Do you LOVE the UK compared to USA, or is life keeping you here?

I think we already knew

Yup, no surprise there. 

Honestly, you will be hard pressed to find a more welcoming and friendly group than we are here. Unfortunately, the timing of this  thread was less than ideal as we have been experiencing some troll like behaviour from a couple of newish posters recently so our senses are a bit heightened currently.

I'd encourage you to not take it personally but maybe just try to understand the reason behind the skepticism.

Playing devil's advocate, I could wonder why you are asking us to compare life in the UK vs the USA when you have already decided to retire to France?

I'm not hard hearted and can be understanding if you all have been having a problem on this site.  It just seem strange to me to transfer the blame for that to any random poster that post infrequently or is new. I would think a problem person or a real troll would have a new account. Not a person with a account as old as mine. But what does logic have to do with making sense.  No biggie .

Btw, the question about the UK was just me being curious to see if the situation in the United Kingdom with Brexit had changed the way Americans felt about being there. I made sure to be respectful and neutral. I hadn't been on here in a long time because not really a internet person. Not any more complicated than that. At least not from my side. I'll take your word for it that people are friendly here.

Well, I just have to add... it's a shame that this has all happened.  When I see something on a BBS, I try to remember that not everyone is "the same". Even people in the USA have very widely different cultural/educational/technological universes.  As there is so little background information on a forum that can be really verified, one has to kind of cut people a lot of slack.

America and Americans seem to be becoming just a bit more edgy (not in an artistic sense) and ready to expect the worst in the last several years.  In a way understandably so, but still very sad.  I hate to see us moving back to an "us" vs "them" thing, especially when it's focused internally among us.  Everybody will have their own personal biases, of course, and that one is mine.

I'm sure I've posted on here a lot of redundant messages - half the time because I've forgotten I posted something in the first place, the other half because I can't find the original post, and that third half because I'm looking for a different set of answers (i.e., having it seen by new eyes). Kind of like a little kid who hits Auntie up for a cookie if Mom has already said no, in a way. Sometimes to triangulate my thoughts against other's realities.  In the long run, what does it matter to anyone but me?

Lighten up, people.  It's not Ft. Apache - you don't have to circle the wagons and protect anything. Just ignore what you don't like and go on with life. This is probably the one place that you can actually do that without there being any actual repercussions. "Here" is not real. If someone comes onto the board and you think they want to stir up "trouble" .... ignore them. Or if you feel a great need to do so, report them to the censors. Otherwise, watch and wait. Nobody is required to respond to any post here.  Or believe anything anyone says, really.

Try, try, try to lighten up and have a better day, ok?  It's not worth getting riled up over.   


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Happy Birthday to All.
Appropriate Festive Season (whichever) Greetings to All.

Nan

Thank you for being a wise person. I remember you from when I posted over a year ago and you are just as thoughtful now as you were then. I'm shutting down my account and just noticed it's from 2007 a long time ago.  The best to you.

As long as we are clearing the air I might as well tell you all that Jimbo and I are lovers. He was a bit reticent about telling you guys at first, but now we want the whole world to know!

Oh my, you don't say!

Halloween first please! hahah (I honestly have people in my office that are already talking about how many weeks until Christmas)

I'm in our office by Tesco headquarters today.  It's FULLY decorated for Christmas for a customer meeting tomorrow.  INSANE.  I should take some photos..... 

The holidays in this thread made me LoL!

I genuinely hadn't taken offense, but understand the lack of trust due to a number of trolls of late. I'm always happy to chime in for the underdogs and vulnerable who are greatly at risk in this country and elsewhere.

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Reading what everyone has said about the holidays (especially Halloween!) made me feel less alone. My first Halloween here was actually a lot of fun. I was a graduate student and all of the Americans on my course got together to celebrate. We were in a residential area of London where there were a lot of American expats, so we could pass out candy and just enjoy the holiday. By next Halloween, they were all back in the US and I hadn’t met any other Americans by that point.

Since then, I’ve done my best to celebrate Halloween. My dad very sweetly collects Halloween stuff for me in the sales so I pick them up at Christmas when I’m over. I really love Halloween, but my husband’s family are not so keen.

The first Halloween with my husband was a bit awkward, and I could feel some tension with him and my MIL over it. My husband really didn’t understand Halloween, citing that it was about “mischief” and “demons.” I showed him videos on YouTube about Halloween, got my parents to send us pictures from Halloween, and anything that could help him realise I wasn’t going to open the gates to Hell in our home.

He’s now super into Halloween, especially since last year we went to Disney World in Florida when all of the decorations were up. He LOVED it and wishes the UK could get more into it. There are certain nights at Disney World at that time of year when you can go trick-or-treating in the Magic Kingdom and he was super into it. He’d never done it before, and he felt like he missed out during his childhood.

My MIL is still not comfortable with Halloween, despite my husband raving about it.  She owns the property we live in, so she tells us we can’t pass out candy as she fears the house will be vandalised if it’s not the “right” kind of candy. I can have a carved pumpkin,  but it has to be inside as she doesn’t want it smashed. She really doesn’t like Halloween and mentions how horrible it is that John Lewis and the supermarkets promote it. She’s overall just not keen on anything “Americanised.”

We don’t have children yet, but my husband wants us to raise them in the US just so he can take them trick-or-treating, haha. By then Halloween may be bigger than it is now in the UK, so who knows where we’ll be.

I'm getting a feeling that life with your MIL is going to be a bit of a challenge.

I'm getting a feeling that life with your MIL is going to be a bit of a challenge.

I'm getting a feeling that life with your MIL is going to be a bit of a challenge.

Oh, it’s a real treat! I have so many stories that I could probably write a bestseller.

Oh, it’s a real treat! I have so many stories that I could probably write a bestseller.

I'm just picturing your MIL picturing a riot filled with children yelling "f**k no, Haribo!" or something while throwing rocks on Halloween lol

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I'm just picturing your MIL picturing a riot filled with children yelling "f**k no, Haribo!" or something while throwing rocks on Halloween lol

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This made me laugh so hard, thanks for that And, yup, sounds about right!

This made me laugh so hard, thanks for that And, yup, sounds about right!

The average british attitude towards Halloween always is funny to me haha glad I could give you a good visual to accompany

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I have been here for fifteen years and no one has said happy birthday to me. Not once.

I actually bet old user 'Shugga' used to wish you a Happy Birthday. She'd come on everyday, see who's birthday it was and post it.   
We eventually had to get rid of the posts, because if she accidentally missed a person, people would get upset and feel left out.  But I bet she did say it to you (so you weren't left out)

Want to see how the UK thrives after leaving the EU. That is going to matter much to a lot of people.