When I look back around 2 years from now, I cherish all the different moments I have gone through in my life, the new things I have learnt and tried, things I have set right, beautiful places and countries I have visited, new people I have bumped onto, cultures I have come across and lots more!
Lots of things make you wonder when you land in UK, especially if you are a first timer.
People fill the fuel themselves.
It is miles and gallons instead of kms and litres.
In the initial days, you start converting pounds into Indian rupee every time you pay and wonder how cheap things are in India.
Brits consume a lot of beer, spirit, chicken, bacon, carbonated drinks, burger and French fries.
Grueling 15 to 20kms city drive or ride seems like a small and easy drive in UK coz of good roads and less traffic
You tend to watch the weather forecast for every weekend plan or even outing for shopping
Even if you eat in an Indian restaurant in UK, you can’t find the authentic taste in food as Brits can’t handle even our mild spice level. Most of the dishes are customized for brits.
You can’t live without thermals or without proper woolen clothing in winters
The longest day times in peak summer (4.30am to 10pm) and the shortest day times (8.30am to 3.30pm) in peak winter amaze you.
UK weather is so unpredictable. All I say is, if you think UK weather is good, just wait for 10 minutes.
A separate bin outside every house for food waste, plastic waste and recyclable waste is too good. In case if you don’t follow it properly you will get a notice from council soon.
Chicken tikka is the British national curry.
There are way too many accents within UK.
People are fitness conscious. You get to see people jogging with their Ipods almost at every hour you can think of.
Skate boards and bikes (our form of cycles) are default items with the school going teens.
Well, let me list down the things which I like and didn’t like in UK.
1. The first thing which amazed me was the beautiful country side of UK. It is so picturesque and greenish all around.
2. The second thing which I still admire in UK is the traffic infrastructure and the traffic ethics. You don’t get to see people honking and people consider you to be rude and impatient if you honk.
3. Except for the big cities with heavy traffic, in almost all the other places, people stop their vehicles anywhere when they see pedestrian(s) waiting to cross the roads, even if there is no stop signal
4. Brits are very polite and diplomatic. They greet people with hello and wishes and they expect you to reciprocate the same. If you don’t, they think you are uncivilized / rude.
5. It never pours down in UK. So you can manage even if you don’t carry an umbrella. If it rains, it will be just slight drizzle which might prolong sometimes. In the last 2 year, I have seen heavy rain only once and that too it lasted for 30 odd minutes.
6. Don’t mistake when people address you as darling or dear. Its just their way of expressing affection and respect.
7. Public transport (Bus and train) is too good and bang on time. If the bus time is 17.57, better be on time or ahead of time or else be prepared to wait for the next one.
8. Unlike US, you can manage without a car in UK as the public transport frequency and connectivity is so good.
9. People love to party and they believe in enjoying the present rather than worrying about the future.
10. I like the independence parents give to their kids but it is bad in a way as most of the teens loose hold of their lives in the early teenage itself.
11. In general, I love the Brit’s dressing sense be it any group.
12. Though things happen at their own pace, lot of things required for household can be done online or via a phone unlike here in India where you got to run around for each and everything.
13. People plan their long weekends well in advance and hardly anyone slogs beyond their work hours.
14. Roads are awesome almost throughout the UK.
15. UK has the most number of pretty girls than I have seen in countries I have visited so far.
16. People usually do not litter things around.
17. Encouragement from government and facilities for sports and town or city recreation are amazing. I miss the beautiful enclosed and well maintained swimming pools, saunas and steam bath rooms there.
18. Maintenance and the maintenance facilities of the town/city by the council people are commendable.
19. People automatically form and follow queues wherever you go.
Some of the things I don’t like in UK
1. Though Brits are diplomatic, they are not at all open to outsiders. They take ages to open up to outsiders even after they trust the newcomers. They believe in living in relationships with no strings attached than in marriage concept. No wonder there are way too many divorces and huge number of single parents struggling with kids. They believe in love but still hesitant when it comes to love marriage. They would rather prefer a living in relationship than a love marriage.
2. Brit teens especially the gals are racially arrogant. It is the teenagers and the people in early 20s who abuse outsiders racially more than the middle aged or elder Brits. I have heard of instances where people got hit by beer bottles or eggs or coke cans.
3. UK is one of the costliest places to live than US, Europe and Australia
4. UK is a somber and dull place unless and until you are living in a city with friends or family. There is not much to do if you living away from a city or in small town/villages.
5. Things happen very slowly. For eg. It takes 5 days to get most of the broadband connections if you have got a landline ready and if you don’t have the phone landline will take 2 to 3 weeks atleast
6. People don’t differentiate Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Indians. Irrespective of where you are from, you could still be called a Paki
7. Taxes are too high on most of the things. Entertainment tax of 135GBP (roughly 11k) every year to use a TV in home is just too much. Council tax of 100 to 140GBP (8k to 12k) every month depending on the house and location of house is way too much.
I kind of like the work culture in UK as you get lot of free time for yourself. Exactly why I was able to try lots of things I have always to try in my life. Few things like learning guitar, learning swimming, tennis, playing cricket in the local club in the England pace pitches, ice skating, writing poems, blogging, visiting new countries, learning cooking and trying so many new dishes,cruise ride in the english cannal, canoeing, paragliding,cross country cycling etc.. Wish i could have tried skiing and sky diving as well.
I never tried cooking in my life before going to UK but when i returned from UK i was able cook to cook too many dishes. Don't ask me whether people will survive after trying my cooking. It's at consumer's risk :-) Well I am not so bad at cooking too. My time in UK gave me a different dimension to understand myself better. I was able to perceive and understand things in my life better.
I was lucky enough to visit Scotland, England, Switzerland (Twice), Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and France. Wish I was there in UK this summer as I would have definitely visited my next must go destinations like Italy, Austria, Greece and Spain.
I will always cherish the breathtaking scenic Alps range of Swiss, beautiful Scotland, night view of Paris and sparkling Eiffel tower all my life. If any of you get a chance to visit UK or Europe, please don’t miss to visit Scotland, France(Paris), Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Spain.
When I look back my two years I spent in UK, I do miss my UK life for certain things. Life in UK life was easy and peaceful but life gets monotonous after sometime as you are not with your family/friends. Though I got to run around for everything and traffic is horrible coz of Metro constructions and population in Bangalore, I still say East or west, homeland is the best as there is so much life in my life here in India.
