Introduction

Hello, I'm Jill.  Val is short for Valkyrie, a nickname I was recently given when I moved to Valhalla, NY from London.  My friends in the UK came up with it; my friends in the US don't get the connection between Valhalla and Valkyrie.  

I am no longer living in the UK but I enjoyed visiting UK-Yankee while I was there and found lots of useful information and things to smile about here.  It's been almost a year, or perhaps a tad longer since I last visited the site and I like the changes and am glad to see that the forum has expanded.  I am especially please to see that there is an ex-expat section.

I met my British hubby online in '98, married Feb '00, and moved to London from Virginia.  My husband got his visa for the US on Sept 10, '01 and we moved to NYC Nov '01.  We have just recently left NYC and are in Virginia now.  Life is funny - I've left Virginia 3 times for a major move to a place with a completly (at least to my way of thinking) different culture, and I am back again.

I miss my family and friends in the UK, and I miss lots of other little things too, like a G&T in my mum-in-law's garden, cream tea in Devonshire, bakewell tart in Bakewell, Have I Got News for You.......similiar to things I missed from the US when the UK was home.

I don't find much time to spend on the net these days but I shall stick my oar in occasionally.  Cheers!  

Welcome (back, I guess I should say    ?)!!  I'm planning to move back in a year or two with my Scottish hubby... to place where he may just melt if we're not careful... Arizona.  

I know I'll miss a lot about living in Scotland - not to mention some of the recent friends I've started making...

I just think we're incredibly lucky and blessed to have had the chance to live here and experience our other halves' environment...

x
Carrie

Too right, Carrie!  (Don't you love that phrase!?)  

Welcome Val!  We're glad to have you here and hope  you'll keep posting.  Sometimes we all need to be reminded that once we leave (if that's in our plan, of course) we are going to miss a lot of the good stuff about this place.

Arizona, eh, Carrie?  Dear me!  My hubby melts at even the mention of such a place!  

Hello Val,

 welcome back to the site as it seems.  I am still a neighbor of yours in Maryland and looking forward to my upcoming marriage and move to Northumberland UK...

What part of virginia are you in?  I frequently visit a friend of mine in Fredricksburg VA and will actually be heading back down there on friday..  as I picked out my wedding band down there and need to pick it up.

 It is nice to hear here that England is actually missed.  Most here are homesick for America...and understandably so... I miss England alot and that is just from my visits there... my heart belongs there and can not wait until I return.  

Thanks for your notes!  

mfredricka - best wishes on your upcoming marriage!  Unfortunatly I am not very close to you.  I live in Southwest Virginia, about 5 hours drive from DC.  As you settle into Northumberland, I'm sure you'll find more and more things to love and of course, some things that are frustrating.

Carrie - best wishes for your future plans and don't worry, I'm sure hubby won't melt - central A/C!!

Wishstar - thanks for your note.  I do find I miss lots of things, some of them are rather strange.  Like the service in a restaurant. [smiley=speechless.gif] Wot!!  Yes, I have grown sick of having my salad come before I finish my starter and then the meal arrive shortly thereafter and NO I don't need anything else and YES I'm going to sit here all evening and slooowly drink my coffee, which I'm having after my dessert.

Hi Val,
Welcome. I love your comment about restaurant service as my husband just opened his restaurant in Greenwich and he will love reading your post as he worked in the industry in the states for the past 6 years.  He is trying to balance customer service w/ what works in the States and what works here.

I look forward to reading more about your perspective now that you have returned to the States.
Cheers!
Tammy

Oh come on you wimps. I think you've all been in the UK too long. Arizona isn't so bad.

When you think of it, we're all in air conditioning all the time. And the misters are fun!!

Tammy~

I wish him a lot of success with the restaurant venture... we'll naturally assume he'll do fantastic if he learned customer service in the US!!! (no, we're not biased or anything... why would anyone think that??)  (and yes, I've received bad service the world over, and  a lot at home too... it isn't restricted to the UK  )

At some point if/when there is a website (is there a website?) you should post so we can visit it....

x
Carrie

hey val....welcome welcome.  glad the site has been helpful to ya.  please feel free to contribute (post) anything that you might think could help others.

Tammy -

Good luck to you and your husband in the restaurant venture.