Thread: Top things you'll miss as a British expat living in America

living abroad in America you will miss a lot of things which you've probably started to take for granted. I couldn't believe that there are no electric tea kettles when I moved to the USA. check out what else you'll miss **removed link to other website**

What do you miss the most from England?

I bought an electric tea kettle.. they're available in a lot of the stores if you look, but many people don't seem to use them.
To be honest, and not wishing to sound picky, that article is kind of misleading too.. a lot of houses have double glazed windows and doors, and a lot of people retrofit them. I can buy Pale Ale that's produced by literally hundreds of US "Micro Breweries".

Bacon, yes, I do miss real bacon. :(
I don't give a **** about swearing on TV, because I usually watch movies on Netflix streaming. It's uncensored.

I miss decent tea.. so I get regular packages of PG Pyramid bags, sent by my Mum from home.
Branston Pickle.. that's what I miss.
Decent cheap mature cheddar cheese, like they cut off the block at Sainsbury's.
Indian takeaways. The availability of Indian food here isn't nearly as wide as it is at home.. where I live, anyway.
Indian frozen food in the freezer cabinets in the supermarkets. Again, not really much selection.
Four seasons.. rather than a Summer, less of a summer, a cooling down, and then Summer again.
Cars that do 55mpg. Where are they? Ford build them for the UK and European markets, but not for the USA. That's BS.

I must admit the only thing on that list is bacon, all the rest is rubbish and wrong. Do you live in the US? If so, where? We have kettles. You can reserve seats in the cinema, I have never seen buttered popcorn in a cinema, salted yes and hopefully sweet (my favourite). Yes annual leave on average is low, but hey my husband has 24 days plus 10 bank holidays, which is more than he got in the UK. ATM use depends on who you bank with, we bank with a major bank with ATM's everywhere so never found it a problem (yet!). Plug sockets, really!! Is that one of the best you can come up with, LOL. I believe all new houses are built with double glazing, it cuts down on the bills. £68 a month for energy bills!!!! WOW!!! Where?!? Our last bill was around $300 and that is cheap compared to most where I live.

As I said I miss real bacon, although I have become quite partial to the American stuff. I miss prawn cocktail Skips. I think all other typically UK food is easily available where we are including squash, although my kids mainly drink water or milk with the occasional American lemonade.

However I can live without the materialistic things, I mainly miss the history and culture.

Aghhhh ... Skips, I'd forgotten about them and now I miss them lol Bacon - everyone misses bacon and in this region anyways, I cannot get anything that approximates a skinless chipolata sausage .... or anything that gives me a decent bangers and mash. But then I live right out in the boonies and cannot find the funds for those 'ship to you' sites. When we go back to husband's home of Indiana we pass through Ohio where my in-laws shop at Jungle Jims. If you're willing to pay for it, you can get English stuff. But to be honest most things I've replaced with a U.s equivalent and cannot bring myself to pay the ridiculous amounts they ask for what are often products produced here with a manufacturing license lol. Having come further up the mountain to the land of sweet tea, I shall be going back down to restock on my Tetley tho - one thing I cannot compromise on. tried ... but failed. And MIL just restocked my Heinz baked bean stash and I'm good for Marmite. So for me bacon, fish n chips and now Skips ......

Oh, and I do have an electric kettle but use the stove top version (arghhh I said 'stove' lol), because it's quicker and therefore cheaper to use :)