What's there to miss about England?

I knew that would get your attention, at least those English folks who read this blog anyway.

In truth, there is a lot I will miss about England that I could have never imagined when first landing here 10 years ago. Here are just a few (in no particular order) I can think of off the top of my head:

Pubs
This is a given. The pubs in England are simply awesome and always full (slight exaggeration but you get the picture). A few years ago I started taking photos of every pub I visited with the view to put them online with my own review of the establishment and allow others to review/comment as well - that ole chestnut for a website idea has long been discovered and developed by many so decided not to bother in the end. English pubs have so much history and the internal and external architecture is often beyond belief.
My favourite pub in England is still The Wheatsheaf at Bough Beech just because of the memories working there and of course being the meeting place for Mel and I!

Tunbridge Wells
I've lived in and around Tunny Wells for most of my 10 years in the UK, I love the town and it's people and since they opened a GBK it's almost unbeatable (sorry, Wellington is still my fav city in the world - no question). TW has a regular farmers market, some good pubs and not too many chavs to put up with - always important.

London
Having worked in London for the past 3.5 years it's given me the opportunity to explore what is a vibrant, busy, opportunistic and wonderful city - one I will miss dearly for all those reasons but one I could unlikely ever live in for fear of going crazy with the crowds.

Our local butcher
I've been going to Fullers most Saturdays for a while now, those guys are awesome - always friendly with meat to convert any veggie!

Friends and Family
Since the first week I landed in England when I met Ruth and Al at The Wheatsheaf pub in Bough Beech (who I am still good friends with) I've always tried to spend as much time with English friends as possible rather than just hanging out with fellow southern hemisphere people like a lot of travellers from down-under do! I've made some friendships that are ever lasting, none more so than Mel of course :-) and really do sincerely like the English folks a lot. Mels family have always made me feel welcome too and we will both miss them during our time away - that said it's about time I spent some more time with my family and being that much closer to NZ is going to be grand!

Feel free to make comments on this post, I am sure you English have a whole list of other things you think I will miss - admittedly even though I've come to enjoy the rugby here more - that is not one of them!

Cheers
Tim

Aussie experience

Wow, we are already well into Feb and yet again I've been neglecting my blog posting!

I do have a good excuse (well I think so anyway) as most of my spare time has been used looking into the possibility of a move to Australia and I could not really talk about that until the boss had the heads up. Most work collegues do not know yet but are unlikely to be bothered with my blog either so if you are a Yahoo! and were sad enough to search for me and find my blog please keep it to yourself until it's formally announced!

So at the end of April Mel and I will make the move to Sydney for a while! We feel Sydney can still offer us good jobs but at the same time give me back the ocean I've been missing for the past 10 years in the UK! As we are both keen divers now there will be plenty of that and the weather is of course a strong draw-card.

We will miss England for sure, the pubs being one thing and of course family and friends on this side of the world will be that much further away. I do personally get the chance to spend more time with family and friends in NZ and we hope those from the UK will visit while the opportunity of free accommodation* in Sydney is available.

I will continue to operate my touch rugby business leaving the operational aspects to some capable player/friends, let’s hope that can continue to grow as healthily as it has over the past 4 years.

So it's busy busy finding tenants for our house and working out what to take and what to leave behind, if you know someone who needs a 2 bed terraced house in a very quiet area of Tunbridge Wells or needs an old pine coffee table (going cheap, you could use for firewood) let me know...

Cheers

Tim

*Normal London dossing rules do not apply, max stay applicable.