Back to Blighty ? O/T

[k27]

Long story short, my wife is homesick and wants to return to England to be closer to family, quite frankly things are not that great hear in Vancouver.
Kind of living cheque to cheque anyway.
We left the UK in 91 and have only been back once, 2 years ago for a holiday.
Whats the current economic situation like there right now ? is this a dumb move ?
I may be able to relocate with my same international firm in Slough and the wife is an RN so I am sure work is almost a certainty.
any advice appreciated, dont really want to do the $20,000 cure and end up worse off.
Thanks
Lance

[mel]

Same thing happened to a friend of mine a few years ago, no matter how good Vancouver is (and I think it's great) the real estate prices just crippled him and forced him back to the UK. Economic situation ? hard call very much depends on what industry your in but one thing is for sure the wife will have no problems finding work and the private sector pays fairly well now days. Good luck but be prepared to miss:
1) Fresh air in youe lungs
2) Going to work in the morning and sking in the mountains that afternoon
3) Going to work in the morning and to the beach in the afternoon.
4) Being able to go down the harbour and watch the whales,
5) Real table dancing bars on every corner with showers in them and 1st class poonarnee !!!!
6) Wino's on every corner who live for "Welfare Wednesday"

Oh well maybe you won't miss number 6 after all ..

Good luck

[JMGS4]

Be prepared for:
MUCH LOWER LIVING STANDARD! CDN has highest in western world!
higher rents/house prices
impolite service personnel ('kin Customers! attitude)
non-existant traffic politeness
permanent jams
pinko slime lying to you all the time (BLiar)
reverse racism
bolshie public servants
numpty serving personell addressing you by your first name
rip-off petrol prices
rip-off insurance prices
rip-off car prices
rip-off wine prices (but still cheaper than your local government controlled alcohol abuse reduction sales office!)
living area very small (compared to CDN)
gatsos (now illegal in CDN!)
BUT
pistonheads
pies + puddins
real beer
real cars
more rugby than BC
soccer (for the uneducated and unwashed)
Sky TV (?) to be able to see amorican junk
few yanks







>> Edited by JMGS4 on Friday 24th May 09:00

[tvradict]

There is a place in the UK where you can get everything (ish) that you would find in Vancouver, let me use Mels post to demonstrate -

quote:
1) Fresh air in youe lungs
2) Going to work in the morning and sking in the mountains that afternoon
3) Going to work in the morning and to the beach in the afternoon.
4) Being able to go down the harbour and watch the whales,
5) Real table dancing bars on every corner with showers in them and 1st class poonarnee !!!!
6) Wino's on every corner who live for "Welfare Wednesday"

1. Buy a place in Scotland!
2. You can do that in the North of Scotland!
3. I can do that where I live in Scotland!
4. You can't watch whales, but throwing a few of the local scum in off the local harbour is just as fun!
5. Hmm, ok, maybe not in Scotland this time!
6. In Scotland, everyday is Welfare Wednesday

See, so the answer to your problem, is move to the land of the free, and the brave! Scotland!
House Prices are pretty good too! Good roads , few Gatso's and late pub openings (compared to England anyway!)

Whats an RN anyway?!?!

[gtir]

quote:
Whats an RN anyway?!?!

I think its an Nurse, but if you are being sarcastic its a model of car.

I think I might come and live in Scotland, sounds rather pleasant old chap.

[k27]

Thanks for the advice, you tend to forget when you've been away a while. I sweat when I think about car and gas prices, the crappy service, road tax, tv license, no cable internet, small houses, general standard of living,etc.
I live in a nice area here just outside of Vancouver (my home town), no Mardi Gras (welfare wednesday) no crime no anything, thats the problem I suppose, I don't ski, love the beach a couple of miles away, but I also miss being able to skip off to a different town every week and the social scene.
The other thing is, only $2300 bucks to ship my car! LHD but hey it's cheeper than buying another one.
This will require a long hard think before I cave in.
Oh an RN is a registered nurse. not a Reliant Numpty

[tvradict]

quote:
I sweat when I think about no cable internet

What? Since when? Pick the right area (which is most of england, well the heavily populated areas anyway, and the central belt of scotland) and you can have ADSL if you so desire!

[k27]

oh! news to me, how much $$$, I pay about 15 quid a month for cable here.
relations in the north say it's not available to them, is it just some areas?

[Don]

quote:
oh! news to me, how much $$$, I pay about 15 quid a month for cable here.
relations in the north say it's not available to them, is it just some areas?

ADSL is only available in areas BT want to sell it in. Its a total matter of luck. And its not cheap either at about £30 a month.

Moving back to blighty will cost you a fortune....and I doubt very much that the standard of living here (given a similar level of income) will compare to Vancouver. Still. It won't be *that* much worse and there are compensations.

Like you can visit your in-laws more often.

