Cheery Thistle

They don’t they just like winding folk up lol. Unless someone on here works for immi, they don’t really know, it’s all just conjecture. Most of the experienced agents don’t even know the exact way things are processed or understand the ‘logic’ applied to the grants system.

The Tunnel and The Arches, Moskito and Booly Mardy’s and a lot of the places in Merchant City. It’s all changed now, but Merchant City is still quite nice and OK for a night out. Bath St is dire now though. Don’t start me on the tax. Council has just closed 3 of our pools/leisure centres but are proposing a £700 per year council tax increase, alongside £43million of cuts over the next 5 years. That’s on top of huge cuts over the past 5 years already. Where will it all end? https://news.westlothian.gov.uk/article/79328/Council-disagree-with-proposals-on-Council-Tax?fbclid=IwAR0U6a1t8D5lUVsI5SW0n_9ifVnfcgb0Q8_7RLRyhMd2Et9feyPSQoGMVMA_aem_AaXlilbssjEjhFoxQcTiiqdA50S_Np26ad7mQ3Bg8qtHJiQ7c_SP6SVXOTKUdIIPsvA

Yes. It’s affordable on Australian salaries!!

Thanks Marisa. Will check. It fortunately doesn’t need work often, but does have an auto gearbox which I know won’t last forever. Need to start thinking about this now as looking to move in next 12 months.

A couple of questions about importing our car. I have done Iron Chefs appraisal and he seems to think it might be worth it. Is there anywhere online that we can roughly calculate how much it would all cost? Also regarding servicing and repairs - I keep seeing people say European car parts are expensive and dealerships had to come by etc. Are there not independent mechanics in Aus who fit generic parts? We have an Audi with only 45k miles on the clock, but it’s 5 years old so out of warranty. We have a great local mechanic who services and maintains it and just uses good quality generic parts. Am I in cloud cuckoo land for thinking the same might exist over there? Overall really like the car but not sure it’s worth the extra hassle and cost of shipping!

Thank God someone who finally agrees with me lol. Glasgow is so grim these days and it actually makes my heart sad. My first grad job was based there and in the drinks industry in the early 2000’s when Glasgow was quite a trendy place to be with great shopping and nightlife. I saw the inside and behind the scenes of most of the cool bars and clubs, attended many launch parties etc, was great fun! My boss hired the party fire engine for our Christmas do one year and I was fireman lifted in and out of every pub hahaha! Would be frowned upon now I’m sure. Now it’s a case of dodge the zombie on the way to work. And yes, it’s filthy, as are many of the trains in and out (despite that fact that it costs me over £20 for a return journey of 45 minutes). How and when will this ever change I’m not sure. Edinburgh is more my home town as it’s where all my family are from and most of them live. It is better and when I can work from the office there I do that. Even Edinburgh is not what it was pre-Covid though. As for tax, I believe we are now paying the second highest level recorded since WWIIhttps://www.economist.com/britain/2023/04/11/britains-tax-take-is-getting-bigger-but-not-better Scunnered lol.

Yip, do agree with this. It’s like the Scottish govt absolute turkey bottle return scheme and their sex education policy which I am convinced are just a decoy to try and detract attention from the actual real issues. The problem is, what my own eyes see is not too bonnie unfortunately!

Yes maybe. Actually just did a quick Google and knife crime has increased by 34% in England and Wales since 2010 but has actually decreased in Scotland. My gut feeling was that it’s not as bad up here and that seems to be confirmed by the stats. Our overall crime rate is also much lower with 93.6 crimes per 1000 people in England and just 52.8 per 1000 in Scotland. Interesting. Must have been the English who picked the fight with William Wallace, not the other way round hahahaha! Anyway I think I was just trying to counteract the idea that somehow I live in a deprived midden and places like Bournemouth are somehow ‘better’ or immune to these issues. They are not.

At least we agree on something! Hahaha! I am going to get absolute pelters for this but the uncontrolled immigration and delays in processing those seeking asylum has changed the face of coastal towns. Most of the hotels are full of people in temporary accommodation. Friends of my sister in law visited her in Bournemouth in May and couldn’t get a room due to hotels being full of people who can’t be housed. *Running for cover now* https://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/news/23515812.high-court-bans-use-great-yarmouth-hotels-asylum-seekers/ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64991234.amp

Exactly this. I don’t think it’s that I think somewhere else will be better necessarily. Do I think that the environment might be a bit better, and the climate a bit more conducive to not being stuck in the house 9 months a year? Yes. Do I hope that this will positively impact my lifestyle? Yes. Do I realise I will still have work, problems and worries? Yes. All of that and I am literally miles from my friends and family, so that will make it even harder. Of this I am aware and I have lived in 2 other countries in my life, albeit when I was younger and more footloose. Since I did live abroad when I was younger, I know that there are different ways of living. They may not be ‘better’ but they probably suit me more. The reason I did not make the move when I was younger is that my husband had 2 young sons, who are now in their 20’s. Now I have the chance. If Australia doesn’t work out we have already decided we won’t return to the UK. I am aware my Dad might die and I might not be here. That I will miss weddings and funerals. It makes me a bit sad, but then I think about my childhood and some of the decisions my parents made and I don’t feel so bad!!

