A long time gone…
I left the UK nearly 23 years ago. I was 25, had just taken my last accountancy exams and was excited to move on to pastures new. I was lucky enough to have secured a job transfer for myself to the US – and what’s more, to the city where everyone wanted to go – or at least where those who didn’t want to go to New York wanted to go – San Francisco.
Well the rest you’ve probably heard before….on my first day at work at KPMG I sat next to a tall, gangly Swiss guy with improbably large red glasses and long wavy curls. He looked like the antithesis of an American businessman….and well reader, I married him.
But that was a way down the line…
After a couple of fabulous years in California his work permit was expiring, I had a job offer and could have a permit to stay. I was torn between my career, which was taking off, and the Swiss guy. Always up for an adventure and ready for a jump into an unknown that was going to be bigger than I could imagine (I mean, have you heard Swiss-German??) I followed my heart and 21 years ago moved to Zürich.
I’m very happy here. I have my own business as a translator and editor, have taken Swiss nationality and really now this is HOME. I make it back to the UK a couple of times a year and keep up with a fair few friends. It’s always good to go back, but I’m staying put here.
There are still a few things about England that I really miss though…
- Fish and Chips – the children and I are on a quest to see if there’s anything that approximates to proper fish and chips in Switzerland. So far even the Irish pubs have failed the test!
- Marks and Spencer – nowhere beats their underwear and socks and I really wouldn’t mind the odd ready meal even though I’m not really a ready meal girl.
- John Lewis – especially their haberdashery departments
- The sea – especially walking along a windswept coastline and blowing the cobwebs away
- Cream teas – well that’s pretty obvious really! We do our best at home and have now finally found something that approximates to clotted cream
- Big English bookshops with books at normal prices. We have an English bookshop in ZH, but you almost need a mortgage to go there!
- People who strike up a conversation when you’re standing at a bus stop with them.
- Being called ‘pet’ by all and sundry (my Geordie roots are showing!)
- Old friends who I’d really like to see more regularly than I do.
- Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate (can be found here, but only in small quantities and at a whopping price)
- Having a drink and my dinner in a cosy English pub
- The National Trust
- Wearing hats to weddings
If you’ve moved away from where you started out, what do you miss the most?
Helen
March 1st, 2012 at 10:33 am
My list is almost exactly the same ;)) except I miss “luv” and “me heart” as terms of address… I also miss that you are considered above yourself here if you have any general knowledge or “academic” interests, while in England, books and knowledge are considered normal and positive, no matter who you are or what your background is!!
March 1st, 2012 at 11:41 am
I’m going down this list thinking Oh yes, Oh yes! Except, we do have an M & S in Brno, but it doesn’t sell ready meals, and hubbie has just brought me a packet of mini eggs and 3 cream eggs from UK!
I miss my library. I miss chatting (my czech is not as good as your German!), not deep meaningful convesations, just chatting. I miss markets. I miss decent cheese.
Thanks for sharing this with us – it’s nice to know what leads people to do what they do! And it couldn’t come at a better time. I’m feeling a bit down at the moment, missing friends and family, but it’s good to know missing things is just normal!
March 1st, 2012 at 12:48 pm
I’ve lived all over the world, but am mostly settled in Scotland for now, which, while still in the UK, is not my original home, having started life in Belfast. It’s funny the things you miss – in the US my mum missed getting me Clark’s shoes apparently, in Canada I missed all sorts of things that the very small town I lived in just didn’t have (including fresh veg), and in South Africa I missed the long summer nights – it was technically my year without summer, as I went from northern hemisphere spring to southern hemisphere autumn and back to northern hemisphere winter *sigh*
March 1st, 2012 at 1:42 pm
Wonderful post, Helen. I grew up in Southern California and I miss the mountains (we lived in view of Mt. San Antonio, usually called Mt. Baldy by residents) and being able to swim almost daily. I mostly miss my friends who still live there. There are more things about SoCal that I don’t miss – the traffic, the heat, the culture, the smog, the lack of trees and ubiquitous pavement. We’re digging out from our blizzard today – have a good day!
March 1st, 2012 at 4:02 pm
I miss the mountains, and those African sunsets. And the sea. And the eclectic melting pot of people, and having multiculturalism on a daily basis as your normality. I used to know all the high days and holidays and they were a part of my life. And the food! I miss that. Jewish, Muslim, Hindu…..
Sigh.
I miss boerewors, proper braais (BBQ now), smoked snoek pate and the language which incorporated so much from everywhere, Yiddish, English, Afrikaans, Xhosa.
But I am very happy where I am now, and eternally thankful that most of my family is close by, except for my daughter (wail) , and that friends all travel frequently. No complaints, just a glance back now and then, and memories which will be there for those times I need them.
March 1st, 2012 at 6:45 pm
Thanks for sharing more of your story. I love learning more about my friends.
March 1st, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Well I frequently send my sister Minstrels and other sweets from the UK to NZ, and she has just discovered the joy on internet shopping with M&S (no food though!); in my traveling days, I longed to come home for real Heinz beans on toast x
March 2nd, 2012 at 7:11 pm
Lovely post! We left England 20 years ago and haven’t been back for a long while now since our family prefer coming here! I miss hazelnut yogurts, Wensleydale cheese, proper tea and browsing in newsagents at the magazines!
March 2nd, 2012 at 11:03 pm
Great post Helen – I miss newspapers (especially the Sundays), food!, buying clothes that fit me, a really good Indian takeaway, parks, rainy days, cheese, Cadbury`s Dairy Milk, museums, art galleries, London parks, people understanding every word I say, good driving practices, BBC1 – 4, cinemas, theatres, CULTURE!!, a cup of tea on a Sunday afternoon, M&S, fixed prices for everything, English apples, choice!, no corruption, a day at the races in the summer, the English countryside, pub gardens…I could go on and on!
March 4th, 2012 at 11:50 am
Interesting to see what other people miss. We left England for France 15 years ago. I miss country pubs – although I probably view them in a rosy nostalgic glow – and British humour, the dry, understated kind. I’m not saying French humour isn’t funny, it’s just different.
March 5th, 2012 at 11:27 pm
As a Northener in exile dahn sarf, I miss proper flaky pastry pasties and gravy on my chips! If you have a deep fat fryer we have a great batter recipe which makes the fish come out just as good as a Northern chippy.
That said, whenever I come back to the UK after a trip to the continent, I miss the bread. And the smell of bakeries. From Germany I miss spaetzle (impossible to get here), from France I miss the variety of local cheeses (Tomme de Savoie is my favourite). Also love Paprika crisps – but at least we do have Monster Munch here!