10 Things That Surprised Me When I Moved to the UK

1. “You alright?” is a greeting

In the UK, you’ll often hear people ask, “You alright?” as a casual greeting.

Coming from a place where this question might signal concern, it took me a while to realise it’s the British equivalent of “How are you?” or the Australian “How ya goin’?”

To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure how to respond.

2. The incredibly varied accents

The UK boasts a tapestry of accents that can vary drastically even within a city.

While Australia has its share of accent differences, they pale in comparison to the diversity of accents you’ll encounter in the UK.

You will hear Brummies, Scousers, Geordies, Cockneys, Glaswegian, and Northern Irish accents to name a few. Almost no one uses the Queen’s English (or should this now be King?).

3.  If you stay long enough, you will become obsessed with the weather

It’s a well-known stereotype that Brits love to talk about the weather.

I’m not sure when exactly this happened to me, but sometime in the last 10 years of living in the UK, I became obsessed with the weather. The UK’s unpredictable climate makes checking the weather essential for planning the day, and soon enough, I found myself joining in on weather conversations.

4.  Winter darkness is so much harder to deal with than the cold and the rain

I am from Queensland, Australia where we don’t have daylight savings and we are close-ish to the equator so we don’t have huge variations in daylight hours between summer and winter.   Even after 10 years, I still struggle in winter with how early it gets dark and how late the sun rises.

My lifesaver tip… Invest in a light alarm to mimic the sunrise; it makes those cold, dark mornings a bit more bearable.

5.  Equally I was not prepared for the long summer days

The long summer days in the UK caught me off guard.

I’d never realised I associated having my evening meal with it being dark.  In my UK first summer, I kept forgetting to eat dinner until it was like 9pm because it was still light.  

Being able to meet friends in the park for a picnic and drinks after work is one of the best things about summer in the UK.

6.  You can drink in public (ok not everywhere but A LOT of places)

Drinking in public is a common sight, especially in the summertime. People spill out from pubs and gather on the streets or in parks for drinks.

While you can’t sip a beverage on the tube or buses, you can do so on trains between cities and even on the Eurostar.

7.  The museums are really great and usually free

Museums are great for when the weather is bad and you want to be indoors, when you’re lacking in £ and need a free activity, or when you’re feeling cultured.

There are the well known museums like the British Museum, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, and Victoria and Albert Museum.

And some less known and sometimes quirky ones including the Wellcome Collection, Sir John Soane’s Museum, the Horniman Museum and Gardens (for some very interesting taxidermy), and Grant Museum of Zoology (for all kinds of animal parts in jars).

8.  There are supermarkets everywhere

Large, small, chains, independent grocers, organic food… the choices are endless and you can usually walk to a supermarket (at least in most parts of London).  

I  spent 6 months back in Australia and found it really inconvenient having to drive to pick up some milk and bread. In London I can walk to 5 different supermarkets within 10 minutes.

There are also a big range of supermarkets in terms of price with more budget supermarkets including Aldi, Lidl, Asda and Morrisons, and the other end of the scale being M&S and Waitrose.

9. There are often separate cold and hot water taps

In older buildings, you’ll often find separate cold and hot water taps. This historic plumbing setup is a nod to the past when mains water was fit for drinking, but hot water came from storage cisterns and wasn’t suitable for consumption.

Choosing between icy cold and scalding hot water can be quite the challenge.

10. There are no power sockets in bathrooms

Power sockets are not allowed in bathrooms or shower rooms (except the weird little ones to plug in an electric shaver or toothbrush charger) unless they can be fitted 3 metres from a bath or shower.

So if you want to dry or straighten your hair, you need to find somewhere else with a mirror to do this.

Bathrooms also do not have light switches inside and will either have a pull cord or a light switch outside the bathroom.