Would you move to the UK now?

[marmitegirl]

Just now, Newy said:

Many thanks to you all! Definitely helped with making the decision to not travel in time for Christmas. It's not worth it! We're definitely delaying the move to at least late January but not later than Easter as my husband really do want to be back soon. Hopefully, we can enjoy one last summer here before we move. Fingers crossed x

Hopefully your husband can take some comfort in knowing he is in a safe place and lucky to be where he is...that's what I keep thinking and will have that mindset if we have to postpone again. Our aim is to get back for the start of school in January...assuming schools will still be open , if not, will try to enjoy the summer and remind myself we'll get there next year when the situation has improved (fingers crossed)

[Newy]

1 minute ago, marmitegirl said:

Hopefully your husband can take some comfort in knowing he is in a safe place and lucky to be where he is...that's what I keep thinking and will have that mindset if we have to postpone again. Our aim is to get back for the start of school in January...assuming schools will still be open , if not, will try to enjoy the summer and remind myself we'll get there next year when the situation has improved (fingers crossed)

That was our original plan too - to have the kids start school on 4th Jan but that won't happen now. I think we'll try to holiday somewhere nice in Australia over the school holidays, somewhere we've never been to and try to enjoy...

[marmitegirl]

Our problem is that if we don't get back by the start of the new term in Jan the school can't/won't hold the places which I totally understand. We are moving semi rural and places are in demand more than ever. So waiting to go around Easter and the next (summer) term means probably not having a local school which would be a big problem. 

We did a big "last" aussie holiday in the Sept/Oct holidays - was expensive but great and I seemed to enjoy it knowing it would be the last one for a long while

[MARYROSE02]

I don't know if it is the right analogy but moving from a country where life is "normal" to one in the midst of a lock down (and winter)  seems akin to moving from a neutral country to Britain during the Blitz.

Having lived through one lock down, in Sydney from the middle of March to the end of May was bad enough. When they briefly opened the border with Queensland I came up to Surfers Paradise and life has been, I'm almost ashamed to admit, as normal as it has ever been. But imagine if I had come onto POF and asked for advice about moving from Surfers Paradise to Melbourne at the start of their lock down? One hundred days of normal life in Surfers Paradise or one hundred days of solitary confinement in Melbourne?

Moving countries with all the unsettling feelings that entails, plus living under lock down conditions, plus it being winter. Even your daily exercise periods will be squeezed into a relatively brief period of daylight. But moving in the spring when even under lock down conditions, you can at least enjoy the wonder of the UK in April or May with the summer to look forward to sounds a better proposition to me.

[Newy]

4 hours ago, MARYROSE02 said:

I don't know if it is the right analogy but moving from a country where life is "normal" to one in the midst of a lock down (and winter)  seems akin to moving from a neutral country to Britain during the Blitz.

Having lived through one lock down, in Sydney from the middle of March to the end of May was bad enough. When they briefly opened the border with Queensland I came up to Surfers Paradise and life has been, I'm almost ashamed to admit, as normal as it has ever been. But imagine if I had come onto POF and asked for advice about moving from Surfers Paradise to Melbourne at the start of their lock down? One hundred days of normal life in Surfers Paradise or one hundred days of solitary confinement in Melbourne?

Moving countries with all the unsettling feelings that entails, plus living under lock down conditions, plus it being winter. Even your daily exercise periods will be squeezed into a relatively brief period of daylight. But moving in the spring when even under lock down conditions, you can at least enjoy the wonder of the UK in April or May with the summer to look forward to sounds a better proposition to me.

This! This is what I'm afraid of. I think if it was spring/summer I would've moved. I'm afraid that I will hate it there if we moved now. Not sure if my husband would feel the same. I think he'll be happy just being there even if we were forced to coop up inside the whole of winter! Don't get me wrong - I do share the same desire to move back but not to a lockdown in the middle of winter! 

[Amber Snowball]

I think @Newy with no jobs or anything in particular to move to, a delay is wise.

@marmitegirl with jobs, schools and flights and an unwell relative I would move as planned. Wash your hands, keep some distance, don’t lick the faces of strangers 

Good luck to both of you. I’ve been back 2.5years and it’s not bad.