[Fatboy]

If you live in the right area you can get cable modem for £15 a month for 128K, or £25 a month for 512K. See NTL or Telewest (two cable companies here in blighty)

[andytk]

Mel, Lance, is living in Vancouver really that expensive? I'm concerned with Mels statement about crippling real estate prices. I was under the impression that houses were MUCH cheaper in Canada than in England. Maybe in the city centre but what about the suburbs. I would like to emigrate at some point (I have a suspision that living and working in England after being born and raised in the wide open spaces of Scotland might just send me insane, either that or the house prices will get me)

Canada was quite high up my list of countries I'd consider relocating to (if I could).

Surely no where can be worse than the south of England??

Cheers
Andy

[pbrettle]

We are back to the old "why be in the UK" question again. To be honest all comments so far are 100% valid (and yes I would move to Scotland tomorrow if I could get a job there!). But there are other things that the UK is good for :

1) Economic climate isnt as bad as other parts of Europe (disclaimer - in certain sectors)
2) Decent music
3) History all around - and lots to see / do / learn for kids
4) Cheap to get away from - SleazyJet etc.
5) Plenty of nice people
6) Green and pleasant land - ok, some of it is crap
7) Everything is relatively close by - cities, mountains etc.
8) London and major cities are very international
9) A restaurant for EVERY place in the world
..
..

Etc

Its easy to forget that here (UK) isnt as bad as it may seem. It is just a case of what you are looking for. Just like everywhere else in the world - there are good bits and bad bits - you just have to make the best of what is there. UK aint that bad....

Cheers,

Paul

[Roadrunner]

I'd heard the only place generally more pricey than London was Tokyo. Obviously there are little hotspots that fall outside this broad generalisation though.

[dcb]

quote:
Its easy to forget that here (UK) isnt as bad as it may seem. It is just a case of what you are looking for. Just like everywhere else in the world - there are good bits and bad bits - you just have to make the best of what is there. UK aint that bad....

For example:

1. Sky high petrol prices.
2. Crap weather.
3. 11 pm pub closing
4. 70 mph motorway speed limit.
5. Lots of petty crime.
6. GATSOs
7. Sky high taxes, considering what we get in
return for them.

I could go on, but in my view, UK is crap,
but it is home. There are many better places to live.
My advice is to vote with your feet.

[k27]

Well, house prices in the city are kinda high ($350,000+cdn), but what major city isn't, suburbs is pretty reasonable, but you have to travel to work, and wages seem to be going nowhere for a while now.
I miss the closeness of England, all the small towns and villages, great for days out.
When I left in 91 I was living in the north and things were pretty bad, but looked to have improved when we came over in 2000.
House and gas, electric and petrol costs are what bother me most, but if the salary was right this would be livable.
Typical costs here are as follows, you do the math
3-4 bedroom detached on large lot outside Vancouver $250,000cdn
Gas/Electric on said house $120 month
Telephone $28 month (basic, local calls free)
Petrol .68 cents a litre
Car Insurance $1800.00cdn per annum (full coverage no claims 86 Porsche)
BigMac meal $5.00
Bridgestone SO3 255/40/17 $385.00cdn each
Mobil 1 $7.00 litre
Porsche mechanic $68 hour
Can o beans .99cents
1gal milk $4.00
Small loaf bakery bread .99 cents
Decent curry (hard to find) $10.00
Plate of chinese food can be had for $3.75!
Movie ticket $11.00
Speeding tickets start at $145 (dont ask how I know this)
parking ticket $25 (or this)Quote from LS@2SB "I f***in hate traffic wardens"
Adsl or Cable $35 month

[tvradict]

quote:
For example:

2. Crap weather.
3. 11 pm pub closing
6. GATSOs

Erm. Not been north of the border recently then??
Weather, as to be expected! Glasgow is on the same Longitude as Moscow? Go to Moscow and then go to Glasgow in January and then tell me which one you'd prefer to live in!
Pub Closing! Massive Generalisation! I was sitting in my local til 12.15 last night, last orders where called at 11.30pm and on Saturday night it (and every other pub in scotland) stays open til arounf 1.00am!
Gatso. Lived in scotland for 5 years and I've seen 2 in the whole time I've been here, both in Legitimate places!

The UK is what you make of it! I live in Scotland and I bloody love it! Pubs open late, fantastic roads, fantastic people, fantastic food, fantastic scenery! WHy bother going to The Alps to see scenery that is in your own damn country?!?!

Oh, Sorry I forgot, People that live south of Birmingham think that scotland is a town near carlisle! My Mistake!

>> Edited by tvradict on Tuesday 28th May 11:51

[mel]

quote:
Oh, Sorry I forgot, People that live south of Birmingham think that scotland is a town near carlisle! My Mistake!

Actually I thought Carlisle was a town in Scotland, and that Scotland was just north of Birmingham.

[Fatboy]

K27 - that all sounds pretty ing cheap actually - isn't 1 Canadian dollar worth about 5p? - Just checked its 2.2 Canadian dollars to the pound, so it's still pretty F*cking cheap

[k27]

Fatboy; we do have it pretty good here cost of living wise , no doubt.
The Mrs is homesick again and I am not sure what
to do, I do miss some things about the UK.
It's if I could take the drop in living standard or not.