Originally Posted by Bo-Jangles

Like all the other hundreds of folks we have encountered in our emigration journey that said they hate it in the UK, it's gone to the dogs and all the other rubbish about how lucky we are / how they were gonna, coulda, woulda shoulda emigrated when they had the chance.... if only, but ... for whatever reason they didn't do it.

I think you have to have a certain motivation and for the stars and cats and dogs and finances and kids and parents all other things to be in alignment, with a little spark or push could tip you one way or the other between staying and doing what you're doing or moving on to something else. This is true for any situation: be it the house your living in or the job your doing - some days you love it others you hate it but most of the time it's just okay.

Being 'okay' works a lot of the time but sometimes we get a little bit 'Animal farm' and get greedy or envious of others that appear to be more 'okay' than us. It's good to have aspirations and look outside of your sphere. Them green hills far away might look like a better option but you have to have some motivation to get yourself up off you butt and have a look and see what it's like - far less have the guts to actually go for it and jump through all the bureaucracy and process of transporting yourself and all your wordly goods beyond that horizon.

Who knows what lies beyond the horizon, you won't know unless you step off the edge. It could be better, it could be worse: you pays your money and takes your chances. It's a 50:50 chance and despite all best efforts I don't think that 50% of people will stay forever. I have seen statistics can't remember what or where (but have faith I can rely on someone here with a direct link to Wikipedia on all things New Zealandy to find them and prove me wrong)

I know y'all think of me as a moaning old minnie but really I'm stuck in the middle, many things about the UK to love and hanker after but really I am comfortable (most days) with just being me and getting on with whatever comes my way, regardless of where I might be. I do have certain frustrations here and some things certainly got lost in translation in terms of making my life more 'okay' here than it was in the UK - it's far from it, but the stoic nature and degree of humour means I am mostly ambivalent to the fact. Cest la vie, it is what it is and we will soldier on. I

I am quite happy with my place in life - I don't have any great yearning or desire to be somewhere else and I have neither the motivation nor the strength in my own circumstances or character to make any such radical change in the foreseeable. It's a huge undertaking and I have neither the ambition or confidence to embark upon such a huge project of selling houses, changing jobs and all that malarkey all over again.

Such is life, this of course could all change tomorrow!!

To me anywhere is liveable on most days provided you have your basic needs met, your freedom, somewhere to live, food to eat and a bed to sleep in. Most days things tick along on a fairly even keel, we go to work, get along mostly amiably with the folks we meet, come home have dinner relax a bit in whatever way that suits, go to sleep and hopefully get up the next day to do it all over again.

We all differ though on what we will tolerate on the continuum of new versus old, being competitive or risk taking, being courageous, embracing change, attention to detail and orientation towards other people around us. Most people are happy to accept stability rather than growth or change. I am not one of them really and think of the world in terms of cavemen, the world has changed beyond recognition even in my lifetime and if people had no aspirations or ideas beyond the horizon then none of us would be where we are and people would all still be living in caves.

Trying somehow to wrap up the essay and segway back to the point of this thread - I like change, I like new things and a bit of risk taking but am one who pays great attention to detail, likes things done properly and am hugely intolerant of sloppiness and the she'll be right attitude that prevails. I wasn't at all ready for that particular cultural change - it's a biggie and I might go on about it but I have never looked back and thought that I coulda, woulda shoulda stayed in the UK because of it.

I don't do that with any aspect of my life - we move on, we deal with the consequence but don't have to necessarily love it all - life's not like that.

Originally Posted by Stormer999

Surely if they are "too negative" living in NZ are they not just moving to another forum group such as returning to the UK where they can interact with like minded peeps instead of just staying on here and making themselves more miserable...and are most of the peeps that use the NZ forum leaving after they gain entry as they are then quite happy with that.