# leaving london for good....



## oicur0t (Feb 6, 2009)

Can you, have you, will you?


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## middle C (Feb 6, 2009)

why not?
yes i will.


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## moomoo (Feb 6, 2009)

I did and never regretted it.


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## rubbershoes (Feb 6, 2009)

i have

we left 8 years ago and couldnt imagine moving back


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## marty21 (Feb 6, 2009)

don't know, moved here in 89, thought i'd stay a couple of years


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## toggle (Feb 6, 2009)

oicur0t said:


> Can you, have you, will you?



I think I have.

kids are happy here, i'm far enough away from the ex he can't stop me doing what is best for the kids (he's a violent  controling bullying useless twat before anyone comments that i'm taking his kids away from him) and I can get some support from family.

should ahve done it years ago


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## 5t3IIa (Feb 6, 2009)

I doubt it. ONly been here 3 years but I'm certainly not planning on going anywhere.


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## krtek a houby (Feb 6, 2009)

Maybe I will, someday. There seems to be a lot of hate here these days.

Anyone suggest a utopia for me?


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## pinkmonkey (Feb 6, 2009)

I would do it tomorrow if I didn't have to be here for work. I reckon I've got a pretty good compromise, though. Doesn't feel like London at all, out here on the marsh.


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## FridgeMagnet (Feb 6, 2009)

I don't see why I really would, apart from the property prices, and they're still silly in other cities really, and I want to live in a city.


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## Pip (Feb 6, 2009)

I doubt it, although I can see me living in other places for a few years.


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## t0bytoo (Feb 6, 2009)

I've left London for good. A few times...


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## softybabe (Feb 6, 2009)

If I leave and sell up...i prob not be able to afford to return...I've got my family here


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## Callie (Feb 6, 2009)

FridgeMagnet said:


> I don't see why I really would, apart from the property prices, and they're still silly in other cities really, and I want to live in a city.



I'm not sure I would cope too well out of a city (or at least something of a comparable scale) but I think my long term plan is get out of London but then I'm (sort of, if Greater London Counts!) born and bred here, want a change of scenery.

Where would you go mr oic?


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## RubyToogood (Feb 7, 2009)

I can't imagine ever leaving. There's a lot to be said for staying in one place and building up a network.


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## oicur0t (Feb 7, 2009)

I have been thinking we might be nearly ready, with the drab winter and daily grind. But I came home on the tube today (not the normal mode of commuting) and saw excited people going about their business and thought I am missing out on 'London', whatever that is? I used to enjoy the city so much, but now never really notice it.

I leave my work next week after 6 years and have thought about getting a contract abroad for 3-6 months, testing the water so to speak. Liberty is training at the mo and her skills could potentially travel well. We both crave a warmer climate but are both nervous. I don't really mind where we go to test the waters. With the current economic doldrums I don't fancy fighting with the ever growing redundant work force for more lower paid jobs in flailing businesses.

I also recently applied for a job in Cayman Islands, which would have been nice....


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## oicur0t (Feb 7, 2009)

RubyToogood said:


> I can't imagine ever leaving. There's a lot to be said for staying in one place and building up a network.



I agree and I am not sure whether I am just tired of my place of work and when that changes I will feel better.


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## Callie (Feb 7, 2009)

A change is as good (and probably cheaper) than an emigration! or something.


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## goldenecitrone (Feb 7, 2009)

Don't know about for good, but I wouldn't mind living somewhere else for a while. Life is full of possibilities.


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## treefrog (Feb 7, 2009)

Go for it. If you've got transferable skills and want to do it, moving to a warmer country really is not that difficult to do.


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## scifisam (Feb 7, 2009)

I wouldn't mind working abroad (again) when my daughter's grown up. Until then, nah, we're happy here.


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## contadino (Feb 7, 2009)

I did.  I'll never move back to London, probably never move back to the UK.  I don't regret it, but I do miss a night out in London occasionally and fish & chips.


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## tarannau (Feb 7, 2009)

Nah, it's home isn't it. Wouldn't choose anywhere else in Britain I don't think, unless it was a little rural bolt hole - the other cities just don't compete imo. There's a feeling you're missing out on something. I enjoyed my time away from London, but it's the only city (and most importantly home) in Blighty for me.

Abroad's a different matter. I'd happily retire back to Guyana, perhaps a little early. Perfect world it'd be London in summer, somewhere warmer in winter.


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## dessiato (Feb 7, 2009)

I thought I had done when I moved here, but as time goes by I'm becoming more and more homesick, and am increasingly missing the life I had in London.

I've got good weather here and I work with people I really enjoy working with. But I miss the theatres, the restaurants, pretty much everything really.


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## Stoat Boy (Feb 7, 2009)

Have given it serious consideration but have decided that whilst I want to see out my twilight years somewhere with better weather and a kinder drinking culture I could not imagine never having a place within the M25 to call my own. 

London is about choices. I am blessed in that I do have a second home in a very beautiful part of the world and I love going down there but once you go beyond good weather, warm seas and a relaxed life style is does tend to get a bit limiting.

