American again, requesting relo ideas
Jan 18th 2013, 3:19 pm
#46
He/him
Joined: Dec 2006
Location: WA
Posts: 18,837
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
This is such an excellent point. I think Americans generally have a hard time with the mixed nature of society here, just as I had a hard time with the divisions when I first moved there. I lived in a 'nice' town in Connecticut where you literally crossed the railway tracks and were in some kind of urban hell. I remember being genuinely shocked and wondering why the people on the wrong side of the tracks didn't just come into town and steal everything! Here a great big detached house worth £600,000 can be just on the edge of a not-so-nice housing estate. In very few places are people truly separated the way they are in the US.
That has its pluses in that there are very few no-go zones except in the big cities (and even then not many of them) but also means that even in the nicest areas, there is petty crime and Friday nights in town can be an adventure. I don't mind this at all, but it might be a culture shock.
That has its pluses in that there are very few no-go zones except in the big cities (and even then not many of them) but also means that even in the nicest areas, there is petty crime and Friday nights in town can be an adventure. I don't mind this at all, but it might be a culture shock.
Jan 18th 2013, 4:16 pm
#47
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 217
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
I'm really appreciating this thread, so thank you to everyone for contributing!
Thank you SO much for posting this, so useful! 
UK crime is mapped on a website http://www.police.uk/ so you can just enter the name of a town or street or postal code and see what has occurred there month by month and the nature of the crime. You can sort nature of crime by selecting of the index list once the map comes up.
Jan 18th 2013, 5:19 pm
#48
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 41,518
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
Just to add to the confusion. My experience is the opposite. In the UK there are huge council estates. In comparison Seattle integrates its public housing, small groups of houses within private areas. Even the larger housing plans like High Point, include developing new private housing for sale.
Jan 18th 2013, 5:29 pm
#49
Finally Home!
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Used to be New York, now North Yorkshire
Posts: 3,610
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
Just to add to the confusion. My experience is the opposite. In the UK there are huge council estates. In comparison Seattle integrates its public housing, small groups of houses within private areas. Even the larger housing plans like High Point, include developing new private housing for sale.
In the US, it's extremely easy for the well-to-do to avoid the poor.
Last edited by sallysimmons; Jan 18th 2013 at 5:35 pm.
Jan 18th 2013, 5:39 pm
#50
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Joined: May 2012
Location: Nebraska by the Sea
Posts: 987
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
That's the way things are going here too in some areas - but my point really wasn't about public housing developments. It was about the fact that in England it's very hard for a reasonably well-to-do person to segregate him or herself from the less well-to-do. With the odd exception, they will all be living in close proximity whether it's a town, a city or a village. (And what's more everyone will know their exact place in the social hierarchy even though it's unspoken!) Where I am now is relatively well-heeled, but go into town and you'll see overweight single mums in tight skirts pushing prams while smoking and even drinking, or gangs of guys being loud and obnoxious on a Friday night. We're all thrown together into one happy family
In the US, it's extremely easy for the well-to-do to avoid the poor.
In the US, it's extremely easy for the well-to-do to avoid the poor.
Jan 18th 2013, 11:31 pm
#51
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Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Finally moving!
Posts: 1,236
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
I think the most important thing, for a self-employed person, in contemplating a move to the UK is that there is a major decision to be made that overshadows the rest.
Which is (1) near London (perhaps within 80 miles or so) or (2) away from London.
The choice of which way to go is crucial because London, and its environs, is one of the most expensive cities in the world, especially for foreigners. But on the other hand it may very well be the only place where your business is to be found.
Everyone will have their views. Personally I would choose Chester or West Kirkby, for the first year. Really nice, relatively inexpensive areas, no big traffic or parking problems and with good train services that make day trips to London by rail (for business or pleasure) easy to make.
Which is (1) near London (perhaps within 80 miles or so) or (2) away from London.
