ex-pat in Holland
What do I miss from England after living in Holland for more than 30 years.
I'll start with food as that seems to be what most of us ex-pats miss the most. It's the quirky things only the British eat.
Fish and chip with vinegar and pickled onions. Piccallily sauce.
Steak and kidney pies (fray bentos)
Oxo cubes....bisto gravy.....bovril........marmite..........Salt and vinegar crisps.....pork scratchings cornish pasties.......jamaican pasties
......pork pies......scotch eggs..........twiglets.....cadburys choclate bars
.......kippers......whelks.....real new zealand butter.
....english lamb chops.....leg of lamb...shoulder of lamb
roast pork with crackling................
............................anybody hungry yet?.....................................
Hp Brown Sauce...chipolaters.....sausages....
Heinz Salad Cream........ Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce........
Heinz Chicken & Mushroom Soup...
Heinz Cream Of Tomato Soup.....Heinz Mulligatawny Soup.......
Heinz Vegetable Soup....Heinz Oxtail Soup
.......................here's my shopping list........... meet me at Schiphol airport with it...............
Social aspects:
family in the first place......hard to substitute with friends.........
pubs and bitter beer
xmas hats and crackers at the dinner
xmas morning down the pub showing off the jumper you got as present.
queing for anything in an orderly fashion.......does it still apply?
good natured banter in the workplace and shops.
britsh sense of humour and irony
people who take the mickey out of themselves.
belly laughs.......the loud an uninhibited ones.
visual aspects:
The rolling English countryside
red telephone boxes and red double decker busses
indian newsagents where you can buy anything at any time.
london cabs........if I spot one here I always rush over to inspect it.
streets where every door has a different colour.......over here it's so uniform.
Winding country roads.
It's making me homesick writing this all down, good job I can get to england in an afternoon by plane.
The jist of this is, that it's the small things you miss when living abroad. These all add up to being British.
