To hate living in Manchester (and North in general)

[ILikeMilk]

Moved here four years ago to be with DH, and I still cannot get used to it. We are in a nicest area of Manchester, and it is still feels very provincial and boring. I dream about living in London, but DH does not want to look for a new job. I feel like there is no point and don?t want to decorate the house, make friends, etc, I just fantasise about being in London every single day. There is not much to do here, no nice streets or galleries, not much to do on the weekends as a family. I went to London this weekend, it was so painful to come back. Does anybody else feel this way?

OP I feel your pain. I moved from London to West Midlands for 5 years and did really make an effort to make friends, enjoyed my job etc but every time I came down to London I was just filled with longing to be back. I was living in a small run down market town with about 25 hairdressers and 3 skanky pubs. It was just so depressing and if anybody tried anything new it was just shot down and seen as threatening.
I am living back in London now and have to say I would never go north again. London, of course has its major downsides but it also has so much going on, and is so diverse and not as judgemental as small town life.
I would make a plan with your DH to have a timescale that you will stay there for. Then you won't feel its forever and you can get on with it without thinking you have to spend the rest of your life there.

I can't be arsed to read all 11 pages now.

OP, you will never like anywhere you live if you are so far up your own backside that you can't find the nice things in life!

Yes STockport train station is a dump - as are many high traffic areas in the country that have had funding withdrawn that was needed for refurbs.

There are so many nice things to do that in my 29 years of living here (SOuth Manchester) I haven;t done them all.

There is more than one art gallery - in fact even some student exhibitions are good

Not sure how Manchester is the same as a market town with skanky pubs, bunsandroses. It's not all dragons, tripe and racism once you leave Watford, you know.

Are you sure you are being truthful about this? I have never met anybody with such a defeatist attitude- and you don't write very well for somebody supposedly so cultured and studying for a PHD. I feel that you might be winding us up.

I mean, Hale is not in Manchester. You are not living in Manchester. You are living in Cheshire.

I am a Mancunian born and bred and now live in North America. I couldn't wait to leave, I hated it growing up so I can see where you are coming from but when I go back I see a vibrant city, it's not the same place it was when I was growing up in the 80's, back then it was bloody depressing. It has taken me a while to settle here and I still dream of going home but we have to amke the most of what we have.

Can't understand your point about not fitting in somewhere like Didsbury as you are in your 'late thirties' I know lots of mums (of toddlers) in Didsbury who are late thirties. When I first had my daughter two years ago I didn't know many other local mums so I got off my backside and went along to lots of local groups and met an abundance of lovely people. If you stopped complaining and actually looked to see what is out there you might be surprised. How about taking up an evening class - yoga, flamenco, French etc(all classes that I have done in manchester) and stop feeling sorry for yourself. Or come along to a toddler group in Didsbury (or Altrincham) where I can guarantee you will meet some lovely mums.

Perhaps once you've got your Phd you'll be able to dictate to your DH where you'll live cos you'll have the better Job!!!!! So stick it out and all will come good in the end!

You don't live in Manchester... That's like saying Kent and London are the same place?!?

I live 5 miles from the city cntre of Manchester and I love it.

I can't help but get the feeling that a lot of people come on here to abuse people. The poor women came on here for some much needed support and all some off you seem to want to do is have a go at her. If your not interested in the topic or are simply just not bothered keep your opinions to yourself instead of trying to make people feel worse than they already do.

Oh didsbury high five!!!

Bloody he'll I grew up in Altrincham lived so close to Hale if I sneezed you would caught it.Even back then there was loads to do and speaking to friends still living there .There is even more to do in Manchester

if was not for dc being settled at school I would move back like a shot.Oh and I'm only 20 mins from London as well but would swap it in a heartbeat.

Think your so determined not to like it,your not seeing what there is to do .

etta81, the posters on this thread have opinions and are entitled to express them, just as you have explained that you hated being at Man Met (I was a Manchester student and loved it, but because of the city itself.) People are patiently explaining to her that there is an awful lot to do where she lives or nearby.

Perhaps it's because many of us who don't live in London are tired of the idea that once you leave Zone 1 everything is a cultural wasteland - it's boring, ignorant and patronising. Unsurprising therefore that when someone starts their own Wife In The North (what, The North is some kind of novelty or mysterious jungle, is it now?) style thread it gets up the backs of some.

"YANBU I hate the North/West Midlands.

Everything from the accents, I just think is dreary and boring."

Yeah but you live in Wales. At least we don't flob all over each other when we speak.

Are you in fact Morrissey?

adverse I am in Stourbridge which is Black Country bordering on Worcestershire. We have a Waitrose and can get aubergines freely

YABU I don't live in Manchester but the North is awesome and an awful lot cheaper than London

I ran away from the north at first opportunity but then again I did run away from a rather inbred decaying mill town (which now has five pound shops and no bookshops supposedly) in the nineties.

you're on the wrong side, of the pennines, that's where you're goingn wrong. you should move to Leeds, much nicer than Manchester

Seriously though you do sound like you are just determined not to like it.

Oh yes, Adverse! We can even get polenta easily too

ILikeMilk grow up, FGS. Hale is not a built up area, by any means. Try living in Croydon. I have lived in London,and Manchester and much prefer Manchester. You sound like a spoiled child cutting off your nose to spite your face.

And as for nothing to do as a family:-

try these

or these

or even these

Thank you for your replies. Re my English - English is not my first language, and not even the second, but I guess it is fluent enough for my specific phd topic. Maybe that is also why I am not as accepted here as I was in London, as people are very suspicious of foreigners over here and always ask me about places to visit in Poland or Polish food, which I don?t have a clue about being from a totally different European country. People just assume I am polish based on my foreign accent.