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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## Zeppo (Feb 7, 2009)

Been here since 1980 - some stop gap. Have had ups and downs - came close to leaving but stayed. Planet London is so big just moving to another area can be a change but u are still in London.

However, many of my friemds who have left - never came back. A mixture of economics and I guess London reminded them of some difficult times.


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## Chairman Meow (Feb 7, 2009)

I left five years ago, best move I ever made. I don't miss it, and haven't even visited for years. I want to visit again soon though to show my boy where he was born, but I wouldn't move back for all the tea in china. London was a fantastic place to live pre-kids, but I was brought up near the beach, and wanted to bring my kid up somewhere similar, so we're far happier here.


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## gaijingirl (Feb 7, 2009)

I've left loads of times and always ended up coming back.  I'd like to think I'll leave again for an extended period, but I think this will always be "home".  It's even more complicated now that I've married a fellow Londoner, both our families live within 5 miles of each other and us - they're getting older and we will need to be there for them and if we have kids they would be devastated if we took them away.  And we both have so many friends here.  That being said I do occasionally apply for jobs back in Japan and we both agree we'd like to spend an extended period in Croatia.  Going down-under appeals as well as we both have good transferable skills and crave a more easily outdoor lifestyle (the choice of outdoor pools in Oz alone is enough to make me want to be there).


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## ChrisFilter (Feb 7, 2009)

Probably going to follow the clichéd middle-class London immigrant pattern and move into the home counties when we have kids of primary school age. I grew up in the countryside, and would probably want the same for my kids. Nothing wrong with growing up in London, it's just that my memories of childhood are so good, and tied to the countryside, that I'd like the same for my kids. Stick with what you know n' all that.

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. All this won't be for about 5 years minimum though. Where we are now is wicked.

Looking further forward, Melbourne is an option. I've lived there before and loved it. Great place to grow up for a kid. Very outdoors and happy. Big enough to be very cosmopolitan, small enough to be friendly and open.


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## Maggot (Feb 7, 2009)

toggle said:


> I think I have.
> 
> kids are happy here, i'm far enough away from the ex he can't stop me doing what is best for the kids (he's a violent controling bullying useless twat before anyone comments that i'm taking his kids away from him) and I can get some support from family.
> 
> should ahve done it years ago


 Sounds like you are escaping from your ex, more than escaping from London.


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## kalidarkone (Feb 7, 2009)

Yep left in 1986 and have no interest in ever living there again.


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## Spion (Feb 7, 2009)

tarannau said:


> There's a feeling you're missing out on something.


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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## rocketman (Feb 7, 2009)

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.


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## Callie (Feb 7, 2009)

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.



Warlingham has no rail link! The Upper Warlingham Station is pretty much in Whyteleaf and so is therefore LIES!!!


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## ChrisFilter (Feb 7, 2009)

Callie said:


> Warlingham has no rail link! The Upper Warlingham Station is pretty much in Whyteleaf and so is therefore LIES!!!



Well, whatever you wanna call it 

The bit around Upper Warlingham station, and the big road leading down to it, it's really nice.


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## wiskey (Feb 7, 2009)

two and a half years and counting and I can't see myself going back any time soon . . .


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## trashpony (Feb 7, 2009)

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


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## Yossarian (Feb 7, 2009)

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.


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## tarannau (Feb 7, 2009)

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



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.


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## 5t3IIa (Feb 7, 2009)

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.


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## ska invita (Feb 7, 2009)

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.



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!







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.


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## Homeless Mal (Feb 7, 2009)

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.


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## hipipol (Feb 7, 2009)

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?


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## Yossarian (Feb 7, 2009)

hipipol said:


> where the fuck else can you get that mix of people?



Any big city in the US, Canada or Australia?


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## tarannau (Feb 7, 2009)

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.


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## ChrisFilter (Feb 7, 2009)

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 

PS. Have changed each name by a character to prevent googling.


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## Blagsta (Feb 7, 2009)

oicur0t said:


> Can you, have you, will you?



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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## ChrisFilter (Feb 7, 2009)

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.



Think of your poor daughter... she'll grow up sounding like you! :9


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## gaijingirl (Feb 7, 2009)

ChrisFilter said:


> PS. Have changed each name by a character to prevent googling.



*Stops googling ChrisFilter's friend and colleagues...*


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## ChrisFilter (Feb 7, 2009)

gaijingirl said:


> *Stops googling ChrisFilter's friend and colleagues...*



I meant gooogling by them! They find me, they search my posts, they fire me


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## gaijingirl (Feb 7, 2009)

ChrisFilter said:


> I meant gooogling by them! They find me, they search my posts, they fire me



*resumes googling*


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## butterfly child (Feb 7, 2009)

Our plan is to move here:


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## Stobart Stopper (Feb 7, 2009)

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.


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## Monkeygrinder's Organ (Feb 7, 2009)

Not for a while certainly. 

I'd quite like to live by the sea one day though.


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## toggle (Feb 7, 2009)

Maggot said:


> Sounds like you are escaping from your ex, more than escaping from London.



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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## Maggot (Feb 8, 2009)

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.


