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Sure but I don't know how good a job I will do putting it into words :) We lived in London ([redacted]) and just outside ([redacted]) before we moved. We moved

Sure but I don't know how good a job I will do putting it into words :) We lived in London ([redacted]) and just outside ([redacted]) before we moved. We moved to the outskirts of [redacted] (we're a 10 minute drive from the nearest metro station). Takes 20 minutes to drive into the centre (Bellecour). About 10 minutes to drive to Tete D'or park just to give you some idea of distances. Life in [redacted] is just so much more relaxed and happy. It is the little things like when I take my son to school here all the parents stop and chat and laugh and talk about what they did that weekend. In the UK it always felt like everyone was in a rush and/or bad mood. Rushing off to some other activity or moaning how they're running late because they were caught up at work. Everyone here has a very hard cut point with work. I don't think I've actually heard someone complain about being late because of work. Traffic yes but never work. Everyone takes a solid 2 hour lunch break where we sit out in the sun (the weather is a plus obviously). Chat. Read. Play Pétanque. The same is true after work. For example just yesterday the weather is warm so after I got back from having my MRI I bumped into my neighbour on his way home from work. He asked how I was doing so I gave him the update all is good and he was like that's great come play with us! And we spent the next hour chatting about MRIs with the kids, explaining how they work and I showed them the MRI of my brain I had on my laptop from last week haha :D I know that is nothing unique to being in [redacted] and it could just as well happen in the UK but my point here is it never happened in the UK. Whereas that is just my normal evening. Neighbours chat and socialise and we pop round each others for goûter (a small snack) randomly. I am sure I could have the same anywhere including the UK but given I lived in a similar kind of place (outskirts of a big city) it is just interesting to me how different the people and lifestyle are. When I visit family back in the UK it feels odd to me. A lot of negativity. A lot of misery. I went last August and chatting with my parents neighbours (whom I have been friends with for a decade) were just so so negative. Moaning constantly, grumpy. I even said to my mother at the time "wtf is up with Zoe?" and she said "oh she's just had enough of all the crap". To be fair this was when Liz Truss just tanked the economy in record time and was then replaced with Sunak. I realise [redacted] is not all roses and butterflies obviously. They have real problems too and perhaps I just lucked out with my place in [redacted] but my wife is happy and my son is happy (and bilingual which is a huge win and something I am super happy about). We live in a place 2.5x as our place in [redacted] for €300 month less. Have excellent healthcare, great weather, wonderful food, a beautiful park to relax in just 10 minutes away (Tete D'or). Life is pretty damn good and that is before all the financial benefits we had moving here which are another story. Edit: forgive any glaring typos. I wrote this very quickly as I am heading out of the door, usually I would proof read something this long as I won't be able to edit it later! If something seems very wrong I will try to correct it with a later reply :)

