Great Britain, which continues to surprise: how to get used to it, having moved from Russia

TravelAsk continues to publish real stories of subscribers. Today, Elena’s story about moving to the UK, that she never ceases to amaze her after 7 years of life in a new country.

Each person has a favorite place on Earth where he wants to return again and again, and sometimes this desire develops into an obsession. For me, 7 years ago, Britain became such a place. Deciding to move was very simple, because I went to my beloved in my beloved country, which I already knew a lot about, starting from school, when we all taught that London is the capital ...

I love change by nature. Once I went from Vladivostok to Japan to live a little in Tokyo, then to Moscow and now to Britain. At the same time, I never felt that Russia is my homeland, I always looked for my place on Earth, endlessly visiting different countries, trying to find one that would resonate with me at all levels.

I currently live and work in the city of Winchester in the south of England, at one time this small town was the capital of England.

What still surprises the UK

I have always loved and respected the British for their respect for their historical heritage and culture. And when you admire all this so much, you want to share it with others. Many things were surprising before moving and still are surprising.

Household habits

Separate taps for cold and hot water. And although we already live in the 21st century, England does not want to be like the whole world, which sometimes continues to amuse and annoy tourists when you try to mix cold and hot water, but in the end it does not work, so you plug the sink with a cork, pour water from 2 taps and mix. For such a small island state, this savings is understandable, the British will not waste natural resources.

It was shocking for me several times to see how some people wash dishes here: they wash them in the sink with washing-up liquid, and then, without rinsing, they set them to dry.
Women are not obsessed with maintaining youth. Here they will think that the absence of facial wrinkles is rather a sign of psychological problems. No reason for envy.
There is no concept of clothes not according to age; students and adult women can buy the same brand of clothes.
The British are satisfied with family people, and therefore it is considered normal practice to have 3 children, sometimes more. All weekends are usually spent by families in nature or travel somewhere.
When you travel around the camp, the level of honesty and trust in small villages is amazing. If some residents have their own households, they often put up for sale milk, pastries, vegetables or some other goods. At the same time, the owner is not at the counter, there is just an honesty box in which people throw money if they buy something. Fair.

Decency and honesty again: I forgot rings several times in my gym, everything honestly returned to me. I left glasses and telephones in the fitting rooms, came in a couple of hours and everything was either in place or with the administrator.
Once upon leaving the gym, I found a note on the glass of my car: someone touched my car and left a message in which I apologized and left all my data for communication. Fortunately, there were no scratches on my car.

Work and school

Good salaries and stable earnings, which attracts a large flow of people who want to live and work here.
Work - a full work week in the country 37.5 hours. In this case, you can work in free part-time schedule. Most women choose without problems how many days or even hours a week they will work. Perhaps every day for half a day, or only 2-3, or even 1 time per week. A common practice for working moms.
When applying for a job (for the first and second), I was not even asked to present my education documents, they took me immediately according to the results of the interview. All the colleagues in the previous and new places were friendly and sweet towards me.
School starts at 4 years old, and from 3 years old children go to preschool. Already in school uniform, with backpacks and stay in school from 9 to 15:00. Nobody puts children on in layers of outerwear, in the winter they sometimes go just in school uniform, even with bare feet, in shoes. I was always surprised how they do not freeze in this country.

Living standards and infrastructure

Almost all museums in London are free, both for residents and tourists, you can endlessly wander around and look at world masterpieces, a lot of exhibitions.
The abundance of restaurants and cafes from around the world, especially in London, where, without going beyond it, you can try the cuisine of almost all countries.
The purest tap water, even small children drink it. In restaurants, they often bring tap water to the decanter.
I bought my own 4-bedroom house at the beginning of this year, I was very surprised at the low interest on the loan - 1.67%. There are cases when it even amounted to 0.99%. The purchase of a new home took exactly 4 weeks, the construction company itself offers a financial consultant, as well as an agent. Very fast, simple and professional.
Here everyone insures their pets, so my cats (and I brought two fluffies from Russia with me) have been insured for 6.5 years. Insurance covers almost all expensive treatments. I will say that insurance can definitely come in handy. A day after arriving in England, I lost one of my cats, who was not used to living in rural life after an apartment in Moscow. A week later, a neighbor found him, apparently, the fox bit the poor fellow. After 3 weeks in intensive care and another 3 months of dressings, the cat became like new, so he still has 8 lives left.

There are many foxes in Britain. They benefit from hunting mice, but they also like to rummage through garbage dumps and growl at night. In general, there is an unrealistically large number of foxes, deer, hares, hedgehogs, squirrels.

