Ive been in the UK for 6 days to relocate and im going back to Poland.

We can all look around and see what is happening in the UK but for me it is where my best friends are, where my heart is. I miss my friends and family every day and I could live in a war zone as long as I am with them. Those of you who prefer life in Poland are those who probably have nothing in the UK so fair play if you can make a life here but pls less of the UK bashing, it is the Uk which has given you EVERYTHING, most of all the English language without which all of us Brits on here would not be able to make it in Poland.

We can moan and moan but it is up to us to put things right.

I went home 3 weeks ago to find one of my friends had been promoted to the head of RE department at a local secondary school becaus of producing record GCSE results. How did he do this? By speaking the childrens language. He used to be in the UFF and has loads of military tattoos so he was always an icon of respect for them. He also had a knack of putting the cocky lil b******s in their place by scaring the **** out of them. His methods worked.

This is what we need to do. A few more vigilante groups in society would sort things out I think..

That's because "being British" is "un-Islamic" these days, and this country is full of appeasers. But, like WB's fat people, that's another thread altogether :)

HOWEVER... it's not all bad.

Where I live is great. 30+ synagogues replace the 30+ mosques I was surrounded by where I lived not too long ago. Lots of pleasant leafy streets and nice parks nearby. "Multiculturalism" means English, Irish, Polish and Jewish, and I'm very happy with that. I've got the best neighbours I've had in years, it's safe, people don't go to Tesco dressed in their pyjamas, the best fish and chip shop in the world is only 5 minutes drive away, and it's less than four miles to my favourite UK city centre. If I really want to escape, we have the biggest and best airport outside London. Less than an hour to the Peak District, 2 hours to Snowdonia. And I pay about the same for my flat as a flat in Poland costs - the difference is, I have 7000 PLN left to live on after I've paid my rent :D

My car insurance has shot up though, but I blame scummy Lower Kersal for that :)

And someone thought that naming a restaurant/cafe "Milky Dream" was a good idea. But you can't have it all. lol :D

Yeah, I too was scratching my head, why do all those Chinese, Japanese, Nepalese, etc. have a problem here? I guess we call the region the Middle East (formerly Near East).

"The Middle East (or, formerly more common, the Near East)[1] is a region that encompasses southwestern Asia and Egypt. In some contexts, the term has recently been expanded in usage to sometimes include Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and North Africa. It's often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner..."

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East

I dont see anyone bashing the UK in this thread. The OP was just stating his opinion about the land where he came from.

The UK gave me little and to say that I wouldn't be where I am today without it is not true. I worked hard and worked even harder to be where I am.

If I were WB, I'd grind it out a bit more. A few setbacks should not put you off too much. You just have to influence people and carve out your niche. WB seems like a resourceful guy who has been around the block. He just needs to dig his heels in and seek out those things that will make life appear better.

A little change management first and then he can make an informed choice. As it stands, he is in a phase which I and many others know well. He should ride the wave first.

Don't give up your country. Not yet.

I've been living there for a rather short time, but even I can see that something went terribly wrong in the recent years. This country is on the edge of total collapse. But maybe it's exactly what is needed at this point in time? Who knows?

This country was great and some of this greatness still remains in it's people. They still have got a bitter-sweet dark sense of humour. Some of them are still proud.

And the Tory's are in power now. And there are peoples like Nigel Farage from the UKIP.

I can't really express myself in this strange language, but there still some real power left in this country. Some spirit that is really hard to kill. Of course - it was undermined heavily to the point that some Britts doesn't understand who they are, but I am believe it's only a temporary state of matters.

Go to Russia - spend some nice time there. As a Pole I have got a duty to hate Russia, but even I know that the Russian people are harsh bastards with the great hearts. You can make some true friends there.

And I hope that in a few years you will be able to come back into the UK. UK that will be cleaned from all the ****** things that the Labour left behind (those bloody immigrants like myself included).

i find it interesting that people find home not in their native land...
that's job for sociologists to figure it out...
:)

There's sth exotic about being in a foreign land. As Poland has began to feel like home, I love it when I can get away from here and try a foreign culture. It's always a new challenge.

