Derrygal

All the best for your move to your new home. I know it isn't what you really want and you would much prefer to be moving into your new home in England, but I hope everything goes well for you and you find contentment. I think that you mentioned you will be living near the ocean - that sounds wonderful.

Karrie72

I hoe there are lots of extended trips to England in Trotty's future.

feelbritish

That is an amazing website, thanks have bookmarked it!

Karrie72

Off topic but I somehow stumbled upon the most amazing web-site called VPike. I just spent two hours trawling around the town of my childhood. It was amazing to see many of the same shops from 20 years ago! A very nostalgic experience...

sallysimmons

Those might be a good guideline, but I'm not sure how accurate they are having run the numbers on two cities I know quite well. They claim that the cost to buy a city centre flat in Leeds is 13% higher than in Manchester, which just doesn't seem possible. I'm also very wary (to say the least!) of the claim that people in Manchester have 44% less purchasing power than people in Leeds. It's a little bit more expensive yes, but not that much!

Sally Redux

That site was not at all accurate when I looked at it previously for LA.

WhoFan63

Thank you so much for posting about VPike. I have just spent the last few minutes taking a literal walk down memory lane of where I grew up in Lancashire and had fond memories of my Dad telling me 'oh go play on the Motorway'...which to his surprise I did....at the age of 5 climbing the hill at the back of our house to sit on the side of the M58 LOL

Perth

I should have reposted my caveat to this link as well as the link itself. I did originally stress that it was not scientific and made up of online contributions. Sorry that it is so inaccurate though. I wonder if there is a more reliable source available.

Perth

Thank you for this. So much more user-friendly than google maps

windsong

I just looked at the village where I grew up on VPike.com - terrific site! However, this is the first time I have been able to get a good look at the street where I lived as a young child. The house is still there but the quiet country lane that backed on to it is gone - replaced by a tree hedging beyond which is a motorway! That little lane was beautiful. There was a small farm not too far away and the odd duck used to walk down that country lane. It was ever so peaceful with all the birds chirping. Now it's all gone. Progress???? We moved from there when I was 11 years old but it still holds precious memories for me.

Sometimes when I think back to the years when I was a little girl, those days seem SO real. Perhaps it is because I think of them so much because I miss home. It is almost frightening to see that it exists only in my mind now. We hold those memories so close and they are real to us but in reality those places no longer exists in the way we knew them. Every year that we are homesick we pine to "go back" to the home we knew, forgetting that time advances and gradually changes are made to those places, and when you see them again after, say, 30 years, those changes are significant. It is blow!

Karrie72

You're so welcome, truly amazing site isn't it?

I just spent the night in an Irish Pub, with two Irish friends who think I'm bonkers to want to go home. They guarantee I'll end up back here having hated it back home. They sounded so convinced! I got a little scared

Fish n Chips 56

They are just so convinced themselves, their wants and needs may be different to yours, they may love it here forever, many people do, but some just need time to get over it and reality sinks in...

I'm not saying you can go back home and everything that be just as you left it, things change over time, but for some people the changes back home are easier to adjust to than staying here...

Dont be convinced by me or others, just follow your gut feeling...

cheers

I would like to know how long the Irish have been living here. That may say something.

cheers

Don,
How long have you been back in England?. What kind of a visa did you need for your good wife? Have they changed the ruling since you got here?

Cheers

dontheturner

Hello Cheers. Tippawan, applied for a Married persons Visa, which I think many have called a Spousal Visa, although the Border Agency did not call it that, at the time. - It says on it, Limited Leave to Remain, with no access to public funds. ( it was valid for 24 months, with a three months extension, during which she was required to apply for a full settlement visa, and undergo the requirements for a Biometric residents permit) She applied for, and got, a National Insurance Card. We have just applied for Settlement, and have to wait for up to six months, for the decision to be made. - Hope it all goes well. The last rule change, came in to force in July 2012, with Updates, in December.