Agree with you there. I don’t really have an ‘Australia good’ mentality but I know what I see around me here is not great. So maybe I’m developing a ‘UK bad’ mentality. Bournemouth. Really? My sister in law has lived there for 25 years and has a 21 year old son. Lives in Charminster. His friend was stabbed on Old Christchurch Rd in Bournemouth in June and has life-changing injuries. https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23596903.two-people-stabbed-old-christchurch-road-bournemouth/ Stabbings there are now a weekly occurrence and she says the place has changed beyond all recognition in the past 10 years. Needless to say my sister in law is distraught and worries about her lad all the time. And he’s quite sensible as 21 year old boys go! https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23705726.bournemouth-murder-probe-anti-knife-march-held/ These are not ‘rough’ people. He is at Uni studying business and has been on a work placement with Disney in London for the past year. He is hoping to get a WHV for Aus once he has graduated. By the by, I think everyone here assumes I am living in some deprived hell hole, like Easterhouse or Castlemilk which is not the case. I live in a commuter town about 15 miles from Edinburgh, very close to the Airport. I live in a private estate with above your stated average house prices of £275k. We both have decent jobs. It’s a ‘normal’ town - not a deprived s*ithole. Nor is it an affluent pocket. The town used to have excellent amenities but sadly, these seem to be closing one by one due to budget cuts.

Did you have something to add, or just ganging up on me?

@InnerVoice I didn’t ask any questions. I didn’t mention free dental treatment either. I pay for private treatment here - still can’t get a dentist appointment! I have an NHS dentist but have to pay for a lot of my treatment privately. The quality is not fabulous either. It’s a bare minimum service. Maybe you’re right, I should just put up and shut up, why expect or hope for anything better. You know there’s one thing that most societies need to be happy places and that’s to feel like they are progressing. Regarding the denial, I think I mean that people like to just stay in their own little bubble and because they can’t see decline they like to pretend or deny that it’s happening. I can’t live with my blinders on. @Marisawright my husband couldn’t walk and was told he wouldn’t get a consultant appointment (never mind an operation ) for 2 years. We paid privately for it. He developed subsequent complications and I had to drive him 30 miles in the back seat of my car literally with one of his discs pressing on his spinal cord because it was going to be a 15 hour wait for an ambulance. Got to the 2nd hospital to find there were no wheelchairs available in A and E. He is extremely lucky not to be paralysed. It was a totally traumatic experience. I do agree that maybe there’s a generation gap going on here. Many of you don’t have young children and I think that probably affects your view on things quite a lot. For me, am I happy bringing my daughter up in an environment that I consider to be worse than the one I grew up in? The answer is no.

I’m not really comparing to Aus, as you say I’ve never been (reccy trip booked for Feb/March 2024, not long now). I’m comparing to every other developed country I’ve been to in the past 10 years! Lol. Seriously. Went to Porto in May during the student festival - streets spotless and no loutish behaviour. It was heaving. Went to Edinburgh yesterday during the festival - bins over flowing and rubbish everywhere. Went to Lanzarote last month - again streets spotless and everything looking groomed. Went to Italy last year and our bin was collected EVERY day. Can barely get a collection at home. All of these countries are ostensibly less well-off than the UK. Why does it feel like things just don’t work here? Our local waste facility has just cut its opening hours and you now need to book a slot a week in advance to dispose of your rubbish. Which will surely lead to more dumping of rubbish. When did it get to the stage that our living environment just doesn’t matter?

And you, my friend, are on the wind up!

Nobody has said the UK wouldn’t pull through. I think the UK will take at least 20 years to come out the other side of this slump, by which time I’ll be nearing the end of my working life and my daughter will have lived most of hers through austerity. I can only talk from personal experience. The area I am in is in steep decline - amenities are closing (this week we are losing our only municipal pool in a town of 70k people). 3 local sports centres are also closing and our theatre/arts hub is under threat. Everything is overgrown and scruffy. Bins are overflowing. It doesn’t scream ‘long life and prosperity’ to me. All while taxes are increasing. It’s not like we are struggling necessarily as a family, but over all the UK is struggling as a nation. Overall wages are really relatively low and our standards of living are taking a total battering. The saddest thing is that the government doesn’t seem to care enough to want to do anything to improve things. So @InnerVoice asked what I expect? I expect to be able to get an emergency dentist appointment within a week. I expect not to have to wait 3 years for an operation. I expect to have some basic leisure amenities if I live in a medium sized town. I expect schools to have more than £8 per pupil per year for resources (including paper, pens, online subscriptions etc). I expect to have to work hard. I expect not to be given anything. I expect to pay tax and pay charges for other things. I expect to live in a reasonably clean environment, where the government/council at least tries to keep things clean, tidy and maintained. Are these expectations too high for one of the richest countries in the world? Or for a country that ‘sat on its collective arse’ as you put it for 2 years? (Offensive much). People on this forum seem to be in denial. Yes your life might be OK but are you relatively as well off as you were 5 or 10 years ago? Do things feel positive? Is the outlook good for your kids/grandkids? Does your area have good community amenities? Do things feel well maintained and looked after? https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63659936.amp

Break down a budget for me that includes rent and other necessities for an adult and child. I said it’s not possible to have a good/nice life. Survival might be possible!