basisword 4y ago
Fascinating answer. Thank you for going into so much detail. Your description of the general mood in the UK and the general attitude of people (including myself) was uncomfortably accurate.
- satysin 4y ago
  Obviously I don't want to shit on my home country or countrymen but honestly I was pretty shocked. I hadn't visited much since we moved here in 2018 because of covid so August 2022 was our first "proper" visit since 2018. Sure I met lots of happy people too but what stood out to me was how many people were unhappy. Even the happy people I hung around with soon (within an hour or so) turned into grumps and then the flood gates opened once one person got bitching about "the state of the UK" they all started. I lived in the UK since birth so 30+ years by the time I left. I don't ever remember people being so negative. Utility bills, shitty schools, awful local services, everything costing more and being shittier quality. It almost felt like everyone was in a sort of mild state of countrywide depression. Not quite sure how to put it but perhaps some kind of negative feedback loop of misery is just compounding in the general populations psyche? That might sound a bit over the top but I don't really know how else to describe it as an "inside outsider" that I am. The move to [redacted] has obviously been great for us. We moved in 2018 as I've mentioned, long story show once the vote to leave the EU won we decided to leave while we could. It took us two years of planning to make it happen and in a huge strike of luck my wife was made redundant (due to Brexit!) just a few weeks before she was going to hand in her notice having been contacted about a job here in [redacted]. So we left with a nice big cash lump sum, plus a fantastic signing bonus for my wife and a very generous relocation lump sum. In just a few weeks we went from very little savings to over £200k cash that we used to pay of all debts (including mortgage) and left the UK with zero debt and a nice chunk of cash most of which is now invested with some accessible for emergencies. Sadly a few "friends" from the UK who were quite pro Brexit saw us as "fools" for leaving and when we met up they didn't try to hide the fact they thought we were "traitors" (literally what they called us at one point) as we "profited from Brexit but don't agree with it and fucked off". They basically feel it is people like me and my family that are the 'reason' Brexit is a failure?! Their arguments make little to no sense obviously but it was quite sad to hear someone I used to enjoy hanging out with call me an asshole for "making loads of money while the country went to shit". Obviously nothing to do with Covid, Boris, a decade of Tory rule, all the vote Leave lies, etc. Trying to have a discussion with them was like trying to explain multithreading programming to a piece of wood but oh well I tried. I suspect his negative attitude towards me is more to due with his own issues and he found an easy target with me having moved to a country he hates. Certainly felt like he had a lot of build up anger and he let it all out when I popped round to say hi! So yeah lots of great things but also some emotionally difficult things come with moving country although I feel mine are more specific to the whole Brexit situation that wouldn't be an issue usually.

basisword 4y ago

Fascinating answer. Thank you for going into so much detail. Your description of the general mood in the UK and the general attitude of people (including myself) was uncomfortably accurate.

satysin 4y ago
Obviously I don't want to shit on my home country or countrymen but honestly I was pretty shocked. I hadn't visited much since we moved here in 2018 because of covid so August 2022 was our first "proper" visit since 2018. Sure I met lots of happy people too but what stood out to me was how many people were unhappy. Even the happy people I hung around with soon (within an hour or so) turned into grumps and then the flood gates opened once one person got bitching about "the state of the UK" they all started. I lived in the UK since birth so 30+ years by the time I left. I don't ever remember people being so negative. Utility bills, shitty schools, awful local services, everything costing more and being shittier quality. It almost felt like everyone was in a sort of mild state of countrywide depression. Not quite sure how to put it but perhaps some kind of negative feedback loop of misery is just compounding in the general populations psyche? That might sound a bit over the top but I don't really know how else to describe it as an "inside outsider" that I am. The move to [redacted] has obviously been great for us. We moved in 2018 as I've mentioned, long story show once the vote to leave the EU won we decided to leave while we could. It took us two years of planning to make it happen and in a huge strike of luck my wife was made redundant (due to Brexit!) just a few weeks before she was going to hand in her notice having been contacted about a job here in [redacted]. So we left with a nice big cash lump sum, plus a fantastic signing bonus for my wife and a very generous relocation lump sum. In just a few weeks we went from very little savings to over £200k cash that we used to pay of all debts (including mortgage) and left the UK with zero debt and a nice chunk of cash most of which is now invested with some accessible for emergencies. Sadly a few "friends" from the UK who were quite pro Brexit saw us as "fools" for leaving and when we met up they didn't try to hide the fact they thought we were "traitors" (literally what they called us at one point) as we "profited from Brexit but don't agree with it and fucked off". They basically feel it is people like me and my family that are the 'reason' Brexit is a failure?! Their arguments make little to no sense obviously but it was quite sad to hear someone I used to enjoy hanging out with call me an asshole for "making loads of money while the country went to shit". Obviously nothing to do with Covid, Boris, a decade of Tory rule, all the vote Leave lies, etc. Trying to have a discussion with them was like trying to explain multithreading programming to a piece of wood but oh well I tried. I suspect his negative attitude towards me is more to due with his own issues and he found an easy target with me having moved to a country he hates. Certainly felt like he had a lot of build up anger and he let it all out when I popped round to say hi! So yeah lots of great things but also some emotionally difficult things come with moving country although I feel mine are more specific to the whole Brexit situation that wouldn't be an issue usually.