Lion in Winter

Where in Wimbledon are you? I am currently stranded in Chicago but I grew up in Wimbledon. First in a flat in a big white house called The Kier on the edge of the common, then in a house in Berkeley Place, off Ridgeway. Used to go the Crooked Billet, the Fox and Grapes. And how did you manage to get back there?

Taffyles

No problems than aren't actually bigger here in the US Pulaski- except space and housing perhaps.

I disagree entirely with your theory- most people are more mature than you give them credit for- they know very well that nothing stays the same and are all too aware of the difficulties in adjusting back. More brits actually do go back to UK than stay out here -in my experience here (nearly 12 years)- and the number one concern is how they are going to settle again.
It's a personal thing for everyone and what is really important to them.

Taffyles

I don't think you're paying attention to what's happening in the US Pulaski. The government is whitewashing and spinning like hell, but I see huge problems looming here especially if this administration gets another term- which seems very likely. The US already has the biggest social problems in the industrialized world- and its going to get worse. America has lost its manufacturing base to Asia, the service industry, IT and even radiology is going to India for cheap labour- another 3 million jobs are set to go in a few months time. The stock market is still overpriced (don't put your money there!)- the real estate bubble about to burst- unemployment at the highest rate since WWII- and those are just the ones counted by the Labour dept as looking for work- many have given up. Graduates can't find work and are saddled with huge student debt....it looks very bleak right now. A lot of the jobs which have been lost will not be coming back ever- even if this recession (some are calling it depression now) ends tomorrow- these jobs have gone out of the country.

Just this morning it was announced on the radio here that all teacher's aides will be dumped and teachers pay frozen (we have a real shortage of teachers as it is here). Same thing with the hospitals- and we have a permanent shortage of health workers.

Things have changed so much in the last 12 years here in US- as they do everywhere- very few countries stand still in a time warp LOL but UK is in better shape than US from all the research I've been doing.

BTW the State schools may be a bit shabby and some overcrowded but British kids are significantly higher in ALL areas educationally (but especially science and maths) than US kids- according to the newly published figures of the longitudinal study of 15 yr olds in all industrial countries- US kids came out just average in everything, UK is way up there in the top 4. Bush, apparently appalled at the US results started his new "no kid left behind" program to get US kids up to the major European country's standards. (and they've just cut budgets for schools...ahem!).


I don't think finances are what people move on to the UK for anyway- many have found that material things are superficial and have realised what's really important for them- but the reason some return to UK are as varied as the reasons people emigrate. Going where you are HAPPY is the main thing.

Pulaski

I am, and a lot more optimistic about the future here in the US than in the UK.

I do not share your analysis, and neither do most of the informed commentators on economic issues here in the US. As you clearly have a different view, I can't see any point in debating this further.

bromleygirl

You must be on something Pulaski - that's the only reasonable explanation I have for your thought process. Are you trying to tell us that the US is better off than the UK economically? Have you not looked at the unemployment figures?

Taffyles

Who are you listening to, Greenspan??? Bush??? The Wall St Journal- who tell people what they want to hear?
I'm an optimist too - wouldn't have made it in this country if I wasn't, but I'm no Pollyana or Mr Micawber. The reality is in cold hard facts not administration or financial institution spin.
BTW I was speaking collectively not personally when I said Go where you are HAPPY.

Pulaski

Well "Greenspan" and the FRB have been a model for an independent Bank of England, free from political interference, so I would say that Greenspan the FRB is without a doubt the best place to look for objective information on the state of the US economy. ..... And they look at much wider measures of the state of the economy than the headline unemployment rate.

I'd agree that unemployment is a problem, (and I'm not certain that the current US government has a strategy for addressing it) but you cannot damn the entire US economic situation on the basis of rising unemployment. For starters there will be growth in the US economy this year (year-on-year, about 1% is the current prediction), and average household income is also on track to increase too. These facts are completely inconsistent with the US economy being in a hole.

Herman

We are in Wimbledon village, just round the corner from the tennis courts. Have probably spent too much time in the pubs in Crooked Billet over the past few weekends! We came back from Australia with my employer - I had a job open for me in London. Not sure how we actually ended up in Wimbledon - we used to live in Putney and fancied being in the same area. We were exploring on foot and decided we liked the greenery of Wimbledon and the access to the common and Richmond Park. Its v expensive though - our rent is a small fortune every month.

Lion in Winter

Can't spend too much time in the Crooked Billet! Glad to hear it still exists. I used to go to the tennis when you didn't have to queue up for days just to get into the grounds. I don't mean to ask impertinent questions (!), but we are plotting a possible return to the U.K. What can one expect to pay for rent these days in an area like Wimbledon? Break it to me gently.

Herman

Its currently a renters market so you can negotiate. We pay £1200 per month for a decent sized furnished 2 bed coversion flat with a parking space in a quiet street. It was on the market originally for £1500 per month, they dropped the rent to £1350 after it was empty for a few weeks and we got them down to £1200. Below this price you need to make sacrifices such as location, parking, size of flat, street noise etc.

catswhiskers

That's a very high rent and the average person can't afford it. It's like house prices in the UK, especially the South East, ridiculous prices. Most first time buyers just can't afford to buy.

I hate rip-off Britain and just can't wait to get to the US. My fiance has just bought a really lovely brand new three bedroomed, three bathroom house (small by US standards but massive compared to UK standards) in a smallish town in PA (an hour from Baltimore) which stands in a third of an acre of land for $200,000. I can't wait to live there permanently.

Herman

Its all relative to salaries. In London I earn twice as much as if I did the same job in, say, Bristol, Reading or Birmingham and three times as much as in Manchester or Liverpool. Overall we still have far more money in our pockets than if we went to live in one of these other cities. Financial comfort versus a quieter less crowded existence is a tough debate.
We actually found rents in Sydney equally as high relative to salary.

Lion in Winter

Well, it's expensive, but actually not as bad as I had feared. And as you say, the salaries do compensate. How is the housing market there these days - for actually buying a house, I mean? With a child we really want 3 bedrooms and, ideally, a small garden.