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WelshBoyo
Original Poster
301 posts
44 months
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Following on from Housen's thread ( What would you miss about Switzerland) I thought I would start a what do you miss about the UK? - Being able to chat to anyone (depends what other languages you speak and where you live)
- Choice of food in the supermarket (you will need to learn how to cook here as next to no ready meals, pre-made food)
- Country Pubs (sitting outside with mates in the summer sun with a pint in hand), not flipping Pickwicks in the city centre selling flat beer!
- Living in a house (Houses in really good locations are hard to find and can be massively expensive)
- Family and Friends
- Cheap items and having choice.
- Shops open on a sunday (and not being closed for 2hrs at lunch time and closed early in the evenings)
- The sea (we are land locked, I miss the sea)
- Choice of good restaurants (other than pizza, and pasta)
- Take-away
- Biscuits (no flipping custard creams)
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Schnellmann
1,226 posts
73 months
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Agree with most of the comments.
I would add:
- a decent curry. Costs two to three times as much here and I've never had anything that was half as good as your bog-standard tandori available in every city, town and village in the UK
- decent crisps (slight improvement in the past few years but for a long time the choice was paprika or ready salted!)
- being able to do stuff on a Sunday e.g. wash your car, DIY, shop.
- not worrying that you are going to get deported for doing 31 km over the limit...
- British countryside. Swiss countryside is lovely but hiking in the Lake District, in crap weather, still wonderful (especially if you have a warm pub, open fire, decent British beer and a pub lunch ahead of you!)
- Race tracks and track days.
- proper sausages / morning fry-up
- public schools (overall I think the Swiss education system is better but the top UK public schools are very good and even the best probably cost less than sending your child to a Swiss nursery!)
- diversity of people and opinion - in general I've found people in the UK are a fairly tolerant and open minded, whereas I have found many Swiss (even friends) to be quite blinkered (i.e. openly racist) in their views.
- having a house with a garden and your own garage(s). Only available in CH at very high cost.
I'm sure there are more..
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chandrew
291 posts
78 months
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- a good pint
- walking in the Lakes where my folks live (though the mountains there all seem very small now) Often in combination of the one above
- not worrying that someone will take a photo of you driving .5 km/h over the speed limit on an overtake
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Whitean3
1,374 posts
67 months
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WelshBoyo and Schnellmann have pretty much summed it up for me- all the small things like beer and bacon; but also some of the bigger things like being able to buy a decent sized house.
What I miss the most is not knowing where to go to get something, and not get ripped off! Example: both our cars could do with having their wheels refurbed; in the UK, I'd be off straight to Lepsons where I know what I'd be getting. Aside from the massive price difference, I have no reference for which places do a good job, who has the best reputation etc.
I also miss the huge number of Porsche independents the UK has (not that I could afford a Porsche when I was in the UK). I can't stand my local OPC.
But I'd still rather be here than back in the UK. the plusses easily outweigh the minuses for me.
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bulldong
1,238 posts
72 months
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Proper bacon.
Curry - The curry available in Geneva SUCKS.
I miss the fairly lax attitude to speeding in the UK. Feel like if I even touch the throttle I might get a ticket for some infringement or other.
Family - Not just being able to "pop in". Each visit home is an event, which is nice but would just be nice to go for a cup of tea.
Cheap motoring - Everything to do with cars here is more expensive. Even the fuel is now equivalent to UK!
Neighbours - I tried with my neighbours in my apartment, but just can't be arsed, everyone here keeps themselves to themselves.
Mowing the lawn - I want a lawn.
I also miss the fact that I can't just go to the DIY store and find an infinite number of fittings for any job, like you can in the UK. I went to go and buy a U-bend for my sink the other day, and the market seems so sewn up by the plumbers that the most you could buy was a sink plug or a tap. Rubbish. This was the same for loads of places.
Other than that, there is not a lot I miss. It's fantastic for doing all the sports I love, so spare time is amazing. Good friends, job, girlfriend, apartment is ok, generally things are quite a lot nicer here.
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DJRC
19,831 posts
105 months
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Sense of humour. Understanding the concept of "fun". Paperwork is optional. Understanding the word "cheap". Not shaking bloody hands with every b  d that comes in the office every day. Decent fish and chips. SAUSAGES SHOULD COME IN A f kING FINGER TYPE BUN, NOT A BLOODY STUPID ROUND COB!!!!!!!!!!!! Gherkins dont come with everything.
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AndrewD
4,319 posts
153 months
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Lol I've no regrets, none at all 
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marcusjames
656 posts
130 months
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I agree with most of those comments. On a plus side, at least AndrewD isn't here 
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AndrewD
4,319 posts
153 months
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marcusjames said: I agree with most of those comments. On a plus side, at least AndrewD isn't here The flip side is that you're not here, either 
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AndrewD
4,319 posts
153 months
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Sunny Sunday weekend drives in the Cotswolds to a pub/restaurant for lunch that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. We went here on Sunday, traditional roast, two portions of fish and chips, pudding, coffee, £50 Http://www.calcotmanor.co.ukI only really miss the quality of the roads in general, the loveliness of the light when it is sunny (and not caked in goddam snow for 5 months of the year), and the relative emptiness of the place as I hate crowds.
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DJRC
19,831 posts
105 months
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And you went to the Cotswolds on the Sunday in April???
Stow and Bourton were probably the busiest places in the UK!
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AndrewD
4,319 posts
153 months
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It was fine, less traffic than the Susten
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bluesatin
2,998 posts
141 months
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Agree on the Pickwicks issue. However better living in Zug than staying Park Hotel every couple of weeks!
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DJRC
19,831 posts
105 months
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bluesatin said: Agree on the Pickwicks issue. However better living in Zug than staying Park Hotel every couple of weeks! Pickwicks Bern is just depressing. I think when I go in Im the only actual Brit there!
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JMGS4
7,929 posts
139 months
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housen
637 posts
61 months
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mmmmmm curry
curry in germany is also crap !
whats the best website for property in geneva pls guys ?
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Hugo a Gogo
15,150 posts
102 months
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just sneaking in from Germany, but surely house with garden etc depends on where you are, just like in the UK
friends of mine rent an enormous old fashioned wooden farm house with huge garden out in the sticks and he commutes into Bern
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WelshBoyo
Original Poster
301 posts
44 months
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housen said: whats the best website for property in geneva pls guys ? HomeGate.ch is like the RightMove site of Switzerland
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housen
637 posts
61 months
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WelshBoyo said: housen said: whats the best website for property in geneva pls guys ? HomeGate.ch is like the RightMove site of Switzerland thx mate heard some people live in france but commute to geneva to avoid higher living costs if so whats lyon like ? just looking at prop in geneva sorry to hijack thread its the only one alive at the mom in the swiss dept ;-) 900k chf doesnt really get u anything wtf !
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WelshBoyo
Original Poster
301 posts
44 months
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housen said: sorry to hijack thread its the only one alive at the mom in the swiss dept ;-)
900k chf doesnt really get u anything wtf ! Yep seriously hijacking this thread  900k in Geneva area definitely doesn't get you much as there are lots of crazy buying going on in that area. Pop over to the site EnglishForum.ch and read lots of details about this area. Sorry I live the German speaking part of CH.
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