LIST: Things you SHOULDN'T have brought with you

I have to disagree about leaving behind summer clothing. Unless you are going to be living in the far northern reaches of the Scottish Highlands OF COURSE you will have occasion to wear summer clothing"!!!!

I lived in Austin Texas while in the States, and it's HOT there for six months of the years. near 100 for much of the summer. Not only did I bring to the UK ALL my Austin summer clothing -- tank tops, all sleeveless tops and dresses, light clothing, flimsy clothing, sandals, strappy shoes ans yes, heels -- not only did I bring them but I found the need to wear them too, coming here in July. Those summer clothes saw me through the London July and August and even now I'm still using a tank top under a light cardigan on the balmier, milder days.

It just really irks me when people paint this picture of "oh FORGET your summer clothes, leave them behind you'll never need them in the UK!!"

That is just not the case. You won't get 100 Fahrenheit but you won't be wearing fur coats all summer either.......

I think if you're planning on visiting again before the summer, you really can FORGET your summer clothes. I'm in the process of packing now, and it makes absolutely no sense for me to bring anything I won't be needing for almost a year. I plan on coming back over spring or summer. Why waste the luggage space?

Coming from Northern California, where typical summers are 105F and up, I doubt I'll ever really be warm again anyway.  :\\\'(

Clothing I would bring are things like cotton turtlenecks.  You can get woolies in abundance in the UK, but somehow they never seem to do the turtlenecks to layer underneath.  Or at least not such nice ones and they are going to be so much cheaper in the US. I would also recommend flannel pj's as what they have in UK ("winceyette"?) don't seem as thick.
My DD's English BF has a standing order for Hanes plain white tee-shirts 

I think if you're planning on visiting again before the summer, you really can FORGET your summer clothes. I'm in the process of packing now, and it makes absolutely no sense for me to bring anything I won't be needing for almost a year. I plan on coming back over spring or summer. Why waste the luggage space?

Coming from Northern California, where typical summers are 105F and up, I doubt I'll ever really be warm again anyway.  :\\\'(

Fair enough if you're not actually going to be here in summer.....I was addressing the people who seem to recommend that a person will never need their summer clothes here ever, period, end of story. Which is bollocks, frankly.

Even coming from one of Austin's hottest summers on record, this year, I landed at Gatwick in the middle of an exceedingly warm spell in greater London which, combined with the fact that THEY DON'T HAVE AIR CONDITIONING HERE, made for most definitely a prolonged summer clothing jag for me. I wound up wearing exactly the same hot weather clothing here for at least three weeks as I had been wearing in Austin just before leaving. What else can I say? It was incredibly warm and YES I NEEDED ALL MY SAME SUMMER CLOTHING.  I can even say that it's only been recently that I've started to put some warmer things on.

Sleeveless tops and shorts are just as much a summer staple in the UK as in truly hot places like the one I've just come from. It's all relative. I spent every summer of my childhood running around in shorts, bare feet and swimsuits -- IN LONDON in the 1960s. In the mid 1970s we regularly reached the nineties Fahrenheit.

What I'm saying is, people here are giving Americans about to come here the wrong impression. If you are here in the summer you will need anything summery you wore in the States. You may not need them EVERY DAY and it will not usually get to be 100 but it's ridiculous to tell people to just forget it with the summer clothes. This is not the Arctic circle and I'm sick of the stereotype in which so many Americans seem to think the Uk is.

I had some b*tch back in Austin -- who by the way had never been here -- CONSTANTLY saying "But it's so COLD!!" Anytime I brought up my longed-for return here she spoke of my country as if we all have to live like freaking eskimos. I'm sick of the misconception.

Midnights_mom, you seem to be taking it so personally?  I don't see anything to be especially angry about - which maybe you don't mean it this way, but your posts are coming across as being quite angry.  Some of us do find it colder here for most of the year than what we were used to in the US, but it's ok - we can disagree.  There's nothing fundamentally wrong with a difference of opinion. 

Midnights_mom - when was the last time you spent an entire winter here?  The two winters I've been here have been miserable and the summers haven't been very nice (with the exception of say two weeks each summer).

Every Brit I know agrees the weather is mostly crap here.

ETA: I do live in Glasgow, so maybe its vastly different up here.

Agreed, there are some regional variations.  The first summer or two that I was here - we had a couple of warm months, but nothing like it the last couple of years in which the summer has been mostly a washout up here.  A handful of days, a couple weeks max.  I don't think I felt really warm for the first three years I was here!  But it's by what one is accustomed to...when I moved, I was used to Florida weather - where winters (60-75 F) are like warm summer days in England, 65F is getting positively chilly, and anything below that is COLD! 

