wiki
11th November 2008, 11:18 AM
Hard to believe, but we've been back in the UK for six weeks.
And so far, it's wonderful - albeit still a little odd.
Of course the big downside is that we came back into autumn. We got one week of lovely Yorkshire autumn, and then pretty scuzzy grey cold wetness since - but we expected this and my mi woollies boots and kathmandu jacket are keeping me toasty enough - not to mention the double glazing and central heating!
I've been lucky enough to go back into my old job with more money and slightly less responsibility, which has been lovely. We've also moved to the same village as my office which means I can walk to work in 2 minutes. (I work for a big company with a base in a cute Yorkshire market town)
We've rejoined English Heritage and gone back to our favourite haunt of Fountains Abbey as well as lots of time shopping in York and time with in-laws and OH's new nephew.
There's good and bad in everything, and sometimes it's easier to list:
Good:
I love my job and its salary
I have staff who are grateful for and good at their jobs
Fast internet
Borders and Waterstones and the price of books
Petrol is cheap again (shame I'm not commuting anymore)
Tesco/Sainsburys/Waitrose selection (especially now there's a Waitrose in Lichfield near my in-laws)
Holidays - we've got our Robin Hood's Bay cottage booked and I'm off to Zurich in Feb to see my best friend
Trips - we're off to London to see Ralph Fiennes and Byzantium at the RA
Central heating
Bad:
Missing my family
Waiting for deliveries - I'd got used to same-day delivery in In'gill but had to wiat a week for my washing machine in UK
The fact we won't get our furniture til mid-December
The noise
The dirt
The clogged motorways (but only when they're clogged)
The cost of gas and leccy
The crowds of people shopping in York on a Saturday.
There's a lot more on both good and bad sides but that will do for now.
The only big complaint is our furniture. We went with Allied Pickford and was told that because we didn't have a full container, we'd have to wait a maximum of two weeks before our container left NZ as they needed to find other stuff to fill it. That was ok with us - but it turns out it didn't leave til Oct 24 which was four weeks later than promised. It's making fast time and is due to arrive on Dec 7 - but we've been told we probably won't get a delivery slot for a couple of weeks and we're dreading not having our furniture in place before Christmas. It's mattresses on the floor, borrowed dining chairs and a picnic table for the laptop *wah*
We really miss a huge amount of NZ, but we know we made the right decision to come back to the UK.
Financially we're better off, and the range of attractions and holidays suits us more.
We've not watched much TV since we came back, but just having fast internet makes such a difference - what took me 26 hours to download in NZ took just 16 minutes here!
We miss my family hugely - and my OH loved the way they responded to her as her family is not very demonstrative.
We think we will go back to NZ permanently at some point - but probably not for 15 or so years. I'm 33 and OH is 34 and since we don't have kids, nor plan to, we're in a position to put up with more UK crap in order to fully mine its benefits to us.
But we did need to get out of England to realise this.
The year in NZ has done so much for our relationship -- now OH knows where all my strange quirks come from -- and it's helped us to focus and define what we really want out of life.
I wouldn't disuade anyone from trying life in NZ ... if we couldn't have afforded to come back, we would have been pretty happy to stay.
Grass is green on both sides for us - fancy that :yes
And so far, it's wonderful - albeit still a little odd.
Of course the big downside is that we came back into autumn. We got one week of lovely Yorkshire autumn, and then pretty scuzzy grey cold wetness since - but we expected this and my mi woollies boots and kathmandu jacket are keeping me toasty enough - not to mention the double glazing and central heating!
I've been lucky enough to go back into my old job with more money and slightly less responsibility, which has been lovely. We've also moved to the same village as my office which means I can walk to work in 2 minutes. (I work for a big company with a base in a cute Yorkshire market town)
We've rejoined English Heritage and gone back to our favourite haunt of Fountains Abbey as well as lots of time shopping in York and time with in-laws and OH's new nephew.
There's good and bad in everything, and sometimes it's easier to list:
Good:
I love my job and its salary
I have staff who are grateful for and good at their jobs
Fast internet
Borders and Waterstones and the price of books
Petrol is cheap again (shame I'm not commuting anymore)
Tesco/Sainsburys/Waitrose selection (especially now there's a Waitrose in Lichfield near my in-laws)
Holidays - we've got our Robin Hood's Bay cottage booked and I'm off to Zurich in Feb to see my best friend
Trips - we're off to London to see Ralph Fiennes and Byzantium at the RA
Central heating
Bad:
Missing my family
Waiting for deliveries - I'd got used to same-day delivery in In'gill but had to wiat a week for my washing machine in UK
The fact we won't get our furniture til mid-December
The noise
The dirt
The clogged motorways (but only when they're clogged)
The cost of gas and leccy
The crowds of people shopping in York on a Saturday.
There's a lot more on both good and bad sides but that will do for now.
The only big complaint is our furniture. We went with Allied Pickford and was told that because we didn't have a full container, we'd have to wait a maximum of two weeks before our container left NZ as they needed to find other stuff to fill it. That was ok with us - but it turns out it didn't leave til Oct 24 which was four weeks later than promised. It's making fast time and is due to arrive on Dec 7 - but we've been told we probably won't get a delivery slot for a couple of weeks and we're dreading not having our furniture in place before Christmas. It's mattresses on the floor, borrowed dining chairs and a picnic table for the laptop *wah*
We really miss a huge amount of NZ, but we know we made the right decision to come back to the UK.
Financially we're better off, and the range of attractions and holidays suits us more.
We've not watched much TV since we came back, but just having fast internet makes such a difference - what took me 26 hours to download in NZ took just 16 minutes here!
We miss my family hugely - and my OH loved the way they responded to her as her family is not very demonstrative.
We think we will go back to NZ permanently at some point - but probably not for 15 or so years. I'm 33 and OH is 34 and since we don't have kids, nor plan to, we're in a position to put up with more UK crap in order to fully mine its benefits to us.
But we did need to get out of England to realise this.
The year in NZ has done so much for our relationship -- now OH knows where all my strange quirks come from -- and it's helped us to focus and define what we really want out of life.
I wouldn't disuade anyone from trying life in NZ ... if we couldn't have afforded to come back, we would have been pretty happy to stay.
Grass is green on both sides for us - fancy that :yes