Munchkin

If its so bad and crowded why dont people move to a rural area?, property is cheaper, a citys always going to be close to you in the UK anyway, traffics bad they have trains.



I'm in the East Midlands and can't think of anywhere where property is cheaper in rural areas.

If anything, the mad escalation in house prices has seen everywhere rise out of the average person's price range.

Getting from the country into a town to work is OK if there is a decent bus/train service near you. A lot of times you might have buses running through a village every two hours (if you are lucky).

Congestion on the roads around here can be horrendous, especially as just one accident on the road that skirts the city centre brings the whole lot to a grinding halt.

The answer to this has been to make the cost of parking in the city all day so expensive people are forced onto the buses.

As to whether what you are hearing about the UK is true? My home (until I sold it recently) was on a little cul-de-sac above a secondary school.

We constantly had kids coming down there on the way to and from school and kicking in the fence - in broad daylight.

Older youths would hang around outside the nearest off-license, until they were moved on and started coming into my road and invading the garden, wreaking hedges, climbing on my neighbour's outhouse and deliberately breaking the windows etc. etc.

We called the police numerous times, and their eventual response was to wait for the kids to move out the the road (it must have been bedtime) and then give them a talking to. When we phoned the station the next day and asked why the police didn't come down to actually speak to the residents at the time they told us it was because they didn't want the kids to see which houses they went into cus they kids would then know who to target for getting them into trouble.

We finally went down to the local school with photographic evidence charting the destruction of the fence over a period of three months after we had replaced it yet again. They told us their hands were tied and that they knew the kids to blame but these youngsters were already under ASBOs and just didn't care.

When that didn't work we went to our local MP, who had quite a pile of complaints from our local area and the school got rid of the kids and closed their doors to kids outside their immediate catchment area.

Add to this the fact that the local shopkeepers son was dealing drugs from the back of the shop, the car with blacked-out windows that parked in our road during weekdays whilst the passanger disappeared down to the school and the driver sat on the bonnet counting money etc. etc.

I wish I was making all of this up, but, sadly I'm not.

And this house was in one of the sought-after areas.

It's a little better where I live now. Apart from youths nicking from the local Tesco and using our cul-de-sac as a getaway (shoving the stolen items through the postboxes as they go) its relatively quiet.

Did I mention I'm going to a seminar tonight to find out about moving to NZ?

Lizzi

I've been so spooked up by some of the doom & gloom posts about how awful the UK is that I've decided to go back with the kids this summer to find out what it's like, and then make a decision about going back home for good. I'd rather fork out now for flights, car and accomodation in the UK than do the full relocation monty and then find out I'd rather be in the US.

And by the way that was a fab post Hutch.

ags

Everyone who returns has a different reality of how things are. Mostly the big cities are where a lot of the problems are, but more and more the suburbs are stretching between cities and so more areas are affected by crime, vandalism etc.
It is easy to say move to a rural village, but where do you get work? Yes there are many beautiful little places, but it is always a compromise. Live in a beautiful village and there probably will not be many jobs. I have tried the 2 hour a day commute, and it is no fun, especially when you don't get home till after the kids are in bed! So you move closer to the work, and here we go!
The thing that bothers me is the mindless violence. This week in Bolton (manchester), vandals trashed a cemetry. For what. Last week in the same area a funeral car was stoned. Today a pensioner was beaten for £1!
Yes there is crime all over the world and I do not condone any of it, but it always seems worse here in a supposedly wealthy, first world country.
People say it is the media hyping it up, believe me they don't need to. Not all areas are blighted by crime at such levels, but it is the sense that no one cares anymore. For burglaries now in many areas the police don't come out, they just record the crime and give a case number for insurance purposes.
The NHS is in a bad way, but there is always private medical cover. NHS dentists are very few and far between, and even the NHS rates are pretty high.
Schooling is OK/terrible depending on where you stay, unless once again you can afford private schooling where at least the standard of education is good, a case of you gets what you pay for.
House prices are ridiculous mostly wherever you are, but most people will not qualify for a mortgage if they are not on the electoral role, so rental is the option, again pretty expensive.
This is my reality, now living 20 miles from London. I have tried the rural Scottish villages too. I first left the UK 20 years ago, came back 10 years ago and once again am on the move. I have given it my best shot, tried quite a few different tactics, but now just feel beaten and cannot envisage how it will all be in another 10 yrs.
I am off to somewhere sunny!

