Nothing like distance to make the heart grow fonder. Supposedly.
Whilst our beloved UK does have its many faults, having spent the past 9 months on the other side of the world, studying abroad in Chile, I find myself longing for some unexpected aspects of British life. Perhaps I’m compiling this list to feel better about my eventual return, but I shall share these thoughts, in the hopes that these little things may gain more appreciation from those still in the UK.
1 – Baked Beans.
My time spent away from home and the amount of time I spent talking about baked beans are absolutely positively correlated. As a vegetarian, finding meat free options has certainly been easier than I expected it to be, but there’s still something essential missing from my diet.
And I eat a lot of beans and pulses. I even eat white beans in tomato sauce. Yet I yearn for more. I’ve found myself passionately explaining and describing beans on toast for far too long to patient listeners, who definitely regretted asking, with a slight grimace on their face, if it’s in true that in the UK we eat just bread with beans for breakfast.
(The mental image here is plain beans, on plain bread, so pretty dry, tasteless and practically a blasphemous comparison to our national delicacy).
Lots of other food items could also be in this list. Marmite and Cadbury’s Dairy Milk being two of the obvious choices.
2 – The Drains.
It is miserable how much it rains in the UK. It’s dreary, and it’s grey. But oh, how well we handle this!
Where I live now, as soon as a couple of raindrops hit the ground, the pavements are flooded. Granted, there isn’t as much rain, but it still receives an average of 99.3 days of rainfall a year[1], less, but not drastically less than Southampton’s 159 rainy days[2]. I don’t pretend to be any kind of expert on sewage systems, but to me, having this many days of rain warrants having an effective water drainage system.
And the UK’s, unsurprisingly, aren’t perfect either, but our streets do tend to be built with rain in mind, and my feet get a whole lot soggier walking down the street on a rainy day in Chile, than a similar day in the UK. So, look fondly upon your drainpipe, smile at that grate by the road next time you see it. It may get clogged with leaves but be grateful it exists.
3 – The Whole Bathroom Experience.
I promise this won’t be TMI, but visiting the toilet was a focal point of culture shock when I first arrived in Chile and has not been something I have grown to accustomed to.
I’ll talk you through process: to begin with, in many public bathrooms, there is one shared roll of toilet, outside any of the cubicles, and before queuing for toilet use itself, you must first queue for toilet paper. There’s something unnecessarily humiliating about demonstrating to your fellow loo-roll users how much you predict you’re going to need, and you always have to overestimate so as not be caught out, which surely leads to paper being wasted.
Then, once you’ve collected what you need and you’re on the throne itself, the paper must be put in a bin, not flushed down the toilet, and said bin never has a lid, it will be open for the world to see. I never realised what luxury it is to have your own toilet paper in your cubicle, and then, to just flush your toilet paper away, and for the whole experience to not be face-to-face with an open bin of other peoples neatly folded away business.
Whilst many aspects of Chilean life reigns above, the superior bathroom experience is absolutely awarded to the UK.
4 – Toasters and Kettles.
The UK should also earn a pretty high score in the kitchen equipment department.
Once believed to be a staple but turns out to be a luxury, the toaster is sorely missed right now. Chileans are particularly proud of their own replacement, a little grill that’s placed on the hob, and maybe there’s a knack I really haven’t learnt, but I’m yet to have toasted my bread without one section entirely black, and another soft and cold.
Also, placing your mug of water in the microwave to heat your water feels so inefficient and ineffective – bring back the kettle! Returning to a kitchen complete with both these wonderful little devices will be such a treat. We Brits do know how to properly kit out a kitchen.
5 – Headphone Use.
I think Brits have a bit of a reputation sometimes for being closed off and cold, but generally, this tends to come with respect for other’s personal space. Another culture shock I haven’t really gotten used to is the social acceptability of having your phone at full volume, playing games, listening to music or watching videos, whilst on public transport.
Even on night buses. Even at 4 in the morning. I miss British awkwardness, shyness and quietness. Let’s all be more antisocial please.
6 – Free National Park Access.
I know this is meant to be about appreciating the UK, but just a moment to mention quite about stunning the national parks in Chile are.
There’s everything, from desert, to snowy volcanos, craggy mountain peaks, temperate rainforest, marble caves, countless natural hot springs, and lakes, of every single shade of blue imaginable. But visiting all of these comes with a price, a ticket, which often has to be bought ahead of time.
I didn’t quite realise how lucky we are in the UK to be able to roam our national parks free of charge. You can rock up to the lake district, stroll the new forest, roam the peak district, appreciating mother nature and filling your lungs with the freshest air, no cost involved, and I think that’s beautiful.
Sadly, my list of things I will miss about this gorgeous country when back on the grey, rainy (but well drained) shores of the UK will probably be far longer than this, but at least there will be some things that I greet with a smile, and I hope to continue to hold them in higher regard, and treat them with new found value and respect.
[1] Yearly & Monthly weather – Concepción, Chile
[2] https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Rainy-days,Southampton,United-Kingdom
