How Much Has England Changed?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- In May, Tarah and I will be heading back to England for the first time in almost 11 years. Among the many things on which I have been reflecting is this: just how much has England changed since 2008?
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I left my hometown when I was 18 years old. I'm 49 now. Went back last year for the first time since. No family there and I didn't know anyone. I felt so out of place. It was sad really.
I'm still in mine.
"Home is where the heart is" is a common saying here in the US and it still holds true. I visited my hometown, so many changes, many have moved away, it's not the same. It's the people you love that make it home. ♥
@@SherriLyle80s Mine is like a coma patient in a persistent vegetative state - if it was a human, they'd have switched the life support off.
What do 49 year olds do for fun
@@adammoore7059 Don't know about the others but this one has turned into a gym rat. I also fly fish.
For my career, I moved across the country to CA after having been born and raised in the South. Having lived in CA for just over 35 years I so much looked forward to retiring and moving back to the place of my roots in my beloved South. I am now here and the state is hardly recognizable. I feel so out of place. Practically nothing is the way it was. "The past is a foreign country." Alas, there are no passports which will get you there.
Woolworth's was a big part of my childhood in the US as well, me and my mother would often go to one with a diner in it, and we'd have lunch there after the shopping was done.
I grew up in Wisconsin and lived away for about 6 years. We moved back about 18 years ago and it was like moving back to an unfamiliar culture. Nothing here had altered all that much, but I had. Living away for awhile then returning gives a person a new view of the old familiar. I hope you will be able to embrace the familiar while appreciating your new perspective.
I relate so much, but I had 11 years in a metropolitan city that I miss dearly, and moving back was like putting on a straitjacket. Smallish communities/cities in the US really suffer from having no interaction with other ideas/cultures and become really insular. Many in the community seem like they develop a pride for being largely ignorant of anywhere else. It's understandable but still it's worrisome.
If there were a good way to get people in smaller US cities to engage with international cultures in a healthy way, that would be an amazingly powerful cure for much of what ails the US.
Edit: BTW - my profile pic is from the door marking on a local government bathroom in this little city. It says "Employes Only", if you can't see it.
Woolworths is interlinked to a British kid's childhood (over a certain age) because we bought everything there. Make up, pick & mix, records (remember them?), toys & games, household stuff and much more. As kids, we spent ages in there trailing around after our parents so there is a big nostalgia factor. Its a shame when any shop goes out of business but I think Woolworths was different because it remind us of Christmas and the adverts etc......
USA used to have this store when my Mother was growing up. They bought lots of stuff there and enjoyed their lunch counter.
When I was young, variety stores like Woolworths used to be called "five and dimes" in the US where my pocket money/weekly allowance was spent on school supplies, toys and all kinds of great "penny candy". Truly wonderful places, now sadly gone.
I have a suggestion for you: buy your mom a gift and bring her an American mother's day card for American Mother's day since you weren't there for the British Mother's Day.
Love this ♥
American and I grew up going to Woolworths and miss it also.
I lived in Wimbledon for 43 years, before I emigrated to Southern Oregon in March 2002. I do miss the UK, but I have been back in October 2004, August 2019 and January 2020 - for my Mum's funeral, London and England has changed almost beyond recognition. I don't know where I will go from here, stay in the USA, or go back, it's all very strange.
I left my home state when I was 19 and moved back when I was 29. Fortunately I was able to come home for visits several times so that when
I moved back I didn’t feel out of place. I had felt more out of place being gone.
I think one of the most difficult things about going home is seeing some of your favorite things survive to this day but no longer bring you the same heartwarming emotion as they once did.
Your favorite park becomes simply a greenbelt. Your most memorable social hotspot becomes simply a bar. That quiet spot you used to sit at and listen to your own thoughts is now just a bench along a river.
Many times, it's not the world which changes but our memory of it.
I went back to Buffalo in 1999, was going to stay for a week. The first day, I saw everyone I wanted to see, went evrrywhere I wanted to go, and was DYING to get back on that plane and go to where I now call home. I will be retiring next year, and my new home will be in Pennsylvania. When I go there on vacation (we have already bought a house there), I already feel at home there.
When you get back here (uk) remember that you can only use contactless payments up to the amount of £30.00, anything above that amount then you put your card into the machine and use your chip and pin. Hope all goes well for you both.
@TheRenaissanceman65 True there is. I personally don't carry much in the way of cash as I prefer to use my card as I find it more convenient and a lot less hassle of having to go to amt's or banks to withdraw money. However to each their own!
