Britbabe

Hi,
Have posted a couple of times since finding this website in 2005. I am in my thirties married to SA Hubby, he came over to UK in 1997, we got together lived in UK, married in SA on holiday in 2002 (30 friends and family attended as had a double wedding with my brother and his now wife - had an awesome wedding and 3 week holdiay), moved to SA in Nov 2004 (4 months pregnant at the time) as hubby missing home and family, sold house and moved everything except kitchen sink to Cape Town, couldn't get permanent work, moved back in June 2006 (with just our 20KG allowance each & 14 month old daughter), sold house in April 2008, just received boxes of contents of house in Sept, so now settled back into UK life. Now after 2 years of being back am for the first time contempating a holiday next year to see family.

Ray51

Hi , I'm Ray ,
lived in Jo'burg/Transvaal until 1990 ;
thereafter : U.K. , Slovenia , Croatia , Emirates , Canada , Hong Kong , elsewheres...now settled in Bruxelles ( Capital of EU ) ;
I try not visit SethEffriken forums much , as the S.A. posters are forever on about the weather , the weather and then the weather !
( unless it's Holy Rugby , braai , crime ...any other subjects of interest , ag pleeze , Daddy ? )
If I had any/much more money , RSA would be the last place I'd choose to live ;
and if I had even less money , than , surely : the social-security and healthcare nets , as available in the 1st world , would have be seen as v. important , holding certain attraction/s ?
'nuff said , vandag !

chromedome

Hi there everybody

Just to introduce myself as a new female member.

We are from the UK and emigrated to South Africa 14 years ago.I was very homesick a couple of years ago and wanted to go "home".We moved back to the UK in 2006 and after being there 6 months I realised "home" was here in South Africa, so this year we came home to South Africa.

We are very happy to be back and cant have this life in UK.Yes South Africa does have its problems but so do a lot of countries and having travelled a lot realised that this country is the best.

I can understand peoples reasons for leaving but when we where back in UK there were a few armed robberies in our village.The crime is getting worse in the UK too.

I love South Africa.

If anybody needs any help regarding either country please let me know would love to help.

MidnightSpecial

Hi all, I arived her in 78, lived in JHB, moved to Swaziland, then Rhodesia and most parts north, Angola, Zaire etc.
Am now living in Fishhoek running my small electrical company and importing and distributing an eco-friendly lubrication and anti-corrosion product Fluid Film.
Am married, have 1 daughter and 1 step son.
Hobbies are offshore boating and fishing, motorcycling and attend bike rallies, growing hydroponic plants and vegatables, braai'ing and strong beer

janinekidd

Hi everyone

Hi we are hoping to emmigrate to Cape Town by the end of this year. Please can you give me any information with relation to jobs and housing and what areas are the best to live in. My partner is basically returning home he was born in East London. But im British born. Any help greatly appreciated.

mealiepud

Hello

I was born in Cape Town and lived there for 19 years. Went backpacking in late 80's and came back to live here after 16 years away (most of the time in UK)

I have a "love hate" relationship with SA.

Living in Claremont and loving the Southern Suburbs, mainly because it's jam packed with cosmopolitan immigrants.

Our eldest 2 are very Bristish and go to fantastic schools in Southern Suburbs. We're definitely planning to stay until they complete Secondary School as we feel that they're getting an education here that we will not be able to afford in UK.

The crime in SA worries us, but we have not been seriously affected, so therefor, not sure what impact it will have on me and my family. We feel that we live a normal life here, as we would anywhere else.

I might be naive, but I worry more about the deaths on SA roads and being involved in it myself. We have a lot of idiots on the roads here who are extremely stupid people and think strapping in or buckling up are for sissies. It is horrifying to see how many kids are jumping around in the back of fancy fast cars.

Oops, before I forget - I'm also Spizz's wife and will choose my words very carefully from now on - I promise!

Daxk

Welcome Mieliepud

Tegwyn

Welcome Mieliepud, and we hope all your experiences continue to be positive.

huncie247

Hi, I'm completely new to the site and just signed up because of my renewed love for the Cape. Need some advice so will be posting a new thread soon.

