Every time I watch a BBC series...

[railsquid]

Hey, I might be non-English you know 

Hey, very good point !
Thank you

As it happens I am English at least as far back as the records go (though apparently genetically I'm descended from an ancient king of Ireland, but if you go far enough back we're all related anyway).

Going back to the original post, I bet there are inhabitants of Little Downton-on-the-Wold or Nether Broadchurch or wherever who dream of living somewhere with lots of open space and dependable warm weather like they show on TV. Grass is always greener (or sand is always yellower) on the other side kind of phenomenon. Personally, from watching Breaking Bad, New Mexico looks like kind of a nice place to live (if you can keep away from the meth scene) but I bet the reality on the ground is different.

[Bealman]

Yep, everything on TV ain't necessarily so (I used to love that record as a kid! Was it Al Robeson?)

[MalcolmInN]

As it happens I am English at least

That's ok then lol!

as far back as the records go (though apparently genetically I'm descended from an ancient king of Ireland, but if you go far enough back we're all related anyway).

even unto the Kings of Dalriada ?
Dunno about genetics but we (her an' me ) have ancestors !

Going back to the original post,

Need we ! I thort we had morphed into - need the UK take all comers - !!

[Agrippa]

We don't need to take all comers, apart from those from EC countries, if someone
wants to better themselves they could always go to Cuba,China, North Korea, Belarus,
Syria,or Burma  , all workers' paradises....

[Greybeema]

If I were to move back to the UK there are certain places I think I would avoid:-

Broadchurch, Midsummer county and that place that Father Brown lives.

All very picturesque but there are a bunch of residents with an evil streak in them...

[railsquid]

I hear Dibley and Trumpington are reputable places with nice communities.

[Agrippa]

Midsomer has a higher murder rate than Mexico, if they get round to
murdering Barnaby and his sidekick there won't be anyone left
to investigate....

[Newportnobby]

Midsomer has a higher murder rate than Mexico, if they get round to
murdering Barnaby and his sidekick there won't be anyone left
to investigate....

Midsomer Murders (2 hours of adverts interrupted by snippets of a detective story) is on ITV

[Bealman]

Took me twenty one and one half hours to watch and see the result of the Australian Open men's tennis final. 

[Agrippa]

Midsomer Murders (2 hours of adverts interrupted by snippets of a detective story) is on ITV

I don't bother about channels too much, mind you I wondered why there
were no ads on Eastenders............

[scottmitchell74]

PS for added fun, try going through the non-EU citizens line at Heathrow (went through with the wife, as it was going to take some time)... first time I've ever been interrogated as to the purpose of my stay in my own country.

That's one of the top 2-3 reasons my wife became a US Citizen...having to go through the non-US Citizen line at the airport. Now we joke that if something happens she can stomp her feet and say things like "Don't you know I'm an American!"

[Jon898]

PS for added fun, try going through the non-EU citizens line at Heathrow (went through with the wife, as it was going to take some time)... first time I've ever been interrogated as to the purpose of my stay in my own country.

That's one of the top 2-3 reasons my wife became a US Citizen...having to go through the non-US Citizen line at the airport. Now we joke that if something happens she can stomp her feet and say things like "Don't you know I'm an American!"

I used to make my wife go through the (loooong) "riff-raff" line at Heathrow while I would pass through the "returning citizens" line.  No problem until one of the immigration people asked her why she was coming to England and, on being told she was helping her husband clear out her late mother-in-law's home, said why wasn't she going through with her husband in his line.  She was NOT happy.  Next time we came through together with everybody in the UK citizens line staring at the pair of passports (one EU-mulberry and one US-blue) and shaking their heads and smirking.  Presented both to the immigration lady who didn't even blink, stamped SWMBO's passport and said "Welcome back".  I still haven't lived that one down!   

[railsquid]

PS for added fun, try going through the non-EU citizens line at Heathrow (went through with the wife, as it was going to take some time)... first time I've ever been interrogated as to the purpose of my stay in my own country.

That's one of the top 2-3 reasons my wife became a US Citizen...having to go through the non-US Citizen line at the airport. Now we joke that if something happens she can stomp her feet and say things like "Don't you know I'm an American!"

I used to make my wife go through the (loooong) "riff-raff" line at Heathrow while I would pass through the "returning citizens" line.  No problem until one of the immigration people asked her why she was coming to England and, on being told she was helping her husband clear out her late mother-in-law's home, said why wasn't she going through with her husband in his line.  She was NOT happy.  Next time we came through together with everybody in the UK citizens line staring at the pair of passports (one EU-mulberry and one US-blue) and shaking their heads and smirking.  Presented both to the immigration lady who didn't even blink, stamped SWMBO's passport and said "Welcome back".  I still haven't lived that one down!   

Oooh, never even occurred to me to try that. I'll see if it works next time we pass through a UK airport, which hopefully won't be Heathrow.

[Jon898]

Hopefully it still works.  I'll find out in May when we go through Thiefrow on the way to Ireland.

[Bealman]

Yeah, it should work. When we went to the UK in 2013, the same thing happened.  Australian Mrs Bealman waited in the massive "other passports" line only to be told she could have gone through with me.