Presented with an American debit card once and he had to explain how it worked. I went "how retro!" ;)
Never heard of a Cadbury Flake so I googled. WOW that looks amazing.
I have no idea why but I am so ridiculously excited for your trip that it almost feels like I'm going! Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us.
I am as well, but I live in England
Yes... I left California in 1993, and came back in 2007. I did feel like I didn't belong. And the town didn't grow,but, there were more people living there. About a Million more people, and I didn't know them!
The Woolworth Building is an early American skyscraper designed by architect Cass Gilbert and located at 233 Broadway in Manhattan, New York City. It was the tallest building in the world from 1913 to 1930, with a height of 792 feet.
But the 5 and dime stores have long since gone.
Do you ever just forget that you live in another country? I moved to Canada around the same time you moved to the States, back in 2009 and I always forget. I'll go a couple of months before I'm reminded on some way, can be a slightly weird social situation or noticing a car licence plate that says 'British Columbia'.
You found another home, you are not alone.
Woolworths/Woolco closed here about 20 years ago.
I traveled in my extreme youth to what was then Yugoslavia. I lived there for two summers, because I was a ballet dancer. It was a long story. I also traveled to London, Paris, and Venice. I always felt at home, because I was there. :-)
Being "behind" comes with age. It isn’t strictly a location issue. We settle into the popular things of the moment and then wake up some time later to a world of unfamiliar pop culture. It’s fine. Have a cardigan.
Moved from my childhood home 50 years ago. Everything has changed. Everyone has moved. Fields have grown houses on them. The place has become “aspirational” with social climbers.
I think I have an apples to apples comparison. I left Houston, where I spent my teens and twenties, and moved to Central Texas. From a huge city to a very small town. That was in 1997. In 2013 I went back to visit friends from school and was completely lost. It was like the already confusing freeway system in Houston had become even more incomprehensible. Nothing was where I remembered it, I no longer recognized the five down town areas and they had suddenly gentrified downtown into housing for "The Youth". I realized that I love small town living, and that I'd always hated Houston. I was just there a couple of weeks ago for my grandson's birthday party and I can really wait to go down there again.
Your cat is a welcome interruption! :-)
A few thoughts based on my experiences. (I’m from near Leeds.) The design of the letters on car registration plates and other traffic signs will look chunky. Fish and chips will taste awful (unless you’re drunk). The plumbing will feel like a disaster. Grimsby will be grim, not least as it’s such a Leave area. York won’t seem at first as pretty as you remember it, but it’ll help if you seek out places such as the Merchant Adventurers Hall. You now have to pay a wad of dosh to go into the minster. A bag of fudge from the little shop at the end of the Shambles might make you feel happier about it. Jorvik is always good for a visit. The walls aren’t Roman. Like yourself, I used to think they were. They’re from much, much later. Approaching the centre of York via Micklegate Bar, just down from the station, is always the best showstopper moment. With austerity and the current Brexit nightmare, the people now look physically and mentally exhausted and worn down. You’ll occasionally hear an old man being loudly racist in public places, rather than just quietly racist in a pub like previously. No-one will say anything. The countryside will be prettier than you remembered it as being.
Contactless payment existed in the US 20 years ago. I had one. They stopped doing it because they’re not secure. Transmitting information wirelessly leaves you open to skimmers. Perhaps the new cards have encryption to make it safer but it’s not new to the US.
We had a Woolworth it was also part of my childhood , here in Texas.
I was a military child, and I grew up living on Air Force bases. There is not a single home that I lived in as a child that still exists today, and several of the Air Force bases where we were stationed no longer exist as well. I have no hometown nostalgia, because I have no hometown. I have come to realize that the photos I have of those places I spent some time in, and the memories in my mind of them are still as precious, even if they no longer exist. So my advice to you is this: Even if your hometown is not the same, don't let those changes impact the importance of your memories..
I grew up as a military kid as well. All the memories and pictures I have of the housing units I lived in no longer exist. I can’t even tell people where I’m originally from because I don’t have a hometown.
It's changed A LOT..! I've been in the states for almost 15 years.. went back after a five year gap and oh my goodness! Not sure how I feel about it now ..
Interesting.
Lost in the Pond I'll be eagerly awaiting your reflections!
I've lived in the UK for the last 15 years and I don't recognise it any more. I know how I feel about it.
Cath Robilliard oh dear..
