"Move back to Britain - No way" - any other Albion ex-pats seen Telegraph article

[Smile]

"Move back to Britain - No way" - any other Albion ex-pats seen Telegraph article

My plan is to stay here till most people in UK have moved away, then I'll go back.

But not while there's too many people, too many cars, everybody in a rush and everything is somebody else's fault. If I trip over a paving stone my reaction is I'm an idiot, I should look where I'm going. Too many people in UK want to sue the council.

Quality of life is what's important and I get that here. Not in UK.

Couldn't of put it better myself. Spain may not be perfect but it does offer a quality of life you can only dream about in the UK.

 

[Wilko]

Interesting reading for me as I move to Nairobi in 2 weeks. This is initially for 2 years but I wonder at the end of that period how I will feel. Will I want to move back?

I am certainly looking forward to year round sunshine but will miss the football, English pubs and a host of other things too. I can't wait to go but I also really, really love Brighton.

 

[Robert Codners Nostrils]

I don't think they would, you know. Americans tend to have an inbuilt sense that they live in the greatest country on earth, hence why so few of them ever leave home soil even for a holiday.

Stereotyping? Getting out of America costs a lot of money and can take a lot of time. One of the things I miss about England is having the rest of Europe easily accessible. The reality is that it is a lot harder financially and time-wise to take holidays outside of the USA when you live here. For what it's worth, where I live I would say many Americans love the idea of living in the UK!

 

[Tiptop24]

Moved out of the UK 11 years ago. Now at the age of 30 i have achieved/seen/been so much more than i could have ever dreamed of if i had stayed in England. Dont get me wrong, I love England and all of our history, and I am incredibly proud to be British, but the standard of living, lifestyle, opportunities are greater here than there. I still call it home, but I doubt I will be moving back anytime soon. The only thing I would consider moving back for, outside of the normal family/death/emergency, would be for the standard of living and education for the young kids. I would then move my kids back here for highschool, purely for the facilities and university life. Got to have a kid first...

 

[madinthehead]

Moved out of the UK 10 years ago.. Been in Germany for most of it, I cant see me moving back anytime soon.. Am in IT and the pay over here is about double what it is in the Uk and the property prices are really low in comparison to England (esp. Sussex)..

 

[Marxo]

If I sold my house I couldn't get one half as decent for that price in England. So I couldn't afford to come back home. As for health care, I pay €76 a year to what's called a Mutuality, when you pay the doctor/hospital or dentist fees you get a large part of it back from the Mutuality. Gent has a similar population to Brighton but there are several hospitals here, I've never had to wait for an operation.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

I once said I would never move back to the UK, but I did. I'm off to see Derren Brown tomorrow, saw Charlie & the Chocolate factory last week, probably go to the theatre once or twice a month seeing world class actors. I went to Malta in April & Lake Como in May. I have the football.

I love life here

 

[Dr Bandler]

I am living in Switzerland, and although I do miss certain things about the UK (Albion, for example) I think the quality of life is better here. Great public transport, first class healthcare (although paid for through insurance), and people seem happier. Of course, the standard of living is high. They protect their communiites better with controlled immigration as they are not part of the EU, and the immigrants that are here seem happy to be part of society. There is also low crime and a nice community feel.

I think the UK ought to stop making policy based on guilt for its imperial past, and start protecting the quality of life for current citizens.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Definitely not.

I'm staying in the Peoples' Republic of Somerset, thank you.

 

[Notters]

Deffo better abroad for now, for career and family reasons, but I do miss the football. I aim to get to a game a month

Do you not go to FCB? The bar at the stadium shits all over dick's.

 

[TSB]

At some point in the past, Footsoldier ingested several copies of the daily mail and several more of the daily express.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

The UK does seem hell bent on making it towards an ultra integrated, free for all utopia while paying at least its share in foreign aid and worldwide defence. Yet I do wonder if we can afford it. It seems no longer good enough to look after our own indigenous population and allow a reasonable level of immigration. I do recognise that we need some immigration to fill jobs including those that locals can't be asked to do but the EU mobility requirements seems a bit too generous.

We also need to take into account what is spent on foreign aid and the 'defence' budget, which seems a misnoma as most of it is spent on military activities around the world and remote from what we might regard as defending the home front. Once (or should that be 'if') we fully withdraw from Afghanistan it will be interesting to see what our defence strategy looks like. I'm a firm believer in having strong defence policy but feel it should be far more focused on the UK and that might also feel more cost effective too.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

It's something I've often thought about, living abroad. Now at over 50 it's probably too late until I stop working.

