Movin

Greetings,

Been a very long time since I posted and thought it a good idea to share my experiences of back in South Africa.

To share what I didn’t explain prior to moving back:
At the time of moving back to South Africa my (late) wife was battling with cancer which was diagnosed in 2010. Being a South African she wanted to move back ‘home’. Long story – short – she passed away in Jan 2013.


There are many pros and cons of living in South Africa and having recently spent four weeks in the UK I must say that the facilities there for my situation are very attractive. The schools and infrastructure cater for and very organised with such things as counselling which my son and I are attending ongoing. Here in SA we see a private Counsellor and she is very busy with her corporate clients. In the UK that whole area is within the remit of the school and social services and both communicate with other. Here in SA there is no communication between and although my son is at a very expensive private school no effort in that area is considered. As you can understand these are very important factors for my consideration.

Outside of education it was a very interesting time in the UK. I saw that my son appreciated the very basic things in life such as walking to the local park and throwing his boomerang for hours on end. The freedom to walk around a park and feed the ducks with no threat at hand. It was great to see my son being happy with simple things.

Here in SA we live in a secure townhouse complex. He does not have the freedom to do such things like we did in the UK. Of course it is extremely sad because SA has awesome weather.

Comparing a UK ten year old to my son (who attends a private school here) I would say the UK children are way ahead.

My son and I have chatted about the UK and he has made it very clear that he would rather move back.

One of the cons for South Africa is that it has become very very expensive. In the eight years we were away I can not believe how expensive it is. In fact – more expensive than the UK taking the ROE into consideration. Excluding buying a home that is. But day to day COL is very high here and things don’t go up by 3 or 5% they go up 15 – 25% a hike.

ededed

Hey Movin, sorry for your loss. That's just dreadful - hope you are ok.

Interesting post - and I think most of us agree with your sentiments. The 2 big attractions were the weather, and the cost of living. It's now terribly expensive with CPIx running at 7% and wage inflation for us whities at nearer 3% - that's just not sustainable.

So that leaves the weather - until Zuma can tax it, or pass a law making it illegal for whites to enjoy it.

I see the cabinet reshuffle is done - most notable changes are the finance minister got fired, and Beki Cele (ex-police commissioner, fired for corruption) is back in the cabinet. Astonishing.

Movin

Thanks Ededed,

Yes we are doing good thank you for your kind words.

I have certainly been on a journey and one more than geography. I can say that I have learned heaps about life in the last four years.

My outlook at the moment is to minimalise. I have no desire to own a house or …… I am happy to rent an apartment and spend money on travel and doing things, real things.

I have learned (to be very real) that life can be extremely short (my late wife was 47 when she passed) and very cruel.

In many ways I am excited to plan to move back to the UK but I know what I will miss about South Africa. We lived in Scotland for four before our return to SA and one of the things I missed the most was the smiling faces of the African people. I love the fact that you can strike up a conversation with a complete stranger and usually they are happy to do so. Even if it is small talk it makes the day brighter.

But as I said in my earlier post I have no doubt we will miss the weather in SA.
My thoughts are that we (my son and I) hope to travel a lot and explore Europe and hopefully visit places where there is better climate than the UK.

Thanks again.

wade

at least the DA gained more seats in most areas by a huge amount