daily Wail!!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2132916/Th...
Yes, I know, it's the Daily Wail!!
housen said:
whats the best website for property in geneva pls guys ?
HomeGate.ch is like the RightMove site of SwitzerlandWelshBoyo said:
housen said:
whats the best website for property in geneva pls guys ?
HomeGate.ch is like the RightMove site of Switzerlandheard some people live in france but commute to geneva to avoid higher living costs
if so whats lyon like ?
just looking at prop in geneva
sorry to hijack thread its the only one alive at the mom in the swiss dept ;-)
900k chf doesnt really get u anything wtf !
Edited by housen on Tuesday 24th April 10:08
Edited by housen on Tuesday 24th April 10:09
housen said:
sorry to hijack thread its the only one alive at the mom in the swiss dept ;-)
900k chf doesnt really get u anything wtf !
Yep seriously hijacking this thread 900k chf doesnt really get u anything wtf !
900k in Geneva area definitely doesn't get you much as there are lots of crazy buying going on in that area. Pop over to the site EnglishForum.ch and read lots of details about this area.
Sorry I live the German speaking part of CH.
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