WB, your child is half Polish as well, so what was the main adjustment to settling back in?
I'd like to come back to this one actually after ive been giving it some more thought. There has been three main adjustments for us.
1. People, we lived in a large house in Poland with lots of land and really didnt see anybody if we didnt want to. In the UK its a lot more personal, i see people all the time we have a neighbor who's an OK guy but a little annoying. He sometimes pokes his nose over the fence of our back garden for a chat. That's all well and good most of the time but sometimes we want our privacy. Every time i step out side of my front door theres people everywhere and you can feel people watching you.
2. Food, at first its take away heaven what with all the great curry houses, fish n chip shops and all the rest of it but cant live off that stuff so its down to Asda or Tesco's. The food is very well priced in most cases, the ham is terrible and the meat no where near as good as in Poland. Ironically like all Poles who come to the UK im in the same boat with regard to bread. The sliced bread is good for toast but as a sandwich its friggen vile, tastes like chemicals, and just lasts unnaturally long. Even the fresh bakers bread and rolls are bland. On the plus side theres plenty of Polish shops around so you can buy everything you could in Poland and its not much more expensive even bread, cakes and doughnuts.
3. Attitude, people have attitude here. Its almost like i could get into a fight every time i walk out the front door. Some dude drove past me the other day and called me a twat really loud because he thought i didnt give him right of way, made my blood boil. If i didnt have my wife and child in the car i would have chased that fat bastad and taught him a lesson. Again the other day just walking up the road three scum bags drinking Stella started shouting at me for no reason. Two days later three guys fitting the same description robbed a paki shop at knife point. Its much, much more dangerous here. Don't get me wrong in general people are more friendly here and strangers are always up for a laugh. But i felt much more secure in Poland.
My wife claims people are rude to her once they realize she's foreign and i can believe that.
I probably should mention all the fat people too, they are everywhere. Its really difficult to spot a fit looking 35+ year old woman.
What do you consider, to be the benefits of being back in the UK, as opposed to being in Poland?
The pubs a big bonus and the social side that comes with it.
I'd like to say golf but ive only played once and i was slamming that little white ball all over the place, went round 18 in about 110. Need to sort that out. The gym is a massive bonus for me, i had one in Poland but never used it that much through lack of motivation.
Works pretty good too, i have a decent job which i enjoy doing.