Next stop, FuerteVentura in Jan. I know very basic Spanish but it will be nice just to be in different surroundings.

i love it!

i dream about a long vacation on Maldive Islands... ahhhhhh....

*....pgt's rozmarzona....*

Yeah, but promise me that you will be careful should you ever choose to go there. Depending on your chosen method of transport, you would probably go through waters with those feckin Somalian pirates. It's not that far away really, check some maps :)

Anyway, WB will no doubt give us more later today. He should be glad that he doesn't have parental pressure. The man is probably minted, he has likely just panicked and should just kick back. Good music and a mellow vibe can be appreciated anywhere. Self-imposed pressure should not rule your head.

i think an airplane is more safe then a boat... :)

i wonder how i would feel if i had to make my life again in Poland... all i know for now, it'd be hard...

Why not give it a try? I think many Poles find the rigidity of some Polish thinking awkward when they have experienced a foreign country. Having said that, Poland really respects democracy and you can work round any tricky customers. Poles seem to assimilate like the Borg :)

You go grrrl! :)

oh yeah.... i saw that place online... wouldn't you like to have a fish dinner there....lol


in general, foreigners assimilate well here... what drives me crazy, some don't want to let go of their country-culture-language and they are stuck... bring your own culture but be open to the one who hosts you...imo...

Yeah, don't think that restaurant was around way back when. The charter company we used many years ago was fritidsresor.se and when I click on the English language version it takes me to Thompson's website, looks like it's the same company now. With connections and all you could fly from DFW and land in London 12+ hours later and catch your Malé flight from there... :)

thomson.co.uk/destinations/indian-ocean/maldives/maldives/holidays-maldives.html

PS. Seanus is right, a boat trip is not advisable in that region.

Now let's go back to bashing, or complaining about the UK, so refreshing it's not my country this time! LOL

i think, i could combine it with a trip to Poland... a week in Poland and then take off to Maldives...


i don't think this thread is about it... i think it's about how you feel about a country you settled in...
i love Poland, but i built my home in the states... i think it'd be also hard for me to go back and start a new life in Poland... but i'm not saying it's not doable...exciting if you have the attitude...

I know, I was trying to be funny... Guess I failed at that :)

you were, but we don't want this thread was about the uk bashing.... :)

I missed your second post yesterday (above) and it brought to mind a couple of letters I have recently received from Her Majesty's (Labour) Government.

The 1st letter was regarding my National Insurance contributions. Apparently, to qualify for a full state pension in 9 years time, I needed to pay 44 years of contributions and to date, I haver only paid for 41 years. They asked if I would like to voluntarily pay for the 3 years (some £900).

The reply I sent went along the lines of :- " I have not lived in the UK for 6 years and have no thoughts of returning. My health has not been too good for the past 3 years and I have had to pay for my medicines and my heart bypass operation myself. If I should live for another 10 years and if there is any money left in the governments coffers to pay a pension, I will make do with the reduced pension that you have offered. If HMG is so desparate for this £900, I suggest that they stop paying £12,000 per month rent for Afghan asylum seekers to live in 5 Bedroom town houses in Central London.

I have not received a reply.

Letter number 2 was even better. I received my 1st English "Tax-self assessment form" since I came to Poland, even though I explained to them in 2004 that I no longer work, live or have any assets in the UK. This promised to fine me £100 if I never returned the form on time. I duely filled in "none" in every box that applied to me and sent it back.

A month later I recieved a reply, informing me, that I owed £0.00 in tax. Accompanying this reply was some litriture especially for people who have moved abroad. It basically said that " If you come into a windfall, inheritance, lottery win etc, please inform us so that the correct tax can be implemented.

Yes!!!, as if!!!. They can go forth and multiply.

You have seen the light. Now you are free.

The Brits went from ruling the world with an iron fist to becoming the world and its mothers *****. Id be fascinated to know the reasoning behind it.

