Repatriating to Britain

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Repatriation Advantages

November 8, 2010 in Expat Advantages, Living Abroad Pros and Cons, Repatriating to Britain by Paul Allen | No comments

A recent holiday in Spain – the first trip back to our house on the northern Costa Brava since repatriating to the UK last Christmas – reminded me of all the good things about our former life in the sun.

And the drive home from the airport after we landed back in the UK, with the rain greasing the congested motorway, showed the stark contrast with the world we had left behind.

Since our return friends and work colleagues have been asking the same question: do we regret moving back to England?

Of course, we miss some of the lifestyle benefits Spain offers. After all, the UK is by no means perfect. Nevertheless, on balance we are happy we repatriated.

So what are the good things about living back in the UK? For me, the key ones are:

  • Social Network

The number one advantage is being back among family and old friends, renewing those old, precious relationships.

  • Familiar Culture

There is an ease to living in a place where you understand the societal attitudes, the sense of humour, and how the systems involved in day-to-day life work. Being able to think and speak in your native tongue once again is nice too.

  • Britain’s Beauty

We have now been through all the seasons, and while the UK’s weather may not be wonderful (I’m writing this with the rain lashing outside), each reveals some special aspect of the country’s beauty.

In the months since our return we have also taken the chance to explore more of the country, and see the charm that attracts so many foreign visitors: the wonders of London, the nation’s majestic stately homes, its quaint villages and verdant countryside.

It is not always easy to see how great Great Britain is when you are brought up with it and long to escape. Instead, sometimes you have to leave to come back again.

As Irish novelist George Moore said: “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”

That is just how I am feeling … at least for the moment!

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Ryder Cup Showcases Life in Britain

October 5, 2010 in Expat Advantages, Living in Britain, Repatriating to Britain by Paul Allen | No comments

After a nail-biting finale, the European team just pipped the USA to the post at this year’s Ryder Cup. The tournament is golf’s showcase international event, and its prestige was served well by some remarkable performances on both sides.

Unfortunately, it was the atrocious conditions that dominated the early stages of the competition though, with long rain delays that forced play into overtime on Monday … when, sod’s law, the weather made a volte-face and bathed the country in glorious sunshine.

Well, what can you expect from Wales in October?

In truth, Britain in autumn can be a challenging place to live. Hurricanes, like the famous one of October 1987, might be blue moon events. Wind and rain, however, are guaranteed. Add in the fading daylight as the days shorten and it starts to sound a bit bleak. No wonder so many millions of Brits dream of escaping to a life in the sun.

Mind you, in New York, where I spent a year at the turn of the millennium, the descent from the broiling heat of summer to freezing winter is even more precipitous.

By contrast, in the corner of north-eastern Spain where I lived until recently, the thermometer frequently nudged 30°C through to the end of October. Calm, sunny days meant there were a lot of leaves on the trees right up to Christmas, and oftentimes we could still venture out in T-shirts.

But now we’re back, experiencing our first autumn in the UK in eight years. I confess, weather-wise it is nowhere near as appealing as where we have come from.

The upside is the warmth we enjoy from being back among family and old friends.

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Beautiful Britain

September 20, 2010 in Living in Britain, Repatriating to Britain by Paul Allen | 2 comments

If anyone doubts the beauty Britain has to offer take a trip to Salisbury.

Before moving to Spain I was wont to focus on those aspects of life in Britain that were inciting me to leave: the weather, grey and litter-strewn streets, high living costs, crime levels, images of the country’s rundown inner cities, overburdened health and education systems.

Spanish life promised a more gilded existence. Towns of quaint narrow streets and sunshine burnished buildings, café-lined plazas and open-air markets, the turquoise Mediterranean, vast tracts of undeveloped farmland and forest, lower prices and a more relaxed pace of life.

But having now repatriated to the UK after seven years of living abroad I am seeing the beauty of my homeland with fresh eyes. I have a new appreciation of the rolling green landscapes, its woods of oak and elm and beech, those chocolate-box villages, the BBC.

And historic cities such as Salisbury.

I had my first visit there a few weeks ago. Centrepiece is the magnificent medieval Cathedral, completed in 1258 and considered the finest example of its type in the country. Less jaw-droppingly impressive, but equally charming, are the surrounding Cathedral Close and the rest of the medieval city centre.

Sitting amidst the tourist throngs on the lawns beside the Cathedral I saw the city as they must. And it made me realise just how beautiful England – and the rest of the UK – really can be. Not a bad place to live after all.

