I Just Moved Back To Britain After 20 Years Abroad — Here's Everything That's Changed

[steve2470]

http://www.businessinsider.com/i-just-moved-back-to-britain-after-20-years-abroad-2014-6

I found it very interesting. Palm trees in London ??!

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Palm trees at Inverewe, lattitude 57.8 (north of Moscow)

http://www.insiders-scotland-guide.com/ScotlandInverewegarden.html

[steve2470]

4. yes I forgot about that when I made my post, pretty far north for a palm tree nt

[murpheeslaw]

2. Just got back from a once in a lifetime 10 days in Edinburgh

The weather was 70+F for all but the last two days. Bright sunshine mostly. Absolutely gorgeous. The locals were basking in their unusually dry sunny June. I joked that we brought the Texas Drought to Scotland - and could we please take some rain back with us?

[Ghost Dog]

3. That's not a palm tree in the photo. It's a Yucca

of some type.

[steve2470]

5. yes you're right about that, I didn't look closely nt

[LeftishBrit]

6. Some of these haven't changed that much in 20 years...

Public transport has always been much better in the UK than in most parts of America; indeed it's become much more unreliable AND more expensive since privatization; in the last couple of years in particular, fares have gone through the roof for many journeys. Still much better than most of the USA, I'm sure - I would make an exception for Boston, at any rate in the 1980s, where I was very impressed by the T service.

While the Polish presence in England has certainly increased recently, there was already a sizable Polish community in Wimbledon where I grew up.

Wheelie bins are certainly a recent feature of British life, and an amazingly big issue in local elections, at least in Oxford.

[T_i_B]

7. I certainly prefer wheelie bins to what we had before.

Bigger and more practical then the bins we used for domestic waste in the days before wheelie bins.

Of course there are still small differences with wheelie bins. Different council areas have different bins (the recycling bins where I am are are bigger then those in neighboring Sheffield, and a different colour for instance) and it can become a major issue in local politics as you say.

I'm sure that if the British really did love the Polish as much as the article claims, there wouldn't be anything like as many UKIP supporters banging on incessantly about immigration.

I can't speak for cocktails, but the article is wrong about beer. The UK beer scene has moved on a great deal, and there are craft beer bars of the sort described in the article in a number of places, especially London. The influence of the US craft beer revolution has been considerable and most breweries are now using US hops, in many cases producing better beer then you can get imported from US breweries.

I don't agree about compilation albums either, even if regular albums are in decline thanks to the likes of iTunes and Spotify.

[dipsydoodle]

8. If I look back.........

We still didn't have speed cameras then. I could do Watford to Staines in 12 minutes flat late at night in my Supra and the year before I managed Eastborne from Watford in the middle of the night in less than an hour. When speed cameras came in I pretty much grew out of fast cars.

You could still buy 3 bedroom houses local to me for c. £100k or so.

Pubs closed at 11pm and there was not the predominance of bars etc which there are now.

We now have an absurd numer of hand car washes operated mainly by East Europeans.


I like our wheelie bins - got one for non recyclable, one for plastic and cardboard and two large ones for garden waste.