[MARYROSE02]

13 hours ago, Bulya said:

Australian Guardian is good.  Can’t comment on the pommy version 

I imagine that, just like the Daily Mail, it draws on both UK and Australian news but bottom line is that people from the left read the Guardian and on the right they read the Daily Mail. Which is more objective is another matter. If you want to read criticism of Trump, Johnson and Morrison but nothing bad about Labour, Biden or the Labor Premiers in OZ, especially Andrews in Victoria, the Guardian is for you.

[Bulya]

29 minutes ago, MARYROSE02 said:

I imagine that, just like the Daily Mail, it draws on both UK and Australian news but bottom line is that people from the left read the Guardian and on the right they read the Daily Mail. Which is more objective is another matter. If you want to read criticism of Trump, Johnson and Morrison but nothing bad about Labour, Biden or the Labor Premiers in OZ, especially Andrews in Victoria, the Guardian is for you.

Not what I’m seeing.  Andrews would walk in an election in Victoria right now, no surprise after the recent ACT and Queensland election results.  

[newjez]

2 hours ago, MARYROSE02 said:

I imagine that, just like the Daily Mail, it draws on both UK and Australian news but bottom line is that people from the left read the Guardian and on the right they read the Daily Mail. Which is more objective is another matter. If you want to read criticism of Trump, Johnson and Morrison but nothing bad about Labour, Biden or the Labor Premiers in OZ, especially Andrews in Victoria, the Guardian is for you.

I read the guardian because it's free, and I pay for the telegraph.

The truth is in the middle somewhere. 

[BacktoDemocracy]

On 02/11/2020 at 01:48, Newy said:

Hi all,

We have been thinking of returning to UK since early this year but have been postponing due to the pandemic. We have a comfortable life here but we don't see ourselves making Australia our forever home. Our latest plan was to be back by Christmas but given that the situation is about to get worse than the first wave, I'm hesitant. My husband on the other hand thinks that this pandemic is not going to end anytime soon, so the sooner we move the better. I would really like to do that, but how can I knowingly take my children from the safety of Australia to a full-blown pandemic? We definitely want to move, but I'm inclined to move in the new year/Easter. I can see my husband's point of view - that if we had never moved to Australia, we would be going through this anyway, and our friends/family are somehow managing. He thinks that if we don't move by Christmas, we'll end up staying another year as there'll be another wave/reasons to delay...

Please help us decide. What would you do? We're torn! 

Just try reading a little of this

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/03/advice-schools-covid-infection-pupils-classrooms-test-and-trace?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

 

George Monbiot

[MARYROSE02]

6 hours ago, newjez said:

I read the guardian because it's free, and I pay for the telegraph.

The truth is in the middle somewhere. 

The Mail is free too and subscribe to the SMH and buy The (hated by the Left) Australian.

If only the ABC did what it is supposed to do and represented the views of all Australians.

[MARYROSE02]

18 hours ago, Newy said:

This! This is what I'm afraid of. I think if it was spring/summer I would've moved. I'm afraid that I will hate it there if we moved now. Not sure if my husband would feel the same. I think he'll be happy just being there even if we were forced to coop up inside the whole of winter! Don't get me wrong - I do share the same desire to move back but not to a lockdown in the middle of winter! 

I suppose if you do go back in the depths of winter, and in the middle of a lock down, you are seeing it at its worst, and if you still love it, then you know you have made the right decision? Whereas if you go back in spring/summer when England is truly amazing, green, all the flowers and trees out, light till 10 pm, you might be getting a false picture?

I went back for a holiday one year at the end of November and I stood shivering at Heathrow on a cold, dank. dull morning waiting for my parents to pick me up, but by the end of January the days were getting longer - light till 5pm or so and I was sad to leave. In 1996 I lost my job in Sydney after 15 years and I went back to England for a 'holiday' which lasted for twelve years. I think I might well have stayed there had my parents not passed away and my brothers both lived in Australia.

I've not been back to England for twelve years which is the longest I've ever stayed away. I've still got my home there, rented out. I can't really imagine moving back into it on my own though. And with the lock  down no going over to the pub in the evenings! Do you have a home to move into by the way? 

[Bulya]

2 hours ago, MARYROSE02 said:

The Mail is free too and subscribe to the SMH and buy The (hated by the Left) Australian.

If only the ABC did what it is supposed to do and represented the views of all Australians.

The ABC has been taken over by the right.  Ex Murdoch journalists now run the show courtesy of Ita Buttrose, parachuted in to do her masters bidding..  You only have to watch Insiders to see what’s happened...

