Thinking of moving to Cyprus

Narj said:
My original plan was to move to a smaller town in the South West which I'm still going to do in a phased manner (renting first for my WFH/non-work days, staying in London when I need to), but I can't ignore the crumbling public services in the UK. I'm not sure it's a long-term solution.

I don't think I have the brain capacity to learn any language with a funny alphabet so that limits my options! :D
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The crumbling services in the UK still beat services in many parts of the world though. It's not worth getting into a list of which services and which countries, but when you live abroad you begin to have a better understanding of what the UK offers.
 
The only problem with moving, at least partly because of the weather, is that the weather seems to be changing really quickly now. You could be moving to the worst possible place.

I think you also have to be careful that most of the worlds population seems to be very negative right now. Times just seem to be bad everywhere. I am not sure that the "grass is greener" will turn out to be true anywhere you go.

Having said that, if I had the money right now, I would leave the UK. It's not so much inflation or anything like that, rather I just think that the country has become far worse under 13 years of Conservative government. We are a mean, short-sighted, selfish people now, and we didn't used to be.
 
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englishpremier said:
The crumbling services in the UK still beat services in many parts of the world though. It's not worth getting into a list of which services and which countries, but when you live abroad you begin to have a better understanding of what the UK offers.
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Of course, which is why you need to do your research. The grass isn't always greener, but the UK is definitely falling down the rankings in several categories now. I didn't take the option to stay permanently in Australia which in hindsight, may have been a bad move although I still don't like excessive heat and lack of countryside. :D

Re: Public services, A&E in Spain was an eye-opener compared to the UK for example.

SpellowHouse said:
Having said that, if I had the money right now, I would leave the UK. It's not so much inflation or anything like that, rather I just think that the country has become far worse under 13 years of Conservative government. We are a mean, short-sighted, selfish people now, and we didn't used to be.
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This is one thing that grinds my gears as well. So many selfish, disrespectful, entitled idiots around now. The sense of community is gone in many areas now including mine. Will have to go more rural to find it again I think.

<shakes fist at cloud>
 
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englishpremier said:
The crumbling services in the UK still beat services in many parts of the world though. It's not worth getting into a list of which services and which countries, but when you live abroad you begin to have a better understanding of what the UK offers.
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Agreed... I was left without electric in a restort for half a day on my last trip, the maid says it was common for the electric to trip out.

There's plenty of lovely areas to live in the uk, if you can afford it or if you are prepared to make other sacrifices. My mate lives in cornwall.. he's a IT director but his pay isn't anywhere near mine and I'm just a bod in my company. What he loses out in pay, he makes up for lifesytle, it's much more relaxed where he lives, he doesn't have to spend his working life filling out forms or going to pointless meetings. He has much more free time which he spends surfing, while I spend mine dodging the yoots and checking if it it's raining lol.
 
SpellowHouse said:
The only problem with moving, at least partly because of the weather, is that the weather seems to be changing really quickly now. You could be moving to the worst possible place.

I think you also have to be careful that most of the worlds population seems to be very negative right now. Times just seem to be bad everywhere. I am not sure that the "grass is greener" will turn out to be true anywhere you go.

Having said that, if I had the money right now, I would leave the UK. It's not so much inflation or anything like that, rather I just think that the country has become far worse under 13 years of Conservative government. We are a mean, short-sighted, selfish people now, and we didn't used to be.
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Definitely a risk of "the grass is greener"

Our weather will probably get worse unfortunately. Only positive.. I'm pretty sure we will not be having water shortages here!

You can't argue though that pensions and health care and spare cash after bills is getting much much worse here.

Health care and pensions is a particular bad one for our future selves. At the point of assuming you won't get one seeing as it'll soon be starting at 70. And if you also can't get the healthcare to keep working... It's a slippery slope!
 
Norways healthcare is insane. The stories the people who lived there told me. You basically don't need private healthcare at all. Their state healthcare is that good.