Having been very lucky to get to see lots of the world through work, I would say that for all it's faults the UK is a great place to live, and there aren't many places I would emigrate to.

The weather can be shitty, but I think it i would find it hard to leave our countryside, culture, pubs, music, family, friends, football, cricket etc. Even TV, the BBC is pretty hard to beat despite its faults.

Quite fancy spending 6 months per year abroad, but that will have to wait for retirement I guess.

 

[beorhthelm]

I don't think they would, you know. Americans tend to have an inbuilt sense that they live in the greatest country on earth, hence why so few of them ever leave home soil even for a holiday.

tbf, if you could go to florida, california, the lakes, mountains or the forests without leaving the country, wouldnt you? place is so vast, i think we forget its bigger than western & central europe. most brits would stay in th UK if it where 1k miles to the south.

 

[Footsoldier]

At some point in the past, Footsoldier ingested several copies of the daily mail and several more of the daily express.

Only read the Mirror, Guardian.

 

[Boroseagull]

Move back? No way! Love the way of life, the cost of living & therefore your standard of, much higher. Yes there are obvious problems, mostly concerning politicians, but hey all countries have that.

Just an example; we have friends staying with us at the moment & last night we took them to the tapas trail in Mijas. 16 bars participating and serving a drink [beer, wine or soft] plus a special tapa of the house for 1.50 euros. The local council put on free music concerts to coincide every Tuesday & Thursday in July & August in central square. Parking is a single euro for all day in the multi storey or the overflow in the local school is free [or a donation if you like]. Our friends so enjoyed the evening but made the comment, the only police we saw were directing & helping drivers to park, the girls & boys were so smartly dressed, nobody was drunk or even part way there, everyone smiled, laughed & had a 'bloody' good time. Sums up so much really. So forget the sabre rattling by Spanish politicians trying to cover their a***s with the Gibraltar smoke screen. In all I must say the Spanish people are some of the kindest & most welcoming people I have met in my 67 years of life. Please, please don't judge them by some two bit, money grabbing politician attempting to grab headlines, the Spanish see right through them!

 

[Boroseagull]

Double post - sorry!

 

[TSB]

Only read the Mirror, Guardian.

 

[topbanana36]

We tend to put down the UK and yes there is plenty of ammunition especially if you read certain quarters of the media. However I do think we take certain things like the NHS, comparatively low crime rates and enjoying a wide range of public services a bit for granted. Many countries can only dream of such. Yes it feels like we pay through the nose for these services. We also seem to get too readily ripped off by the escalating costs of goods and services, fuel and shrinkage in packaged quantities etc.

However I would agree that the quality of life in the UK is gradually being eroded as more strain is placed on these services by population growth, immigration and demographic shifts especially the % of ageing population - all this combined with cutbacks in public spending mean it isn't going to get any easier.

It is my perception that punters are generally less tolerant, less willing to do something for the common good and seems to be a bit more of 'what I can get out of the system' mentality. This seems more obvious in London and the South East where traffic congestion, noise, pollution and the hectic pace of life are so prevalent.

But I would suggest the 'grass is greener' perspective of other countries isn't always the case.

It cannot be a picnic living in the Eurozone these days.

I thought New Zealand was a very special country but even they have street crime and socially deprived areas especially among the native population. Similar story in Australia with the native population marginalised and crime very evident.

The scale of poverty in the US is not widely recognised abroad but you don't have to look very far to see some very downcast areas. It is not necessarily the land of plenty unless you are fairly well off. They often take the mickey out of our NHS but deep down they are very envious of the concept. I do agree with Edna's point that many Americans think the UK is some quaint fantasy kingdom in a corner of Disneyland. They are drip fed a very insular view of the world.

I am thinking about returning to the UK next year due to the congenital heart defect my baby daughter has and I want the support of parents. NZ is beautiful but beneath that veneer it has more suicides, teenage pregnancies, domestic violence, drug abuse and gangs per head than a lot of OECD countries including the UK. The education in NZ unless a fee paying school is sub standard. Yes a very beautiful place indeed but socially messed up.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

I am thinking about returning to the UK next year due to the congenital heart defect my baby daughter has and I want the support of parents. NZ is beautiful but beneath that veneer it has more suicides, teenage pregnancies, domestic violence, drug abuse and gangs per head than a lot of OECD countries including the UK. The education in NZ unless a fee paying school is sub standard. Yes a very beautiful place indeed but socially messed up.

Interesting.