Not on £23k a year as a sole income it’s not. And honestly you wouldn’t think it’s a first world country in many towns up and down the country.

This is literally a hilarious view of ‘regional UK’. Regional rural UK maybe. I think the key point here is exactly what you said - this is how you view regional UK. It’s your view. And with the greatest respect in the world, it’s not an up to date view. You haven’t been here to see it for quite some time. Totally agree that if OP can buy something outright with no mortgage that would be perfect and might be just about doable. Still, £23k nets to about £1600 a month and it’s not a lot to run a home and pay for a child, especially if you need a car (I’m assuming in Yorkshire that’s likely). That’s all I’m saying, approach with caution. Just being realistic, not negative. In some ways the OP would be better off if she had no cash behind her - the universal credit calculators are quite opening, give it a go and you’ll see. I also hope it works out for Lamondra and wish her the best. Not everybody ‘sat on their backsides’ for 2 years. Many frontline workers were out working and many others (myself included) were trying to work from home and home school young children at the same time. It was not a holiday. It’s quite clear that you didn’t live through the hell of a UK lockdown.

Yip, I just didn’t think it was going to be particularly helpful to the OP to go off on that tangent. I think you should come back and see how regional UK is looking post-Brexit and Covid. Not that the cities are faring much better either actually! I suppose when you think about it, you’re never really that far from a major city in the UK.

Yes that’s a bit off-topic and is true but the point I was making was really in regard to private landlords in the UK being hounded out of the market by incoherent government policy, leading to a lack of rentals which will likely impact the OP if they need to try and rent, not anything to do with rents or affordability. This issue has been compounded by record high net inbound migration and rising interest rates (similar to Australia). There are many threads debating costs of living, salaries and affordability UK vs Aus, I don’t think we need to turn this into one of them.

As someone on the verge of making the move in the opposite direction, can I ask what it is that you don’t like and how is the country going? We might find some common themes Aus/UK!! I think buying something would be really good actually, if budget allows. Are you thinking to buy outright, without a mortgage?

Yeah that’s not what’s happening. I mean we are in between Edinburgh and Glasgow, not the back of beyond, and in areas where transport links are good etc. The flat related to the screenshots above is a 2 bed in Edinburgh west, so not an undesirable area where people don’t want to invest. You may not be aware but the UK govt has mounted a sustained attack on private landlords over the past 5 years or so - taxation regime has been changed to penalise them and legislation to protect tenants tightened hugely. If a landlord tries to evict a tenant (for legitimate reasons) the council now tell them to stay put until it goes to a tribunal (could take 2 years) meanwhile landlord is getting no rent. In Scotland we can no longer put rent up (or only very minimally) during an existing tenancy despite exponentially rising interest rates and other costs. When you put this together with the huge increases in net migration, it really is the perfect storm. Private landlords are exiting the market in big numbers, thus reducing the supply of homes available for rent even further. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23473103.scotland-rental-market-warning-landlords-look-sell-property/

Well to be honest, I wouldn’t bother in that case. I’m now in my 40’s and I think hormones must be kicking in - my tolerance level for that kind of BS is now extremely low. Not that I was ever one to suffer fools really!

Some fab advice from Marisa above. The only thing I’d say is regarding the Airbnb you book for when you arrive. I would seriously book it for more than 1 month. It does depend on area, but if you want somewhere decent with access to transport, schools and employment opportunities then it will likely take longer than a month to secure somewhere. I cannot stress enough the level of housing crisis at the moment. I frequently receive messages from people or I’m tagged in Facebook posts with people who are totally desperate for rentals, have good references, jobs and guarantors and are struggling. If you could try and get your family to put out feelers for you now and see if they could secure something for you before you arrive that would definitely be better. I’d suggest you don’t want to be at the mercy of the council, you will literally be housed in a homeless hostel or similar. Just one wee word of caution as well - you say family don’t have space for you. Now, I am not close to my family, not really. I see one of my brothers a few times a year and my other 2 siblings at weddings and funerals! However, if I was pregnant and returning from thousands of miles away alone, I know my brother would put me up for a few months if I really needed it (which you do). I also have an aunt and uncle who would make space for me and a really good friend who would. You are moving and uprooting your life to be closer to these people, just make sure that your affection and connection is reciprocated or it could be quite a sore one. Unfortunately if you have over £16k in savings from the proceeds of your house sale, I think you won’t qualify for benefits except Child benefit (about £100 a month). I am attaching a couple of screenshots regarding rentals - one is from the online rental portal when we advertised a 2 bed flat in July this year, and one from the mother of our new tenant. We are in central Scotland so probably not the most sought after UK location and it’s still really really grim!