"Packed Up: Moving to United Kingdom" Topic

So…I am now in the UK. No idea when my stuff will arrive.

Traveling with just the minimalist levels of equipment has left me wondering and pondering my situation in the hobby. It is a good thing.

Aside from getting used to driving on the opposite side…which might be the right side…I was wondering how one scopes out the wargaming scene in one's area.

I am the Bury St Edmunds area in Suffolk. Anyone got info on stuff going on here?

Love the food.

In the UK from where?

Hope the trip went well – we went from Canada to Scotland for sabbatical about five years ago; loved it! Gaming there a bit different – most certainly more use of the small table

Also liked the food (despite the urban myth that all British food is awful) – especially having a nice curry! There is a place called the Gurkha on Coxcroft Street in Edinburgh that has amazing Nepali food for anyone who is nearby

One of the glossies used to post lists of clubs. You might talk to them. Or try these people:
burywargamers.blogspot.com
Or these:
link
There appears to be a GW shop in town, and--this IS the UK, after all--you can talk to a news agent and see who's buying wargaming magazines.

Speaking as a sometime tourist, they do really good fish & chips, but it can be hard to find a place next to all the ones selling Indian food. Doesn't take much time to get used to shifting gears with the left hand, but be careful if you go rural. Some of the roads don't appear to have been built for two-way traffic. Great place and nice people.

I'd also scout around for local shows.

Also liked the food (despite the urban myth that all British food is awful) – especially having a nice curry! There is a place called the Gurkha on Coxcroft Street in Edinburgh that has amazing Nepali food for anyone who is nearby

Don't you mean Morningside Road?

Or Cockburn Street?

There are no local shows as such, nearest are Diceni in Norwich (just missed one), Milton Keynes, and London.

However road links to Newark, say, are good !

Welcome to the UK!

The best list of clubs I know of online is here bhgs.org.uk/clubs.html

Google produced a Bury St Edmunds wargames club link

And a board gaming group link

There is a Warhammer (Games Workshop) shop at 100 Risbygate Street, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 3AA (phone 01284 750745) where it might be worth asking about other groups.

It would also b e worth asking at the local library/civic information, and at any other game/model shops in the area.

Aside from getting used to driving on the opposite side

A tip I got when first driving in Thailand was to think of yourself as on the inside of the street. As long as you're closer to the oncoming traffic than your passenger, you're in the right place. Then just treat everything naturally and consistently: e.g., your turns are either to the inside across the oncoming traffic or to the outside away from oncoming traffic.

Love the food.

Yeah, everybody disses English cuisine, but whenever I've been in the UK, the food has been fantastic.

Some of the roads don't appear to have been built for two-way traffic.

You are being very generous – vast swathes of the rural road network are barely wide enough for two cars and it is not at all unusual to turn off a dual-carriageway onto a single track road with "passing places". Oh, and don't just trust your sat-nav: in urban areas they will happily send you off down alleyways that would have been pedestrianized if there was any to do it!

On the plus side, driving down a Cornish lane will make it very clear as to how in the Civil War cavalry could get trapped in a field behind the hedges. A hedge? Surely the horse will just jump a hedge? No….not these hedges!

I still remember a road sign in Scotland reading "Oncoming Traffic in Middle of Road." It wasn't a temporary condition. Not too far from that, I was run off a (wider) road by a MOD lorry.

That's a fairly common sign here in S/W England as well.

I think a sign that often disturbs those from overseas is:
CATS EYES REMOVED

DBDD

I have visited the UK many times from California. I love visiting and touring all the castles and small villages. I have some very good friends there also. The first time I went it was insane getting used to driving on the opposite side of the road with a stick shift. I'm not used to either. Driving thru some of the small towns with streets for only one car but cars driving from both directions and cars parked along the streets half on the sidewalk and half on the street was an experience that would make a perfect frightening movie. There were many mirrors I knocked off of cars parked along the street that challenged everything I was use to. I spent many a time trying to satisfy the car owners. They took it in stride telling me this is common.
I now only rent automatics instead of stick shifts. A little less to deal with when navigating the wonderful streets of England!

I have had better curry in English Pubs than Indian restaurants in the States!

"CATS EYES REMOVED" I was so alarmed, I had to look it up. Now I know. I have never heard of nor seen them before.

You should try the Herts Volunteers club in Bishop's Stortford, just under an hour's drive from Bury St Edmunds. Their website needs a bit on an update but they are definitely still up and running. They usually have one big game on the third Saturday of each month and think they also have smaller games in between. I have been to a few of their big games and they are well worth a visit. Nice bunch of guys too.

CATS EYES REMOVED" I was so alarmed, I had to look it up. Now I know. I have never heard of nor seen them before.

😀Coincidentally, those very signs were on show today on the A30 out of Sherborne. I'd have taken a photo but not possible when driving.

DBDD

Cool. Thank you for the recommendations/suggestions. Will check them all out. Really enjoying this side the Atlantic!

The Herts Volunteers website can be found at hertsvolunteers.co.uk

Ezza