So I work as a bus mechanic and with everything that’s going on it the future looks bleak, I see costs going up, public services deteriorating and standards dropping.

With the job I do I can leave, I don’t want to; I love this country, currently living in Cornwall and it’s lush (when SW water aren’t filling the beaches with shit that is).

Is the grass greener? I hear of a right wing government coming into power in Sweden for example, inflation is happening the world over. I’ve fancied New Zealand but don’t know how the situation compares.

Fundamentally I go to work to earn money, but when that money disappears very quickly on basics like food and heat and when you become ill medical treatment is a waiting list and the Police aren’t much of a ‘force’ these days , burgled – good luck with that and that’s just the surface. You start to question what’s the point.

Maybe things need to hit the bottom before they bounce back I don’t know, will things get better, because currently they feel very much worse.

If i didnt have aging parents in Scotland I would have gone years ago

Netherlands or France would ne my choice

I think that despite the state of the country we’re generally still a pretty well off and safe place to live compared to most places.

Also, I don’t know if you have family, but people I know who’ve moved to Oz and NZ are enjoying life there, but can’t afford to come back to visit family and family here can afford to go and visit them.

Yes, it is the time for Scotland to leave the UK.

I’ve fancied New Zealand but don’t know how the situation compares.

I have a friend who moved there over 15 years ago, and struggles to this day with affordability. They said it is so expensive comparatively, although, with the way things are going here that may be changing. Her sister emigrated to Oz with her German husband and loves it; they are fortunate that, again, although expensive, they are both in well paid professions so affordability is less of an issue.
Edit: the grass may seem greener, but if I could (Mrs fazzini will not consider the idea even if it was possible ;)), I’d be off to the French Pyrenees like a shot…or Canada…or Spanish Pyrenees…or Andorra…or 😂

I think you have to choose carefully and realise everywhere has pros and cons. I would say as a bus mechanic, go to Germany for work!

And the pound is a total stinker right now if you have to buy in kiwi dollars!

I think that despite the state of the country we’re generally still a pretty well off and safe place to live compared to most places.

I was reading something the other day that suggested Slovenian’s would have a better standard of living and more disposable income than Brits by 2025…

And let’s not think that places like NZ are any better. My brother and family live in Auckland, a good friend in Nelson. Silly house prices, rising costs of everything, not as clean, green, safe and healthy as you might imagine. And access laws/land ownership laws which make the US look generous…

 I’ve fancied New Zealand but don’t know how the situation compares.

I’ve a friend who immigrated and while he found work, all his problems (his marriage, money, family) went with him. He still wasn’t content and it ruined his marriage. Each country has it’s own pros and cons, and I think you’d be foolish to think that some idealised life can be found by just changing the country you live in.

Regardless of how we cynically view it, the UK is still overall a good place to live and work.

If i didnt have aging parents in Scotland I would have gone years ago

Same with us too – parents at the age where almost all conversations with them involves their latest procedures/appointments/etc.

If we did go it’d likely be Aus/NZ for ease of Mrs a11y’s job, other countries a bit more complicated. Spent Christmas at a friend’s house in Brisbane a few years ago – swimming pool, jacuzzi, and wood-fired pizzas for Christmas dinner. It wouldn’t take much encouragement to get us out there permanently.

Also, I don’t know if you have family, but people I know who’ve moved to Oz and NZ are enjoying life there, but can’t afford to come back to visit family and family here can afford to go and visit them.

We have family in Australia – they like it but are so disconnected from the rest of the world, the price of food/drink is shocking, energy costs were bad when we were there (although I assume things may be leveling up now) and housing unaffordable (they live near Surfer’s Paradise). And the worst bit – in the middle of summer it is dark at 6.30pm WTF!!! (I know Oz is a big place and it’s not the same everywhere). I would never live there.

I’m not looking for a ‘nice life’ I have that in Cornwall just affordability is rapidly becoming a problem due to current political choices. So I’m wondering if other countries offer better value for money for the working week

In countries like the Netherlands you exchange higher taxes for good public services

Choose your flavour of shit. There are problems and comprises everywhere. Find the ones that work for you. If you have no commitments and can get a visa give NZ a go, or Canada or wherever.

 just affordability is rapidly becoming a problem

Forget places like Canada and New Zealand then. If you think it’s expensive in the UK…

affordability is rapidly becoming a problem due to current political choices. So I’m wondering if other countries offer better value for money for the working week

Dispite what people say this is pretty global. Yes there is variation but where one bit is cheaper another is more expensive. If you can combine a relocation with a change in lifestyle or situation then life can be cheaper. With your skill set I would look into working on heavy machinery on the mines or oil sands. Very different work life balance but you will be away on expenses a lot and have some good money.

