What parts of English culture will you/do you miss?

[nobbie 105]

Really? I don't know where you live, but we both find the price of food here far cheaper...well except for beef. I would kill for a nice rib roast! I live in NH so I don't pay sales tax, or income tax, but property taxes are pretty high...but then again, you get a lot more house here, at least where we are. Car insurance isn't too bad here either, we're paying about the same as we did in the UK...and well the price of petrol speaks for itself.

Yes really, have you seen the price of a half decent bit of cheese? How about buying spices and the like? And bread,its horrible if you try cheap and any decent bread is getting on for $4.

House prices where we are are not cheap, we got ours for just under $400,000 and it's nothing special, 3 bed detached no garage. If you want bigger or better then you need $700,000.

Car insurance for her BMW is around $650 where as my TT in the UK was £350 so not too far off but what about house insurance!!!! Ours is $1600 whereas I was paying about £250 in the UK.

[lost_at_sea 995]

I pretty much need to make a "I'm being sarcastic"/"I'm clearly joking" sign to carry around.

I miss biscuits (I've already eaten my emergency ginger nuts and rich teas).

I miss specific people more than the culture as a whole.

SF has a lot of expats, so it's not so hard to fit in and American people here see/meet/know a lot of Brits.

I'm also vegetarian, and despite living in CA, I feel I have less veggie choice than I had in London (London is also more multicultural, which may be why). It's all a bit on the hippy end and boring for it (and regular places often only have 1 choice).

I might be veggie - bit I actually LIKE food and NEED calories.

Edited December 7, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[rjm_cmyk 75]

I'm going to be there (there being Novato CA) in a couple of weeks so I'm getting ready for withdrawal symptoms). Unlike when my partner moved here from the Belgium in 1996 I will have access to iPlayer , Neflix, fast internet and cheap(ish) phone calls. And that does make some difference.

Will still miss pubs , being able to mention that yes I do like a drink without any suggestion of guilt , the great choice of multi-ethnic veggie food, proper bread and frankly proper butter. I Can't Believe it's Not Butter is for people who have never had butter.

I will not be missing USCIS, DOS, packing boxes and paperwork. And yes I know the paperwork trail starts as soon as I land. POEing just before Christmas does mean I will take a short break to rest and recover. And that will be then I will feel like going to the pub and meeting up with friends for our annual holiday get together. Boo-Hoo not this year

[2ndMessiah 184]

Yeah!!!!!!.... just had a box from Northern Ireland, from my parents in the mail. It had christmas crackers, chocolate adm Tunnocks Mallows. Forgot to get them to pack HP sauce.

Its difficult to get christmas crackers.

[Pooky 3,830]

For Christmas, I miss the ubiquity of mince pies. I miss Christmas pudding and old-fashioned Christmas cake. Oh, sure, you can find them here, or mail order them, but it's just not the same.

Plus, the wife and family, not having grown up with them, don't like them. It kind of takes away a part of Christmas for me. On the other hand, when I manage to find the festive foods, I don't have to concern myself with sharing.

[soapface 16]

I'm moving next month, but when I'm there I always miss decent bread, baked beans, marmite, and salt and vinegar crisps. I'm a veggie too and although the options aren't that bad it's definitely harder than the UK. You can order something that sounds vegetarian and find it comes topped with bacon pieces that definitely were not mentioned on the menu.

I'm also going to find it hard to adjust to no NHS and only 2 weeks holiday a year. And I'm sad to be leaving the British dialect behind. I want to talk about lorries and chip butties and faff.

[2ndMessiah 184]

Lays do salt and vinegar chips. Same company as Walkers as far as I know.

Walmart do have bakeries and they do produce some nice bread. It is not cheap. But when they over produce they sell it off cheaper.

Kiss goodbye to Lorries an say hello to Trucks.

For the first time I have come across mice pie filling in a jar in stores. We tried making our own mince pies, but disappointment was the outcome.

As to the NHS, it is not perfect but it is one hell of an improvement over the mess here in the US.

Although I see America is starting to see the light. Vermont has approved a single payer system for health care to start in 2017. The hospitals are not for profit. It appears they will have a health system where everyone pays through a tax. If you loose your job you REMAIN covered and will get health care. What does that sound like I wonder.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Just at the Berkeley Bowl near here and they had Christmas crackers!

Also they had a British aisle... I went to have a look at what they had (never buy, hobnobs aren't worth 5 bucks) and a guy came and stood next to me and said, in a genuine British accent, "what, no twiglets?". I laughed and said they were gross, anyway.

I make my own mince pies. Tasty.

Edited December 8, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[nobbie 105]

I think the NHS is great, one of the things that scare me here is the lunatic health system, my wife pays around $500 a month and it will be the same for me, so $1000 a momth for the pair of us. In the UK I went to the doctor once every 3 years on average. remember even with insurance here it is still 20 to 40 dollars to visit the doctor plus any deductibles and then variable presricption charges.