Leave Central or The City Of London on a bus from Monday-Friday and see if you can spot 5% of the people being White/British indigenous. Go either North/South/East or West and it will be the same story.When I grew up in the heart of Inner London over 55 years ago it was 99% White/Briitish outside the wonderful 200,000+ enterprising Jewish populace.
Left my hometown and went 2,800 miles away to CA. Had to come back 26 years later and well ... I left for a reason. Several.
Leave Central or The City Of London on a bus from Monday-Friday and see if you can spot 5% of the people being White/British indigenous. Go either North/South/East or West and it will be the same story.When I grew up in the heart of Inner London over 55 years ago it was 99% White/Briitish outside the wonderful 200,000+ enterprising Jewish populace.
Hi from Missouri! I remember when Woolworth's was in almost every little town in the country. Then they went out of business when WalMart became such a big competition. I thought for years that they were completely out of business, then I found out they had moved to the UK.
Woolworths were in business in the UK from 1909 to 2008.
@@RoyCousins The first F. W. Woolworth store opened in 1879 in New York state. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._W._Woolworth_Company
I think Brit and American Woolworths very quickly became their own entities and had very little connection to one another
I still want to try a flake. I've known about that for so many years. I grew up watching British comedy I can't wait to go there one day.
Cadberry flake?
Its fine, it's light.
I was so intrigued by Flakes a few years ago that I ordered some from Britain on Amazon. They were really good (if a bit messy) and I can see how they would be yummy in soft serve! You may be able to find them on Amazon too. I also ordered Cadbury Crunchie bars and they were good but their internals ('honeycomb' which isn't actually honeycomb but is a weird chemistry-made candy) are definitely an acquired taste and texture (I acquired it, but some might not like it). I wish they still sold the original Cadbury chocolate here instead of Hershey's having taken over in the US with their different chocolate recipe--original Cadbury chocolate is really creamy, and when I was younger you could get a proper (using the original British Cadbury recipe) Dairy Milk or Fruit & Nut bar here just in the local drugstores, and they were delicious! Now they taste weird with the 'new' chocolate. The Cadbury eggs taste different now, too. I only "imported" the British candy the once but it was a nice treat!
While in the U. S. Navy, I spent at least a week in twelve different countries at various times (I lost track,) and I felt at home in each one within three days. I really loved my time with all the rest of all my cousins.
My childhood home is gone, the woods and the ice cream stand as is the movie theatre and the wonderful toy store Toyland. Even the railroad in my backyard is gone including the railroad tracks and telephone poles. Also many of the people in my neighborhood are Mexican which I think is a very good thing. Keep us posted.
3 years after moving to the US we visited Germany. I remember standing at the airport in Frankfurt feeling weirded out by the announcements in German. (And at that time we still spoke German every day at home.) I felt like in a dimensional bubble and definitely like I was not part of this anymore.
It was a bit like in the movie Somewhere in Time, lol
I've always lived in the USA but most of my extended family lives in England and Everytime I go back it feels so small lol all the spaces, doorways, cars, rooms, it's all feels tiny when I go back
You're lucky Woolworths stayed open that long. They closed in the U.S. in 1997. I really miss them. My first job out of high school in 1961 was at a Woolworth in Jenkintown, Pa
There was a movie made about modern England. "28 Days Later." It's.... different.
Ha! Actually love that film.
@@LostinthePond
One hopes you won't find the changes quite that drastic. 😱
Children of Men was pretty good, too.
How about 'Shaun Of The Dead'
@@barbarachieppo8290 One of my faves!
I'm curious how the scale of things seem to you. Will the woods by Grimsby strike you as being smaller than you remembered, now that you've seen West Virginian and Colorado?
Yes, and will different places (say, Grimsby and York, or Grimsby and London even) seem like they're not as far apart as he remembered?
When I first went back to my hometown, I immediately felt right at home, even though a lot of things had changed.
Please. Never read the Daily Mail. Please. But yeah, contactless for the win. I was really struck with how far 'behind' the US is regarding transactions, when I was there last year, but struck by how far (in terms of contactless adoption) the US has come when I was there a few weeks ago, still far from widespread, but alot of machines around, and enjoyed the funny looks I got when I used them... I got the impression they didn't even know their machines had the contactless option in them!
How do you know what's 'behind' and what's 'ahead'? Have you been to the future?
I had a contactless card in the US nearly 20 years ago. They’re prone to skimming. That’s why they’re not widespread. Transmitting information wirelessly is not safe.
