Originally Posted by russmcp

I think we're lucky really Triboy. Like you I live on the outskirts of Guildford and think we're lucky to live round here. Some decent pubs! We're abouts are you?

Originally Posted by Tr1boy

Godalming. I like the area for training especially running and cycling and the pool at Surrey Uni Sports Park is brilliant and the lake at Mychett in summer is great as well. Pubs all over the place and Guildford has some really nice shops (stay away from the B&O shop is my advice).

Originally Posted by fific

Sounds lovely - I always liked Guildford, I noticed so many people out running yesterday morning in the crisp fresh air it must be lovely for runners - big change from the extreme heat in Oz. Have you seen Robson Green's extreme swimming - shows the most amazing contrast of pools, rivers, lakes where the mad poms swim in all weathers.

Originally Posted by Tr1boy

Put the kettle on and settle in.

In summary: The old Britain is still there in abundance, but you have to work harder to find it amongst the general mood here at the moment. I’m very very happy here, but Mrs TB, not so much. There are definitely sacrifices that have to be made to come back here (as there are with any move) and for me they are 100% worth it, for her it’s harder as it’s not her home.

If I was here with kids, I’d be worried about the lack of services that will be available to them when they grow up. The Austerity Measures don’t really affect a middle aged working couple but as you get older you’ll need to access gov services more, and they’re disappearing. Hopefully they’ll return, but as it stands today, that’s the thing I’d be worried about.

I’d be happy to stay here for the rest of my life. Would I choose Britain over my marriage if it came down to it? No, I wouldn’t. Maybe Britain at it’s best, and if my marriage was a lot lot worse. But not this Britain over what I have with Mrs TB.

I think we have a couple of years here before she’ll want to return, maybe things will have changed, maybe they won’t. Britain is still brilliant and in my mind, Oz is still as craptacular as it ever was.

I’m just not sure any of that matters as much as I thought it once did.

I hope this was not too long, I’ve tried to be very honest.

Originally Posted by Tr1boy

Godalming. I like the area for training especially running and cycling and the pool at Surrey Uni Sports Park is brilliant and the lake at Mychett in summer is great as well. Pubs all over the place and Guildford has some really nice shops (stay away from the B&O shop is my advice).

Originally Posted by Tr1boy

Put the kettle on and settle in.

OK I’ve been back a while now (since Feb) and thought I’d give a bit of an update for those that are interested:

Background for any ‘newbies’: Been away from the UK for 21yrs, mainly lived in Sydney for that time, but also 3 other countries on and off. (2 of which were non English speaking) and traveled extensively around Oz for work (mainly major cities). Very willing ‘returnee’ to the UK, have known for about 5yrs that’s what I wanted, spent 3mths here in 2006 and made 1 or 2 trips per year home in the last 12yrs. I am an Oz citizen so is Mrs TB both she’s not from Oz originally.

Jobs/economy: Pretty bad but I think getting a bit better and doesn’t seem so bad in the South East. My family is from the Sth west and that’s where we based ourselves upon arrival. I have 15yrs significant international level experience at what I do and 2-3 yrs ago could have picked up the phone and had someone fly me to SG for an interview and have a good role upon arrival. I couldn’t do that this time and ‘had’ to be on the ground in the UK. I’m fairly fussy with roles but even so I was still surprised it too me from end of Feb to mid May to get something I was happy with. It actually took my wife less time, but she had to go to Korea for a while but when she started looking it took about 4wks. Again she is very experienced (at multi country international accounting).

We’ve ended up in Surrey which is very nice, we have just moved to a quieter apartment and we live in a very nice little town about 10mins from Guildford. OK, here are my general observations, I hope they are helpful.

Economy: use the length of time it took me to get a job as a barometer of how things are here. They are not as dire as the press is making out, but it’s not rosy either. My impression is that it’s much worse in the north of the country. There are some good bargains to be had in the housing market but the gov has scrapped stamp duty on dwellings under £250k so a lot of people are offering £249k on stuff advertised at £275k and some people are getting them but most are not, it seems that sellers aren’t ‘that’ desperate, at least not where I live. I’d say the bigger bargains are to be had in the £350-400k bracket.