Attitude towards foreigners

The highest level of tolerance towards foreigners, other accents (yes, there are a lot of them on a small English island), cultures, religions. For almost 7 years, I have never encountered a biased attitude towards myself because I am Russian. On the contrary, everyone always asks questions and supports the conversation, they learn about life and culture. The British love the Russians, but they do not like our power and do not want to be friends with it. But ordinary people will never do anything wrong. They believe that Russia should learn to respect itself and not go to those countries that do not want to be friends with it, but develop its own economy on its own.

How do habits and attitudes change

Here people are more calm and protected, they do not need to portray themselves and prove their status. The ability to live comfortably and beautifully has nothing to do with status and money. It just means living in pleasure. You quickly get used to it yourself.
Here is a different quality of life. With the exception of London and a couple of major cities, all shops / banks / post offices / hospitals close at 5, sometimes at 6 pm. There are large supermarkets around the clock. The British value their time, both work and leisure. No one will plow 18 hours a day. And you enter this rhythm quite quickly too.
Driving culture. For driving safety, the British take 4th place in the world table. Everyone clearly travels in their dividing stripes, nobody is rude, everyone turns on the turn signals and does not undercut, they keep a good distance. Driving here is a pleasure.
Sorting garbage. Usually these are two containers - one day of processing and the second for the rest of the household. There is also a separate one for the removal of garden garbage (grass, branches). But if you need to throw away glass, household utensils, clothes or something else, you need to unload all this into a car and take it to a sorting place, where there is a container for each type of garbage.
Attitude to clothes - here they wear something that is comfortable for you, and they don’t bother stylishly or not, while everyone feels happy. People here have a very high self-esteem, so women don’t feel flawed if they don’t run on heels and pencil skirts with styling and make-up as exhibits of the fashion industry.

Everyone in the soul remains a tourist

Having lived almost 7 years on British soil, almost every weekend I continue to explore it as a visiting tourist, and every time I am filled with emotions from new places visited. There are beautiful castles, palaces and fortresses in which wars took place, intrigues wandered and mystical ghosts roamed, the stories of Henry, Charles, etc. are still stored, as well as valuable things and treasures, paintings, antique furniture and art objects; fragrant lavender fields and the cutest villages of Cotswold; English houses with thatched roofs; beautiful landscaped gardens; ancient churches; berry farms and distilleries; parks with deer and squirrels that will give a lot of emotions, and some like to get to know and beg for sweets; sandy beaches of the Jurassic coast and Cornwall; lakes and Scottish mountains; London with its rich history and many attractions; famous chalk cliffs and caves; nature reserves; royal castles and luxurious residences of the royal family. All this is very inspiring and energizing.

The British are the most tolerant inhabitants of the world and always welcome tourists from all over the world, knowing full well that in their fabulous country you can endlessly travel and admire every corner of it, because representatives of three nationalities and cultures coexist here. You fall in love with Britain immediately and finally, here you simply run your eyes from the choice of what to see and where to go.

Advice for those who want to see real Britain

Great Britain is very amazing, welcoming and cozy, full of interesting things, history and traditions, here every day you can discover something new and endlessly fall in love with it again and again. It has a very mild climate and even in winter it is all green, so the eye does not cease to enjoy the beauty of its nature. Despite the size of the island, this country contains an unrealistic amount of cultural and historical values, natural beauties and a lot of interesting and curious. Oxford is one of my favorite cities, many geniuses came out of the walls of the university and its many colleges that influenced the country and the whole world. I always feel a lot of respect for this space.

Life hacks to visit

Historic castles, palaces, estates - most of them belong to the National Trust or English Heritage - it is very beneficial to buy a subscription, they are even for tourists for several days.
Walking - the British are great lovers of nature, and in any weather. If you have a car, you can freely drive Scotland-England-Wales.
Pubs They are traditionally visited on Friday or another weekday after work, and always with the whole family on Sunday for Sunday lunch.
Well, and, of course, one cannot but pay attention to the attitude of the British towards plants and flowers, English gardening is simply extraordinary. Chelsea flower show is held here annually, and in some villages there are open days of the day visiting beautiful architectural gardens and even estates. A list of all gardens is at RHS - the Royal Horticultural Society.
If you want to see the real old England, welcome to Cotswold. Nowhere else in the world will you ever see such distinctive old villages. The most famous and beautiful of them: Castle Combe, Lower Slaughter, Bibury, Burford, Bourton-on-water.