Life in the UK - 6 months on.

We moved to the UK in June 2021. Originally from the UK, we left in January 2011, 11 years ago for 4 years in South Africa and 7 years in Dubai.

We kept our house in the UK and rented it out, recovering it from tenants in December 2019. In 2016 we bought a flat in South Wales for somewhere to stay when we visited and I started spending more time in the UK, as the kids left home and school. 

Covid caused us to change our plans for our move to the UK. The plan had been for me to travel back and forth to Dubai or joining Peter on his travels, to have house/pet sitters until 2023. I relocated the cat and dog here in January 2020, made my first trip to Dubai in March 2020, then had a swift return to the UK as covid broke and borders closed.

By the time Peter visited the UK in September 2020, we made the decision to leave in June 2021 and for Peter to retire, 2 years early. 

Although we've returned to the same house we lived in before starting our expat journey, it is without kids, we have new neighbours, making new friends and keeping in touch with old ones. We can now spend more time with the ever growing family.

We haven't just moved back though, in many ways we've relocated, moved to a country that has changed in regards to the way things are done and whilst we've bought property, been landlords, kept UK sims, kept bank accounts, paid bills etc, the way in which things are done now are very different.

Also we've been used to doing things the Dubai way. From customer service, to buying and selling things as well us setting up utilities, paying bills. It's all done very differently. In Dubai, everything is paid up front, from house rent, buying a car, insurances, deposits for utilities and everything is linked to an ID card. 

Whilst we've been abroad we've continued to pay for everything up front in the UK, now we are back all the companies want us to have everything on direct debit. It's been easy to set things up as we've maintained a credit history and bank accounts here, plus we haven't required a visa to move here and have been able to buy a sim card in a local shop and not have to register it.

Here are some other things we find are different:

The UK is mostly self service, you pay for bags and no one packs them for you like they do in South Africa and Dubai.

The internet is consistent and you can make video calls freely through apps. Video calls were blocked in Dubai and internet was slow and limited in South Africa.

The TV freeview channels are great in the UK but it is expensive to watch the sport and movies. They were free on the basic TV package in Dubai. But British TV is driving me mad. The shows commissioned are very good for dramas and I do enjoy the soaps and quiz shows, however the amount of reality shows and shows with ordinary folk and minor celebs cooking, sewing, making pots, singing, dancing etc are driving me up the wall. Its lazy TV same format just a different topic. 

It is safer to drive on the roads in the UK, using your phone is illegal, seat belts are worn, no tail gating like you had in Dubai. Night time driving in Dubai was safer with everywhere lit up. In South Africa there was always the fear of being hijacked and driving at night was dangerous, mainly due to pot holes and animals wandering. Mind you I did a lot of damage to my car in the UK last year, when I hit a badger late at night. Car parking spaces are bigger in Dubai. South Africa had car guards who helped you park.

The weather is better in South Africa, not too hot, not too wet and not too cold. Dubai is too hot half the year and the UK is well...... you know.

Houses in Dubai are more expensive, houses in South Africa give you more for your money in terms of space but you have to pay for security. Houses in the UK are insulated, have small rooms, but easy to heat in the winter.

The post works in the UK and is delivered through your door. In Dubai you had to have a PO Box Number as there was no street delivery and in South Africa you'd be lucky if it didn't get stolen.

I don't have a preference in regards to where I live, although I did prefer South Africa to Dubai in regards to lifestyle and the weather. I'm just happy to be in one place for as long as we choose to be, our own home, no company in charge of visas, no flights to visit family (other than a son in Northern Ireland and one in Australia). 

We said once we returned to the UK, we'd decide if we were to stay in our family home or move somewhere else near by. We're having a new kitchen fitted and have plans for an extension in the spring as well as starting decorating. I don't see us moving for a good few years, if at all, as long as we can both manage the stairs as we get older.

My Sunday Photo - DIY in lockdown

There are so many jobs that need doing to our family home after 9 years of tenants, for most of them we hired professionals to sort the major work out, however the decorating and cleaning were of a poor standard. I've spent most of lockdown rectifying this.

Cleaning up the mess left behind.

Changing the screws in the door fittings so so there are actually enough for each hinge and handle.

I was supposed to be back in Dubai this month, to organise the shipping of our furniture so I've had more than enough time to not only finish the decorating but to renovate the garden, clean the sheds and get someone in to sort out plumbing, guttering and re felting the one shed.

Much to the delight of the neighbours I've had time to learn some carpentry and fix the squeaky gate.

I've fixed a flexible curtain track for the bay window and hung curtains

I have new carpets being fitted this week (delayed from the start of April)

I've now run out of things to do around the house, other than read books, blog, general gardening and just waiting for things to (very) slowly go back to normal.

Post Comment Love 15-17th May

I've certainly been keeping myself busy during lockdown. So far I've landscaped the garden and redecorated the house. I cook and walk the dog daily, although I'm keeping shopping trips to the bare minimum.

I do miss my husband, it's been over 7 weeks since we've seen one another. We are however used to spending long periods of time apart, but normally, if I'm in the UK, I'm usually running around visiting family and Peter will be working, meeting people and travelling himself. Peter is now back in the office in Dubai, however I'm almost isolated other than 2 friends who live in the same town, that I've seen briefly.

I have my down days, when it's difficult to get myself motivated, but mostly I'm entertaining myself, reading, jigsaw puzzles, letter writing and having a go at some crafts.

What have you been doing to keep yourself busy?


Stephanie and I would love to hear what you've been up to this week.

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One Daily Positive - Week 17 Back to the decorating

I seem to have switched my weekends back into Dubai mode, doing little on Friday on Saturdays, this makes it easier for me and Peter to keep in touch as he's really busy during the week with work, so I find it easier to occupy my time.