Obviously Norway is super rich.

Isn't most of western Europe better than the UK for healthcare?
 
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jaybee said:
Go on... better/worse? I have no idea.
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I'm sure it varies but 2 of our group (me and another) got treated after accidents - very quickly indeed. It was hardly life and death either although we had to produce paperwork being foreigners.

None of this waiting 8 hours in agony nonsense.

413x said:
Norways healthcare is insane. The stories the people who lived there told me. You basically don't need private healthcare at all. Their state healthcare is that good.

Obviously Norway is super rich.

Isn't most of western Europe better than the UK for healthcare?
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Norway has high taxes I think but then high taxes are absolutely fine if you're actually getting decent public services in return. If you're willing to learn the language then I think it could be an option provided you can get work. A YouTuber I follow moved there and seems to be happy.
 
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I don't get the grass is greener worry. Life is full of risks sometimes you have to give things a go. Otherwise you'd never change jobs or have kids or do anything. Live is an adventure, a journey, the destination is not important.

The OP has travelled and moved around a fair bit so understands the "risks".
 
Still can't get past OP complaining about paying tax and complaining about poor schools and healthcare.

It's almost as though the quality of the latter depends in some way on the former!
 
Narj said:
I'm sure it varies but 2 of our group (me and another) got treated after accidents - very quickly indeed. It was hardly life and death either although we had to produce paperwork being foreigners.

None of this waiting 8 hours in agony nonsense.


Norway has high taxes I think but then high taxes are absolutely fine if you're actually getting decent public services in return. If you're willing to learn the language then I think it could be an option provided you can get work. A YouTuber I follow moved there and seems to be happy.
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I agree.
When you don't need private healthcare, when you know if you lose your job you'll be looked after, or when you're old you have a guaranteed pension.. Its fine Paying high taxes.

But over here the pension is precarious as is the NHS. And money just seems to be swallowed up... You ask questions of it.

I'd move to Norway. Sure it's cold. But it's beautiful, under populated and wild.
 
From a layman perspective it seems that we are paying ever more tax for worse services.

Some people will always want low tax. But many would be OK with high or higher taxes if you felt you were getting more than you were a decade ago.
 
413x said:
From a layman perspective it seems that we are paying ever more tax for worse services.

Some people will always want low tax. But many would be OK with high or higher taxes if you felt you were getting more than you were a decade ago.
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The tax we pay is actually okay. It is accountability for where it goes that is the issue. Just look at Thurrock council as case in point.

NHS is bled dry and stolen from all the time. How many times has a GP told you to get the same thing from a supermarket because it is cheaper?
 
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We used to live happier lives, often with a lot less. I think it's an interesting topic and a complex one, with many factors. I don't think it is just the UK that suffers with a decline in happiness, but in the UK we feel it more because the cost of living is so high. We are just squeezed so hard in the rat race.

I think back to times when I moved into my first house. I had a TV, a Christmas tree and a single brown sofa and could barely pay rent. That was my lounge. No curtains. But we were happy. We had hope to the future.

Life has got so much more complicated. The stresses of living a modern UK life takes its toll. I think we are also always going to see a lot of negativity from the typical forum goers on OCUK. The average age tends to be older, and we have first hand experience of how times of old were easier, happier etc. This skewes the view a bit.

- Going out anywhere, doing anything, just costs so much.
- Less disposable income to do anything anyway.
- We are over populated and running out of space. Everything is busy. You have to book to do anything, which means you have to plan, which feels stressful and too formal. You can't just do things on a whim anymore.
- The UK is built around roads to really get anywhere (outside of London). They are in a dire state and capacity is an issue.
- Socializing is at an all time low due to tech/internet and the above cost issues of leaving the house. A nasty cycle.
- Parenting skills/ideologies are allowing kids to grow up entitled and not knowing how to behave, affecting school and hence education
- A shift towards a society where free speech is becoming less and less free
- Cut backs to the police has meant irrepairable damage to society and what people are allowed to get away with. Crime is up.
- Anger in people. Everyone seems to be on the edge of pulling out an axe and losing it.
- The high street is dying in the majority of towns which feels like a big loss to the UK itentity
- We have become reliant on imports for everything
- We pay monopolistic corporate animals for all our subs and services, and don't tend to buy local, because local businesses can't compete. Bad cycle again.
- The wealth divide to the super rich grows more by the day
- The housing market
 