The choice of which way to go is crucial because London, and its environs, is one of the most expensive cities in the world, especially for foreigners. But on the other hand it may very well be the only place where your business is to be found.
Everyone will have their views. Personally I would choose Chester or West Kirkby, for the first year. Really nice, relatively inexpensive areas, no big traffic or parking problems and with good train services that make day trips to London by rail (for business or pleasure) easy to make.
Jan 19th 2013, 2:11 am
#52
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Joined: Aug 2010
Location: US
Posts: 4,224
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
That's the way things are going here too in some areas - but my point really wasn't about public housing developments. It was about the fact that in England it's very hard for a reasonably well-to-do person to segregate him or herself from the less well-to-do. With the odd exception, they will all be living in close proximity whether it's a town, a city or a village. (And what's more everyone will know their exact place in the social hierarchy even though it's unspoken!) Where I am now is relatively well-heeled, but go into town and you'll see overweight single mums in tight skirts pushing prams while smoking and even drinking, or gangs of guys being loud and obnoxious on a Friday night. We're all thrown together into one happy family
In the US, it's extremely easy for the well-to-do to avoid the poor.
In the US, it's extremely easy for the well-to-do to avoid the poor.
In the city where I live the police represent the people and clamp down on people who want to disturb the peace. The city is ranked at one of the top places to retire to. That's one of the reasons we chose to live here.
Jan 19th 2013, 2:20 am
#53
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Joined: Aug 2010
Location: US
Posts: 4,224
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
This is such an excellent point. I think Americans generally have a hard time with the mixed nature of society here, just as I had a hard time with the divisions when I first moved there. I lived in a 'nice' town in Connecticut where you literally crossed the railway tracks and were in some kind of urban hell. I remember being genuinely shocked and wondering why the people on the wrong side of the tracks didn't just come into town and steal everything! Here a great big detached house worth £600,000 can be just on the edge of a not-so-nice housing estate. In very few places are people truly separated the way they are in the US.
That has its pluses in that there are very few no-go zones except in the big cities (and even then not many of them) but also means that even in the nicest areas, there is petty crime and Friday nights in town can be an adventure. I don't mind this at all, but it might be a culture shock.
That has its pluses in that there are very few no-go zones except in the big cities (and even then not many of them) but also means that even in the nicest areas, there is petty crime and Friday nights in town can be an adventure. I don't mind this at all, but it might be a culture shock.
I have seen programs here from Britain and about the drunken hooligans on the streets and I don't think it is the problem of the youth but instead it could be the culture. The police don't have the backing of the courts to put a stop to the roudiness. My view but I'm not there so I could be wrong.
Jan 19th 2013, 2:37 am
#54
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,446
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
This is such an excellent point. I think Americans generally have a hard time with the mixed nature of society here, just as I had a hard time with the divisions when I first moved there. I lived in a 'nice' town in Connecticut where you literally crossed the railway tracks and were in some kind of urban hell. I remember being genuinely shocked and wondering why the people on the wrong side of the tracks didn't just come into town and steal everything! Here a great big detached house worth £600,000 can be just on the edge of a not-so-nice housing estate.
The same was true when I tried to find a home in Westchester county, just north of NYC, where you could go from houses I will never be able to afford to houses you couldn't pay me to live in, in just a few hundred yards.
Last edited by Pulaski; Jan 19th 2013 at 2:39 am.
Jan 19th 2013, 2:47 am
#55
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Joined: Aug 2010
Location: US
Posts: 4,224
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
With all due respect I disagree, there are many places in the US where you can go from fancy housing, of the sort that I can only dream of owning, to dilapidated hovels in just a block or two. In the town near my home you can walk from the fanciest largest home in the city that, with its grounds occupies a whole city block, to a rent-a-room boarding house only 2-3 blocks away in an area that has a drug problem and is known to be dangerous; about half way between a nice enough home was stripped of its copper plumbing a couple of years ago when it sat vacant.