Apart from being cheaper, why do you prefer Birmingham over London?


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## Maggot (Feb 8, 2009)

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.
> 
> ...


 You're sounding really positive there. Good luck to you.


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## Boris Sprinkler (Feb 8, 2009)

oicur0t said:


> Can you, have you, will you?



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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## Voley (Feb 8, 2009)

moomoo said:


> I did and never regretted it.



Same here. Wouldn't go back now if you paid me.


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## ohmyliver (Feb 8, 2009)

oicur0t said:


> Can you, have you, will you?



well, I regret not leaving Brighton for London much earlier. Which doesn't quite answer your question.


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## ohmyliver (Feb 8, 2009)

butterfly child said:


> Our plan is to move here:
> (pictures snipped)



I'm imagining you'll be like this when you do






*eta* it just reminds me of Portmeirion


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## Homeless Mal (Feb 8, 2009)

I was shopping in Covent Garden today and having lunch and it was great watching the people and walking around.  That is what I like about London


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## kalidarkone (Feb 8, 2009)

ska invita said:


> 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 live in Bristol in a really ethnically mixed area but its only one of a few. The one thing I do miss London for is that regardless of where you go it is pretty mixed -unlike Bristol.


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## zenie (Feb 9, 2009)

hmm I want to live by the sea eventually, (Brighton is like London on sea after all ) but until I have a well paid job I can do mobile/from home it aint gonna happen! 

I think it'll be hard though, cos I left for nearly 3 years and hated it 

Spion mkae s a good point about uisng London's full potential.


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## dynamicbaddog (Feb 9, 2009)

zenie said:


> hmm I want to live by the sea eventually, (Brighton is like London on sea after all ) but until I have a well paid job I can do mobile/from home it aint gonna happen!



I'd always wanted to live in Brighton, I put my council flat on the exchange book for there, but no-one replied.
I did leave London for a few months and lived in Margate, but it was in winter and after the novelty of being by the sea wore off I was bored most of the time. Trouble with a lot of seaside places is that they shut down after the summer.


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## Yelkcub (Feb 9, 2009)

I'm moving to New York, because I've had problems with my sleep.....


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## Badgers (Feb 9, 2009)

I guess I will someday, when it finally wears me out but not for some time to come hopefully.


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## Biddlybee (Feb 9, 2009)

trashpony said:


> 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


This is one of the only things that draws me away from London - the sea not you and Elliott! 

But not in any hurry to move from here just yet.


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## Utopia (Feb 9, 2009)

jer said:


> Maybe I will, someday. There seems to be a lot of hate here these days.
> 
> Anyone suggest a utopia for me?



Hiya


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## ohmyliver (Feb 9, 2009)

zenie said:


> hmm I want to live by the sea eventually, (Brighton is like London on sea after all ) but until I have a well paid job I can do mobile/from home it aint gonna happen!
> 
> I think it'll be hard though, cos I left for nearly 3 years and hated it
> 
> Spion mkae s a good point about uisng London's full potential.



much as I like brighton, it really isn't London on sea. Ethnically cleansed Islington or Stoke Newington on sea, perhaps... but London on Sea no

*eta* being a bit harsh on Brighton. It's a top place for its size, but..


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## rennie (Feb 9, 2009)

I wouldn't leave anywhere else in the UK but then I ain't originally from this island so moving back to where I'm from/moving somewhere else is a distinct possibility.


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## RubyBlue (Feb 9, 2009)

I'm happy in London, been here a long time - I love having access to everything around me - good resturants, nightlife, everything open 24 hours and having great choice of all this on my doorstep if I don't feel like going far - I can't see me leaving anytime soon but have been thinking that it would be nice to retire abroad - although I would only do that if it was somewhere that I had built up a network of friends.


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## spanglechick (Feb 9, 2009)

Maybe one day.

I'd have to live in a city/big town - I really think that's part of me - but not, i think, one that was all hustle and bustle and london-lite.  So not manc or briz or brighton.  

I quite fancy oxford.  

Alternatively, if the boyfriend wants to get a job somewhere fabulous and sunny, that'll be great.  My skills are pretty much 'go-anywhere', so it would rely on him finding a job first...


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## Thora (Feb 9, 2009)

I've left London for good, but I only lived there for a couple of years anyway.  It was fun at the time, but not somewhere I would want to settle and have a family.  I've moved back nearer my family and where I grew up now, but still in a city, and eventually I'd like to end up in Wilts, Dorset, Somerset maybe Gloucestershire - a small town/big village with a pub, shops, primary school and railway station will do me nicely


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## liberty (Feb 9, 2009)

If we just rented then we would be gone by now my attachment is to friends and home not so much London..

I don't seem to be making the most of London but I know it's there if I want it.


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## oicur0t (Feb 9, 2009)

I stood on the train platform this morning, the cold drizzle falling, then got on a packed train with my hand hanging on to rail with a random woman leaning her head on my shoulder. Was unable to get on a tube and London Bridge, walked to Bank, was unable to get on a there so walked to St Pauls in the rain. This is the London I don't like, getting around is such hard work. This is why I have stopped seeing people who I would consider close friends. Everyone says there is so much on your doorstep here, but it doesn't feel like your door step when it takes 2 hours to get there.