You realize all these wireless payment methods are designed to encourage sheople to spend money without it affecting that part of their brain that realizes that they are expending their blood, tears, toil, and sweat on crap that they would never buy if we were still on a metallic standard (or the chicken barter standard, the tobacco leaf standard of early Virginia, or the cotton bale standard of the later South, for that matter). When we spend THINGS we realize it; when it happens and we only realize how much we spent at the end of the next month or when the bank calls to tell us that we are overdrawn, we piss it away like the lady from Chumbawumba accused the bar patrons of doing with the night in Tub Thumping.
David Weihe I only buy what I can afford. That’s your problem
Losing your bank card and someone being able to pick it up and then go and use it is a good idea?
I visited London in 2013 for my 50th birthday and LOVED it. We took a bus tour and love the tube. We took the Eurostar to Paris for the day (That's okay, we saw Eiffel and got a Hard Rock shirt)
I went back to my hometown and found it overrun by strip malls and rows and rows of identical houses with identical cars and identical dogs and identical children. The corn fields were all gone... along with my sense of home.
I feel like everyone and everything moved on without me, once I moved back home.
Granted, my absence was due to being moved far away while I was recovering from being in a coma for almost 4 months.
Wait, what? Coma?!
What was that like when you woke up?
I left NY as a child and moved with my Family to Florida. My father and I went back for a visit 30 years later. Everything was different. it was like we had never even been a part of that place.
What’s amazing is how you’ve managed to keep your English accent!
If you were born in this country and brought up here, it's impossible to lose your British accent. My brother lives in Canada and has been there 15 years, he still sounds British!
His Brit family/friends might feel differently. I had a Scottish friend and his accent was much more pronounced after being around his Scottish friends.
Oh it'll go in time. I even noticed he says some words in an American accent.
I moved to the US from the U.K. in late October of 2008. I only lived there for 2 years but it would be fun to see how much has changed. As long and Greggs is still around I’d be happy.
When you said Pound World my first thought was a boxing club-ha
i remember taking my son to the UK to show him the horses and the fields i knew ... errr now shoebox size houses as far as the eye can see ......
I left my hometown twice over my life and I've since returned. It's almost like its own microcosm. It's odd to leave the area and return to it with fresh eyes. Not good in my case. I hope you have a better experience.
I'm so looking forward to your UK trip back home! Here in America they say "You can never go home again"... not really sure exactly what that means....but hope you have a good trip!
It means the home you remember is gone. Time changes things. You can physically go back, but it will have changed.
When I went back to Memphis, the area that I grew up in was decidedly worse, but there were plenty of places that had really improved. The mayor in the 90s and much of the 2000s can be thanked in both cases. Most people I knew had moved on, but I met new people. The best thing was getting out the neighborhood I grew up in, and seeing a lot of great things in the city and surrounding area that I would have never guessed existed before. Hopefully, you'll have the opportunity to learn something new about the places you thought were familiar.
That's odd. I am a native Memphian, and I see modern Memphis as a hateful and disgusting cesspool. Memphis has become nasty and very ugly. Literally, there was a double homicide on the sidewalk three houses down from me. Two dead teens. No big deal. Just another homicide in a city where murder is commonplace.
@@howtubeable I certainly understand. Try Wyoming. It's good to get away, and either stay away or take a break and see the very weird value of that truly bizarre town. For me, I can't go back to Raleigh. Too depressing. The Jackson Ave extension destroyed the area.
@rcatae I grew up right on New Allen. I get it. Especially considering the lunacy of the last few days in Frayser.
Having lived in one place for the first 35 years of my life and then moving away (15 years ago), I can tell you that each time I go back I feel like I’m finally home again, and yet I find myself half amused/half annoyed that “those bastards” went through and changed all my stuff. I want everything where I left it!
I'm struggling to think of any really popular artists here in the UK at the moment. With the popularity of downloads, the music market has massively fractured and top-30 singles sell far fewer than they used to. Downloading films (Netflix etc) combined with a ban on smoking in public places also means fewer people go out, so many pubs are empty or closed (although the stupid business rate hike hasn't helped). Similarly, town centres are becoming deserted, and the roads are even more packed than they were 10 years ago.
I know what you mean Laurence! Woolworth's US has gone by the way as well! Along with the enumerable other places that are no longer, Sears has fallen after 100+ years. Along with its great history, this was a store my grandparents shopped, my father got new tires. We were excited when the Sears catalog arrived! The Fall and Winter catalog always seemed to come on the hottest day, and conversely the Spring and Summer catalog arriving on the coldest day! How was that possible?!