I think the point (and the reason for annoyance) is the idea that it is never warm, and that it is always freezing.  I don't get annoyed at this, I just get amused.

Of course the weather here is a lot colder than some places that UKY members come from, but the idea that it is woolies and long johns all year round is daft.

I would advise anyone come to the UK that t-shirts are a must, but only one pair of shorts is necessary (no one wears shorts unless on the beach or playing sports anyway).  Summery frocks are a must, but have a cute cardigan to hand. It's all about the layers, as you really can't tell from day to day what it will be like.  Plenty of times I have left work in the morning in the cold and fog, well wrapped up, to find that by lunchtime it is a glorious day!

If we have a crappy summer like this one has been, we often then get what is called an 'Indian Summer', ie summer weather in the autumn.  To say to 'forget' summer clothes is painting a slightly innacurate picture.

Yael - Glasgow *is* different.  I think Scotland has a climate of its own!!!! 

Vicky

...but the idea that it is woolies and long johns all year round is daft.

On the other hand, I don't find it cold enough to wear long johns here - maybe once a year, tops.  Now we can all start arguing about how it never gets really cold here either... 

I think sometimes people forget that there are regional variations on both sides.  Someone coming from Florida and California may find it generally cooler here.  I'm from Wisconsin, and don't miss the frigid winters, don't need the heavy coat, but do need the layering to protect from the damp.  I love the cooler summers, and generally speaking, even if it got hot for me, I wouldn't wear shorts the way the I wore them in the US - as in, everywhere!  Because where I live now, I just don't see it being done the way I did it in Wisconsin - I wear more skirts though.

So, it doesn't answer the original question, but I didn't bring any heavy coats with me, and I brought fewer summery things.  I've been here 3 years now and still wear a few of my old American clothes, but have mostly replaced my wardrobe as I've gone along (and gained and lost weight!!).  Replacing my wardrobe has included buying shorts, tank tops and strappy sandles, as well as woolen stockings and a waterproof!

Clothing I would bring are things like cotton turtlenecks.  You can get woolies in abundance in the UK, but somehow they never seem to do the turtlenecks to layer underneath. 

that's because it's not in fashion here, i would guess.
i think that's quite an 'American look'.

that's because it's not in fashion here, i would guess.
i think that's quite an 'American look'.

Indeed.  Sort of the clothing equivalent of Kraft Mac and Cheese, do you think?

Today in Bristol, it was short sleeve weather for few hours.  Expecially if you are walking anywhere.  I packed a fleece jacket too.

Around 5, the temperature dropped, I reached my destination and boy didn't I wish I had packed a coat in my bag.

On any given day, I'll see one person in short sleeves and the next is wearing a fleece, scarf and knit cap.  I really depends on how you feel temperature.

I get the feeling that the quantity of clothes I have will far exceed what I need.  Having to line dry everything is making me think twice about pulling out another shirt if yesterdays isn't too whiffy....

But I like my clothes, and I like having choices - so I'm a happy camper.

I just need to get the hang of layering for extremes. 

I think sometimes people forget that there are regional variations on both sides.  Someone coming from Florida and California may find it generally cooler here.  I'm from Wisconsin, and don't miss the frigid winters, don't need the heavy coat, but do need the layering to protect from the damp.  I love the cooler summers, and generally speaking, even if it got hot for me, I wouldn't wear shorts the way the I wore them in the US - as in, everywhere!  Because where I live now, I just don't see it being done the way I did it in Wisconsin - I wear more skirts though.

My first full summer spent in England (in Cambridgeshire) was summer of '03 - heatwave summer!!

I actually brought so much clothing that was inappropriate I had to buy a few more skirts/light tops.

Granted - that doesn't happen very often ;-) but I thought it was hilarious at the time. and OMG the lack of air-conditioning! Those were some sweaty nights!

Oh, I remember it well!  I was here on holiday, and just getting ready to head back to the US as the heat wave set it - I was glad to escape - back to hotter temps, but lower humidities, and of course, air conditioning!

A friend of mind arrived here on a work permit that same summer - she loved it and has been sorely disappointed every summer since to realise that the summer of '03 is NOT the norm!

On any given day, I'll see one person in short sleeves and the next is wearing a fleece, scarf and knit cap.  I really depends on how you feel temperature.

Yes, I was noticing that when I was in London the other week.  On the same day, you see people walking around wearing tee shirts and sandals and others with coats and scarves.  Its kind of neat, really, because you have that freedom to wear whatever you're in the mood for