What are your favourite things about/from the UK?

[bubbletea123]

I am feeling a little homesick and missing the UK. I think it is especially because of the Covid situation and not knowing when I will get to visit. It got me thinking about some of my favourite things about the UK, I am sure the list will grow. I am from Scotland.

- The Architecture. Probably one of the things that I miss the most. Over here in Canada many of the buildings are new. It makes you realise how amazing old buildings are in the UK. I miss being able to go on day trips at the weekend to visit an old castle.

- Long spring. Where I am in Canada, Spring still has barely started, the flowers are only just blooming. That being said we do get a very warm summer. But I miss how in the UK things bloom early.

- The dry humour of Brits.

- Wagamamas and Pret. Oh my god. I would love either right now!

- High street stores. We don't really have a "high street" here. We do have Topshop but it is really expensive here. The cheap stores are worse quality than Primark (and I love Primark) and the nice stores are very expensive.

- Being able to walk most places in the UK is really nice too. Here, it is very much a driving culture because the cities are so large.

- Aero and Malteser traybakes. I had a craving for a Malteser one today and will get the ingredients next time we go grocery shopping.

 

[Meh]

One thing I love about UK is our accents.
Travel a few miles in this country and you hear a completely different accent and dialect. It’s so varied.
An example would be being Scottish I sometimes hear non Scots complement or comment on “the Scottish accent” which is funny because Scotland has many, many accents that vary regionally. Someone from Aberdeen will sound noticeably different to a Glaswegian who sound different to folks from a Falkirk/Fife or Orkney etc.

And everywhere is the same in the other nations and regions. It’s amazing but it must surely mess with English as 2nd/3rd language learners imagine listening to tutorials and videos of eloquent RP queen’s English... to land in Liverpool or Welsh valleys or rural Aberdeenshire

 

[DevaVictrix]

CHESTER.

End of

 

[Freebies_come2me]

NON RELIGIOUS PEOPLE. Love how we don't give a shit about god

 

[LT31514]

Love this thread and so glad you set it up. I have lived for 7 years now in Belgium. So not far from the U.K. but far enough for things to be different. Im from Yorkshire btw so first on my list is northern friendliness. The Belgians are cold cold people who have enough friends and won’t welcome you into their circle.
Cadbury’s
Custard
Bread buns/baps/rolls or whatever you call them.
Mr Kipling
Desserts in general, over here everything is a cream cake, it is not chocolate fudge cake with custard.
Chain restaurants, pizza express, Nando’s, Christ even Greggs.
QUEUING!!!!!!!
But mainly the people, I miss Brits and the way we just pass the day and talk about the weather.
My list might have been different at the start of lockdown but being stuck in a country full of stuffy Belgians has changed my attitude

 

[bubbletea123]

Our culture, especially pop music, fashion, art.
Sense of humour.
The beauty of our countryside and coast.
Fish and chips.
Rain and cosy days indoors.
Accents.
On the whole people are well-mannered and polite. We queue for things and tut at others.
Being able to visit so many interesting historical places (eventually).

Ooh, fish and chips is a good one. And I love chips and gravy or with curry sauce.
Also, not sure if this is just a Scottish thing but I love a macaroni pie.

I miss the UK so much.. completely understand how you are feeling. I’m in the Middle East and the thought of not being able to travel back home for another few months at least (if at all this year) is depressing!

I miss the landscapes, the weather - especially the rain! Haha but also super jealous of the beautiful weather right now! I miss the architecture, people who have manners and respect... queuing!! The TV shows, British humour, all the supermarkets (food is ridiculously over priced here and terrible quality) Pret A Manger and Café Nero!

It was raining here the past few days and I really enjoyed it as it reminded me of the UK. It doesn't rain often where I am

Oh my God. Can't believe I forgot this one...i miss Marks and Spencer! Especially Percy Pigs, Collin Caterpillars and they do these salt and vinegar twist crisps that are AMAZING. Also miss any of their desserts.
I also miss Next. Love their fragrances and candles. Cheap but nice.
I miss good indian restaurants, here in Canada, Indian restaurants are mostly shit. We found one which is ran by Scottish Indian people but it took us about 2 years to find.

 

[HowlOwl]

Our culture, especially pop music, fashion, art.
Sense of humour.
The beauty of our countryside and coast.
Fish and chips.
Rain and cosy days indoors.
Accents.
On the whole people are well-mannered and polite. We queue for things and tut at others.
Being able to visit so many interesting historical places (eventually).

 

[chocolate choux]

Agree with a lot of these!

- TV. I don’t watch much TV anyway but rarely watch any non-British stuff. Tried so many American series and couldn’t get into any of them

- The accents and dialects as there are so many, and few I dislike

- The fact it’s a kingdom comprised of four different countries with cultural differences. Pet peeve is when foreign people use the words U.K. and England interchangeably

- The fact things are ‘small’ here (at least compared to the USA). Small shops, small town centres, small portion sizes, small cars. I don’t like unnecessarily big things

 

[prinnygrace]

CHESTER.

End of

As someone from Chester I will vouch for this - a very underrated city!!

 

[Boredofthegram]

Yorkshire teabags, cream teas, fish and chips out the paper from the chippy, sarcastic sense of humour and the history.

 

[SpiceWeasel]

Despite the fact I complain a lot about this country, I lived in the US for a while and things I remember really missing were...