The bastards still occupy part of my beloved nation, but.

BRITS OUT!

You are a mental health nurse right? Mental health service in Poland is atrocious. My widfes uncles is Bi-polar and basically the health service wanted to lock hiom away and forget about him so his wife decided to look after him at home. I am assuming your career as a MHN is rather a calling, sth you are passionate about? How could you have ever entered this in Poland?

Also, to all the English teachers, how many Poles do you know that can earn as much as you per hour? when I was teaching, i took home more than most Polish people I know. Why is this? Beacause I was brought up speaking English and I have the UK to thank for this

welshguyinpola

"Beacause I was brought up speaking English and I have the UK to thank for this"

Luck of the draw!!.if you had been born in India you would have learnt to speak Urdu or another dialect as well as English. I love England and I am dissapointed and heartbroken to see the decline of what was once a great country.

Giving people a "British Passport" does not make them English, nor does it give them the right to change the culture and history so that it does not offend their "alien" morals.

Thats funny, Bury has a lovely new shopping centre and the centre of Manchester has undergone extensive work...must be the shithole where you live thats so rotten,


Really? Everyone I know is working and holiday several times a year! Again, must be the people you know..

Please dont make the UK out to be some hell hole because its not.

As for the roads, we had a bad winter and this has caused lots of problems, these are being sorted out.

Welshguy, I hear what you are saying but it's still a slog when you have high ZUS to pay and flats are really expensive. Yes, we shouldn't take English for granted but teachers don't have it 'easy' here either. Trust me on that!

Avalon has a lot of good things to say on this forum. A top poster! I have had similar dealings with authorities in the UK and they just made me laugh. They pull all kinds of stories out of the hat and expect you just to go along with it. They try to dumb you down so that you will blindly acquiesce. To hell with that!

They have been toying with my dad, a loyal worker for 29 years straight now, by shifting the goalposts on his pension arrangements. He will likely be left in the dark until he finally hits that time which might be in 2 years time. Talk about a magical mystery tour ;)

WB, spill the beans, I'm sure you have more to say. I've said it many times before, Britain is a place to retire and not to live. If you have worked hard over the years abroad and set yourself up, Britain could be fine to enjoy pub life and some gardening, for example.

WB has made some valid points but on the whole i'm with Shelley most of his observations don't fit in where i live.

That said i'm not saying everything is rosey and that problems don't exist.

I agree with WB, Britain has gone to the dogs, I used to be quite nostalgic for the place, not having lived or worked there for many years, but a month long stay last year quickly shattered my illusions. As WB said , it's full of foreigners (and I don't mean the Polish, they are a welcome addition to the population), it's overcrowded, rundown, and generally has a delapidated, seedy air about it. I don't miss it one bit.

Fair points, Colonel. My mum always has a harrowing tale to tell when it comes to life there. Paranoid prats fighting to keep their trivial jobs, lazy sods who won't learn other languages, people who stumble across money somehow while spending all day redecorating their houses and doing up their gardens, pompous/snooty gits that have rubbed backs so often that I'm surprised they aren't at the doctor's with constant friction burns, professors who haven't grasped the concept of merit in writing (you don't share my opinion, so I'm giving you a bad mark, mentality), fat sweathogs binging on beer and fast food, overly self important image and, finally, governmental agencies which are out to swindle you with garbage stories.

Oh yes, but Britain has Butlins and, um, sth else. I don't remember what!

It is interesting to see how those living in a situation can't (or fail to) see the minute changes that happen slowly over time, that to somebody coming back after a long absence, picks up on immediately.

Whatever your decision WB, good luck.

Good point, Shawny. You've raised your level ;)

When I came back from Japan, the negativity and paranoia was there for me to see. I really immersed myself in Japanese life and there was just so much more to it than Scots who were always scrambling. I am glad when I see certain things thriving in the UK, like our ale and pub cultures. However, that only goes so far. A pint of Deuchars or top ale is just that.

Again one persons experience of one certain place does not accuratley reflect life there for us all.