When I Think Of England…

What comes to your mind when you hear the word England? Jesper already wrote a good summary about our weekend in Manchester. However, my take on the trip might be slightly different as I was the one who returned to a country that I called my home for three years or so.

Now that it’s been a couple of days since we came back, I have had time to gather my thoughts. Of course it was a nostalgic journey. It could not have been anything else. I learnt so much and did so many great things while I was living in England. Going back also reminded me of a lot of things that I had completely forgotten about.

England Reminds Me About Scrambled Eggs

In Manchester we stayed with a friend of Jesper’s. She cooked us some scrambled eggs and suddenly I was back in a time when I too cooked a lot of scrambled eggs with delicious spices and lots of onion. Who would have thought that I would forget about the eggs? Ready meals might be staple food in England, but I ate really well when I lived there. Omelettes, dairy, and lots of organic food and berries.

I also had this strange hobby of going to the supermarket in the middle of the night.

England Is Feel Good And Bridget Jones

Age might be the most important factor here but to me England is all about feelgood and Bridget Jones. It’s about high street, shopping, glossy magazines, the cinema and so on. And this is actually not a bad thing at all. Suddenly I remember how fun it is to dress up and wear makeup. Suddenly I feel inspired to wear cute coats and kitten heels! Yes, of course I had to buy some glossy magazines at the airport. Who knows, soon I might start using lipstick!

I Have Yet To Discover Better Bookstores Than Those In England

Say what you will, but the best bookstores are found in England. Not in any other country and not online. In Manchester we had time for a quick stop at Waterstones and I seriously thought about moving there. It was like coming to heaven with all those books, stationery and other pretty products. And there are so many fantastic books in the English language. Unfortunately we did not have time to pop in at the uni bookstore. Maybe I would have tried to move in there too.

Everyone Is So Awfully Friendly And Polite

I still remember one of my first bus rides in England and the driver called me “duck”. Nobody called me that this time but everybody was just as polite and friendly as they were ten years ago. It’d be so great if some of that politeness could rub off on Swedes. Here it is had happened that people hide in the stairways so that they do not need to greet their neighbors. Even better, nobody will ever apologize if they hit you in the head on the tube during rush hour.

Of course there are a great many other things I like about England but these are the ones that come first to mind. All in all I can say that I enjoyed Manchester and the rest of the country. It was great fun to live there and it was fantastic to visit it again!

Former expats, what type of relationship do you have to your former home country?