Re: Quality of life in the UK
- From: Lisa Hafey <lisa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 03:11:53 +0000
Runli Guo wrote:
The quality of life in the UK is very low, no wonder more and more people
are leaving the country. My husband is away 11 hours a day (8 hours work
and 3 hours commuting). I have less than an hour every day
to see him. I am taking care of two little ones. Child care is more
expensive than I can earn despite that I had a pretty good education. We
are renting a house because the property prices are too high for us to
afford anything half-decent.
Some friends of ours are moving to New Zealand to have a better future. I
think they are doing the right thing.
I don't know anyone else is sharing my views here.
Depressed Mother of Two
Firstly, hello, and hello to all, this is my first post after lurking for several years!
As with lots of others who've replied, I don't agree with much of what you post. And unlike most of the other posters, I've come from one of these "grass is greener" countries, and far prefer living here. We emigrated just over a year ago from Sydney Australia to live in South East London because my husband got a job over here. The quality of life we have found here is vastly superior to what we had in Sydney; we couldn't afford to buy a house in Sydney because the housing prices were in excess of what we could afford (and my husband was on a high salary in the IT industry) without him having to commute 3 hours between home and the city. Rent was relatively cheap, but the quality of housing was poor. Conversely, we bought a house here in September last year for a price that we would not have been able to find in Sydney that was as close to my husband's work (ie the city) as he is to work here (does that make sense? It doesn't read well to me. Could be to do with the fact it's 2.45am...).
The eldest of our three children (soon to be expanded to 4!) was the only one in school, and we struggled to find a school to meet her exceptional needs (she has been assessed as moderately gifted), yet the first school we tried here in England was superior to anything else we found in Sydney within the state and private system; she's attending a state school here which is teaching at a level at least a year ahead of what she was being taught in her "gifted and talented" class in Sydney.
Our second child (eldest son) was able to start school a year earlier than what he'd been allowed in Australia. He's now in year 1, whereas in Australia he would only be starting "kindergarten" - ie reception - at the end of this month, something which had both him and me frustrated as he's as bright, if not brighter, than his sister. Admittedly, his starting school early is by accident of birth more than anything else, because his birthday is the first of August, but in Australia the cut-off date for starting school last January was 31 July, meaning that he would be a whole year behind those whose birthdays fell within a couple of days of his. I know the situation would have been the same over here if his birthday had been 1 September or whatever the day after the cut-off was, but the school wouldn't bend an inch, even considering his sister's ability (and the given wisdom with regard to "gifted and talented" is that, extraordinary circumstances apart, siblings are within plus or minus 10 IQ points of each other - if his sister is "very bright" then the very least he would be is "bright").
Culturally we feel far happier in England, as we have an interest in history, and so enjoy the access to historic sites all over the country - goodness, there's ROMAN RUINS less than 3 miles from our house! - not to mention that huge land mass a ferry trip away, Europe. There's nothing comparable in Australia. Indeed, the closest "overseas travel" is three hours away to New Zealand, and it's just like Australia, only with pointier (and more violent) mountains...It's all very well if you like scenery, but if you want to feed your brain...nah, nothing there.
You talk about friends emigrating to New Zealand. Be aware that the job market is likely to be smaller than in the UK, and the standard of living is not going to be as high as what you currently experience, because, as in Australia, it's a small population, and so salaries are not going to be as high as here in the UK. Also, having talked to Kiwi friends, the housing market has outstripped affordability, and so if you cannot afford to buy in the UK, then you're equally unlikely to be able to afford to buy in New Zealand. Not to mention that their education system is a year behind Australia's...ie 2 year's behind the UK!
My husband's favourite phrase is "economies of scale". 60 million people in the UK means that there's enough money coming in and going out of a tiny little group of islands to ensure just about everyone can do what they want for a price they can afford, if only they look hard enough. Compared to that, New Zealand, about the same size as the UK, has a population of just 4 million. Australia has only 20 million people. Both countries are experiencing difficulties with regard to high unemployment (not enough money to implement necessary infrastructure, too much emphasis on "tourism" rather than planning for the long-term...I remember in the 80s the Australian tourism industry starting up big-time - consequently pretty much all manufacturing is now done off-shore in south-east Asia. I was flabbergasted to discover that things you buy in England are quite likely to have also been made in England! Unheard of in Australia and New Zealand. Everything's made in China).
Anyway, after all that (sorry about the blathering, once again, it's the time of night), I suspect your real problem is your depression. Perhaps you should have that seen to before you take any drastic measures like moving to the other side of the world, away from any support groups you may have over here. The grass may appear greener on the other side, but that's probably down more to good advertising as much as anything else! Take a look around you and consider what you can change about your life. Others have suggested moving closer to your husband's work. When I was pregnant with my eldest child, my husband was commuting 3 hours each way from our home south of Sydney to north Sydney, and sometimes I didn't see him at all for days at a time, because he would work back late, get home at 11, and have to be up at 5 to be on the train by 6 to be at his desk by 9. We moved to North Sydney 10 weeks before our child was born, away from friends and family, doubled the cost of our rent, but also doubled our quality of life. Of course, he changed that job for one in the city a couple of weeks after our child was born (actually went to the interview the day I came home from hospital!), but that's another story...
Regards
Lisa .
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