[Lynne shenfine]

This is exactly the position we are in! We have  in Adelaide for eight years. Live beside the beach, pool, excellent well paid job etc etc  but all of our family in the U.K. Travel was our way of staying here. We are now essentially living in a guilded cage and with the draconian border control and no likelihood of international travel for some time we have decided to go home.

 Slighty different as my husband has landed a job in Jersey where Covid isn't quite so rampant.

We have been unsettled for about 18 months but Covid has been the icing on the cake!

There will never be a good time and at some point Oz will get hit. Covid is not just going to disappear.

We are leaving before Christmas as the housing market is predicted to crash early next year and we are much more likely to sell our house now.

Good luck with your decision. Feel free to drop me a message if you want to chat xxx

[MARYROSE02]

5 hours ago, Bulya said:

The ABC has been taken over by the right.  Ex Murdoch journalists now run the show courtesy of Ita Buttrose, parachuted in to do her masters bidding..  You only have to watch Insiders to see what’s happened...

That is untrue. Ita has done little to change the philosophy at the ABC and one ex Sky journo taken on at Insiders is not proof of a mass takeover by Murdoch. When Murdoch journos pack the panel of Q and A I might believe you. For your thesis to be valid then the ABC will be slamming Chairman Dan nonstop over  his quarantine cockup and criticising Biden as much as Trump.

 

[Bulya]

23 minutes ago, MARYROSE02 said:

That is untrue. Ita has done little to change the philosophy at the ABC and one ex Sky journo taken on at Insiders is not proof of a mass takeover by Murdoch. When Murdoch journos pack the panel of Q and A I might believe you. For your thesis to be valid then the ABC will be slamming Chairman Dan nonstop over  his quarantine cockup and criticising Biden as much as Trump.

 

There was no ‘quarantine cockup’.  They used a contractor from the federal contract and the preferred option from Vicpol. Just about every journo is an ex Murdoch hack.  Watch any ABC show these days and it’s very obvious.  Maybe you don’t watch the ABC?  

[MARYROSE02]

22 hours ago, Bulya said:

Not what I’m seeing.  Andrews would walk in an election in Victoria right now, no surprise after the recent ACT and Queensland election results.  

Perhaps but there should still be a proper enquiry into the corrupt way he appointed security firms to run his awful quarantine.

[marmitegirl]

16 hours ago, Lynne shenfine said:

This is exactly the position we are in! We have  in Adelaide for eight years. Live beside the beach, pool, excellent well paid job etc etc  but all of our family in the U.K. Travel was our way of staying here. We are now essentially living in a guilded cage and with the draconian border control and no likelihood of international travel for some time we have decided to go home.

 Slighty different as my husband has landed a job in Jersey where Covid isn't quite so rampant.

We have been unsettled for about 18 months but Covid has been the icing on the cake!

There will never be a good time and at some point Oz will get hit. Covid is not just going to disappear.

We are leaving before Christmas as the housing market is predicted to crash early next year and we are much more likely to sell our house now.

Good luck with your decision. Feel free to drop me a message if you want to chat xxx

So we're not the only ones then!! Everyone thinks we're mad to be going especially now but I agree with what you say. Good luck with the move

[Marisawright]

2 hours ago, marmitegirl said:

Everyone thinks we're mad to be going especially now but I agree with what you say. Good luck with the move

You'll get that a lot.  Just remember that they've got a distorted view, so don't let them influence you.   Australians think England is more depressed and the weather is worse than it really is.   When you get home, British friends won't understand how you could even consider returning, because they think all Australians live like the kids on Home & Away.  

[DrDougster]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

You'll get that a lot.  Just remember that they've got a distorted view, so don't let them influence you.   Australians think England is more depressed and the weather is worse than it really is.   When you get home, British friends won't understand how you could even consider returning, because they think all Australians live like the kids on Home & Away.  

Roughly the same number of people died of covid in the last 48hrs in UK as have died in total in Australia.

Vaccine likely for most in second quarter of next year.

People might distort the weather and the lifestyle but you can't distort those points. Id definitely wait even if you're desperate to get back. 

[s713]

Most people don't distort anything, maybe they just have a different opinion from you? Worth a thought.

[Marisawright]

42 minutes ago, s713 said:

Most people don't distort anything, maybe they just have a different opinion from you? Worth a thought.

Of course people can have a distorted view.  If an Australian has never lived in the UK, or a British person has never lived in Australia, they are often basing their picture of the country on TV programs, and perhaps what they learned in school (which is 20 or 30 years out of date).  That's not the reality of day to day living - i.e., it's distorted. 