We loved going to Barcelona last year and that felt like the city I want London to be - lively, exciting and friendly. We also have heard good things about Valencia too.


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## liberty (Feb 9, 2009)

Just keep concentrating on the summer it may get here one day!


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## Numbers (Feb 9, 2009)

We're gonna move out of London, but probably not for another 4 years because of the slow down in the economy etc.  I love London but want to get more property for my money and be as close to the coast as possible.  We discussed moving to Ireland but missuses family are here and it was I who moved here, not her to Ireland.


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## hipipol (Feb 9, 2009)

Boris Sprinkler said:


> 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...



Must have been a spoof geeze
An IB?
Unless you is some kind of Insolvency Specialist!!!!


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## Maggot (Feb 9, 2009)

Homeless Mal said:


> I was shopping in Covent Garden today and having lunch and it was great watching the people and walking around.  That is what I like about London


 You can watch people and walk around anywhere.


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## hipipol (Feb 10, 2009)

It would be good to live in Figuerites again


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## Cloo (Feb 10, 2009)

gsv's keen to go abroad at some point, and I'm up for it, but not until I'm done with babies!

We've agreed it's got to be English speaking, as otherwise my career options are limited. Canada and Ireland seem to be top of the bill. Suggested to gsv lately that we should maybe do our research (on moving, taxes, childcare, schools etc) sooner rather than later, and then we could be more informed on when might be a good time to go for it. 

I confess that I'm not sure if gsv means for good or for a bit, but I suspect for good.

As far as I'm concerned, it kind of depends on my mum's health. She almost certainly won't live to a ripe old age, due to various health concerns, and I worry about missing precious time with her for me and my child/ren.


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## clandestino (Feb 10, 2009)

We've talked about it, but just can't think where we'd go. I grew up by the sea, and quite fancy moving back to the coast somewhere. I thought Brighton was the obvious choice, but we went down there a few times, and I just found it incredibly stressful, far more than genteel old Brixton Hill! There were just so many cars, and the traffic was awful. And everyone just seemed a little too cool for school. I didn't feel like I'd fit in. Which was a shame because it seemed like the answer - smaller, calmer (in theory, but it turned out it wasn't), by the sea, but with a very busy cultural life. I'd miss that last thing most of all if we left London.

But it's weird - I don't really feel like I live in London now. I live in Brixton and visit London every so often. Which is maybe why I feel like I could make the transition to living outside of London quite easily.


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## Homeless Mal (Feb 10, 2009)

Maggot said:


> You can watch people and walk around anywhere.



True, but I like the eccentricity of London, and when I am feeling really inspired it's magic Also London in the summer is amazing, best place in the world - the infectious energy and verve and life.  I have never experienced anything like it.  There is action and so much hope and zest.  I could really go on and on


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## ChrisFilter (Feb 10, 2009)

Homeless Mal said:


> True, but I like the eccentricity of London, and when I am feeling really inspired it's magic Also London in the summer is amazing, best place in the world - the infectious energy and verve and life.  I have never experienced anything like it.  There is action and so much hope and zest.  I could really go on and on



Yeah, you're not wrong there. London in the summer is a very special place. If I ever leave (and I mean leave totally, not still work there) then I will always miss it. There is a sense that anything can happen, I fucking love it


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## _pH_ (Feb 10, 2009)

I lived up in s.w. london until i was 21, then moved to a small town in cambridgeshire. total culture shock at first 

but now i'm back in london (since April). tis a good thing


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## Roadkill (Feb 10, 2009)

My job contract expires in a few months and I'll probably be leaving then, unless a very good job comes along.  Can't see myself missing London much tbh, even though my attitude to the place has softened a bit of late.


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## dynamicbaddog (Feb 10, 2009)

oicur0t said:


> We loved going to Barcelona last year and that felt like the city I want London to be - lively, exciting and friendly. .



I went to see the Woody Allen film _Vicky Christina Barcelona _today - it really made me want to go there


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## Cloo (Feb 11, 2009)

In the UK, I'd consider Brighton, Edinburgh or Leamington Spa (where I lived at uni), and probably Birmingham, which I actually like a lot.


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## zenie (Feb 11, 2009)

dynamicbaddog said:


> I'd always wanted to live in Brighton, I put my council flat on the exchange book for there, but no-one replied.
> I did leave London for a few months and lived in Margate, but it was in winter and after the novelty of being by the sea wore off I was bored most of the time. Trouble with a lot of seaside places is that they shut down after the summer.