It’s better to go FOR something than FROM something. That said, we started looking at emigrating on the 19th of September 2014 and ended up having a move to Europe sorted in June 2016, and then had a panicked few months wondering if it would actually happen. Initially we were only supposed to be in the Netherlands for two years, and our reasoning was ‘yep, two years while we still can and before we’re deported, let’s do it’, and we threw ourselves into it. Put the kids into a local school, tried to learn as much Dutch as possible, cycled EVERYWHERE. Now you’re expecting me to say that it fell apart and we came back, tails between legs? No. It’s nearly six years now. Our kids are more Dutch than Scottish. I’ve been back across the north sea twice and every time feels worse, more alien, more cruel. I’d happily never go back. I don’t regret leaving. Not one bit.

..or get angry and do something about it.
If one wide mouthed frog man can **** this country ,millions of us can put it right.

Been to Australia (Melbourne) for a holiday and will be going to Adelaide fairly regularly for work from next year.

Whilst i liked it, it felt like a really long way from home – and we were ware that realistically if anything happened at home (family health emergency, etc) it would take us 2-3 days to get back and a lot of £££

I met a mate at a wedding at the weekend, who has just retired from the MET (54ish) and has sold up and bought a place in the Dordogne – house + Gites to rent out – he and his wife speak hardly any French but thought it would be better than here.
So far so good except for the Brexit induced paperwork/Visas/etc.

I was reading something the other day that suggested Slovenian’s would have a better standard of living and more disposable income than Brits by 2025…

There was a lot of this that came out of the Telegraph report. The report (I’m told) said that Slovenians already have a much better standard of living than their UK counterparts with the exception of the highest income brackets.

Based on trade deficit the UK is a VERY poor country.. we haven’t consistently made more than we spent in a long time.. (exactly how long depending on how sustained). Every month we spend more than we earn and effectively fall into greater debt..

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/GBR/united-kingdom/trade-balance-deficit’

You can compare that to a rich country like Germany
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/DEU/germany/trade-balance-deficit’

or an upcoming country like Slovenia
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/SVN/slovenia/trade-balance-deficit

I’ve known a lot of people, including family who have done the Australia, New Zealand or Canada route, from what I’ve seen it works well if you have a tidy nest egg and the skills they’re after, I.e. engineers with masters, CEng, etc and years in design and manufacturing. Those who didn’t have that nest egg struggled, and of course there’s always home sickness and isolation.

I do think we are all a bit pessimistic about the UK, we mostly have comfortable lives and just yearn for more, be that money, trinkets or time, but emigrating isn’t cheap and can just add more stress, it’s why I’ve never really looked at it, Australia and the US have been available to me, but just too much stress for the family in the long run.

If affordability is the issue, then moving abroad right now won’t really help… any “means” you have now in GBP (equity in your home for example) won’t get you far once you’ve converted it and taken it out of the UK. Yes, most of us are really feeling poorer right now in the UK, but we’re no better off if we try and take what little we have elsewhere. You can’t escape the slide of the last 15 or so years (for normal Brits) unless you have something lined up big income wise in your country of choice… and the chances are that if you have that opportunity abroad, then you can probably find it here as well. Looking at the responses to the Singletrack survey, most posters to this forum probably have no idea just how trapped the average Brit is in this devaluation of normal incomes and the life you can live on one (or two). We’re making most Brits poorer and poorer with no way out, but that hit isn’t felt by those higher up the income/wealth scale (even if they think of themselves as “average”).

I’ve been back across the north sea twice and every time feels worse, more alien, more cruel. I’d happily never go back. I don’t regret leaving. Not one bit.

On a domestic level I’ve moved around a lot and get that feeling too. Going back ‘home’ always feels like it’s worse and has gone downhill because what you’re really looking for doesn’t exist anymore, all the people you knew have moved away etc. I don’t think any of those places are actually worse than they were when I left, it’s just not possible to that experience.

e.g. I grew up in a pretty idyllic NT estate. Went back a few years ago and it as awful. The place itself was fine, it’s just that instead of the place to myself, a fridge full of beer, bikes in the shed to jump on whenever I felt like it, etc. It was busy, £5 to park my car, £4 and a long queue for a cup of tea in a noisy tea room with the tourists and you had to be out by dusk. Same feeling going back to Lancaster/Wales/Sheffield/Middlesbrough/Newcastle/Liverpool/Manchester or anywhere else I’ve lived.

Except Reading, Reading is just rubbish 😂 although I’m sure with time I’ll eventually miss the Chilterns in summer.

Yeh it’s not just about wealth/income though if you move, though I know the OP has that as his main query.

For me it’s things like policing, health provision, education, accessibility to others and other places. These might not be great in parts of the UK, but I’d take it over the situations in many other countries.

As I said before access to family can be a big thing. We moved from Shetland (after 12 years there) down to mainland Scotland last year due to the time and cost of visiting family, and the fact that family had stopped visiting us up there for the same reasons. We could get the points for Canada, Oz or NZ with mine and wife’s work and qualifications, but I’m not prepared to be further away from my Mam in her remaining years, or my daughter and grandkids.

Despite recent history and a bleak future in the UK at present I think emigrating could very easily be jumping from the frying pan into the fire. The world is pretty **** up just now.