As you mentioned, I also miss bookstores. I miss being able to walk in and pursue the books and magazines. There's something able being able to hold and touch something before you buy it.
This conjures up so many memories and nostalgia!
It seems there was a song along the lines "These are among the things in the dustbin of our minds".
TFFN
Cheerio
Same for Montgomery Ward and I remember getting excited to get the J.C. Penney Christmas catalog when I was growing up in the 70's
I'm an Air Force brat ... went to high school in Delaware (East Coast), college at Indiana University (midwest), grad school in Buffalo, NY, 1st job in Chicago, lived in San Diego (West coast) after my mom died, then have been in San Antonio, Texas for the past 17 years. So... I've been around (left out quite a few states/ moves in between). Recently, I went back to Delaware (East coast) from Texas (after being away a total of 21 years). Absolute CULTURE shock... nothing felt normal... everything seemed foreign and I couldn't imagine living there or even hardly remember having lived there- other than a few deja vu moments! It was really weird! As an Air Force brat... you thrive on moving to the next, new place... not anymore... at 50, I've settled down in San Antonio and will never leave! I wasn't born in Texas (actually, I was born in Nebraska), but I got here as quickly as I could! ❤
Army brat here! I have never been able to return to any of our posts but I would like to. I have done a Google Earth fly by for Fort Richardson Alaska and found our house. It is different there now, especially since it is now a joint base with Elemendorf AFB. That was my favorite posting. We do go to Texas a lot. My sister-in-law moved to Austin many years ago and we go down to visit frequently. And the Army brat "road trip" urge is fulfilled by the drive from Denver. San Antonio is a great place. I can understand you planting yourself there.
You should do a video on the canal narrowboats. Maybe even take a little trip on one. It seems to be a thing uniquely British.
I moved away from my home town in 1975. When I go back to visit my brothers the biggest problem is getting them to understand that I don't remember all their old friends and what they've been up to over he years. Hell, I haven't kept up with MY old friends. They keep saying "You remember him!", or "Remember that restaurant on Main St?". I keep having to say "I don't know what you're talking about." They have trouble understanding that I've been somewhere else all this time.
I first visited Britain in 1986. My second visit wasn't until 2004. I was amazed by how much Britain had changed in the intervening 18 years. Of course to the people there it was gradual evolution, perhaps hardly noticeable from year to year. What struck me most was what I perceived as the Americanisation of the language. In 1986 I hired a car; in 2004 I rented one. In 1986 there were coaches, in 2004 buses. In 1986 I saw, in the towns, the Ironmonger and the Chemist; in 2004 Hardware and Pharmacy. I was just over again (my fourth time) in 2018 and though I was in London I might have been in San Francisco, with the cafes and trendy yuppies and hipsters everywhere.
I left my rainy coastal state and now live in a dry sunny state. It's been 7 years and there is an odd sense when I go back. I don't think I can handle the 9ish months of rain/grey sky any more, not to mention the things that change. We had so many people tell us that they didn't know how much longer they could stay in the town we were in, too much traffic, intensifying politics, etc, etc. I miss people still.
I was stationed in Germany for a number of years and deployed a few times. One thing I noticed is how long it takes me to adapt to American food after being overseas for long periods of time. American food is noticeably fatter and sweeter than it is in European and Asian countries.
I miss Borders ☹️
Me too.
Time goes by too fast? Damn straight. I saw that Beatles poster on your wall and I realized that when you were born, John Lennon wasn't even alive any more -- while I was in high school when he was shot. Now I feel old. 😰
I haven't moved to far from the place I grew up, however going back there is odd because so much had changed. Plus the neighborhood, the woods we played in, the parks, the lakes all seem so small now. Distances I walked to school seem so short. It just isn't my home anymore.
My aunty moved away from the UK in 2006 (I was only 2) she went to Australia 🇦🇺 and she sometimes comes back to visit but we’re unsure whether she would think of the UK 🇬🇧 as her home
Loosing Woolsworth is Heartbreaking. I miss it Soooo Bad! My Childhood was spent planning how to save and buy a model plane there. It was Heaven. Enjoy Yourself
We had a Woolworth in Fort Worth ,Texas when I was a child .
The US lost Woolworths long before the UK. It's where I bought my first makeup (Maybelline). I still miss that whole 'what wondrous item can I buy next' feeling I'd get from just walking through their door.