 
Margate is grim in the winter 



ohmyliver said:


> much as I like brighton, it really isn't London on sea. Ethnically cleansed Islington or Stoke Newington on sea, perhaps... but London on Sea no
> 
> *eta* being a bit harsh on Brighton. It's a top place for its size, but..


 
yeh course it's a bit sterile and 'white' though that's changing, it's got enough arts stuff and the sea to keep me busy for a long time. And you get free Fatboy Slim tickets!!



ianw said:


> We've talked about it, but just can't think where we'd go. I grew up by the sea, and quite fancy moving back to the coast somewhere. I thought Brighton was the obvious choice, but we went down there a few times, and I just found it incredibly stressful, far more than genteel old Brixton Hill! There were just so many cars, and the traffic was awful. And everyone just seemed a little too cool for school. I didn't feel like I'd fit in. Which was a shame because it seemed like the answer - smaller, calmer (in theory, but it turned out it wasn't), by the sea, but with a very busy cultural life. I'd miss that last thing most of all if we left London.
> .


 
yeh the traffic can be really bad at peak times, but I don't really drive in central Brighton much and you don't need to. 

Re; the cool bit - Oh really? I don't find I feel like that, though I'm not bothered about being cool at all!  

All pie in the sky anyway


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## Biddlybee (Feb 11, 2009)

zenie said:


> And you get free Fatboy Slim tickets!!


Is that a good thing?


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## zenie (Feb 11, 2009)

BiddlyBee said:


> Is that a good thing?


 

Depends on your PoV, for me yeh


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## marty21 (Feb 11, 2009)

Thora said:


> I've left London for good, but I only lived there for a couple of years anyway.  It was fun at the time, but not somewhere I would want to settle and have a family.  I've moved back nearer my family and where I grew up now, but still in a city, and eventually I'd like to end up in Wilts, Dorset, Somerset maybe Gloucestershire - a small town/big village with a pub, shops, primary school and railway station will do me nicely



how about Stroud? I like Stroud, sometimes stop there, very hilly, but it has a good vibe about it, if i was to leave London, I'd consider Stroud, but can't imagine leaving London until i retire, and maybe not even then


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## girasol (Feb 11, 2009)

Ideally I'd like to live in London and in Brazil (in a farm), on a 6 month basis...

Who knows, maybe one day it'll happen.


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## ChrisFilter (Feb 11, 2009)

Is it just me who thinks Brighton is a pile of wank?


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## marty21 (Feb 11, 2009)

ChrisFilter said:


> Is it just me who thinks Brighton is a pile of wank?



aye, i have friends down there (who moved from london ) and i visit them occasionally, but i'd never live there, it's london concentrated into a small space, and whilst i love london, it needs to spread out


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## tarannau (Feb 11, 2009)

ChrisFilter said:


> Is it just me who thinks Brighton is a pile of wank?



It's a good place to visit but I wouldn't to live there. It's a bit Islington-on-Sea at times, with everything quite compartmentalised. 

I love the idea of living in seaside towns, but in reality it's a bit miserable in winter and then too busy as soon as it does get nice in summer.


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## clandestino (Feb 11, 2009)

zenie said:


> Re; the cool bit - Oh really? I don't find I feel like that, though I'm not bothered about being cool at all!



I guess what I mean is that I choose to live in south London, Brixton in particular, because there isn't that very cool attitude and atmosphere that you often get in north London (by which I'm including Shoreditch etc). Going to Brighton, for me, was a bit like going to north London. Or maybe that was just the bits I visited?

So here's a question: where's the equivalent of Brixton in Brighton? 

I like the idea of London by the sea, but I want it to be south London by the sea rather than north London by the sea.


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## oicur0t (Feb 11, 2009)

tarannau said:


> It's a good place to visit but I wouldn't to live there. It's a bit Islington-on-Sea at times, with everything quite compartmentalised.
> 
> I love the idea of living in seaside towns, but in reality it's a bit miserable in winter and then too busy as soon as it does get nice in summer.



When I visit there with work often get the feeling that everyone is running around in a mood (mini London).


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## Thora (Feb 11, 2009)

marty21 said:


> how about Stroud? I like Stroud, sometimes stop there, very hilly, but it has a good vibe about it, if i was to leave London, I'd consider Stroud, but can't imagine leaving London until i retire, and maybe not even then



I don't think I've ever been to Stroud.  I'm quite keen on Malmesbury (though no station I think) or maybe Pewsey.


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## clandestino (Feb 11, 2009)

Thora said:


> I don't think I've ever been to Stroud.  I'm quite keen on Malmesbury (though no station I think) or maybe Pewsey.



My friends moved from London to Malmesbury. They seem to be enjoying it, but, yeah, no train station and no cinema. The thought would make a little nervous, even though I haven't been to the cinema for a couple of years now...

I always enjoy Malmesbury when I visit, though, but that might be more to do with my friends than the town itself.


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## Thora (Feb 11, 2009)

ianw said:


> My friends moved from London to Malmesbury. They seem to be enjoying it, but, yeah, no train station and no cinema. The thought would make a little nervous, even though I haven't been to the cinema for a couple of years now...
> 
> I always enjoy Malmesbury when I visit, though, but that might be more to do with my friends than the town itself.



I grew up in Devizes, which does have a cinema but also no station.  I'd move to Devizes except it's stuffed full of my relatives


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## Brainaddict (Feb 11, 2009)

ianw said:


> I guess what I mean is that I choose to live in south London, Brixton in particular, because there isn't that very cool attitude and atmosphere that you often get in north London (by which I'm including Shoreditch etc). Going to Brighton, for me, was a bit like going to north London. Or maybe that was just the bits I visited?
> 
> So here's a question: where's the equivalent of Brixton in Brighton?
> 
> I like the idea of London by the sea, but I want it to be south London by the sea rather than north London by the sea.