[FirstWorldProblems]

Although it was in the context of a potential job change, a mentor of mine once said to me "it's far better that you should be running TO something, than AWAY from something".  If gave me pause.  Was I about to move to a sub-optimal new job because I was fed up where I was or was I making a good decision and trading up?   I don't know if that feels relevant to your situation at all?

I love, love, love the UK.  I'm a huge advocate and I get a great deal out of living here.  I state that to give context to my opinion on this subject - don't come here now unless you have to.

It's not terrible.  We don't have people lying in the street with Covid and every second person out of work.  But it is tougher than normal here.  Life here under covid is pretty hard, even if you have a job.  There's limited social contact which gets a bit depressing.  Holiday are unfeasible.  Kids are being sent home from school for 2 weeks to isolate because someone in their class tested positive.  Brexit is a dark cloud and half the population are yelling at the other half.  Our cabinet isn't turning out to be great crisis leaders

It was a bit different in the Spring and Summer.  Long days made it easy to get out into the country and walk, run, ride or swim.  But now it's cold and dark and for 5 days a week most of us just see the four walls of our tiny home office.

If it's feasible, I'd recommend you wait 6 months and let it all settle down.  Come back when the leaves are back on the trees and the days are longer and hopefully we're living a bit more of a normal life.

 

But for all that, another mentor once said to me "it's better to regret something you've done that something you didn't do"......so what the hell do I know?

[Amber Snowball]

21 minutes ago, FirstWorldProblems said:

Although it was in the context of a potential job change, a mentor of mine once said to me "it's far better that you should be running TO something, than AWAY from something".  If gave me pause.  Was I about to move to a sub-optimal new job because I was fed up where I was or was I making a good decision and trading up?   I don't know if that feels relevant to your situation at all?

I love, love, love the UK.  I'm a huge advocate and I get a great deal out of living here.  I state that to give context to my opinion on this subject - don't come here now unless you have to.

It's not terrible.  We don't have people lying in the street with Covid and every second person out of work.  But it is tougher than normal here.  Life here under covid is pretty hard, even if you have a job.  There's limited social contact which gets a bit depressing.  Holiday are unfeasible.  Kids are being sent home from school for 2 weeks to isolate because someone in their class tested positive.  Brexit is a dark cloud and half the population are yelling at the other half.  Our cabinet isn't turning out to be great crisis leaders

It was a bit different in the Spring and Summer.  Long days made it easy to get out into the country and walk, run, ride or swim.  But now it's cold and dark and for 5 days a week most of us just see the four walls of our tiny home office.

If it's feasible, I'd recommend you wait 6 months and let it all settle down.  Come back when the leaves are back on the trees and the days are longer and hopefully we're living a bit more of a normal life.

 

But for all that, another mentor once said to me "it's better to regret something you've done that something you didn't do"......so what the hell do I know?

Good summing up of the situation. Top post!

[Newy]

On 04/11/2020 at 13:23, MARYROSE02 said:

I suppose if you do go back in the depths of winter, and in the middle of a lock down, you are seeing it at its worst, and if you still love it, then you know you have made the right decision? Whereas if you go back in spring/summer when England is truly amazing, green, all the flowers and trees out, light till 10 pm, you might be getting a false picture?

I went back for a holiday one year at the end of November and I stood shivering at Heathrow on a cold, dank. dull morning waiting for my parents to pick me up, but by the end of January the days were getting longer - light till 5pm or so and I was sad to leave. In 1996 I lost my job in Sydney after 15 years and I went back to England for a 'holiday' which lasted for twelve years. I think I might well have stayed there had my parents not passed away and my brothers both lived in Australia.

I've not been back to England for twelve years which is the longest I've ever stayed away. I've still got my home there, rented out. I can't really imagine moving back into it on my own though. And with the lock  down no going over to the pub in the evenings! Do you have a home to move into by the way? 

You know what? Yesterday was dull, gloomy and rained a lot around where I lived. I imagined that I was back in England and it just made me feel so happy! It was a strange feeling, which made me realise that the weather won't be a factor if we do end up returning to a cold dark winter. However, given the latest lockdown, we're planning on delaying the move by a couple of months but not too long. We do not have a home to move into. Hoping to rent for a few months until we secure employment. We're hoping to find jobs in England but haven't ruled out Scotland either.