Work culture: It’s been a long time since I’ve worked long term in ‘corporate UK’. For sure people are way more professional here than their counterparts in Oz and operate on a higher level of understanding. Having said that the Great British humour that we know and love and is evident in most walks of life seems sadly lacking in my office and my wife’s going by what she tells me. It’s certainly not as much ‘fun’ working here, but it’s not rubbish either. I think this is mostly due to the fact that so many people are fearful of losing their jobs.
Speaking for both our offices there seems much less flexibility for parents to pick up kids etc (personally I think it’s a good thing as I got sick of having to do extra work in Oz just because we decided not to have kids.)
I’ve done lots of travel here as part of my job ( as I did in Oz) but expenses are much more tightly controlled and you have to think about your trip a lot more in terms of getting your money back or getting the corp card approved. In oz everything was based around ‘reasonable expenses’ etc, here there are hard and fast limits, and depending where you go, they’re pretty tight limits.

What hasn’t changed:
The culture: in general hasn’t changed. People are far friendlier than in Oz on a casual basis. What I mean is I have some very good friends in Oz but that’s only through triathlon and cycling. In the UK it’s much easier to strike up casual conversation, in the shops, pub or wherever really. People seem to take more interest in what you are actually saying to them rather than the lip service paid in Oz. I’ve seen very very little evidence of this ‘chav culture’ that is meant to exist and saw far more ant1-social behavior in the Lower Nth shore of Sydney.

Driving: Light years ahead of Oz in terms of courtesy and general driving standards.

The countryside: Still beautiful, the colours, the lanes, the trees, the walks, the sense of freedom that you can pretty much go anywhere.

The media: Still miserable, doom and gloom sells papers, Daily fail still spouting its racist crap.

The negativity of people: Still very evident, but I’ve questioned lots of people about this and usually get the answer, ‘well it’s what we do isn’t it!’

What has changed:

The demographic: lots of people from lots of places and lots more Far Eastern faces than before (still a drop in the ocean though). We live in the sth east so it’s probably more ‘evident’ here than anywhere outside of London, but the fact is that the area is still very much dominated by white English speaking people. I’ve seen some good and bad with the new arrivals but nothing dramatic.

Parking ability: people still drive very well here but seem to have lost the ability to park with any sense of consideration. It’s not out of control but more evident than it was and seems mostly caused by people driving in appropriately sized vehicles.

Young people are dumber: well not dumber, but they seem far shallower than I ever remember them. The talk on Mondays is always about X-Factor in my office amongst the under 30s (and quite a few over 30s!). I’m sure this is the same as in oz but I don’t remember it being this bad here and the amount of people that seem to have lost the ability for independent thought is quite depressing.

Litter: My area is fine, but I’ve seen some bad areas around the place for litter, especially what looks like people that have been driving along and just lobbed stuff out of the window (on my bike I tend to notice things on the side of the road more). Having said that, the amount of mindless vandalism seems non existent compared to Oz.


A general note about cost of living: Mostly cheaper here, especially health and dentistry, food and utilities. Telco and BB are laughingly cheap compared to Oz. Rents are comparable IME, but you wouldn’t want to be a renter here for as long as you could in Oz as you have to pay water and council tax. Swings and roundabouts really I get 30days personal holiday here compared to 20 in Oz, Mrs TB gets 25.

In summary: The old Britain is still there in abundance, but you have to work harder to find it amongst the general mood here at the moment. I’m very very happy here, but Mrs TB, not so much. There are definitely sacrifices that have to be made to come back here (as there are with any move) and for me they are 100% worth it, for her it’s harder as it’s not her home.

If I was here with kids, I’d be worried about the lack of services that will be available to them when they grow up. The Austerity Measures don’t really affect a middle aged working couple but as you get older you’ll need to access gov services more, and they’re disappearing. Hopefully they’ll return, but as it stands today, that’s the thing I’d be worried about.

I’d be happy to stay here for the rest of my life. Would I choose Britain over my marriage if it came down to it? No, I wouldn’t. Maybe Britain at it’s best, and if my marriage was a lot lot worse. But not this Britain over what I have with Mrs TB.

I think we have a couple of years here before she’ll want to return, maybe things will have changed, maybe they won’t. Britain is still brilliant and in my mind, Oz is still as craptacular as it ever was.

I’m just not sure any of that matters as much as I thought it once did.

I hope this was not too long, I’ve tried to be very honest.