Woolies and some old British Home Store branches have been taken over by B& M Bargains originally from Blackpool now are based in Speke Liverpool close to the Airport Worth a stroll around and there are lots of other places for Bargains Such as Home Bargains (also Liverpool based ) They also trade as "Quality Serve" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Bargains Both chains are doing very well thank you and expanding steadily
On the CON side You are going to See the Homeless with their Paper cups on the High street> sadly Unavoidable(Unseen several years ago) .And the Universal Credit benefit Debate which is Ongoing .
Beer Laurence ? Its now hard to find a Tied Pub unless you live in the Bigger towns.and Some of the Southern Breweries are showing Up in the North of the countries Lots of famous names have disappeared and Whitbread now are running the Costa Coffee franchise establishments which pop up everywhere and Often spill out onto the street as for Grub Its MaccieD's KFC and Subway Vieing for attention with many copycats.
Kebab takeaways which you also see in many Chippies would you risk trying one of those? Subways are marginally better Thou TIP The Aldi/Lidl branch have hot Food oven and Fresh Sandwiches like the old Woolies Pick and Mix shelf . Do Surprise you.Talking of Aldi Check out their Freezers And seek their frikadellen (AKA the Dutch “Frikandel”) patties. www.eatingeurope.com/blog/frikandel/ which No taste test on You Tube has ever covered Can Grill/Fry microwave them or eat as Is Stink a bit in the Wrapper but once tried one you'll do a Homer Simpson type Satisfied noise, Used to Eat fried mincemeat and Onion balls as a kid but They have gone out of fashion/favour. Ditto Birds Eye Rissoles😒
I miss the Woolworths in my home town as well as the one in downtown Cleveland where one could by an umbrella ant day of the year and items for a small apartment galley kitchen. To get anything like that now you have to order online.Miss it! Miss it! Miss it!
Oh, Woolworth! They had a littke of everything! Back in the 60's my mother and I would look through the sewing pattern books and choose dress patterns for me for school. They had some fabrics too, and they measured the on a machinec called a measuregraph. I had a very mod wardrobe back then.
I was ripped away from my home town 25 years ago, and it is over 600 miles away. I still haven't been able to get back there. I am financially stuck here. I still don't understand the culture here. it might be the same language, but its a different cant. I hate my life. thanks for asking. Good luck with your sojourn home. I hope you have a pleasant time!
When you see your mum and dad, I think one of your first reactions may be how much older they seem. Enjoy your time with them. It seems like it is never enough after they have gone. Have a bodacious trip!
Yep. My parents retired to Spain in '03, and they're 75 now. They are really starting to get age related problems.
Shortly after I moved away from my hometown, my parents moved out of the house I grew up in from birth, so I quickly lost the connection to my old neighborhood and hometown. However, "home" still typically means the house my parents live in, so that hasn't really changed, but it no longer means our old house.
I grew up in New York but then moved to Florida for 8 years. When I moved back home to NY it still felt like home but sometimes struggled with the names of places that should be familiar. The weirdest sensation was deciding during the day to stop off someplace in my way home, only to realize I couldn't because that place I wanted to go was near my home in Florida. After several years of being back in NY I went back to visit Florida. The city I lived in there had changed dramatically as well. It's very disorienting.
Fly tipping? I have not heard of fly tipping. I have heard of cow tipping, in Maine and Vermont. There's a cartoon somewhere that features cows working in a coffee shop as baristas, and there's a sign on the wall that says, "NO TIPPING."
Nice that you still call it home give radio 1 a miss cheers
I moved across state when I married, but I get home 1x a month. It's still jarring to see my parents aging, and my nieces and nephews long past the baby stage. We're happily raising our cat too! Safe travels! Louisville, KY
It's kinda weird hearing about Woolworths going bust in the UK. It's a major supermarket chain here in Australia.
I went back to my hometown this winter for a visit. I felt very nostalgic but I don't ever remember the roads being so small. The town hasn't changed much but the towns around them have a bit and of course policies and such. Been gone 10 years. Not to mention everything was flooded so we couldn't enjoy certain naturistic activities. Family and friends didn't change much tho and they were all happy to see us.
Go to Boston,Lincs fairly near Grimsby, as you know,my friend and spot the Brit....
Not sure if you have booked your hotel in York but my mum is just open an AirBnb right inside the wall. Its a small 1800's terrace which has been restored back to how it would look in the 1890's.
Still got discreet central heating and a kitchen. Its very cool let me know if you want some pics? Tobias
You really shouldn't pay attention to the Daily Mail?
I think he might have been joking. At least I hope he was joking.