How about Folkestone? Not hugely ethnically mixed but a fair few settled Ghurkas 

It's been horribly run down for years but there are serious attempts afoot to turn it into the new Brighton or something. http://www.creativefoundation.org.uk/ The jury's out on whether it will work but if it does you might* just be one of the first to see the potential of Britain's new coolest town 


I hear Whitstable is nice.




*Disclaimer: The value of Folkestone can go up as well as down and if the last fifty years of constant down are anything to go by then simple extrapolation tells us where it will go next


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## marty21 (Feb 11, 2009)

Brainaddict said:


> How about Folkestone? Not hugely ethnically mixed but a fair few settled Ghurkas
> 
> It's been horribly run down for years but there are serious attempts afoot to turn it into the new Brighton or something. http://www.creativefoundation.org.uk/ The jury's out on whether it will work but if it does you might* just be one of the first to see the potential of Britain's new coolest town
> 
> ...



i went to folkestone about a year ago, just for the day, it was grim imo, very grim


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## Brainaddict (Feb 11, 2009)

marty21 said:


> i went to folkestone about a year ago, just for the day, it was grim imo, very grim


Exactly! It has that certain quality of grimness to be found in many parts of South London. Bermondsey for example, or Croydon, or parts of Lewisham 

As a south londoner you would also feel a certain sense of familiarity about the feckless youths such as the Daily Mail despairs of hanging around on street corners 

Sorry, was this too literal an interpretation of south-london-on-sea?


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## marty21 (Feb 11, 2009)

Brainaddict said:


> Exactly! It has that certain quality of grimness to be found in many parts of South London. Bermondsey for example, or Croydon, or parts of Lewisham
> 
> As a south londoner you would also feel a certain sense of familiarity about the feckless youths such as the Daily Mail despairs of hanging around on street corners
> 
> Sorry, was this too literal an interpretation of south-london-on-sea?



it did remind me of south london


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## clandestino (Feb 11, 2009)

Brainaddict said:


> How about Folkestone? Not hugely ethnically mixed but a fair few settled Ghurkas
> 
> It's been horribly run down for years but there are serious attempts afoot to turn it into the new Brighton or something. http://www.creativefoundation.org.uk/ The jury's out on whether it will work but if it does you might* just be one of the first to see the potential of Britain's new coolest town
> 
> ...




I grew up in Sandwich, Deal and Canterbury, so I know Folkestone and Whitstable. I don't really feel like going back to Kent is the answer. I was desperate to get away from it when I was a kid and it's fairly culturally bereft (at least SE Kent is, Medway has a scene of sorts).


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## Brainaddict (Feb 11, 2009)

ianw said:


> I don't really feel like going back to Kent is the answer.



This *is* the correct answer 

I wasn't being entirely serious. It would take the destruction of all life on earth save on the Kent coast in order to make me go back and live in a Kent coastal town.


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## clandestino (Feb 11, 2009)

Brainaddict said:


> This *is* the correct answer
> 
> I wasn't being entirely serious. It would take the destruction of all life on earth save on the Kent coast in order to make me go back and live in a Kent coastal town.



Where are you from then? Folkestone?


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## clandestino (Feb 11, 2009)

Brainaddict said:


> It would take the destruction of all life on earth save on the Kent coast in order to make me go back and live in a Kent coastal town.



Weirdly, though, we've started going on holiday to Broadstairs, of all places. Mostly because some friends have a holiday home there they lend us, but also because it was one of those places I just didn't go to as a kid. We either went to Ramsgate and Margate or down to Folkestone. So I don't have any childhood memories connected to it. I quite like the place.


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## Brainaddict (Feb 11, 2009)

ianw said:


> Where are you from then? Folkestone?



Pretty much, yes, though we actually lived outside town most of the time. Folkestone was the big buzzing metropolis to us


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## clandestino (Feb 11, 2009)

Brainaddict said:


> Pretty much, yes, though we actually lived outside town most of the time. Folkestone was the big buzzing metropolis to us



 Canterbury was the bright lights for us!


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## ohmyliver (Feb 11, 2009)

Thora said:


> I grew up in Devizes, which does have a cinema but also no station.  I'd move to Devizes except it's stuffed full of my relatives



I can understand wanting to be left to your own Devizes


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## ohmyliver (Feb 11, 2009)

ianw said:


> I guess what I mean is that I choose to live in south London, Brixton in particular, because there isn't that very cool attitude and atmosphere that you often get in north London (by which I'm including Shoreditch etc). Going to Brighton, for me, was a bit like going to north London. Or maybe that was just the bits I visited?



Having been on the fringes of various 'scenes' in Brighton (mostly mod/indie-ish), I'd say you were spot on.  Unfortunately it's quite hard to escape, what with the smallness of it.