Squishymama

Hello everyone, I am new to this site.

I currently live in the UK with my husband and daughter. My husband is Zimbabwean, and his Parent's moved over here when he was 16, but we are looking to move out there in the next few years.

Someone I speak to on another forum recommended this site to me as a great place for information, and also to speak with others who are doing/ have done this themselves, so thought I would try it out.

I will probably have lots of questions over the coming months- lol- so do be warned! My husband was not really involved in the planning of moving over here, and I have lived in the UK all my life (and rarely been abroad even on holiday- lol), so this is all rather new really, and we are a little unsure of where to begin etc.

I look forward to speaking with many of you.

Robbbie

Hi All,
I've been reading comments on this post looking for positive news on the way of life in SA.
I moved to the UK in 2000 having been born & bred in SA from British parents who emigrated there in 1963. I'd never lived outside SA and grew up in Cape Town & Johnannesburg. I met my wife in Umhlanga and we got married in Cape Town where my mother still lives where we settled before coming to England.
In 2003 I secured a transfer with my present employer to JHB with relocation paid for which by now we had a son & daughter moving lock, stock & barrel back home. At the time it felt like everything slotted into place and the move was a seamless, happy occasion. We managed to buy a thatched home in Bryanston with pool on 1/2 acre, at last escaping the gloom of England, never to return.
By 2005 we were getting more & more nervous about life in JHB and although we were not affected by crime, we were worried about the childrens future with AA & BEE looming. So I took the fateful decision to sell our dream home and move back to England for the 'sake of the children'
It's now 2009 and after 4 years of English winters, I am beginning to wonder if I made the right choice. Yes, the children are getting a decent education from a very good UK school, to which they can walk each day & back. We have a good infrastructure with fantastic public transport and we live in one of the better parts of England.....but it's not HOME.
I now trawl the blogs such as this one looking for clues that can help me a make the next decision, either to stay here & die of boredom, or come back the SA (this time Cape Town) and feel that excitement of being 'back in Africa'

heed

21 year old UK medical student. Well travelled for one so young (although never to SA). Coming to JoBurg to work/study in July/August. Looking for advice and handy hints from those who are more "in the know". Answers on a postcard......

webslave

Hi Mitzyboy, thank you for this forum I have been fascinated and appalled and outspoken and stayed on this forum for far longer than I thought I would today.

jpmw

Hi,


Just found the forum and think it will be usefull in some research. Moving out to Gautang by August 09 all being timed well.

I have lived out there for a good part of 20years, both with the old regieme and the new - no where is perfect ey.

Hope to have some interesting discussions with you all.

Regards

Jp

ausmartin

Hi,
I have just done one post and then saw this one. Typical me always missing soimething thatis right at the top or in front of you, like asking the guys the grocery store where the product is when it is litterally punching you in the eye.

I lived in Durban all my life. Did my National service(was the last intake before conscription ended). I worked in a field that I traveled up and down the Kwa-Zulu North and South Coast, To Swazialnd on a weekly basis. Travelled to African countries every year. My wife and I decided to leave South Africa, for Australia when we were litterally 2 min away from catching burglars, trapped in our house, where my wife and 2nd baby daughter would have been a nice easy target for extreme violation. Living in fear, waking up when you hear the slightest noise, dogs being poisioned, and all of this living in a " nice, quite, middleclass to uppermarket suburb". I have been threatened with guns on the road, being surrounded by africans on a Friday afternoon thinking"well your time has come" and lots more.
I believe in telling people the truth as I feel they deserve to hear it as for obvious reasons they will not get from the mainstream media. I also believ that a lot of people will give "prospective emigrants" to SA a false sense of security when the y post certain things. Maybe they are giving their honest opinion, but just maybe becuase they have not experienced anything, does not mean that it is not a DAILY activity to fear for your life in South Africa.

So no doubt as with anything people will disagree, but as long as people are told the truth they can make up their own mind.