omair85

If it was purely down to me, I would never leave the sunshine here but it seems that ladies seem to miss spending at " john lewis" lol seeing us suffer with the commute, the bills and obviously the bite of the taxman.

Millhouse

I lived in a lovely place called petts wood. 25 mins to London bridge.

It was still shit.

omair85

That's a fairly decent area so what made it shit? The commute? 25 mins can't be that bad right?

sicklyman

and if you read my post, you will not see me mentioning every field in general.

In the particular field of education, no one can say anything "definitely" or "certainly" even if being here may very often result in moving backward in your career.

It's regrettable that your experience, like scot47's, makes you adamant otherwise.

Meow

I did the commute from both Surbiton and Worcester Park. It was an hour to my office, door to door, and invariably miserable.

Millhouse

It's a very decent area. Best part of south London(ish) in my opinion.

Walking to the station in the dark with drizzle blowing against your face, only to have to stand and wait for 10mins as it was late, followed by standing all the way on the train. All individually manageable, but collectively I remember walking home mid-January thinking "I'm not doing this anymore"

scrubbedexpat141

I miss John Lewis but they deliver out here and are coming (apparently)....

My Mrs would like to be back in Blighty but also totally understands that we live a very, very nice life here that we wouldn't afford at home.

dominoman

I'm still living in Purley, south of Croydon, and have been doing the commute for years. i work at London Bridge and live near the station so in theory my commute is 45 mins door to door.

In reality, 1 hr 15 at best, crammed into a doorway, spilling out at East Croydon, crammed into another doorway, then disgorging into the rain at London Bridge to trudge across the bridge. And that's best case. Most of the last year the unions have made the journey even more of a misery so they can protect their pampered train drivers while us commuters quietly accept the grim normality of Southern trains

Apart from that, I do love London. And Purley.

I move to Abu Dhabi next week. Looking forward to it.

Millhouse

ah, Purley... lovely part of the world... you have the pleasure of being boxed in by IKEA commuters every weekend on the Purley way. My Nan is dusted around there somewhere.

My 25min train journey was inevitably an hour once the delays, walking, and missing of trains occurs.

Made in Sheffield 1

I used to travel from home to work on the bus in under 30 minutes and for the princely sum of £1.75.

Don't think I could live in/near London with the crappy commuting palava.

DXBtoDOH

Dump London.

I lived in Edinburgh and that was brill.

Bristol is a great little city too.

omair85

Great to see interesting opinions. My wife is from Manchester but I cannot stand the city - Could it ever be an option worth considering? Although I would hate to be around City and United fans

Meow

Out of curiosity why do you hate Manchester? I think it has a lot going for it.

Made in Sheffield 1

Only been to London three times.

When I watched us lose at Arsenal 7-1 and beat Chelsea 3-0 (this is when I gave a damn about Wednesday). The last time was when I went to get my certs attested for my move over here.

A cliché, I know, but it does seem a very unfriendly place.

Just remembered, I won a hotel stay just before I got married. Was in Kingston Upon Thames I think. That was nice. The people were still mardy sods, mind.

scrubbedexpat141

I've been to Manchester once, to see Saints lose 5-0...or 5-1.

Other than that I've heard great things, meant to be a cool city and I'm assuming you can buy houses in the North for pocket change, right?

I'm not London's biggest fan but...Sheffield or London is a no-brainer.

I've spent time in Steetley and visited Welbeck more times than any non-military lad should. Strange places, strange people.