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## liberty (Feb 12, 2009)

dynamicbaddog said:


> I went to see the Woody Allen film _Vicky Christina Barcelona _today - it really made me want to go there



Barcelona really is stunning you should try to get there at some point Mount Tibidabo is the best place in the world


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## liberty (Feb 12, 2009)

ChrisFilter said:


> Is it just me who thinks Brighton is a pile of wank?



I had a flat all set up to move into many years ago then changed my mind very quickly.


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## marty21 (Feb 12, 2009)

Thora said:


> I don't think I've ever been to Stroud.  I'm quite keen on Malmesbury (though no station I think) or maybe Pewsey.



they are all  near bath, but i've never been there, or to pewsey, or to our manor, devizes


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## _pH_ (Feb 12, 2009)

ianw said:


> I grew up in Sandwich, *Deal* and Canterbury, so I know Folkestone and Whitstable.



I used to go to Deal when i were a nipper to stay with the g/parents 

My lovely g/f took me there for the weekend last year as a special treat (thanks sweetheart x)  it was quite nice, saw my g/parents old house (they're both dead now), went to the castle, on the beach etc. And most of the pubs too 

But I don't think i'd wanna live there, nice for a weekend away, but i guess it would get a bit boring being there all the time.


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## oicur0t (Feb 14, 2009)

We have decided to move to Vancouver!


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## marty21 (Feb 14, 2009)

oicur0t said:


> We have decided to move to Vancouver!



blimey when are you doing that? good luck and that!


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## RubyBlue (Feb 14, 2009)

oicur0t said:


> We have decided to move to Vancouver!



Half of my family have emigrated to BC and never looked back


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## RaverDrew (Feb 14, 2009)

oicur0t said:


> We have decided to move to Vancouver!



 but 

Have you ever been there before ?

Best of luck


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## clandestino (Feb 14, 2009)

_pH_ said:


> But I don't think i'd wanna live there, nice for a weekend away, but i guess it would get a bit boring being there all the time.



You guess correctly.


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## oicur0t (Feb 14, 2009)

RaverDrew said:


> but
> 
> Have you ever been there before ?
> 
> Best of luck



No...

My job title is on the key workers list so we can get fast tracked (erm...less than 12 months!) for entry into Canada.... Vancouver is voted as 4th best place in the world to live. It's cheaper than here, we could afford to buy somewhere decent there, so we figured, sod it, let's go!


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## RubyBlue (Feb 15, 2009)

oicur0t said:


> No...
> 
> My job title is on the key workers list so we can get fast tracked (erm...less than 12 months!) for entry into Canada.... Vancouver is voted as 4th best place in the world to live. It's cheaper than here, we could afford to buy somewhere decent there, so we figured, sod it, let's go!



Word of warning - my sis was on the key worker list (she works for the Canadian health service as a senior speach therapist) It wasn't as easy as she was led to believe and the red tape was unbelivable, however, she is there now and once she arrived buying a house and settling in was easy


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## contadino (Feb 15, 2009)

ChrisFilter said:


> Is it just me who thinks Brighton is a pile of wank?



You're right.  Total shitpile.


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## Blagsta (Feb 15, 2009)

ChrisFilter said:


> Is it just me who thinks Brighton is a pile of wank?



Nice place, but too full of try hard wankers.  Everyone you meet is a DJ or a designer - when in reality they work in a cafe or at Amex.


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## Biddlybee (Feb 15, 2009)

oicur0t said:


> We have decided to move to Vancouver!




good luck with all the plans


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## clandestino (Feb 15, 2009)

So where, if anywhere, is Brixton-on-sea?


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## ChrisFilter (Feb 15, 2009)

ianw said:


> So where, if anywhere, is Brixton-on-sea?



St Kilda in Melbourne?


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## RubyBlue (Feb 15, 2009)

contadino said:


> You're right.  Total shitpile.



^ yeah - years ago I would've liked to live there but not now - shitpile is right!


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## clandestino (Feb 15, 2009)

ChrisFilter said:


> St Kilda in Melbourne?



You're probably right. I love St Kilda.


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## hipipol (Feb 15, 2009)

*How odd*

The Brighton- Brixton wanker to half wit ratio is identical!!!!!!!!


Thats what causes this bizarre envy-defensive response

This thread is Ponce Juice to the line bruv


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## upsidedownwalrus (Feb 16, 2009)

It's the best city in the UK and one of the best in Europe.

If it had warm weather it would be one of the best in the world (IMO).  Sadly the grey skies make it suck a lot of the time - even here in Newcastle, while it's bollock freezing, there are quite a lot of nice blue sky ice cold days


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## upsidedownwalrus (Feb 16, 2009)

Blagsta said:


> Nice place, but too full of try hard wankers.  Everyone you meet is a DJ or a designer - when in reality they work in a cafe or at Amex.





To think that in the mid 80s it was a proper rundown old seaside resort with not much going for it...


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## ohmyliver (Feb 16, 2009)

hipipol said:


> The Brighton- Brixton wanker to half wit ratio is identical!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> Thats what causes this bizarre envy-defensive response
> ...