[Glyn and Kathy 288]

I'm moving next month, but when I'm there I always miss decent bread, baked beans, marmite, and salt and vinegar crisps. I'm a veggie too and although the options aren't that bad it's definitely harder than the UK. You can order something that sounds vegetarian and find it comes topped with bacon pieces that definitely were not mentioned on the menu.

I'm also going to find it hard to adjust to no NHS and only 2 weeks holiday a year. And I'm sad to be leaving the British dialect behind. I want to talk about lorries and chip butties and faff.

I never did try marmite! Damn You can get Salt and Vinegar crisps...no problem, but no prawn cocktail (my fave), if you look hard enough, you can find Heinz beans (I buy them every week for hubby), and honestly try making your own bread! There are some awesome recipes out there for bread and although it seems daunting at first, you quickly get the hang of it and you control what goes in...so no high fructose corn syrup!

As for the person who misses curry, I can find pataks curry sauces in all my grocery stores, but I prefer to make my own...super yummy.

Our big food that we miss is good, proper English sausage. We have found 1 tiny little place near by here that makes a good one (the family is from the UK originally) but they're super pricey.

Mince meat is readily available in most supermarkets to make mince pies...I can remember my grandmother used to make them every year at Christmas and while I never used to like them, since living in the UK, I find them part of the whole Christmas season that I just have to have at least one!

As for our health care system...as an American...I apologize. It is an appalling mess. I completely agree with everyone who thinks its shocking. Even with health insurance here, you can't afford to be ill. Sure the NHS has its issues, and some of them are huge, but at least you know you can go to the doctor when you need to. I was kind of hoping the whole Obamacare thing would sort things out...but it doesn't seem to have

[Anna Grant 169]

For Christmas, I miss the ubiquity of mince pies. I miss Christmas pudding and old-fashioned Christmas cake. Oh, sure, you can find them here, or mail order them, but it's just not the same.

Plus, the wife and family, not having grown up with them, don't like them. It kind of takes away a part of Christmas for me. On the other hand, when I manage to find the festive foods, I don't have to concern myself with sharing.

I made my own Christmas Cake last year. It was a surprise to my husband as it is not the kind of festive cake he was used to. I also couldn't find black treacle, so had to use molasses. It still worked. Once he got over the surprise of the cake, he loved it and wants another one this year (yes, I know I should have made it already but he's teetotal so I can't soak it in brandy anyway).

Speaking about the NHS. When I was in the UK last March, I fell down the stairs of a London double-decker bus (no, I am teetotal also). I can not hesitation in going to A&E and found I had broken my hand. Back in September and now in the US, I was helping my step-son clear his garage, picked up a box to move, caught my foot in a ladder and fell over onto the front of his large exercise bike. Despite being in severe pain, I didn't go to A&E. We did some internet research and found that even if I had cracked my ribs, there was nothing they could do for me anyway (as long as my lung wasn't punctured). It took 5 weeks to heal. My husband had to have a MRI scan of his abdomen. He has insurance but we recently got the bill. Without insurance, it would have cost $4500!

I kind of miss hearing the British accent. I have not come across anyone else who is British here. However, that does mean that everyone loves my accent - my accent is RP as my mum took elocution lessons when she was expecting me. It breaks the ice a lot as soon as I open my mouth! My husband is a big Bristich TV fan so he loves watching it with me. I recently introduced him to Jeeves and Wooster - I was just trying to show him that Hugh Laurie did other things before House. He loved Jeeves and Wooster and we watched all 4 series form the library. Ah! I love American libraries! They open 7 days a week and late into the evening. They have an enormous range of books, DVDs and eBooks. They are amazing.

[Cam54 84]

I'm lucky that with my age (24) and being a non smoker I can get insurance for $150 a month in California which probably is what I paid in national insurance in England anyway towards healthcare I'd imagine (I know national insurance is for pension unemployment etc too but you can't forget that we do actually pay for NHS it's just not our choice) I was really unwell in England for 4 years goin to drs fr same thing n he just didn't test anything, went to American dr twice and then found out I had a massive thyroid tumour, the sue culture of America and competition between hospitals and doctors gives you a better more thorough experience I think, saying that I do agree that having a copay and deductibles will put me off going as much but that's probably a good thing as will save space for people that desperately need it, and will probably encourage healthier living

[Pooky 3,830]

Just at the Berkeley Bowl near here and they had Christmas crackers!

Also they had a British aisle... I went to have a look at what they had (never buy, hobnobs aren't worth 5 bucks) and a guy came and stood next to me and said, in a genuine British accent, "what, no twiglets?". I laughed and said they were gross, anyway.

I make my own mince pies. Tasty.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Just at the Berkeley Bowl near here and they had Christmas crackers!

Also they had a British aisle... I went to have a look at what they had (never buy, hobnobs aren't worth 5 bucks) and a guy came and stood next to me and said, in a genuine British accent, "what, no twiglets?". I laughed and said they were gross, anyway.

I make my own mince pies. Tasty.

The gin... Now that's my specialty.

[nobbie 105]

I owe some thanks to whoever mentioned that hola plug in for watching UK TV. I installed it a couple of days ago, brilliant, thanks again.