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On Course for a Perfect Summer Evening

June 29, 2010 in Repatriating to Britain by Paul Allen | No comments

Golf, I’ve discovered, is not like riding a bike. Picking up a club for the first time in five years and expecting to smash ball after ball down the middle of the fairway was always going to be wishful thinking. I mean, if Tiger struggles with his game after months out what hope did I have?

At least the conditions were perfect. It was one of those glorious English summer evenings: the warm sun dipping towards the horizon, soft June light, shadows lengthening across the rolling green fairways, woodpigeons calling from the branches … the thwack of small white golf balls clattering into yet another copse of trees.

And, quality of play aside, it was great to get out last night for a hack round with my brothers, the first time we’d done it since before I moved to Spain seven years ago.

In fact, the last time I played was with my eldest brother, when he came to visit shortly after we moved abroad. On that occasion we tried out the Empordà Golf Resort, one of a string of top-notch courses to be found close to our home on the Costa Brava. Unfortunately, that was as far as my Spanish golf career got. Places like PGA Catalunya, which is ranked number seven in Golf World magazine’s Top 100 European courses, remain an unfulfilled dream.

For despite the fantastic facilities and ideal weather in Spain, time was always a problem.

The expat lifestyle may seem to be one of leisurely days spent drinking wine and soaking up the sun, but that isn’t the reality for most. I still had to work hard all week. And with two young daughters to look after it never seemed fair for me to slope off for five hours on the weekend to play, especially when we had no other family around to ease my wife’s childcare load.

As a result, it’s taken our repatriation to the UK for me to be able to dust off the clubs. That, and the chance to spend valuable time with my brothers, are among the plus points of moving back. If only I could have brought some of those magnificent courses with me.

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May Day!

May 5, 2010 in Repatriating to Britain, Working Abroad by Paul Allen | No comments

It had a certain inevitability. The UK’s May Day bank holiday weekend beckoned, but after a surprisingly warm and sunny April what happened? A washout.

The bank holiday was supposed to see us picnicking in the local park, catching up with old friends, many of whom we hadn’t seen for years thanks to our expatriation. A chance for us to meet each other’s kids, reflect on how we’ve all changed in the seven years since we moved to Spain.

But the rain, whipped up by a north-east wind and chilled by 10°C temperatures, put paid to that. Time for Plan B. So we found ourselves splashing through puddles en route to a tenpin bowling alley in a desperate attempt to find some indoor activity to keep the children entertained.

The usual British holiday routine, in other words. Welcome home!

Mind you, it’s no better in the corner of Spain where we used to live. From the Catalan meteorological bureau I see much of the Pyrenean region is being layered in fresh dumps of snow at the moment. And the Costa Bravan coast – normally basking in warm Mediterranean sunshine by now – is stuck with maximum temperatures of just 13°C, while being pummelled by rain and the fierce northerly wind known as the tramuntana.

Seems the cold winter so many parts of the world experienced this year just doesn’t want to let go. What will summer bring, I wonder?

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Wonders of London

April 23, 2010 in Repatriating to Britain by Paul Allen | No comments

Having been brought up close to London, and commuted there every day for a time, it’s easy to take the UK’s capital for granted. But having lived abroad for many years I’ve come to re-appreciate what a fantastic city it is.

As a kid, my family and I used to make regular day trips to London to take in the sights (my father worked there for British Rail, which meant we could take advantage of both free train travel and his almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the city).

We went everywhere, visiting many of its most famous sights: we had trips to the Natural History and Imperial War Museums, to Hampton Court Palace, Kew Gardens and the Greenwich Observatory, saw Buckingham Palace and the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London, had tours of Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast, Madame Tussauds and the London Planetarium. They were great days, and have left me with wonderful memories.

So it was exciting to take my daughters to London last week for their first visit.

With youngsters it’s easy to attempt to do too much – London is such a big city, and has such a wealth of things to see, that you can get carried away. So we tried to keep it simple.

First stop, Buckingham Palace. Brought up on a diet of Disney princesses, it seemed appropriate we should show them a bit of real-life royalty. So we duly joined the hordes of tourists by the gates and admired the palace frontage and watchful guards. No sign of a tiara-ed monarch though.

We then caught one of London’s famous red buses up to Regent’s Park to reach London Zoo. It’s been decades since I was last there, and I only had a vague memory of the place. It’s hard not to wonder if you’re doing the right thing when you see some of the animals in such confined spaces, especially the lions and tigers. But there is the valuable conservation work the Zoo undertakes. And you have to hope such visits are fostering an interest in, and appreciation for, the natural world among all those delighted children. 

And the best bit of the day for our kids? Well, there was seeing the gorillas. But I sense the £2 bus ride just edges it!

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