The song 'Imagine'

The confusion arose because the thread started off being about the song 'Imagine', but somehow very quickly became personal!

Maybe the 'celebrity' Liverpudlians and Scots etc who live away from their original home place still really do like their 'roots' but like other people their work or other reasons mean they cannot be there full time. Greatn think there has been a communication malfunction

No, I would only take offence if I thought there was an orchestrated attack on me, rather than on my opinions. I just don't understand why anyone would presume that I hated Britain - I have certainly never said anything to suggest that. I love living in France, and when I emigrate to New Zealand it won't be because I have stopped loving France but because my daughter worries about me as I live alone in a very isolated place.

I am certainly not attacking anyone, just making a perfectly valid comment which was based on earlier posts. Really don't think you have any reason to take offence greatnan if you were inclined to do so!

I didn't say it was not O.K. for anybody to live anywhere they like - just that I find 'professional' Scots or Scousers a tad irritating when they bang on about how marvellous their place of birth is but they choose not to live there.
I doubt if any of them read Gransnet, so I am sure they won't be upset by my opinion.
I cannot see why my innocent post should lead to assumptions about my personal reasons for living abroad. I am beginning to feel distinctly under attack - it is a good job I don't take offence and flounce off.

Going by greatnan's last comment, am I to take it then, that it's perfectly acceptable for normal (for want of a better word) people to live abroad because it suits them, but not for celebrities? Don't understand the logic of that.

It was those awful toilets that got us down! Holes in the ground with precious little support around them. We went into the nearest village to find a public convenience and the queue was winding round the block! There was also a lot of theft at the site - one of the DJs was so sickened by it all he resigned over the speakers.

merlot

Was not being anti expat..just responding to GreatNscomments about JL living away from Liverpool & talking nostalgically about it. I have several friends & family who are now living all over the world and for many different reasons! I lived overseas as a child as part of an expat community and love to travel as a result so I appreciate the pros and cons!

Years ago DH & I got sent a 'warning' letter from his brother (in RAF) to stop our political activities. Not sure how he knew what we were up to ..he lived abroad and at the time was deployed to NATO Think we were a threat to his promotion.

Just spotted your post, nanaej about the Isle of Wight pop festival. DH and I lived in one of the cottages opposite the site so we have many memories of that event. I was changing my baby son's nappy when Tiny Tim, in a hot air balloon, sailed past the open window. We listened to the Doors, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix et al sitting on the window sill. We thought Joan Baez was disappointing.
When it was all over I watched the buses filing slowly down Freshwater road in the misty rain, picking people up to take them back to the ferries. It was eerily quiet. DH called them cattle trucks. I'm not surprised you took refuge in a B&B to dry out. We had quite a few distressed young girls banging on the door in the morning. They were mostly cold, in need of a hot drink and worried to death what their parents were going to say when they got home!!

Annobel there was a lot of suspicion about political prisoners being supported by UK citizens in those days. At least we can sign petitions on line, and message instantly with facebook and twitter, even in China, though they have been trying to stop it.

when, I often wondered if my Amnesty activities got me noticed - or if some of the letters I wrote even arrived. They have gone all electronic nowadays - texts and emails, enabling an instant response.

Ooh, I didn't know that Joan. And well done you for your letters. I and some friends who systematically wrote Amnesty letters in the late 70s found that some of our mail had already been opened when we received it.

Nice to know we can rattle our security services now and again!

I think that there has always been a tendency for some people to assume that if you choose to be an expat you don't like Britain. This is quite untrue in many cases - it can be just itchy feet, the need to travel and explore, the love of world cultures - and the fact Thatcher got elected.

And I'll always love 'Imagine', especially as the words of it got Lennon an FBI file! (All the best people have such files: I had one myself, a secret police file, during an extreme right-wing era here in Queensland in the 1980s, just for writing anti-government letters to the editor

Jeni

I love many parts of Britain - in fact, I am going to visit my sister in Manchester next week before bringing her back for a holiday in France. I will be taking her to The Lakes, The Dales, The Peak District and the Trough of Bowland. I live in France because the climate suits my health better and also because I want to travel widely throughout Europe and it is much easier without the hassle and expense of getting ferries/planes/trains.
I never criticise Britain (or France) except in jest, so your assumption is incorrect.

I can remember driving my daughter round E17 looking for East 17!!

I would love to move to somewhere warm. But
I have a granddaughter
It's not a good time to sell
I am disabled

I LOVE my house and it's adapted for me!

greatnan can we assume that, as an expat, you do not have a good word to say about blighty? Or are you saying you would like to live in UK but cannot afford to?

Nothing as far as I'm concerned, but we all have different views

I must have missed something here - what has "Imagine" got to do with 'Singing sentimental songs about a place you couldn't wait to leave'?

whenim64, your story of driving over o/m reminds me of doing 'the radiohead tour' round oxford and abingdon, driving for my daughter and her friend. and her friend is a cousin of mark owen.

If we had no other ties (family & friends ) (and the money) we would probably go
for a cottage in Pembrokshire overlooking the sea and a house in a Tuscan hill town. BUT where would we go for some winter sun ?. have to give that some thought if the time comes.

Well, I like 'Imagine' even though John Lennon wrote it. He was very talented. but not a nice person in many ways. I don't care. After all I listen to Wagner, and to Beethoven conducted by Von Karajan - both nasty men - much worse that Lennon.

I live at the other side of the world from England, but still love Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Dales, the Peak District, and all the history of my home country. I can't see anything wrong with that - to me it is normal. I probably couldn't live back in England though, as I would not understand the changes over three decades, and would not fit in any more. But I would love a holiday over there - if only....

Surely having pride in your country of birth, regardless of whether you live there or not, is something to celebrate, not pour scorn on? I am lucky enough to have a little cottage just outside Rhodes town, and it is bliss to go there and enjoy the sunshine which is something that has been sadly lacking here recently. DS took his family there for a break over Easter and came back totally refreshed. However, they will take a summer holiday in the UK as they want DGD to get to know this country too. Best of both worlds!