12 little things I will miss about life in the UK

Life over the last 2 years has of course been an adventure, which is now sadly coming to an end. Part of the adventure is loving and loathing the small differences between everyday life in two different places. When we go away for a short or long period of time it's sometimes surprising how much those little things seem to matter. The following list contains the small, everyday things I will miss most about my life in the UK.

1. Football at the right time of day – I get back to Australia on the first day of the 13/14 English Premier League. And so begins life as a fan of a sport I can only watch live when I should be sleeping. Sadly, no more afternoons down at Stamford Bridge or The Famous Three Kings in West Kensington. I’ll have to settle with the highlights show down at the pub on a Monday night with Dad and the occasional middle of the night live stream.

2. Queen's Club Gardens garden – The last year I've been living in a residential square with a communal garden in the middle. When summer finally arrived, there was no better place to be than the residents’ garden – quiet, private, picturesque, speculating about the lives of the fellow residents, and best of all only one minute away from a clean bathroom and fully stocked fridge.

3. Off Licenses - Sometimes I just want one cider, or my house decides to share a hard earned bottle of wine in the evening… no problem, just a short walk down to the local corner store. And it's cheap! Can’t do that in Australia.

4. Oyster Cards – How great is it having a little card that you can top up any time and then swipe at any train station or on any bus. No paper tickets, just swipe and go. Can’t believe Sydney still doesn't have one of these.

5. The lack of creepy crawlies – It's no secret I'm terrified of spiders. There have been two small incidences with large (by UK standards) arachnids, but nothing like a lost huntsman in your car. I went to Derby recently and met my friend Amy’s five year old nephew Archie, who had no interest in going to Australia "because they have dangerous spiders there". Fair call mate, fair call. 

6. Different style night venues – I love the variety of nights out you can have in London…. feeling like partying to those songs that everyone secretly loves? Try Guilty Pleasures at KOKO or Club de Fromage. If you’re interested in intense trancy music, then Fabric is brilliant. And there are a load of traditional English pubs, intimate wine bars and trendy cocktails bars to suit all tastes. So basically, what I need is an investor to help me open up the ultimate venue in Sydney which changes theme and style each night.

7. Free lunch – If there are approximately 4 weeks in a month, 5 working days per week, and you spend £5 per day on lunch, that’s £100 per month… just for lunch! So imagine my delight at finding out that I could have free lunch every day down at one of our hotel’s staff canteens! The food was hit and miss (especially for gluten free requirements) but I can’t complain, it’s free lunch innit.

8. Sunshine hours in summer – At the longest point in summer the daylight hours go from about 4:30am until approximately 10:30pm! So many hours of sunshine to enjoy (when it’s not hiding behind clouds). The only downside is the feeling of dread when you're having a big night and are not home before it starts to show for a new day. I find that kinda depressing.

9. 4Music – I suffer from a little known condition called Musical Dementia. I basically have an inability to recall what a song sounds like from its title, who the artist is or what songs an artists does. Over the last 2 years I have been working very diligently to combat thisand a lot of it is thanks to 4Music! I usually have it on all weekend while I'm home and Sunday mornings are always great for a cracking countdown… such as the top ballads of the 90’s, top girl hits of the 00’s, 50 songs we all secretly love… etc. 

10. Exposure to accents – Having studied languages, accents are a big fascination of mine. The fact that Liverpool and Manchester are just 30 miles apart and have distinctly different accents astounds me. The Essex accent is hilarious and Welsh is quite musical. It took me quite a while but I think I can now correctly identify most of the unique accents across Britain. 

11. Using multiple cards to pay in a restaurant – You know in Australia, when you go out for dinner with friends and there’s always that dreaded part at the end where everyone needs the right amount of cash, or all but one pay cash and then one person puts the lot on their card? Not the case here. Going out for dinner with five friends and all of you need to pay with card? No problem! Six separate transactions at the table, each person paying their required amount! Incredible. 

12. Perfect queues – For someone who likes procedure & organisation, and shudders at crowds, a good queue restores all of my stress levels back to normal. And don't the Brits know how to queue! So polite and fair. When the Prince George was born, I wanted to go down to the Palace to get a look at the announcement. The only thing stopping me was the people crush I had seen on the news the night it was put on display. By the next morning when I arrived, there were two perfect lines, moving steadily and efficiently. I was so relieved! 

As I begin to pack my things, say goodbyes and close accounts, there will be many young Aussies preparing to embark on the same exciting adventure I began two years ago. Each experience will be different but I hope they can all have a positive experience of fun, adventure, learning, growing and finding their own little things they love... and hate. My list of things I won't miss coming up next...