- The sayings. ‘If he were chocolate he’d eat himself’ etc. I remember once apologising to a work colleague and saying ‘sorry I was away with the fairies then’ and he looked at me like I was certifiably insane!
- Cheering in a pub when a glass gets smashed by accident
- Pubs in general
- TV especially documentaries and there not being ads on every 2 minutes
- Groceries not costing an insane amount - like a loaf of bread costing 70p instead of $4.99 wtf
- Walking places by choice and people not thinking you’re weird/asking is there something wrong with your car!
- Tea! And the kettle not taking 100 years to boil on the lower voltage
- Not having to explain I’m not from Australia/New Zealand/South Africa because they can’t understand anything but the Queen’s English
-There not being a massive gap on the door hinge you can see through on a public toilet stall?!
- Motorways aren’t a complete free for all
- And finally, I could go on but, Marmite

 

[working9-5]

* I was never a big shopper but living on a small island where you can only buy expensive (and not always with the quality to match), I miss being able to pop to the high street and buy something.

*A cool breeze. (Never thought I’d say that)

*Random food/drink items that I can’t get here -lilt, mccoys crisps, fish and chip shop, a cream cake

*Nothing here is really walkable and because of the heat I drive everywhere. I miss being able to walk like I did in London.

*I miss Aldi and resent paying $4 for a pepper

 

[Cheese_face]

Walkers crisps
Someone coming from 30 mins up the road and having a fully different accent.
Rainbows (I don’t believe other countries get them )
Getting a pic a mix at the corner shop
Thanking the bus driver, doesn’t seem to happen in other countries but maybe I’m wrong.
Tv- uk has banging tv!
The dry dry sense of humour.
The seaside amusement and penny fall machines. Pubs...we do pubs SO well. AND pub gardens, god I miss pubs and pub gardens!

 

[Kiwigirl]

Still get homesick after 14 years in NZ.... I miss:
Marks and Spencers
Decent clothes shops
Cheese from a deli counter - not shrink wrapped Mild or Tasty cheese!
Nice crisps
Pubs
Indian food. Never found a place in the whole country that can make a decent curry
Being able to walk in the countryside
Book shops
Boots the Chemist
Sandwich shops
Christmastime

 

[coconochanel]

Im going to say The Royal Family (main ones not the extras) .
cup of tea
a Sunday roast
the seaside
Downing Street Men
countryside
most importantly the NHS

 

[cedarpeach]

This thread is great! My partner and I are from the midlands originally but we have lived in Sydney for almost 8 years now. We miss home a lot and we are hoping to come back at the end of 2020 - let's see if we can manage it with Covid : (

We often talk about what we miss from home:

The weather - I never in a million years thought i'd say this but I am now so sick of the intense Sydney summers. I just want normal, temperate seasons
Cosy, rainy days in the house
Bonfire night (not a thing here at all!)
The weekend newspapers
The architecture and history
National Trust membership
Sport (my fella has to watch the premier league at 2 in the morning, with the time difference)
Supermarkets
Radio 4 (and the BBC in general)
The countryside
The small size of the country - Australia is so vast it takes ages to get anywhere
Brit humour, sarcasm, friendliness
The NHS
A decent curry/chinese
Culture & arts (Sydney is beautiful but there's not much going on behind the eyes, if you know what I mean)
Country pubs
Chocolate
Fish & Chips
Decent clothes shops!!
Fast internet (it is SHIT here)
Sky TV - tv in general

I bloody love the UK and I hope we can get home before too long

 

[NitrousOxide]

Chip shop chips and mushy peas (extra vinegar as someone said).
Gardeners' World.
The fact that everyone hates the government all the time.
How green it is even in Summer.
The rain.
People being uptight.
Seasons changing just as you're ready for the next one.
Relatively free healthcare.

- Cheering in a pub when a glass gets smashed by accident

This just gave me an embarrassing level of national pride.

 

[Lanavalentine]

When I lived in the US, I really missed:

the chocolate. This was before Cadbury’s was bought out and turned into palm fat crap, though.

The carbs! American carbs are great, but I found myself really homesick for proper chippy chips or roast potatoes. Admittedly I could have made the latter myself but I just really wanted my mum’s, mine aren’t as good

The radio. American radio stations are mostly shit, the main network of internet radio (forgot its name) has super specific channels, and sometimes I just really missed stuff for background noise, like Magic FM (don’t laugh!!)

British TV. Way less commercials (and they’re not half as annoying listing every major side effect of medications), news anchors and presenters who look more like normal people and not robots created in a factory.

The post coming through my door! This sounds so stupid and so random, but the post actually being delivered through my front door is so convenient, I constantly used to forget to check my postbox. It’s weirdly difficult to get your head around it if you didn’t grow up that way!

 

[Youre a wizard Harry]

1. Sandwich meal deals (chicken and bacon sandwich, prawn cocktail crisps (or a sausage roll if it’s from co op as thats classed as the snack) and Coke Zero is my winning combo)
2. Chips from a chip shop
3. The humour
4. The answer to every situation is either let’s have a cup of tea or let’s have a pint

 

[Love_hate_small_town]

This is going to sound stupid as I now live in Australia but I miss the beaches!!! I miss not worrying about being ripped out to sea/ stung by something poisonous/ eaten by a croc (in the far north). Give me a beach in Cornwall or Pembrokeshire any day.