............in England, that is!
Despite the moans & groans, there are so many good points about the UK.
Customer service, at point of sale, is so much better than in Spain. The choice in the supermarkets is just wonderful, many prices are reasonable, bread is much better and cheaper, like-for like - in fact we have spent time just gawking at the food displays - sad!
Fuel is a horrendous price, though; that is a real culture shock.
Even TalkTalk arrived today, as promised, for land-line & internet. Cost is 50% of the Spanish price and the deal includes free EU calls, too.
We have been back since the 4th. Feb. and in that time our feet have hardly touched the ground - white goods bought, pre-bought (on eBay) furniture collected, beds bought & screwed together - the list goes on.
Finally we have made an offer and had it accepted on a decent, reasonably modern, two bed semi, in immaculate ready to move in decorative order for £50 under £90,000.
In passing we have seen some real horrors - how do people live that way, we wondered?
Of course the weather is vile, but we knew that anyway!
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Welcome back. Nice to hear someone say something positive about the UK. Which part of the country did you end up in?
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Had not traveled outside of the UK until I was 22, and then my new job involved international travel. I remember being so excited about my first US trip.......and so dissapointed.
Despite all its issues the UK has a lot going for it and although not the best place on earth is far better than many others
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>> Despite all its issues the UK has a lot going for it and although not
>> the best place on earth is far better than many others
>>
It is often the people who have not travelled, or only been to a foreign hotel or beach full of Brits, who complain the most about the UK.
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"Of course the weather is vile, but we knew that anyway!"
Right now, quite true.
But in August, I think I'd prefer whatever Scotland is getting to the standard fare in Spain.
Interestingly enough, a friend has his house on the market. He told me that a lot of interest is coming from France - presumably not from French people either. I imagine that what is true of France is also true of Spain.
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We sold our apartment to Spanish born but naturalise French people from the Paris area!
No real foreign lookers at all.
We are now in north Nottinghamshire, nearly in South Yorkshire, because houses are cheap here!
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I am not well traveled but have been to some places slightly of the tourism beat, but when ever I have traveled I have organised everything from train tickets and hotels myself.
I spent a week in Spain and my impression was it is a wonderful place to have a holiday home but far far too many who live there proverty is a massive problem, it is not all like Barcelona (which is in my ways my idea of a perfect city).
I have been to Berlin which while interesting would depress me.
Lille - full of homeless tramps on a scale I have never seen any where in the UK.
Everywhere else I have been are just tourist traps, Paris, London, Amsterdam Dublin etc.
The great thing about traveling to all these places by train is you get to see so much of the country. You're on a train with 1000 people and about only about 50 would be British.
The grass is not always greener on the otherside. The only place in the UK I would want to live other than where I do now is the South West coast or London but both of those places have many disadvantages too.
Oddly enough I have quite a few German customers (I don't know why) but they all seem to love the UK and constantly go on about what a wonderful country it is.
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I've travelled to various places both large and small - Most places that I've liked I would willingly settle there - but there are too many things I like about home to seriously consider going abroad full time. Britain is generally quite a simple place to live...most of the time !
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We know what we're dealing with here. Johnny Foreigner doesn't cut it.
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and we`ve got a great NHS! ;-)
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When I used to travel a lot with work, I would always get a warm feeling as the plane came in low over Gatwick - the rolling fields of Sussex, the small houses dotted around the countryside, and the little patches of woodland. But now I get the same warm feeling as I drive over the Oresund Bridge from Denmark, or fly in over the small islands just off the coast of Sweden.
The UK has a number of things going for it, but in my view far too many things against it. If there was only 6 million people it would be wonderful. It's crowded, dirty, congested, too much petty crime, too expensive, many things are at breaking point or beyond, and the government(s) are a joke. There's signs everywhere to tell you what you can and can't do, you're spied on everywhere you go, you feel you have to hide the fact you like countrysports, or don't like immigration. It just makes me feel oppressed.
