ABOUT

Over the past few years several friends have immigrated to the UK and I have shared tips with them on what to expect.  This collection has evolved from a one-page email into something approaching a book!

Derek Bezuidenhout
The content in these pages is based on my experience of living in England for two decades.  Naturally, this information is tainted by my frame of reference, my preferences, and my way of seeing the world.  It is intended that this information is a starting point for your own deeper research and understanding.  That said, I have tried to be as factual as possible, and tried to separate out my opinion so you can make up your own mind.

There are a lot of links in these pages for you to explore for yourself.  I wouldn’t call the information here definitive or even comprehensive.  It will give you a starting point to finding the info you need though.

Most of the folks I have shared this with previously have been South Africans coming to the UK.  As such, there are some specific tips for Saffas, but these could easily be adapted for any other nationality too.

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WEATHER AND HOW DRESS FOR IT

A friend coming to the UK asked me the questions: Which months of the year can’t you go out walking due to weather? How do you dress warm and still look smart for work?
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Shopping Trolleys

There is a little trick to supermarket shopping trolleys.   For some destructive reason, you might see trolleys randomly dumped on a verge, or worse, in a pond or canel.  Many supermarkets chain their trolleys together to try prevent this sort of behaviour.  
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FUNDAMENTALS

The United Kingdom of Great Britain is subdivided into counties for administrative purposes.  In ye olde language, we might have called them “shires”. Many of these counties are further subdivided into districts. The local government is typically referred to as the county or district council.   The local councils are managed by elected councillors.   These are different from the Members of Parliament who may represent the same geographic area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_counties_of_England https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-government-structure-and-elections https://members.parliament.uk/
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