Is the grass ever any greener?

January 17, 2010 4:59 PM

That is a question I often ask myself, and frequently come to the opinion that of course it is, nothing could be worse than the UK, it's a poo hole and I wouldn't miss it for the world... but it seems with more and more of my family and friends moving away to foreign climes it is in fact becoming apparently clear that, no, in fact whilst the grass from a distance seems lush and wonderful, get to the middle of the field and you discover it's full of the same shit you'd left behind.

I say this because today I've had a conversation with my Mum, after a conversation with my sister who informed me that Mum was desperately miserable over in Greece and as a result my parents have reached the conclusion to sell up and ship back to the UK. I can to a degree understand the decision - the island that they moved to whilst lovely hasn't a lot to offer on the old mental stimulus scale and since my parents are not ones to get all tally-ho with the expats have made a few greek friends but without fully understanding the language that's been tough too. I'm sure there are lots of other reasons I'm not privvy to at the moment but the long and short of it is that whilst it's been nice for 18 months, long term it's not for my Mum, and if Mum isn't happy, Dad isn't happy. I'm just pleased that they have had the balls to make the decision, because it's a big one. I'm sure the thought of the "I told you so's" and the perceived degree of failure are difficult to overcome, but you know that means very little coming from people who haven't had the guts to give it a go, and they should be utterly ignored.

And this isn't the only story I've heard of the faithfully departed either returning to our shores or wondering if in fact they made the right decision to go in the first place... you know who you are.

So I have to conclude then that whilst I may bitch about the UK, and complain about the weather and how expensive it all is, it is the very fabric of our little island that makes it indisputably difficult to leave, it's almost as if it's native inhabitants are inbreed with a boomerang gene - you can throw them as far as you like to all the corners of the world, but one day they'll want to come back. And you know what? It'll probably still be raining, and Labour will still be in power when they do, but they'll be back home in good old blighty.

Wow, I almost sound patriotic...