dave99

Thanks for all the advice on the areas, much appreciated

I have found a little flat in the Walnut Tree area and so far so good, it seems pretty quiet and sure has a lot of green trees and grass areas, bit different from where I was in Perth.

I am still a bit undecided about milton keynes, the hotel I stayed at had bikers, iranian, eygyptions fighting outside everynight but other than that the rest of mk looks ok. Everything is oddly spreadout and hidden behind trees, so as you drive round you often dont see a lot other than trees it seems.

I havent explored to much yet as I have just arrived, so I will start doing that in the next few weeks

Thanks again for all your advice

oldfossil

Any chance on an update on how you are getting on?

dave99

Yep definetly

I have settled into milton keynes now, it is a strange place and since its lacking a real city centre it doesnt feel like a city at all really.
I dislike the sheer amount of people around though, its maddness. I am not sure if I will get used to there being so many swarming around in shopping centres and supermarkets.

I havent found work yet, although I have 2 prospects that are shaping up well so one may pan out next week. The money is less than half what I was on in perth, the hours might be longer and one said they work 10 days straight before you get 2 days off.

Many have said that weekend work will be required and after speaking to friends and family that seems to be the way of things here now. Most of them work saturdays and sometimes also the sunday.

That is very worrying to me. They seem to complain a lot and say they are struggling but they have nice standards of living so I am not sure yet how much of that is just the old british moaning nature :P or how serious they are.

Also its hard to describe but I dont feel like I have 'come home'. I look around and it still doesnt feel right. Sure its nice to see more green trees and countryside but I dont know it just doesnt feel right yet. Maybe it will in time I dont know.

Somedays I just feel like jumping on a plane back to aus, but I kind of promised myself I would give it 6 months at least maybe a year before deciding.


So right now, I dont feel like I have come home and I dont feel like I belong here anymore.

oldfossil

Only time will tell.

Good uck to you though.

NiHao

dave99,

Thanks so much for the update, it is always so helpful and interesting to hear from people who have returned to the UK.

If you didn't live in MK before I can well imagine it not feeling like "home" because it is not like so much of the rest of the UK which has so much history and where towns/villages have such an obvious center.

I think you are right to give it time so you can figure out if the UK will be home again. Its also stressful when your looking for work so fingers crossed for you that one of those two work out for you. If you don't mind me asking what line of work are you in? It seems unusual to work 10 days in a row and then only 2 days off.

Maybe once the job is sorted you will be in a position to explore other parts of the UK on daytrips or long weekends so you can see if somewhere else might be a better fit for you.

Please do keep posting updates its so helpful to hear your viewpoint and experience on being back in the UK.