Glorious Britain

I have now temporarily relocated to my country of birth - England.

After having bucket showers for 18 months in The Ganj, i bathe in Boy´s huge hot-tub. After 18 months of washing my clothes in the aforementioned bucket, i put my washing in a machine. I reacquaint myself with Dr. Pepper and put the empty glass in a dishwasher. My Sister in Law takes me to a supermarket and my eyeballs bulge in wonder at the available produce. Boy has wireless and pages open instantly through Firefox. And it never disconnects! Boy, Sis and i go to a performance of A Christmas Carol adapted and performed by Clive Francis from the Royal Shakespeare Company with a big jug of mulled wine to hand. Awesome.

A strange kind of magic.

How long will the magic last? Maybe not long.

Britain is the worst place to live in Europe, according to a recent study.

Although Britons earn high incomes that money is cancelled out by long working hours, poor annual leave, rising food and fuel bills and a lack of sunshine.

We have the highest after-tax household income of £35,730-a-year, more than £10,000 above the European average.

But most of it goes on keeping a "roof over our heads, food on the table and our homes warm", according to the uswitch.com European Quality of Life Index.

Ann Robinson of uSwitch.com, said: "There is more to good living than money - and this report shows why so many Brits are giving up on the UK and heading to France and Spain."