I've been going through my dads things recently and have been scanning stuff from his football career with Barry Town FC to the club for their records. Found a letter from Aston Villa inviting my dad to play in goal for them against Stoke in 1960. However my dad didn't make the team line up for the day and this was 5 years before they had subs in the game. As a Birmingham City fan, I now appear to have gained an awful lot of Villa fans after I tweeted the photo out.

If I don't get up, breakfasted and dressed straight away I tend to lounge around in my pjs and whilst I rest, I don't feel tired at the end of the day and keep waking early, feeling tired, so I need to stick to a routine to keep me motivated.

110 Sunday Cleaned the bathrooms, got dressed and spent the morning putting the bedding plants in, washing and repotting seeds, followed by walking Bob to the local shops as I'd run out of milk, picked up some magazines and sweets to post to my mum and some ice cream for me. Took myself off to bed for an hour and slept, hoovered, had dinner and watched Grease. Random calls throughout the day. Spent the evening writing letters.

111 Monday Lifted the hall/landing carpet, sanded down woodwork and repainted, sadly I don't have enough paint to finish the rest of the doors and skirting boards, spent time in my craft room painting rocks. Wrote some more letters, starting with one to our grandchild to read when they're older. Spent the afternoon lazing in the garden.

112 Tuesday Lacking motivation to do anything today. Got dressed and finished painting the walls, relaid the carpet, cleaned everything up and started a new project, papier mache a balloon. Bob and I walked to the postbox, we seem to go most days. I had a lovely surprise through the post from a twitter friend of a felting kit. Sanded down the rest of the woodwork and hooverd up, my house has never been so clean.

113 Wednesday I had to call a plumber out for the waste pipe in one of the bathrooms, as it came loose, he fixed the guttering and the over flow on the downstairs loo. I sorted through our finances while he was here and caught up with blog posts. Used the last of the paint to finish painting the downstairs loo and main bathroom. I managed to track down some paint through a facebook group Dean commented we should practice social distancing, doh!, anyway I thanked him for his time to make the comment. I walked with Bob to collect it for free, which was a bonus and let I Dean know we'd safe distanced on the handover. Dean's reply on the facebook group was 'just trying to help you protect ourselves' The guy I collected from is called Paul and a proper painter and decorator, offering me some handy tips. Sat in the garden for the afternoon blogging, remade the bed, cooked dinner and watched some TV and made poms poms for a rug.

114 Thursday I did nothing all morning, it's the 7th anniversary since we adopted Bob, I wrote a couple of letters, walked Bob to post them. Resumed with the painting, one door, frame and bathroom skirting boards took 2 hours, the earliest Emirates are flying is July 1st, so I've plenty of time to finish the job. In the evening I started a jigsaw puzzle, watched Children in Need/Comic Relief and joined the dwindling numbers of neighbours for clap for the NHS.

115 Friday Another slow start, a zoom call with a twitter friend and whatsapp chatting Ramadan Kareem to all my friends in the UK, Dubai and Egypt for a couple of hours, left over fajitas  from last night for lunch, assembled the new mower and did the lawns, finished painting the walls in the bathroom. Walked with Bob to the local shop to buy milk and some goodies, it was a bit stressful as one woman didn't know how to social distance and I ended up yelling at her to back off.

116 Saturday I prepared the main bedroom for painting, mowed the lawn, sat in the garden with a coffee and the cat. I decided to let her out for a bit now each day, so far she's only left the garden once, but was at the neighbours over the road. I've painted all the woodwork, walls and the radiators, just leaving two doors and a small amount of skirting board to do tomorrow as I can't get all the carpet up in one go, without shutting myself in the room.

I spent the evening registering 25 facilities in South Africa with a Christmas gift giving charity.

On the blog this week:

Darren was back with #MySundayPhoto this week so I linked up with a post on what I've been doing in the garden during lockdown

How I'm dealing with lockdown

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Halloween with HDYGG?

I miss having seasons. This is our first autumn in Dubai, there aren't many trees around to watch the leaves fall from. The trees we do have lose their leaves all year round due to the heat and no rain.

In South Africa the seasons were the opposite than they are in the UK. It's spring now in South Africa. Take a sneak peak at the Jacaranda's, there will be a post dedicated to them soon.

It took a while to get used to spending Christmas in the middle of summer, yet last christmas despite us now being back in the Northern Hemisphere and Christmas being in winter, we spent the day on the beach.

Without kids at home and no job and the weekends being Friday and Saturday, I have no idea of what day it is, let alone season anymore. I like to follow the seasons and decorate the house accordingly. The garden is proving slightly more difficult in Dubai and I'm currently in South Africa where it is spring.

And before I go any further, yes, they do have halloween in Dubai.

So I've decided to revisit our last halloween in the UK, were we had autumn and leaves on the ground

 Kids still at home who appreciated the decoration of the house.

I still bake cakes to hand out at Halloween even though my children don't take part in it anymore

I've also been known to dress up when we were in South Africa and scare the kids who knocked on the door

Finding Pumpkins large enough to carve has been difficult in Dubai and South Africa, so here are my favourite two carvings from the UK

UK

Dubai

Carved out of a Pomelo, a large citrus fruit.

I love the colours of autumn in the UK also, I love getting my boots out the wardrobe, putting wellingtons on to go for walks and adding some colour to the garden. Sadly I won't be doing any of this for a few more years, until we move back to the UK, but it's nice revisiting.

Sadly there is no/little trick or treat in South Africa, as unless you live inside a security estate it's just too dangerous to be walking door to door at night (and in the day, some places)