Leave Central or The City Of London on a bus from Monday-Friday and see if you can spot 5% of the people being White/British indigenous. Go either North/South/East or West and it will be the same story.When I grew up in the heart of Inner London over 55 years ago it was 99% White/Briitish outside the wonderful 200,000+ enterprising Jewish populace.
I was born and raised abroad to very proud expat parents, neither of whom had lived in Britain since the '70s. So, I was weaned on a rather old fashioned, outdated, but glorious dream of Britain. A dream I would come to discover didn't actually exist. But, then the world I knew no longer exists either; I do still love the dream, though.
The corporation I work for is building 'The Scapel' in London. Funny that in London they name every high rise!
US was way behind Canada in the adoption of chip cards. When I worked a front desk in a hotel eight years ago, it was only from Americans that I required a signature. Everyone else just entered a PIN.
The skirting board, what a lad!
Wood wall trim also called baseboards.
Looking forward to all your new content! Thanks for sharing. Keep up the great work! ATB : ) BTW, did you guys get snow today/tonight? We (milwaukee) got enough to cover the grass, but not enough to stick to the roads. Spring has GOT to be here soon!!!!!!
I did not go far and not for long. I never lived anywhere else besides the state of RI in my first 27 years. I only traveled as north as NH, as south as FL, as west as.... FL... as east as ... well... RI.. I moved to Midland, ON Canada. I had visited home a few times, but I spent every holiday in Can. I noticed all the little things I missed and could not get or have or view in Midland(I lived off a bay/cove off of lake Herion, so it was pretty, but nothing like having the ocean so close) When I came back home and to live, it was actually just after Hurricane Sandy. That storm even made it to the border. Seeing all the flooding and destroyed parks and such on my way home, not even sure if I could get home on my usual route. I mostly drove through NY, a little through western Mass towards Boston and then into RI. The hurricane destroyed/flooded so much. So, it was more seeing the landscape changed that through me off the most. It was nothing like how H. Katrina destroyed much the south, but it was a big change. One of the largest east coast amusement parks was Now in the ocean, the tallest rides still actually standing, 20ft or so deep in muddy trashy water. Things like that. Of course homes and businesses were destroyed, but no one I knew got hurt or was effected, but it was still emotionally messed up to see and hear stories of.
Besides that... I saw my little tiny state in different eyes. I grew up mostly hating it. Especially as an adult, the taxes alone.... I viwed to myself to one day leave, even if I am crawling out of my deathbed over to MA or CT but I ended up realizing how unique RI was/is. I crawled back with my tail between my legs, because everyone I knew did not bless my journey, they told me it was a huge mistake to leave(it still was not, just didn't work out and I loved where I lived in Can.) BUT I was so glad to be home and I still love it. Now, as of 8-9 months ago, I live in MA, only about 1-2hours from RI, so close enough to visit, but far enough to.. be far. What I still miss the most is the familiarity of all the hiking trials of RI. The quick drive to the ocean that anyone living 20 mins away from in RI would call it a "Day trip", I miss that.. at least 2 hours with regular traffic.. I suppose to can drive to cape cod in that time as well. Where I live now use to be my first and last rest stop when driving back and forth to Canada on my 12 hour trips. Now it's not "near home", far away enough to have to pee and get another coffee, now it IS my home, 10 mins away from that rest area in a town i previously never heard of.
Every town is full of charities shops with a lot of foreign shops as well.
There have always been "foreign" shops.
Hey, the last time I was in England was 2008!
Me too
Woolworth's began in America. Something for a future video, perhaps.
Where I grew up in upstate New York, Woolworths was very much a staple and I remember going to the diner for lunch with my grandfather. I rather miss it.
I thought I was bad not making it back for 2 years when I first moved here, let alone 11!
I make it back once or twice a year now, so I don't have any shock when I go back. Other than petrol prices.
Social or culture is what I'm thinking with all that is going on across Europe per changes.
I moved to Canada almost 41 yrs ago. I was 15. Made my first trip back when I was 19-20. And I've made a trip every year since. Love it but would not live there again. London is so "small".
I've been to Britain 4 or 5 times over the last 40 years. I always thought it was great. So much history. So many beautiful small towns. The ONLY thing that really caught my attention, though: Britain doesn't seem to "play up" their historical sites, the way we do in the USA. One example: The place where the Magna Carta was signed. Possible one of the most IMPORTANT places on the planet for MILLIONS of people in the Western World. As I remember there was only a small copula, marking the spot. And I could only view it from a road about 1/4 of a mile away. NO Museum? No 10 story tower visitor's tower? No souvenir stands? No flags flying? Now maybe I just didn't know how to get closer and maybe there was more to the site then I realized....but.....I DO know that's just one example of the many historical places I visited that were kept VERY "low key".
