Do you enjoy living in England?

[Iuchi_Zien]

If circumstances permitted I would go to Russia tomorrow and leave all the whinging whining halfwits here to face the consequences of the current follow the US down the plug-hole strategy.

[lukedenman]

My fiancé lived in NZ for 6 years before I met her - I reckon she'd move back given the opportunity. She's always said it's a lovely place and wants to take me there to show me around. Knowing her it'll end up showing me around the local estate agents! I can't say I'd object tbh, maybe not now, but in a few years if England carries on going down the pan as much as it has been recently.

[Cyclone]

If circumstances permitted I would go to Russia tomorrow and leave all the whinging whining halfwits here to face the consequences of the current follow the US down the plug-hole strategy.

 

What's the benefit system like in Russia then?

[Harleyman]

I had no regrets leaving England in the mid 1960s. It was still hung over from WW2 and although I was making good money as a carpenter with lots of overtime I was paying a lot of income tax too.

Went to Canada House in London to see about emigrating

"Oh in your trade you'll soon find work. Bags of work in building" the official blithely told me. So off I went. They even paid my plane fare.

Found work soon enough but as soon as the snow came out came the lay off slips. Out of work for the winter season in my regular job I had to find work as a janitor to make ends meet, pushing a broom 8 hours a day.

So off to the USA and after 3 years in the military settled in California where I eventually started my own small construction business and never looked back.

I'm not fabulously rich today but well off and able to afford the good life with a very nice big house.

 

No regrets ever about moving to the US. Despite the naysayers it's still the land of opportunity and I'm as happy with my life than I could ever have been anywhere else here in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

[Harleyman]

If circumstances permitted I would go to Russia tomorrow and leave all the whinging whining halfwits here to face the consequences of the current follow the US down the plug-hole strategy.

 

Then go. What's stopping you? Or are you just a keyboard dreamer

[alternageek]

And Illegal Mexicans

More like Cubans...

 

And retired gangsters from New York, New Jersey etc etc.

 

They dont retire to Miami. There's too much crime there. Palm Beach is where you'll find yer average retired godfathers

What Harleyman said. Mom lives in just outside WEst Palm and its mainly NY/NJ folks.

 

I understand that this is quite common in the US, too much fear that someone might get ahead whilst you're not there... Seems like a sad way to live if you ask me. But if you enjoy paying for extra holiday and then not taking it, well, that's up to you, you're not going to convince me that it's a good way to live though.

RE: The Holidays.

My friend works as a Sr VP for a large bank in the US. He gets 4 weeks a year (with separate sick time) and allowed to rollover one week (essentially has 5 weeks) but is only allowed to take 5 days of that time because of people around him cant do his job and not worried about someone taking his job from him. It doesnt bother him too much, especially now that he works from home and only has to visit the office twice a month to check in. I do have friends whove been in jobs who couldnt take any time off or call out sick because of management above them...

 

Other friends back home (mainly due to their seniority) start with two weeks and allowed to take all the time they want, and even take unpaid leave... For what I used to do (CSR) would only get a week that was usable for either sick or vacation time.

 

My Dad works for the state and gets 6 weeks of vacation (more than me!) thats accruable, school, federal and state holidays off and separate sick time. I think after 15 years of being there and only taking long weekends off, if he wanted to could take a year off paid with what he has banked.

 

Back to the original topic: I moved to the UK from the US and you would hav to take me back there kicking and screaming. If I had to go anywhere? For like for like - Canada. Otherwise it might be the Netherlands or Australia.

[Harleyman]

More like Cubans...

 

 

 

 

What Harleyman said. Mom lives in just outside WEst Palm and its mainly NY/NJ folks.

 

 

RE: The Holidays.

My friend works as a Sr VP for a large bank in the US. He gets 4 weeks a year (with separate sick time) and allowed to rollover one week (essentially has 5 weeks) but is only allowed to take 5 days of that time because of people around him cant do his job and not worried about someone taking his job from him. It doesnt bother him too much, especially now that he works from home and only has to visit the office twice a month to check in. I do have friends whove been in jobs who couldnt take any time off or call out sick because of management above them...

 

Other friends back home (mainly due to their seniority) start with two weeks and allowed to take all the time they want, and even take unpaid leave... For what I used to do (CSR) would only get a week that was usable for either sick or vacation time.

 

My Dad works for the state and gets 6 weeks of vacation (more than me!) thats accruable, school, federal and state holidays off and separate sick time. I think after 15 years of being there and only taking long weekends off, if he wanted to could take a year off paid with what he has banked.

 

Back to the original topic: I moved to the UK from the US and you would hav to take me back there kicking and screaming. If I had to go anywhere? For like for like - Canada. Otherwise it might be the Netherlands or Australia.

 

 

It's all a matter of different strokes for different folks then. I'm still attached to England in some ways and the country today is better off than it's ever been before despite the whingers and complainers.

 

I've been back to England several times over the years for visits but I find that I get a feeling of claustrophobia. Every place seems so overcrowded, queues for everything, narrow little streets full of traffic and nowhere to park, high prices and people who rush around with self absorbed, anxious looks on their faces, everything feels damp also

Anyway I put all this down to the fact that I've lived in the south west part of the US for so many years. Even big ciies like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle seem open and spacious by comparison.

