Will Miss #7: Kinder Surprise

Back when I lived in Ukraine, Kinder Surprise was one of my favorite things. Unfortunately, these chocolate eggs with a toy inside are illegal in the US, so I haven't seen them until I moved to UK. Now I buy them sometimes for the sentimental value, and because I actually really like the chocolate. I don't even care about the toy anymore, but I still get ridiculously excited to see what's inside.

I will miss buying Kinder Surprise egg, and being so impatient to see what's inside that I would open it up on the way to the car. And like I said before, the chocolate is really good too. :)

Will Miss #6: Bounty candy

I'm not big into sweets, but there is one candy that holds my heart. I actually grew up with Bounty back in Ukriane, but when I moved to US, I found out that it wasn't sold there except in stores like World Market. It is everywhere in the UK, so when I crave some junk food, I can just walk into the first convenience store and pick up Bounty. 

I will miss Bounty being sold everywhere and being readily available when I'm back in the US.

Will Miss #5: British bacon

Before coming to the UK, I used to absolutely hate bacon. It was mostly because of the smell, but also because of the high fat content. I know that the smell and crunchiness of American bacon is the stuff of legends and many people love it, but I personally hated it because of those reasons. 

Now I love bacon, but with one major difference. I love British bacon, which is cut from a different cut of meat and is much less fatty. On the downside, it's almost impossible to make it crispy, but the less-fatty benefit far outweigh the lack of crispiness. Granted, I can still get streaky (American style) bacon in British stores, and those few times I got it felt as if they were also less fatty, but I don't get that type (from either country) often enough to really compare them. 

I will really miss British bacon and I really hope I'll be able to find it in the USA.

Will Miss #4: magazine freebies

I rarely bought fashion magazines while in the US, and I still don't buy them as often as I could here. When I do buy them, it's mostly for pretty photos or fashions, because I don't consider fashion magazines to be a great reading material. Now that I lived in the UK, I find a great incentive to get them though, and that's the free samples or full sized products that are frequently included with a magazine.

The cool thing about these magazine freebies is that they frequently include high end stuff that I would never buy otherwise. In the photo above you can see three Benefit products, which normally would cost an arm and a leg for a full sized product, but only cost me £2 each for this sample. I got a chuckle out of the cashier when I brought three identical magazines to the checkout. I think I actually saw this same set on Sephora for $15, where I only spent  £6(around $10). 

It's not just make up, crafting magazines have craft projects in them, gardening magazines have seeds and planting wheels (calendar type things), home magazines will have plates. Sometimes I see tank tops, sunglasses or nail polish, other times it's a free book. Heck, I rarely buy magazines for the magazine itself, but instead choose them based on the freebie. 

I know when I'm back in the USA, I will really miss these magazine freebies.  

Will Miss #3: difference in spaying procedure

I've never had cats in the USA, and I've only seen one cat get spayed (our friend's, we ended up taking her to the vet and bringing her back while he was deployed) so I didn't even realize there was a difference until my own cats got spayed. I wouldn't have even known there was a difference, had I also taken my cats to the base vet, but instead I took them to the off base UK clinic.

Apparently, the US way of spaying that I'm familiar with (and which the vet on base does) is to make a cut right at the bottom of their tummy but my cats got their cut on the side. You can see in the photos that a good chunk of their fur got shaven off and it took few month to grow back, but I actually prefer it that way. I remember when we took our friend's cat to the vet to get spayed, I kept thinking about her using her litter box and possibly getting all kinds of infections in her cut because of where it was located. It seemed like she would be literally touching the litter with her cut while peeing. While I don't know if that is necessary true, having the cut on the side just completely eliminates the problem altogether.

Again, I'm no vet expert and don't know if it actually makes any difference, but having their cut on the side made me feel much better about keeping the cut clean from the litter box.

Will Miss #2: wild berries and fruits

See those yummy blackberries in the photo? England is covered with these bushes just randomly growing everywhere, and I don't ever see anyone actually picking them! This particular photo was taken at the tube station, when I just so happened to park near them. Let's just say I went home with quite a bounty. :) There is a public trail near my house and last year I've discovered whole bunch of blackberry bushes, as well as wild apples and plums growing there, so now I make sure to go every week and pick the fruits.

I've never seen anything like that in the USA and I get very excited when I can go for a walk and come back with whole bunch of things.

~ Lyuba

Will Miss #1 - Sweet Popcorn

Hello Everyone,

I've decided to start a series of post about UK, inspired by 1000 Things About Japan blog. Those that know me personally also know that I make no secret of my general dislike of the UK. I didn't want to come here in the first place, I suspected I probably won't like it here, and sure enough, I don't. Yet I've realized that there are things here that I like and will miss, as well as those that I don't like and will not miss.

All these are in no particular order, they are very subjective and based on what makes ME happy or not happy. While I don't mind any of my readers sharing their opinions, I really don't want to get into online argument over how great UK is or is not. I get enough of that from other Americans who live here, who love it here, and who have been extending or coming back numerous times.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, the first things I will miss is sweet popcorn in UK's movie theaters.

Seriously, it took me over 2.5 years to realize that UK's movie theaters were serving SWEET popcorn in addition to salted one. I've just assumed that all they had available was salted, like in the USA, and because I got so used to NOT order popcorn in the USA, I've never thought of asking. I actually hate salted popcorn with a passion, I hate it even more when it drenched in "butter" or whatever it is US movie theaters pour over it so it was such a pleasant surprise when I found out that I can get it sweet here. I love sweet popcorn, which is leftover preference from Ukraine, but I can never get anything like that in the USA. The closest I can get is caramel corn or kettle corn, but even those don't work for me.

I now order popcorn every time I go to the movies here to make up for those lost 2.5 years and I will miss that when we're back in the USA.

~ Lyuba