After indepth chats about the subject over the past 2 weeks or so, the wife has told me exactly what she thinks of the UK.


My wife enjoys the history and culture of it all. Hates the winter weather, hates the crowded roads, doesn't like the way people are in the shops..... Customers and actual attendants. Doesnt like the general populaces attitude, especially they way they get stuck on trivial matters..... and thinks most of the kids she has met are damn rude. To be fair, she only lived there for 2 years or so about 30 years ago.... although she has visited 3 times since then.

Errrm back to the drawing board for me I think. I'd say I like Aus a lot more than she likes the UK. I dont think she relishes the thought of being in the full time workforce there. She actually told me, that if we go again, she only wants to go for a week visiting family and spend the rest of the time in Europe.



Now does your partner have polarised views about your place of birth, be brave and say it like it is.

My partner prefers the UK weather, even the recent UK winter, we found it lovely but too many qld summers have taken the novelty out of heat!! especially him he works in it

Finds it very cheap there, loves the driving, well the motorways. Loves the history stuff and the cheap travel and distance to other places. Loves the TV too, the comedy , humour however he made one strange comment, hated the newspapers, I mean really the papers here are crap, but he prefers them. Alien Oh and loves the price of food there, hasnt stopped muttering what a rip off OZ is since we got back.

He has lived there too, not just holiday opinions.

After 4 years living there, she found it too cold and too expensive but, like yours, loved the history, the castles etc.

Too expensive that was a while ago then, take her there now, she will send your wallet into a spin

She has her own wallet, doesn't spend my money

Have prices gone down, during the last 10 years in the UK then ? And I don't mean in the $-£ conversion, I mean compared to wages.

Hours worked in Aus to buy particular goods/services and food in the UK.... yes certainly.

Public Transport is super expensive in the UK though, just had a word to my daughter in the UK about it earlier today. 37 quid per week for a zone 1/2/3 tubes and buses ticket.(no overland trains)... thats equiv to zone 1 in Melbourne, which is 29.40 dollars per week for all trams buses and trains. It's four quid for one stop on the tube apparently.

Prices probably havent gone down anywhere in the past 10 years.

Competitive pricing in the UK is where the consumer is the winner.

Not with an Oyster card it's not - which I assume your daughter would have. I paid £1.30 to go from Heathrow Airport to Acton Town (zone 6 - 3). That may have been at on off-peak time but even peak time is nowhere near £4.

All bus journeys are £1.20 with Oyster.

Buy an oyster card you only spend about 6 quid a day no matter how many trips you make. In London Kids up to 18 were free on most transport too We were only in London a few days but the discounts are well advertised, even for toursists.

Agree the season tickets from the commuter belts seemed expensive though, one bro pays 3000 quid a year, however thats his total transport cost for the year, it covers weekends too, he thought it was really good value compared to running car. Given our depreciation, petrol, insurance, rego, repairs I can see his point.

She did mention oyster cards.... but not the 6 quid thing... probably didnt know. I'll phone her tonight


,

6 quid is the daily cap, once you get to that travel is free. You can also do single fares up to that point, like BC said.

We also had a discount rail card for trains, kids were going up and down the country at times for a quid. Other times they got I think (66% discount) my fares reduced too.

We used your good old travelodge tip too jeez cheap or what, booked in advance stays are from 19 quid, the family rooms were fine we had one deal in central london with breakfast for about 30 quid, cant remember exact price now but it was amazing value. New clean rooms at that

From my perspective, as an Australian spouse who spent nearly 6 years in the UK: it's a wonderful place to visit, but not to live.

I loved the climate, the weather, the history, the old buildings, the countryside, the cheap cost of goods and services (with the exception of public transport, which is wildly overpriced) and the proximity to Europe. My experience of the NHS was excellent, though local medical centres were not up to the standard of Australia's.

I hated the cramped suburbs and lack of space, the tiny snarled roads, the crumbling, overpriced little semis and terraces, the loutish culture, the ubiquitous parochialism, the poorly maintained infrastructure and the general grubbiness of the place.

You do love a good whinge. Are you sure you're not a pom.

She thinks it's a nice place to visit but no way would she live there.

And she told me this within about a day of us meeting.

And from that point on I knew we had a future ...

On the basis of a few visits each for a couple of weeks across all seasons and poking around job adverts and talking to lots of UK midwives now woring in Brisbane - the wife has the following observations:

• Fab weather compelte with seasonal variation and NO helliish humid summers.
• Much improved road network
• Far superior clothing retail experience (with sizes to fit PEOPLE: short for her - long for me, not just average)
• WATCHABLE TV!!! ( a real novelty)
• Fantastic travel opportunities
• More affordable grocery shopping
• Better professional autonomy for midwives - more oportunities for advancement
• Much greater choice of potential employers at 'liveable' salaries for me.

but the downside:

• Rude kids
• Outrageously expensive petrol
• More ugly people (really?)
• Expensive poor quality fast food
• Excessive contact with MY family! lol
• Depressing opinion 'downers' from EVERYONE
• Drab clothing

On the whole we'd probably move to the UK if the opportunity arose. Particularly now that exchange rates and property prices make that financialy viable.