Jan 19th 2013, 7:52 am
#56
Finally Home!
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Used to be New York, now North Yorkshire
Posts: 3,610
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
The same was true when I tried to find a home in Westchester county, just north of NYC, where you could go from houses I will never be able to afford to houses you couldn't pay me to live in, in just a few hundred yards.
Here in my current town, I see a mix of every walk of life every time I go shopping. I actually prefer it here because I think that segregation is what makes it easy for people in America to overlook the plight of the very poor, but I know a lot of Americans who would find it hard.
Jan 19th 2013, 12:36 pm
#57
Heading for Poppyland
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: North Norfolk and northern New York State
Posts: 14,540
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
I think the most important thing, for a self-employed person, in contemplating a move to the UK is that there is a major decision to be made that overshadows the rest.
Which is (1) near London (perhaps within 80 miles or so) or (2) away from London.
The choice of which way to go is crucial because London, and its environs, is one of the most expensive cities in the world, especially for foreigners. But on the other hand it may very well be the only place where your business is to be found.
Everyone will have their views. Personally I would choose Chester or West Kirkby, for the first year. Really nice, relatively inexpensive areas, no big traffic or parking problems and with good train services that make day trips to London by rail (for business or pleasure) easy to make.
Which is (1) near London (perhaps within 80 miles or so) or (2) away from London.
The choice of which way to go is crucial because London, and its environs, is one of the most expensive cities in the world, especially for foreigners. But on the other hand it may very well be the only place where your business is to be found.
Everyone will have their views. Personally I would choose Chester or West Kirkby, for the first year. Really nice, relatively inexpensive areas, no big traffic or parking problems and with good train services that make day trips to London by rail (for business or pleasure) easy to make.
Jan 20th 2013, 3:35 pm
#58
WhiteRabbit
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: USA
Posts: 1,480
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
Really. Again?
The odds of success of landing yourself and your dog in a perfect house in a perfect community in a country you have never even visited, 4000 miles from where you live now, are about..............2 percent?
No wonder you cannot make up your mind. You are expecting the impossible.
The odds of success of landing yourself and your dog in a perfect house in a perfect community in a country you have never even visited, 4000 miles from where you live now, are about..............2 percent?
No wonder you cannot make up your mind. You are expecting the impossible.
Jan 20th 2013, 11:23 pm
#59
Banned
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,300
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
Oxfordshire is expensive because 1) it's got the uni, 2) it's pretty close to London with regular train and coach services, and 3) (despite 2) it's still very rural.
Personally I wouldn't live in a small town in rural England because they are often very insular and many of the families there have lived there for centuries. They don't need anyone else in their lives and they don't want anyone else in their lives. Sam can be said for small towns everywhere in the world.
If I were you I would go to a city because you are trying to set up a business (photography) so you need clients, you want to be around other Americans (at least in the beginning) and city folk in my opinion are more welcoming of outsiders.
Personally I wouldn't live in a small town in rural England because they are often very insular and many of the families there have lived there for centuries. They don't need anyone else in their lives and they don't want anyone else in their lives. Sam can be said for small towns everywhere in the world.
If I were you I would go to a city because you are trying to set up a business (photography) so you need clients, you want to be around other Americans (at least in the beginning) and city folk in my opinion are more welcoming of outsiders.
Jan 20th 2013, 11:26 pm
#60
Banned
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,300
Re: American again, requesting relo ideas
Really. Again?
The odds of success of landing yourself and your dog in a perfect house in a perfect community in a country you have never even visited, 4000 miles from where you live now, are about..............2 percent?
No wonder you cannot make up your mind. You are expecting the impossible.
The odds of success of landing yourself and your dog in a perfect house in a perfect community in a country you have never even visited, 4000 miles from where you live now, are about..............2 percent?
No wonder you cannot make up your mind. You are expecting the impossible.
She just needs to focus and get things in order, starting with by visiting for a few weeks to determine which location is right.