I think it's a reaction to the whole Brighton mind set which usually is slightly "look down your nose" at London/Londoners, and an absurd belief that Brighton is the equal culturally etc of London.


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## liberty (Feb 16, 2009)

BiddlyBee said:


> good luck with all the plans



There are many many plans to be made


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## wrysmile (Feb 16, 2009)

We've got 2012 fairly firmly pencilled in - Kyser wants to see the Olympics before we go. We'll move to Oz, can't decide what city though, although there's a few years to think about it. Work/family stuff will determine it in the end probably. But I _love_ London so much, I'll leave a part of me here. And I can't quite imagine being anywhere else just now - such a fine city, for all her faults. I loves her!


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## ChrisFilter (Feb 16, 2009)

ianw said:


> You're probably right. I love St Kilda.



Ydah, me too. One day I'll live there again.


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## hipipol (Feb 17, 2009)

ohmyliver said:


> I think it's a reaction to the whole Brighton mind set which usually is slightly "look down your nose" at London/Londoners, and an absurd belief that Brighton is the equal culturally etc of London.



The prob I suspect it that London generally reckons it can look down its nose at EVERYWHERE else and it causes great probs when anyone does the same back!!!

Brighton is basically Kensington-on-Sea with a silghtly higher ratio of Dorothies mates like - other than than its proximity to London it wouldn't have the kudos it does, but it aint a bad place

Siblings often argue and the younger one has to put up a bit of a fight to get noticed.........


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## hipipol (Feb 17, 2009)

ChrisFilter said:


> Ydah, me too. One day I'll live there again.



For a minute there I thought you were on about St Hilda's

"Girls who board live in one of 10 boarding houses. There are four senior houses (for the Sixth Form girls) and six junior houses (for 11-16 year olds). The junior houses are St. Helen's, Farnley Lodge, Glenlee, Sidney Lodge, St. Austin's, St. Margaret's and the senior houses are St. Hilda's, Beale, Cambray and Elizabeth." - this from Wiki

I suddenly realised why you seemed so familiar as I had several young gropes with lasses from Cheltenham Ladies College

As it was the Schools 155th Anniversary on the 13th of this month - it seemed rather apposite


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## Cowley (Feb 17, 2009)

Did do for about 7 years and moved back.

May move away again when I'm due for retirement, I got a long way to go yet.


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## 5t3IIa (Feb 17, 2009)

hipipol said:


> The prob I suspect it that London generally reckons it can look down its nose at EVERYWHERE else and it causes great probs when anyone does the same back!!!
> 
> Brighton is basically Kensington-on-Sea with a silghtly higher ratio of Dorothies mates like - other than than its proximity to London it wouldn't have the kudos it does, but it aint a bad place
> 
> Siblings often argue and the younger one has to put up a bit of a fight to get noticed.........



I think Brighton is a bit more Hackney-on-Sea mixed with Studentville. 

At the risk of being an old fart it was amazing techno fun in the 90's but fell victim/self-selected right into the house price madness and is now a very specialised kind of dump. You can't make London money in Brighton but you can pay London prices. Plus it's teeny tiny for a 'city'. You can walk from one side of town to the other in an hour.


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## ohmyliver (Feb 17, 2009)

hipipol said:


> The prob I suspect it that London generally reckons it can look down its nose at EVERYWHERE else and it causes great probs when anyone does the same back!!!
> 
> Brighton is basically Kensington-on-Sea with a silghtly higher ratio of Dorothies mates like - other than than its proximity to London it wouldn't have the kudos it does, but it aint a bad place
> 
> Siblings often argue and the younger one has to put up a bit of a fight to get noticed.........



thing is that when I moved back up to London, I did a fairly innoculous blog for myself, pretty much detailing me dealing with my father's death, and what free things I could blag myself into, for which I was harrased by an ex-work collegue. Pretty much his justification was that I was wrong to like London so much, and that London really couldn't hold a candle to Brighton.  That's one of the reasons why I find the whole Brighton attitude so risable.


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## g force (Feb 17, 2009)

5t3IIa said:


> I think Brighton is a bit more Hackney-on-Sea mixed with Studentville.
> 
> At the risk of being an old fart it was amazing techno fun in the 90's but fell victim/self-selected right into the house price madness and is now a very specialised kind of dump. You can't make London money in Brighton but you can pay London prices. Plus it's teeny tiny for a 'city'. You can walk from one side of town to the other in an hour.



I prefer Hastings  Brighton had it's moments for certain in the 90s and now it's all a bit crap...Hastings is however, keeping it real!


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## hipipol (Feb 17, 2009)

Twas well cool whan Mutoid Waste made their home there for a bit

ohmyliver - dont let one mega nutter spoil the whole place for you

Still I wouldn't want to live there.........

Oi Luvs Lunnun oi does


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## ohmyliver (Feb 17, 2009)

hipipol said:


> Twas well cool whan Mutoid Waste made their home there for a bit
> 
> ohmyliver - dont let one mega nutter spoil the whole place for you
> 
> ...



hahaha... no... I lived there for 13 years, and I just think London is much better in every way apart from having a seaside and the rolling downs on your door step (but then again that's what the train is for).


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