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leaving london for good....

tarannau said:
There's a feeling you're missing out on something.
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That's what anyone considering leaving London has to work out, but not based on a 'feeling' IMO. I got to the point where I jsut wasn't 'using' London for what it was good for any more and was being ground down by the dis-benefits. So, I got out and wouldn't go back to live unless I really had to for some reason. Had a good 13 years there, and am glad to have had that time
 
I think I will in the next few years. I've been here 23 years. There's lots of advantages, my friends, but I don't think I want to get too old here.
 
ChrisFilter said:
It'd have to be on a good rail link to London though. I love London, wouldn't want to be too far. Besides, there are so many more work opportunities in London. I have half an eye on places like Warlingham and Otford.
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Warlingham has no rail link! The Upper Warlingham Station is pretty much in Whyteleaf and so is therefore LIES!!!
 
Callie said:
Warlingham has no rail link! The Upper Warlingham Station is pretty much in Whyteleaf and so is therefore LIES!!!
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Well, whatever you wanna call it :p

The bit around Upper Warlingham station, and the big road leading down to it, it's really nice.
 
That's the plan in a few years' time. We are planning on moving to the seaside so that I can work freelance part-time and have more time with Elliot (can't afford to do that with the mortgage I have now). I want to be there for school holidays and after school rather than doing all that juggling childcare stuff
 
No plans to move back anytime soon myself - I had good fun living in London and there's a few things I miss but after I moved away I wished I'd upped sticks a bit sooner.
 
Spion said:
That's what anyone considering leaving London has to work out, but not based on a 'feeling' IMO. I got to the point where I jsut wasn't 'using' London for what it was good for any more and was being ground down by the dis-benefits. So, I got out and wouldn't go back to live unless I really had to for some reason. Had a good 13 years there, and am glad to have had that time
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Out of interest, did you grow up in London? It's home for me.

I suppose it's not just a 'feeling', more a sense of belonging. I've enjoyed my time living in other cities, but London trumps them through familiarity and sheer diversity for me. It's tough to see me enjoying another city as much, although I can certainly see the attractions of a more rural/beachside lifestyle at some point.
 
My parents left London to have kids in the 70's and I grew up in West Sussex with the best of the sea- and countryside. As I am unlikely to have children I can't think of anywhere other than London to live (apart from cities abroad but it's not something I consider often in current position).

The sea- and countryside may be idyllic for long summer holidays but there just aren't the same opportunities there as in a city once you get to working age and don't want to go the married-and-children route.
 
Stoat Boy said:
Thats not to say I am a gad-about in London but its always nice knowing that for the price of a 30 minute train journey I can be in the heart of the City with all that it has to offer me.
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Ive got a friend who lives in Hitchin and he can get to work in kings X quicker than me from SE London.

The biggest problem about moving way from London (or any major city) is work - what work is there? I dont mind doing some driving work or whatever if I have to, but its taken me a long time to get to do any kind of half meaningful work - if I moved then I cant imagine being able to do anything!

farmer625june28.jpg


Also, call me racist, but I dont really like living in all-white areas... coming back to London from holidays in the rest of the country (or europe for that matter), one of the most pleasant moments is feeling part of the spectrum of the human race again... for me the diversity of people living in london is definitely its greatest asset.
 
I have lived in London for 4 years and it has good qualities but is by no means the 'best city in the world' or some shite I was led to believe before I arrived. It has it's plusses: the money, jobs, sites, variety of people, freedom and access to Europe; but has downs: it's dirty, feels like no-one really knows who is living here, and knowledge that if you fell or had hard times you would fall hard and alone.

I will leave before long and I will have enjoyed my time her, but London aint a patch on Paris or Sydney. I was in Paris before Christmas and it was fantastic.
 
Samll towns are boring, everyone knows EVERYONES business and the weeds crap

I love this City
There is nowehere like it
Today I have spoken to a woman who was born in India, a Nigerian management consultant who has been in London since he was 16 but does most of his work remotely on projects in Indonesia, the streetsweeper guy outside my office who was born in Clerkenwell as were the preceding 5 generations, the Zimbabwean circket nutter doing weekend security work while he completes his MA in Law - where the fuck else can you get that mix of people?
 
Canada and the US are far less intermingled ime mind. I liked my time out there, but it's far more partitioned off in the main. London, for all its flaws, can be a hugely successful mix.

Don't have a huge amount of personal experience of Australia, but the larrikin nature and nationalist politics don't bode well.
 
Here's the surnames from my office phonelist:

Streng
Kilgorre
Thompson
Golding
Robinson
Raaiji
Bouet
Manbridge
Pow
Neimann
Tonkinn
McCann
Sullivan
Walker
Lalji
Gilroy
Miah
Biardski
Grewal
Wallah
Balint-Kura
Kozikowska
Ali
Kamal
Bechaz
Banos
Pretorius
Pfeiffer
Wojcicka
Meadows
Chan
Neilsson

Bog standard London office. Pretty fucking mixed :cool:

PS. Have changed each name by a character to prevent googling.
 
I left London very briefly to stay at the in-laws' in Suffolk (2 weeks) in 1993, just after our son was born, we had sold our flat in Walthamstow and had to wait to move into this house.

I was freaking out after 2 days.
Never again.
 
Maggot said:
Sounds like you are escaping from your ex, more than escaping from London.
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sort of.

but there's a lot here i can do with the kids that i couldn't there, even without the ex. they are happier here.

starting again properly makes me need to really start over again, new place, new life, new chances.

better this time round.

I wanted to move here 5 years ago and ex veto'd a move. Now i don';t need anyone else's approval to decide where i live.
 
Blagsta said:
Yep, we're planning to go to Birmingham in a few months. I've just applied for one job there and I've heard there's another one being advertised this week.
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Apart from being cheaper, why do you prefer Birmingham over London?
 
toggle said:
sort of.

but there's a lot here i can do with the kids that i couldn't there, even without the ex. they are happier here.

starting again properly makes me need to really start over again, new place, new life, new chances.

better this time round.

I wanted to move here 5 years ago and ex veto'd a move. Now i don';t need anyone else's approval to decide where i live.
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You're sounding really positive there. Good luck to you. :)
 
oicur0t said:
Can you, have you, will you?
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i did. Do miss it sometimes, but that is more my friends and areas of familiarity.

Funnily enough, got headhunted on Friday for a very well paid job at an investment bank in London. However, don't think I could leave here and it's an investment bank...
 
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