Bevm

Some of it, but I think people's opinions depend a lot on where they live. There are some rough parts, and generally unemployment is high there, so they see a grim part of the picture, and probably read the papers that reflect it.

Then there are the really lovely places, and (not always the same) the ones with low unemployment, and the residents there have a different view.

The thing is all countries have both but if someone moves to another country for a better life, they'd have to be really stupid to move to an ugly, high-crime, high-unemployment area, wouldn't they?

Bev

sallysimmons

I don't know ... my mother lives in one of the most beautiful places in all of England and has views from her windows that are just breathtaking. There is no crime to speak of (there are hardly any people!) and no litter. She can drive 10 minutes one way and be at the coast and 10 minutes the other way and be hiking in the Lake District fells. She's retired and, while she's far from wealthy, money isn't a worry.

And yet despite all this, she is one of the doom and gloomers. She is constantly telling me how the country is going to the dogs and she gets it all from the Daily Mail.

calliope

I agree. My family live in a really beautiful part of the country - same thing with coastal walks and no real crime, friendly neighbours, and yet they're totally down on everything there and it's because they read the papers I'm talking about.

Tr1boy

Hard question to answer.

One the one hand I could say absolutely no regrets and that would be true.

On the other I could it was 100% the wrong thing to do and that would be true as well.

Why? well because things aren't working out well for Mrs TB, job wise and a bit of settling. She really wants to make it work here, but if it doesn't I'm not prepared for her career to backwards anymore and we will return to Oz.

However if that happens, then I will regret coming here, mainly because of the hassle of going back (plus expense).

This situation won't apply to a lot of folks here because most couples are from the UK. My love of being in the UK won't trump my respect for Mrs TB as the UK is not her country, so if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

So when I say I regret coming, I regret it for her. Certainly no regrets from a cultural, lifestyle perspective from me.

They do use an awaful lot of snail mail here though, 'tis true.

sandrainaus

No not at all, my only regret, big regret is leaving again and moving back to Australia what a fool I was.

coedyddinas

oh no, that doesn't sound very good why the move back if you don't mind me asking? My husband is australian and so we would have to move back at some stage, which would again be a massive upheavel, oh what to do, what to do!

calliope

It's so difficult though, isn't it? You plan ahead as much as you can but you can never know what little surprises are hiding round the corner. In a way I feel if you're the sort of person who is genuinely happy you will be happy wherever you live, and that moving to a foreign country is sometimes a substitute for something else.

love30stm

I wish it was that easy to move back

Beedubya

Exactly Bev, which is why a lot of people do what they should have done in the first place and move to a better part of the country instead of emigrating!

sandrainaus

My husband never really wanted to move back to the UK anyway, he just agreed because I was unhappy.

So back in the UK he went to work with his old company, in a lower position than when he left, so low self-esteem set in, then low and behold the company here in Perth were emailing/calling him singing his praises, telling him how much he was missed and making him feel really special, then made him a fantastic offer, so after a year of him moping around whinging about the UK I gave in and agreed to come back.

How I wished I just stuck to my guns and said no, if we gave it 2 yrs back in the UK, I think we would have been fine, here all he does is work, he is stressed all the time, I am on my own with 3 children, when we are together we bicker, he has often said he wishes he never came back, but now we have a mortgage, and no work for him in the UK, I feel like I am back in my goldfish bowl again

pommybird

Hey you, I remember you from my early days on here

Didn't know you were back in Perth, so sorry things aren't good at the moment, things have a way of working themselves out, many ping pong more than once, the UK will always be here for you and the economy and job situation will eventually turn around and maybe you can think about returning again. Keep your pecker up

sandrainaus

Thank you, How are you doing? been a long time since this journey began, I don't come on here much, I had my chance going back, and shoud have been strong and said no, knowing how unhappy I was for 3 yrs but wasn't, I don't want to moan all over again, I feel like I made my bed, I should just get on with it. x

I will go back home one day

love30stm

Hope you don't mind me saying why did you not like Oz?

pommybird

Yeah we're all good thanks, been back in the UK for 5 years now, Perth is just a distant memory, thank God .....OH would go back tomorrow if he had the chance, me, never in a million years!

Don't feel you've 'made your bed', many peeps on here have to'd and fro'd from the UK to Oz more than once, remember Libby, she did it 3 times and last I heard she was back in the UK for good. If you want to come back enough you can and will make it happen xxx

sandrainaus

It’s not that I don't like it, yes it has good points, great beaches, but for me that’s it great beaches, the rest is just nothing, maybe the emigrating is not for me, I hate the feeling of being lonely,and trapped, yes I have some lovely friends here, but it is not the same and never will be.

I am from Surrey, I like the countryside, I like having family and friends, I like to feel like I fit in and I belong, which here I kind of feel like a square peg in a round hole, my husband thought we would have a better quality of life, spend more time together, but he is always working, which is not what he expected.

We spend less time together now than we did before, and he spends a lot less time with his children, which I know he finds hard.

I will go back, just not sure when