ladylisa

Crime happens in every country. One difference however is that in the Uk the news is reported for the whole of the country in the newspapers and the media. So you hear about 60 plus million population. Where I live we only get local news which for my city is about 2 million people, (and believe me some of it isnt very good either). So crime in the UK always seems bigger. Also the UK media get a bee in their bonnet about a particular theme so it seems like thats the only thing going on. I'm not saying its not bad. I think all crime is bad, however its not until you get out of the UK and see how other countries media operates that you realise how bad the UK media is, stiring up everyone emotions and making everyone feel depressed about their country.

Mercedes

But is it just the media? Some people lives are their own truth, what they see in their own backyard or what has affected them personally. If people's lives were all rosy whatever the media said it wouldn't affect them because they know that it is not their reality. I know people who are leaving the UK not based on media hype but how things are in their own lives and they are hoping it to improve. I can't believe how many people I've met who are buying houses overseas to live or have already done so and they seem much happier by making that move, providing they are still not too far away from their family. If they are much happier after moving maybe that says something too.

seacreature

Julius,
Pity you're not still in Ontario, you sound exactly like me!
The UK may be dirty and crime ridden, but you're right it has some serious practical advantages, at least over Canada. i.e WORK! In Canada you can't get a job, and when you do finally succeed in finding one the pay is pathetic. I cannot emphasise how crap the job situation is here. I have loads of qualifications, certifications and experience and always had good jobs in the UK, never had problems getting jobs paying 20k+. I now work in a bookshop for $8 an hour!!!! I can't even afford to buy a bike, something I used to love doing in the UK. Canada is definately not the land of oportunity it's made out to be. You have more chance getting a job in unemployment blackspots like Liverpool than Toronto.

ladylisa

Granted, however for some they read the newspapers and believe crime is all around and then suddenly they think that is their own reality, even if they have never been touched by crime.

Mercedes

That's probably true, like some people who watch soaps think the characters are actual personalities of the actors who play them......there again some of the soaps are enough to make you want to slash your wrists after watching them as often they are doom and gloom as well LOL.

Merlot

Going back to the whole thing about perspectives. Two people can be stood in the same place, living almost identical lives yet one is happy the other aint'! If someone has in their own minds they are not happy, not much will change that.

Now where are those rose tinted glasses

M

Merlot

jad n rich

I hadnt replied thanks for the answers to this thread yet as I didnt want to end it, keep them coming please. Like this poster we have become so spooked by the doom and gloom posts we neither will move back till seeing it again for ourselves. Did that on a holiday no problems at all, now going for 2 months to live and work and even school if possible. Mind you I am a sensible person and would advise those going to OZ and new zealand to so the same.

jad n rich

With utmost respect this is the sort of post why I started this thread. Your final sentence indicates you have not lived overseas yet.

Do you really think New Zealand wont have petty crime and vandals, or drugs, all of the above will happen anywhere. Except of course the traffic if its new zealand you are talking about. I wish you luck with it, pay particular attention to the cost of living in relation to wages,

Merlot

Good luck for your trip back, it ain't all bad.

M

ladylisa

So in your view, England is all bad. Is that enough of a reason to tell someone wanting to move back to England not to do it? My family have never been targeted by crime. In their view England is good. One statement is true or is the truth somewhere in the middle? You cant diss an entire Country because someone kicked in your fence what will you feel about the whole of New Zealand if someone does the same thing?

ladylisa

The big question there...has Pauline Fowler cheered up and taken her bloody cardigan off yet?