There are so many historical things here that you can't really give everything the publicity it deserves. I remember being in Cornwall and just off a remote country lane we stumbled across an ancient stone circle which was merely represented by a small, easy to miss plaque. The field next to it had castle ruins. But I kind of love that about my country.
@@prappsy3028 As I said: "So much history."
@@prappsy3028 You need to go to Italy or a few other European countries. There is much more there than in the UK.
This is off-topic, but just for fun I used Google Street View to explore Grimsby. One thing I noticed is that there are businesses in residential areas that you wouldn't see in the U.S. Things like tyre (tire) shops, building supply businesses, mobile phone stores, mechanics, clothing stores, and tanning salons in the middle of residential streets. You generally don't see that in the U.S. Is zoning less strict in the U.K.?
Where to begin
In terms of leaving a place that I had grown up in I had done that. Moved away in 2006 and returned for a visit in 2015 the change was enormous. So many businesses were out of business, either replaced or just a vacant space. One was a long time lumberyard/hardware store that was replaced with a Mexican food market.
In terms of being like Laurence living outside my country of origin and returning, I had been in Asia and came back and was annoyed with the level of violence that is ever prevalent here especially compared to there. It also was hard to remember to whip out my wallet to pay for things rather than just use my phone. Businesses in the US love taking their sweet time upgrading systems while "kicking and screaming" the whole while.
There's an old saying "You can't go home again" meaning it will never be exactly as you remember it. I've never lived for any period of time outside the US, but my childhood hometown seems both bigger and smaller than I remember. Bigger in that the population has grown, but smaller in that everything is now car travel scale instead of foot or bike. Most of the old businesses I remember are gone as well.
I’m British (& within that Scottish) and moved around every 5 years or so as a child because of my father’s job, so have no strong childhood attachments to a specific area from my childhood, although settled in an area fairly close to where my father grew up, although I never lived in the area as a child. My parents came from different parts of the country too. As a young adult I moved abroad in my early 20s, living 2-4 years in numerous countries (because of my job) in the Middle & Far East & mainland Europe for over 20 years before returning to live in the UK more or less permanently in my mid-40s when I decided to retire from employment (yes, I was able to do that, don’t hate me, ha ha 😉). I’m now in my mid/late-60s. I also have a holiday home in Spain, where I spend anything from 2 to 5 months a year on average. One big difference from you is that I visited the UK fairly often on vacation, every two years in the early years, and every year at least once from then on, so never really got so out of touch with the UK as you may perhaps have done, although one obvious similarity with you is that my family & friends were all living their own lives when I returned for a few weeks most years so whilst they were always pleased to see me they inevitably had their own preoccupations and I didn’t necessarily want to spend my brief holiday time in the UK travelling around to visit different relatives each time I visited, and I always spent a good proportion of my annual holidays travelling outside the UK anyway in places abroad other than where I was actually working at the time. Good luck with your temporary reintegration back in British society - I’m sure it’ll be fun 😂👍
England reminds me of 1950s America in many ways. In some of the phases, cultural norms, dress formalities in some more elite circles which was once commond place in America, and in food.
I felt the same coming to America! It still has miles (not kilometres), lbs and ounces (not kilograms), etc. so was like stepping back to an earlier British time. Here in the South, the food choices seem very basic. I suppose everything is relative. When I go back to England, the houses, roads and cars seem very small in comparison though.
Oh my, you will need to remember how to drive on the wrong side of the road! Perhaps you should get one of those L stickers on the car.
Daily Mail? You mean the Daily Fail?
As far as music goes, I am totally stuck in the 80's and a bit of the 90's. My music is now classified as "oldies!"
As for going home. I grew up in SW Michigan and when I was 25, I moved to the east side, which was culturally a different state! (about a 2 hr drive.) When I would go back and visit my parent's house, I totally did not feel "at home," even though few things had changed. I just wasn't comfortable there anymore. The whole town just seemed strange to me and I couldn't remember how to get around very well.
For a real challenge come live in the U. P., eh. :)
@@craigbenz4835 I spent a Christmas there once! WOW. Could note believe the drive up to Marquette!
I returned to my small hometown after a military career. I am still confused by 'new' landmarks and have simply resigned myself to referring to the 'old' ones as if they were still there.
Hello Laurence!!! I clicked on the notification so fast!!!
I see that! Thanks!
Same!!’