Goodbyes

A young English fox in our backyard

Today was the last day of school for the kids and there was lots of waving and hugging involved. I did see quite a bit of tears, but not from my kids however.

It is strange to leave this life in England behind and all that has become so familiar to us in these past three years. For sure it has been quite challenging at times to live here, what with all our crazy landlords and all... (read Cameron, Jackson, Howarth Homes etc.) But this is all past us now and I have to say that our last landlords have been wonderful so far, pouring us sparkling wine whenever we stopped by. (Of course the guy is Irish, that may just be the difference)

Things I will miss from here:

• The international school and community
• My international oriented friends
• The walks with my friends
• The European honesty, open mindedness and willingness to help without any conditions
• The tube!
• Our little road trips to visit family & friends in Holland
• The quick little trips to other European destinations--although there were few

Things I will NOT miss from here:

• The lack of customer service
• The sour faces at the stores
• The long lines at the stores
• The lack of parking

We're packing up next week and start a new life somehow with lot's of unknows again and this is always a bit scary, at least to me. England will never be one of my favorite places in the world but the experience of living here has taught me so much. It has opened my eyes to different choices of education for our children, it has taught me more about European culture and their mindset (even though I am European myself), and mostly it has taught me about myself and my place in this world.

I'm looking forward to our new life in the US, but it is with a heavy heart that I go...I don't have roots in the US and I never will...my roots are in a small town in the north of Holland and I will always be that simple down to earth Frisian girl who is just trying to live the best life that she possible can...

Tot ziens, Auf Wiedersehen, Au Revoir, Goodbye...

Labor in the UK

Within 11 weeks the movers will be here. When the representative of the moving company asked me in how many days we were packed up in America he was quite surprised that my answer was "one day". He asked me how that was possible. "Well", I answered, "a crew of five come in, and each starts packing up a room, and they don't stop until they're finished." "Labor must be cheap in the US", was the reps' response to that. I told him that when we moved from Holland to the US the movers took one day as well and that since our recent international move, my husband and I had moved our household three times more, and gotten rid of quite some stuff in the process. I could tell he was impressed when he found out that we had moved without help of a moving company.
"Four days", the rep told me, it was going to take their movers four days to pack up our household, based on the volume of our belongings. Both my husband and I have since asked if they are sure about this, telling them that we really don't have that much stuff, but they insist that it will take them four days.

A family member in Holland put it quite bluntly when she said, "the English are lazy". She had worked for a couple of months in a care home in England and drew her own conclusions from that experience.
My Thai beautician uses the exact same term, "the English are lazy, and I'm married to one". Well, I don't wish to argue with that.
I don't know if the English are lazy as such, but perhaps they are comfortable; they feel they can take it easy perhaps of the soft cushioning the government provides for when they fall, so to speak. I know I'm generalizing here, and I certainly don't want to imply that this is true for all English, as I'm sure it's not...but for some, yes, I think it may be the case.

There have been several articles and reports about immigrants and immigration in this country, and if this is a burden or if this gives an economical benefit to the United Kingdom. From what I've read I have the feeling that the opinions and conclusions are quite conflicting. I can just share my own experiences and the stories I hear around me, and from what I see I conclude that this country needs the immigrants. For example, the people from Eastern Europe that I've met here are highly motivated to make a better living for themselves, and they work hard to make it here. Our neighbor, who is a business owner, tells us that he will take a Polish worker anytime over an English worker, because he knows that he can depend on them. If the Polish worker can't come in for work, he will send a buddy to do the job.

A former neighbor, a cultured Englishman in his eighties who tells us he is not racist, has the opinion that the neighborhood and the city is going down because of immigrants and "blacks". Now I really don't want to argue with a man at his age, who survived the war, and travelled the world, but the parents on the streets who are yelling shamelessly to their kids in the shopping centre, are most definitely English. So is their gardener, who told them he is building up a business for himself, and suddenly he just stopped coming. Why did he let the neighbors down so suddenly? It turned out he was saving up for a holiday, once he made enough money, he just didn't show up at the scheduled time with his customers and just went away to enjoy the sun...I imagine he will have to start his business up on the ground floor again upon his return, he can't count on the recommendations of his former customers I'm sure.

The English are proud of their country, and of their history of being once the most powerful nation on this earth. An acquaintance said once "we did not become great by being nice", but I wonder if they realize that they are losing their edge. Businesses like cleaning companies, removal businesses and plumbing services owned by immigrants are rising from the ground like mushrooms. And guess who I would call if I need something done around the house? Yes, someone who is reliable, flexible and honest hardworking. I'm done waiting for a given time slot of 8-5 for someone who may or may not show up.

I'm very curious to see what will happen with the packing up of our belongings, and if they will really need four days to complete work. Maybe they come with less than five, probably they just work short days...I don't know how else I can explain why the movers would take that long. We'll see.