 

I dare say though if I spent time in New York I might also have the same feeling of being hemmed in by wall to wall people

[alternageek]

It's all a matter of different strokes for different folks then. I'm still attached to England in some ways and the country today is better off than it's ever been before despite the whingers and complainers.

 

I've been back to England several times over the years for visits but I find that I get a feeling of claustrophobia. Every place seems so overcrowded, queues for everything, narrow little streets full of traffic and nowhere to park, high prices and people who rush around with self absorbed, anxious looks on their faces, everything feels damp also

Anyway I put all this down to the fact that I've lived in the south west part of the US for so many years. Even big ciies like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle seem open and spacious by comparison.

 

I dare say though if I spent time in New York I might also have the same feeling of being hemmed in by wall to wall people

 

For me, its more down to quality of life..

 

• I dont have to have a car here to get around. I can (begrudgingly) walk to where-ever I need to be and use a cab to get home to carry things. The cab wont rip me off (it would cost me £10 - or $20 - just to go 15 minutes on LI thanks to cabs charging you for leaving the town) and I wouldnt have to share the cab with another fare - which happened to us the last time we travelled back from the City
   
  
• I can travel here. Just recently got back from Barcelona and in the last 6 years have been to Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Balearics and the Canaries without it costing me a fortune or a days worth of travel.
   
  
• My partner can walk to and from work (if we lived in the States would either need to spend a fortune on train fare from the Burbs to NYC or San Francisco due to what he does for a living restricts where he can work) in under a half hour each way.
   
  
• We can own a home here, something I couldnt have done back in the US.
   
  
• The NHS (my healthcare back home would be through the roof thanks to my Asthma, allergies and other health problems)
   
  
• Even my family says, everything I've done here, I never would have been able to do if I lived in the US. Even my British mother, says coming to the UK was the best thing for me. She's so impressed with whats changed here since the early 70s (when she last lived in London) considering moving back at retirement.
  

 

I grew up in the 'burbs. It wasnt too spread out, but we werent on top of one another either (sans the homes that have turned themselves into McMansions) and it took time for me to get used to people in my personal space. For the most part its not too bad and if someone is too close for my comfort I just ask them to back off a bit. The only thing I still cant get used to is shops closing at 5.30pm and early hours on a Sunday.... Otherwise have no real complaints.

[Harleyman]

 

For me, its more down to quality of life..

 

• I dont have to have a car here to get around. I can (begrudgingly) walk to where-ever I need to be and use a cab to get home to carry things. The cab wont rip me off (it would cost me £10 - or $20 - just to go 15 minutes on LI thanks to cabs charging you for leaving the town) and I wouldnt have to share the cab with another fare - which happened to us the last time we travelled back from the City
   
  
• I can travel here. Just recently got back from Barcelona and in the last 6 years have been to Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Balearics and the Canaries without it costing me a fortune or a days worth of travel.
   
  
• My partner can walk to and from work (if we lived in the States would either need to spend a fortune on train fare from the Burbs to NYC or San Francisco due to what he does for a living restricts where he can work) in under a half hour each way.
   
  
• We can own a home here, something I couldnt have done back in the US.
   
  
• The NHS (my healthcare back home would be through the roof thanks to my Asthma, allergies and other health problems)
   
  
• Even my family says, everything I've done here, I never would have been able to do if I lived in the US. Even my British mother, says coming to the UK was the best thing for me. She's so impressed with whats changed here since the early 70s (when she last lived in London) considering moving back at retirement.
  

 

I grew up in the 'burbs. It wasnt too spread out, but we werent on top of one another either (sans the homes that have turned themselves into McMansions) and it took time for me to get used to people in my personal space. For the most part its not too bad and if someone is too close for my comfort I just ask them to back off a bit. The only thing I still cant get used to is shops closing at 5.30pm and early hours on a Sunday.... Otherwise have no real complaints.

 

People live on top of each other in London. I lived in cheap flats or bed sits for a few years after leaving Sheffield There was always someone making a noise or playing loud music at all hours. I used to use suburban commuter trains which were dirty, often late and often out on strike.

I'll put in a good word for the way people always queued up in an orderly fashion for just about everything.

I never had a car as there was nowhere to park although I did get around on a motorbike at weekends and on Bank holidays but wherever I went there were still wall to wall people and bad, often rude service in restaurants by harried overworked staff

I'm very fond of London and it has a lot going for it but it's way to pricey and overcrowded.

 

When I finished my service at Camp Pendleton Marine base in Califonia and took a look around at all the wide open spaces with mountains and deserts, the big houses with 2 or three bathrooms and great big yards, big comfortable cars and the endless miles of interstate highways that could take me as far as I wanted to go, endless choices of places to eat any kind of food I wanted, the polite friendly service and laid back people, hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline along the Pacific with empty beaches and sun that shined every day I was blown away by it all. I felt i could breath at last.

I should have been born a frontiersman I think