There are good and bad points about anywhere, and it depends on what sort of life you want to live. I've been here long enough now to have lost the rose tinted glasses, and the UK still doesn't look good. I come back often, and each time it just reinforces my feelings and reinforces the reasons I moved away. The problem with moving to a new country though, is one becomes used to the 'good points'. So I always try hard to make sure I remind myself of these things, and can often do so by just looking out of the window, or taking a simple uncongested drive into town and enjoy the free parking right outside the shops. And knowing full well that the car will still be there, along with it's contents, when I return.
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I agree with 1% of what you say Dave (+99%) ... me thinks Landsker is suffering from a temporary insanity,
from which he will eventually recover.
Lets see what his opinion is after he's been living here for a couple of years.
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>>> can often do so by just looking out of the window, or taking a simple uncongested drive into town and enjoy the free parking right outside the shops. And knowing full well that the car will still be there, along with it's contents, when I return.
Yep that's the quality of life I like and have every day.... living in rural UK.
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Its really very simple, if you dont like life in the UK, you move like Dave did.
Dont moan about it - leave it behind
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Maybe that's the secret Fenlander.
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Nah, I dont think thats true.
I live in Surrey Stockbroker Belt suburbia.
I can walk along pleasant streets to a thriving local shopping area ten minutes in one direct, and to a slighty more upmarket one ten minutes the other way. I am 5 minutes walk away from a leafy canal. I am a ten minute walk away from a station, with a 30 minute journey into central London. I am 10 minutes drive from the motorway network, and a 20 minute drive to the Surrey Hills national Park.
The area is crime and vandalism free, & quiet. I have three big trees in my garden and the back of my house is not overlooked by anyone ( the nearest house to the back fence is 600 yards away)
Not country by any means, but almost perfect mix of suburban/rural that's achievable up and down the country.
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>>>Nah, I dont think thats true.
Oh not saying rural is the only way... just that our situation fitted Dave's comments to a tee. We actually have loose plans to move before too long to an area that would more fit your area's description... but without the prices!
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...me thinks Landsker is suffering from a temporary insanity, from which he will eventually recover...
Me thinks Landsker has discovered the foreign country is not interested in looking after him as he moves into old age.
Chickens always come home to roost.
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In spite of all the economic problems, we should remember that GB remains a beautiful place. This point was highlighted when the son of a friend stayed with me recently. In early 20s, he's from Panama City. All the week he was here it was typically overcast and cold, with occasional rain. At end of his first visit to UK, as I drove him to airport, the sun appeared very briefly. "Is it always like this, grey and cold, here in winter?" he asked. Yes, says I. "But," he added, "there is so much to be grateful for: you have a beautifully green country with so many parks and recreation areas in the towns and cities ... and great roads (yes!)."
Then he flew back to temperatures never getting below 20 degrees. But weather ain't everything, eh!
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Quite right, Buddy. Despite its many imperfections, I still maintain this is the greatest country on Earth in which to live.
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I've been an expat in Hong Kong for 6 months now and I look to the UK as my home, I identify with it and from afar see so much that is good and enviable about our society, it is more 'just' than most, it looks after the weak and the poor (unlike many other societies) and it is based on some pretty high minded ideals of democracy and common decency.
My foreign friends respect the UK for these values, the concept that a Policeman might be able to offer assistance rather than be feared is seen as particularly attractive (although the HK police are a model force in Asia).
I'm having a great time in Asia (not driving) but I'll sure be glad to get back next year - even with the recession, cut-backs and (it appears) newly cold winters.
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>>Me thinks Landsker has discovered the foreign country is not interested in looking after him as he moves into old age<<
I thought it (and you said it) ... can't blame him though, many peops living a life in the sun get to a certain age and a certain stage, only to find they cant return to blighty due to financial reasons + the €/£ exchange rate, which is sad.
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...I thought it (and you said it) ... can't blame him though,...
Agreed, can't blame him one bit.
To be fair to Landsker, he has given the same reason - and others - himself in earlier posts.
Mind, it will not be so easy to talk about him behind his back now he's back on the patch.
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And why not, he's paid his taxes and stamp in the uk during his working life.
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....and has just had a tax refund from HMRC!
Welcome home, indeed!
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Well you can bally well flounce off back from whence you came!
Damn Sponger. ;)
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It's nice to be back........................... - CGNorwich