I’m not looking for a ‘nice life’ I have that in Cornwall just affordability is rapidly becoming a problem due to current political choices. So I’m wondering if other countries offer better value for money for the working week

I use to run global teams, done it for a few companies. Staff were paid the market rate (or near enough) for doing the same jobs, but in different countries. UK, Europe (both North & South), North America and AsiaPac. Even with radically different salaries (both gross & net), pretty much they all had the same kinda lifestyle.

As a mechanic, the only way you’ll make really good money is owning the business – otherwise there’s a full-on ceiling to what you can earn.

Go for it you can always come back!

I left the UK a few years ago and echo the comments above, every time I go back it feels more run down, dirty, overcrowded, faded, failing, sad and full of hate/regret. Wish I’d left sooner but will probably have to go back some time as parents age. There are downsides, you will probably not make friends like you do at home, if you move to a non english speaking country you will have to learn the language to work unless you work for a multinational, and if moving to Europe brexit has made it a LOT harder, but still possible.

Forgot to add, a few folk also had to come back due to downturns in their industries in NZ and Australia, there were other issues, but remember most industries are pretty similar worldwide, personally I see emigration having lost a lot of its benefits over the years in our industry (defence and aerospace), the big wages are less and cost of living kind of equals itself across the board, so cheap petrol and groceries outweighed by medical and do on.

My brother emigrated to Oz (Tempe, Sydney) ~15years ago, was hands on maintenance engineer in UK got a managers job in Oz. Done well and has a good standard of living.
But; his wife is a primary teacher on decent salary and they bought when houses were ‘cheap’ they have skyrocketed to the extent they can’t afford to move even though the family has massively outgrown their starter home.

MrsRNP and I have links to Perpignan region of France (MIL has an apartment there) we don’t have children, and no mortgage on our house so nothing really stopping us apart from Brexit shite and there is no employment in the area and we’d be competing with the locals for jobs so not so easy.

Plus aging parents. Lost FIL a few years ago so know what effect eventually losing MIL is going to have on MrsRNP. I feel like I have to be here for my parents because of my brother leaving.

Otherwise I’d happily leave this litter strewn/dog shit filled/ DailyMail reading shithole for Germany/Norway/Finland/France

Having lived in Australia for 6 years and having the passport now this is always an option for us ( wife’s Australian which makes it easier on some easy). Would definitely agree with feeling a long long way from things – especially if you live in WA…
I really love where we live now (South Downs) but for me at least Australia would be a very significant jump in pay (although comes with some industry specific lifestyle changes).
The UK is still pretty damned good, easy to dwell on the bad bits but globally we are doing ok. Though the current government doesn’t make me optimistic, Australia is politically a bit of a mess as well (current bunch are an improvement mind)

From the little I’ve looked when musing leaving the UK, housing in Sweden looks incredibly cheap.

Better the devil you know !

Sweden is both cheap and expensive. The house I am in right now was cheap (about 100k UKP for a two bed house with 3500kvm land), but it had no water, sewerage, old electrics, no broadband, etc, etc.

We’ve changed a lot of that, so now it is worth more, but there were years we were taking water from a dunk and sleeping/living in a single room in winter with no heating while we fixed stuff.

In town, apartments are most common and, in Stockholm at least, really, really expensive. All the work is in the bigger cities and towns and you really have to be here to understand how far apart some places are. Kalix is, quite literally, a day’s drive from Stockholm. And I mean 18 hours of solid driving. Malmö to there is 24 hours.

Also, the right wing government thing. Yeah, but no. SD are in government and Moderaterna might be in charge, but it is a razor thin majority and their ability to do stuff is limited. If they change public services too much, people will get upset.

Not that easy any more.

But like TJ if I didn’t have ageing parents I’d have bailed straight after the Brexit vote. I wish I’d never left Finland as that was long enough ago that I’d have had n excuse.

Slovenia has so so surpassed the UK for quality of life.

Both sisters emigrated over 30yrs ago, both miss the changing seasons we get in the UK, both missed the chance to have a passable conversation with our mum before she died. It was always interesting comparing our lives as our respective kids grew up (each had 3 kids of similar ages), now 30yrs later & they are both happy where they are but there will come a time when we will be too old/frail for long haul flights to visit one another which will be especially sad for one sister whos 3 kids have all settled in different continents.

Despite all the problems, I still think the UK is a decent place to live.

The cost of living issues are all over now. The whole ideological, economic, and social systems that our Western democracies are built on are starting to show their failings, and its not just in the UK. We moved to Spain three years ago and the economy is a state here. Tons of unemployment compared to the UK, especially youth unemployment, and wages are poor unless you are lucky to have a decent job with a multinational. If it wasn’t due to the fact that my wife has one of these decent jobs then we’d be back in the UK pronto.

Throw in the daily challenges with cultural differences, language etc, and I do sometimes find myself questioning our decision to move here. Don’t underestimate feelings of homesickness either. You will miss family and friends.

The cost of living issues are all over now.

Que?

I’m sure he means all over the place. Not all over and done with.

Ahhhh….

As you were.