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jaybee said:
We used to live happier lives, often with a lot less. I think it's an interesting topic and a complex one, with many factors. I don't think it is just the UK that suffers with a decline in happiness, but in the UK we feel it more because the cost of living is so high. We are just squeezed so hard in the rat race.

I think back to times when I moved into my first house. I had a TV, a Christmas tree and a single brown sofa and could barely pay rent. That was my lounge. No curtains. But we were happy. We had hope to the future.

Life has got so much more complicated. The stresses of living a modern UK life takes its toll. I think we are also always going to see a lot of negativity from the typical forum goers on OCUK. The average age tends to be older, and we have first hand experience of how times of old were easier, happier etc. This skewes the view a bit.

- Going out anywhere, doing anything, just costs so much.
- Less disposable income to do anything anyway.
- We are over populated and running out of space. Everything is busy. You have to book to do anything, which means you have to plan, which feels stressful and too formal. You can't just do things on a whim anymore.
- The UK is built around roads to really get anywhere (outside of London). They are in a dire state and capacity is an issue.
- Socializing is at an all time low due to tech/internet and the above cost issues of leaving the house. A nasty cycle.
- Parenting skills/ideologies are allowing kids to grow up entitled and not knowing how to behave, affecting school and hence education
- A shift towards woke society where free speech is becoming less and less free
- Cut backs to the police has meant irrepairable damage to society and what people are allowed to get away with. Crime is up.
- Anger in people. Everyone seems to be on the edge of pulling out an axe and losing it.
- The high street is dying in the majority of towns which feels like a big loss to the UK itentity
- We have become reliant on imports for everything
- We pay monopolistic corporate animals for all our subs and services, and don't tend to buy local, because local businesses can't compete. Bad cycle again.
- The wealth divide to the super rich grows more by the day
- The housing market
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Some good points there, apart from the laughable spinkling of woke being a contributing factor in the UK's downfall.
 
Narj said:
I've lived and worked abroad - you're absolutely right. Wherever you go, it will have its problems and difficulties to overcome. It's just that in the past decade, we've hit a trend where the balance is being tipped so far that it's hard to ignore (we all know who to thank). Won't be long before you get a better quality of life in Soweto than in parts of the UK. :p

Like I said in another thread - if you're young and have good skills that are in demand, seriously consider getting out. Even if it doesn't end up being permanent, it's worth trying because it's great life experience and great for confidence in yourself and your abilities. An employer that wants you will make it happen with sponsorship/visa.



I'm in my "winding-down" phase so really don't want to work abroad. Problem is you're then looking at expensive visas or other restrictions. Needs a lot of thought (or a hell of a lot more money).
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IIRC Portugal has a good retirement visa that doesn't involve a lot of cash. At least the weathers nice (if you can avoid the fires...)
Personally I think going somewhere with a slower pace of life is quite appealing. Nobody REALLY needs Amazon deliveries....
 
Uther said:
Nobody REALLY needs Amazon deliveries....
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Apart from the workers.... :D

What somebody said about it being so busy now hits home with me, too many people around here. I really noticed it during the Easter break, we had family down and even going to a local garden center was hell on earth.
 
UK is overpopulated

I know many will argue it's not. And one person's over population is another's it's not.

But it's so crowded. Escape it here a bit in rural Wales. But any tourist hot spots are crazy. Pen-y-fan in summer on holidays you have to queue for the top.
 
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