To absolutely hate living in Surrey

[Bestofthebest]

I guess I have been here too long. Am 4 weeks away from escape to a very different part of the British Isles. All anyone seems to do here is go on about their sodding house price, how important their job is, the same one that has them getting the 0605 train like lemmings everyday. Socially people I habe found unfriendly and insular. It is practically a crime to be anything other than a Tory, but you can't show any interest in politics. The only acceptable subjects of conversation are how great you are, your job, Southern Rail and rugby. I hate it so very much I just hope there is a different world out there.

Whoopiedoo- you don't live in Normandy by any chance do you?? You exactly describe that area!

How very fucking rude

North East Surrey not-quite-Croydon, eh? I grew up there and I can't help agreeing with you. It wouldn't be where David Walliams is from, would it?

I think the problem with the Home Counties is they are full of commuter dormitory towns, the sort of places where people sleep and have their evening meals but don't actually do very much living because they spend most of their time in London or on the trains David Walliams' autobiography dwells a fair bit on his depression and sometimes I can see where he came from.

I fucking hate that part of surrey, it's where I live, planned on staying for a year, but met my wife, so been here for 20.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I drive home through Normandy when the A3 is bad.

I worked in Surrey for years. Wouldn't live there for a gold clock

I think HERTS is quite similar to how some people have described Surrey here but it is more diverse by the sound of it. Saying that we have friends who live in Surrey near the Downs and it is very pretty there.

Chikara

I don't live in Surrey - just don't like nasty people slagging off whole counties. Talk about bigotry. Writing off over a million people, (including the kids?).

Ah yes. How dare they. I take it you must live in north London?

I understand why the OP has the perception they do, it's something I've seen too but it's not really a Surrey thing. I am fortunate, we bought at the right time, I have a good job earning good money, our mortgage is more than manageable. Many people I know have mortgages that are barely manageable, they aren't paid particularly well and their life revolves around a crappy commute and making it to the end of each month without getting further into debt. As a result of this, all they have to talk about is the rubbish commute, the pay and the cost of houses.
I moved here twenty years ago, I remember looking at the prices of houses and laughing as they were so overpriced compared to where I came from. I now live in one of those houses.
The reason I want to move away is part emotion, part logic. I could have taken redundancy last year, sold up, bought a bigger house, a couple of flats to rent out and been mortgage free with a chunk of savings in the bank and living in an area I would prefer. My wife however is born and bred in the town we live in, we actually live in the street she grew up in and having never lived away, can't picture living anywhere else. As a result we are still here, I'm still working to pay the mortgage with the knowledge that a move away would give us a huge amount of freedom and allow me to pursue any career I want as I wouldn't have any worries about paying the bills!
There are some wonderful parts of surrey and some bad parts. Personally I prefer west sussex, but given the choice I would leave the south east completely

@ all the posters clutching pearls about how MEAN it is to describe a general place as "unfriendly", I'm betting that you all have at some point described somewhere as "a really friendly place" - well if some places can be generally particularly "friendly" overall, then by that definition some places can be generally less so.

Not quite Croydon. My bet is Purley.

I do agree you will find whatever you are looking for in most places so the OP may find their next move on their quest for an area full of people just like them equally unsuccessful unless they lose the insularity.

It is funny the perception you have of a place even if you have never been there isn't it.

I do think of Surrey as full of people in big black 4x4 cars, enormous houses and always playing golf! Of course I know that this is really silly in the same way as not all people from Yorkshire eat pies and keep pigeons but these stereotypes stick in our heads from early on in our lives.

I quite like living in the South of the UK but I am not commuter belt territory for which I am eternally grateful as it is very hard to move away from friends and family even if you do hate your job and the daily grind. Mind you having lived in some remote, rural areas of the country I am not quite sure which I would hate more !

Many people I know have mortgages that are barely manageable, they aren't paid particularly well and their life revolves around a crappy commute and making it to the end of each month without getting further into debt.

But that wasn't my perception, it wasn't a 'bloody hell another two weeks til payday' or 'christ the daily grind gets you don't it?' Which wouldn't be sparkling conversation, but would pass the time and broadly be unobjectionable.

What got me was all, 'I'm a big cheese at my work and am brilliant', my house has gone up 15% in the past 12 months and is worth 'x', I earn 'y'. I drive 'z' flash car. It was the non stop bragging, lack of self awareness and materialism. I was so glad to get back out and back to where people had a scintilla of restraint and were a bit less chocolate.

So if the cliché for Surrey is 4X4, house price obsession and rugby and Yorkshire "eat pies and keep pigeons"

What's Edinburgh like?

Braw

^ 😂

I'm in Surrey. It's not where I'd choose to live if i had my time again, but god my friends are great. Not a swishy haired Discovery-driving vacuous bimbo with an au-pair shagging city boy husband among them. I'm even {brace yourself} a member of the labour party (admittedly there aren't many of us around). I was unhappy for a while, because I wanted to be in London or Manchester or Bristol or Glasgow. But actually, my children are happy, the schools are pretty good (not amazing but definitely good enough), and I can get all the culture I need in London without living in a shoebox costing £1m. (which I'd do if it was just me probably). I think if I did move to Manchester or Bristol or Glasgow, I'd miss being so close to London and the amazing culture of such a global city. And I'd miss the marvellous friends I've made in our pretty normal little town, who're a brilliantly diverse funny and interesting crowd.
(I'm in N Surrey btw, near Oblomov I think)

Edinburgh is culture, art and beautiful old buildings. There you go MrsAaaple -I've not been there either as it happens so can just list my stereotype!

Where does Oblomov live?

The people who voted in Michael Gove as their MP in one part of Surrey deserve every bit of the parts they hate, or worse.

My lot voted in Jeremy Hunt.

I live in Selsdon. It is a nothing place with no identity, no local traditions, almost no amenities and a totally faceless anodyne place without a soul. Locally, Croydon is a hideous dump which is trying to pretend it is changing, Caterham and Warlingham are Tory cesspits with the 4x4 drivers, Purley is a dull as ditchwater Croydon extension full of people talking about their cars and commuting their lives away. Even the countryside seems boring and conservative like Richard Curtis designed it in between one of his Hugh Grant films.

Erm I live in Warlingham

Here..