Tegwyn

Well, hello from Chester, which is a delightful place, and very evidently doing well economically if you take a good look around the place. The lovely little wine bars, coffe shops, and unique shops enormously appealing. They however a more of a rarity than many other places in the UK. All I have heard from so many family members and friends both here, in Wales, Manchester and parts of Scotland is lack of good jobs. Have 7 nieces and nephews in various stages of finishing their degrees and all but one will be leaving this country because of job prospects. UK is currently, cold, wet and depressing and that may change for about 3 weeks out of the year if you are lucky. I know a lot of people here well read, well educated, and plenty of personal time and holidays (which seems to be the focal point) and yet they don't do much simply because they can't afford it.

I am back in the UK on average 3 to 4 times a year, and after spending a bit of time with those I love to be with, the rest you can keep, and I can't wait to go home - to the states.

Derrygal

Not many jobs here either.................

hungryhorace

They near always get told that by the person that they're not carrying any, though.

Just watched: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDCXzqgD99o - this guy is fantastic. I wish there were more like him!

Tegwyn

By here, referring to the US or your part of Ohio?

Derrygal

Ohio - not great at all. The employment situation isn't great in the US either. The problem is - states that boast they have "job creation" such as Texas - most of those jobs are low paid jobs with no benefits. Unemployment numbers in the US are similar to the UK - big problem here is - you need a decent paying job with health care benefits and a lot of jobs just don't have benefits any more.

Casual Observer

Oct 2013 were the last figures for both OHIO and the UK in a quick Google. It is a wash both show 7.5%

It is not really fair to compare the UK to the USA based on the sheer size of the USA alone a state V UK comparison may be better or a USA v EU.

Hotscot

Good point!

Moses2013

I think you could go to any place in the US and someone will say they have no job prospects. If you make the move and think the place is amazing, it's natural that your nieces and nephews will want to move. Well, it is winter in the UK (Europe), so can get wet:-). The majority of Brits who are depressed just base their decision on weather (rain), although the whole UK doesn't have really bad weather. Winters are mild and you do get good summers for UK's location. Look at Hilo in Hawaii, Seattle, or Detroit I could go on & on. Yeah, some places are warmer and some places colder, but that's just a personal decision? Someone who was born in Orlando can't wait to leave the place and move to Cornwall, while someone born in Manchester can't wait to move to Gainesville TX. It always depends what you want in life and if the job you're looking for is available and pays the bills. I own a piece of land in the carribean, but I know I couldn't make a living there now.

Tegwyn

I do agree with you. People always try to compare new environs with "home" and Home typically wins out, especially when dealing with homesickness. Make no mistake, there are a lot of positives in the UK and has much to offer, but not as much as I have enjoyed in the US. I personally chase the sunshine so this weather does do me in. My nieces and nephews went into the dental and teaching fields which offer very little opportunity. Some are going to do overseas service for a few years in hopes of returning to openings back in the UK when concluded. I will be interested to see how many of them actually do return. I think probably within a 3 - 5 year range but it will diminish the longer they are gone. My MIL just passed away so that concludes the last of immediate family for us. That changes our need to come back so frequently. I may well put my rose tinted glasses back on after a longer spell away.

dunroving

I don't object in general to carrying ID, although I lived in the US for about 4 years before I realised you are supposed to carry your drivers' license when driving. I always have my drivers' license, credit cards, employee ID card with me most of the time here (but not always). Wouldn't bother me if a policeman asked me for ID.

I had a very odd experience last year in the US, though. I travelled there on business and was going to be in Charlotte, so I scheduled an appointment with one of the personnel at TIAA-CREF (I had several questions about options at retirement and thought an in-person meeting would be better than over the phone).

My friend drove me from downtown to the TIAA-CREF headquarters, which was a fair way out of town. I had with me a folder of statements, old payslips, and other information I thought I'd need.

At the barrier to what was evidently a corporate campus, there were two security guards and it became very quickly obvious I wasn't getting in without my passport. My friend (driver) had his NC license, was willing to vouch for me, they had a record that I was arriving, I was able to recite chapter and verse various security questions, but no passport=no entry. I tried to explain that I usually leave my passport in the hotel safe for security reasons. Of course, the security guard always carries his passport everywhere with him when he is out of the country (yeah, right, and pigs fly).

It was like something out of that movie The Firm. I could even see way down the drive outside the building there was some sort of BBQ event going on which only reinforced the image.

After about an hour of me pleading that I had travelled 4,000 miles, etc., etc. and phone calls back and forth from the security hut to the main building, they eventually agreed to escort me down the driveway (three big burly guys twice my size). At the end of the meeting, same thing. It cost me almost $80 to get a taxi back to my hotel (my friend had to leave in the meantime).

To this day, I can't understand what threat I might have constituted to the organisation ... can you imagine making an appointment with your bank manager and being stopped at the door because you don't have photo ID?

I even had a printout of my appointment confirmation - nothing in there about needing to bring photo ID ... have since checked their Web site and nothing in there too ... still baffled, but if anyone here can explain to me what was going on, I'd be interested.

hungryhorace

Welcome to photo ID obsessed America. Their simple minds are just fixated on seeing photo id. They can't operate outside those parameters.

Moses2013

The problem in Europe is that we have too many teachers at the moment. Now they all move abroad (Australia etc.) and in a few years Australia will have too many.

dunroving

I've lived and visited there for 30 years and that's the only time I encountered a situation quite like that ... it seemed more of an obsession with "policy" and no way of thinking outside the box. The "policy" just happened to be about photo ID - but if they were so obsessed I really don't understand why the appointment confirmation wouldn't have instructions on "What to bring with you - photo ID".

Or maybe it was "The Firm" and they had something to hide. I thought maybe the business campus had other buildings that were security sensitive (like an arms manufacturer), but it was just a TIAA-CREF regional office (albeit a huge one).

SarahG

To answer your question, I prefer the US to the UK. I am no longer in Indiana and have moved south to South Carolina and it is different but I like it. I keep aspects of my 'Britishness' and am merging in bits of 'Americanisms'. I've been here since October 2009 and have no desire to move back to the UK. It is what it is and I am choosing to enjoy it. It is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I'd rather be happy than miserable and complaining all the time that here isn't there. Yes I miss stupid stuff like Cadbury chocolate and a tv channel with no commercials but in the grand scheme of things that is not really the be all and end all of deciding if you want to stay somewhere or move away.

SultanOfSwing

That is far from universal though, I rarely get asked for photo ID unless I've been pulled over (which has happened twice in nine years), or I'm at a small business who has a policy of verifying debit card purchases with a driving license.

I've also never been carded once when buying alcohol, which is worrying given the general policy of 'card if they look under 40' in stores here