To absolutely hate living in Surrey

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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.

Help out this foreigner, please -- which areas are considered leafy? Which the concrete?

NoBarbaraGood I'm not really sure to be honest, I think most of surrey is quite green or is close to nice countryside like the north downs, but there are also pockets of deprivation and bog standard town centers scattered across surrey too.

Op I'm sorry for teasing, I just thought it was funny that you started off saying the people in surrey annoy you cos they go on about house prices, and then four posts in and you mention house prices!
But there is a reason people talk about house prices, although I usually find its when they're thinking about, or in the process of moving..its cos they are fucking crazy prices! No one can believe it how much things cost/sell for here, so they do talk about it.

I lived in Surrey (Guildford) 20 years ago. I was a student, had purple hair, wore doc martens, had a tattoo, drank snakebite, didn't talk about rugby and certainly didn't vote Tory .... Has it really changed that much?

Yanbu. I lived in Farnham for a year. Worst year of my life. People so unfriendly and up themselves

I lived in Woking for many years up until 2011 when we relocated overseas.

I have fond memories of living there and of visiting my grandparents who also lived there. Addlestone/Chertsey/Ottershaw/Weybridge are some of my old haunts too.

I miss it but would only visit rather than live there.

Couldn't afford a property there you see ! My husband does not want to go back on the commuting treadmill either.

Hopefully we could get better value elsewhere in Britain.

Well, as a resident of north-Surrey-not-quite-Croydon, I can assure you not everyone in your local environs is as you describe. You may be looking in the wrong places?

That's it, I am never going there now.

Good luck in your new home!

Although to be fair, discussing Southern Rail has basically become a religion. Not just in Surrey, all over SE London too.

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

I lasted 10 months and with a week I was desperate to get back up north. I could have written every word if your post.

Where I worked was near the M25 and people seemed to live, work and shop within a couple of junctions of the motorway. Anything out of this tiny insular world they weren't interested in. No one socialised out of work or went for a drink.

Ditto the bragging. Christ almighty, before I moved down south I was aware of the reputation southerners have for being all mouth and reckoning themselves more than they are, but Jesus H I couldn't believe it! if you heard them prattle on you'd think they were running Microsoft single-handed not working in a dead end job in a library.

Likewise house prices, you'd think they were property magnates who'd shrewdly invested in a portfolio rather than being in the right place at the right time when house prices went berserk.

I was never so pleased to leave anywhere in my life.

I also meant to say, if you are leaving soon, you really should be having a bit more fun before you go. Refuse to talk about the things in your first post, start talking about pianos or jam or anything you want to talk about, you could start humming while people are talking, or pinch your nose while replying. Just go for it, you are free to do what you like and always were.

OP, YABU. Surrey isn't all like you describe by any means. Some parts of Spelthorne are really quite chavvy and they even have Chinese takeaways.

I agree with you! I'm born and bred in London and moved to Surrey over 10 years ago so now can't afford to move back and I wish I'd never left. :(

We live in a village that I think resembles the film Hot Fuzz! It's all retirees and young families, there's committees for everything from cleaning the local duck pond to ringing the church bells and organising the local running club. Coming from a very urban part of London I embraced it to begin with and thought it was quaint but over time I've realised just how insular, staid and judgemental it is. Now I'm a mum I notice it even more. None of the mums seem to return to work, instead they gather in the coffee shops every day and go to the gym, beauty salons etc.. And don't get me started on the obsession with house prices!! Everyone talks endlessly about how much their house is worth and how much money they've made.

YANBU. And I am from Surrey so I should know.

I lived in surrey for 8 years and miss it. Amazing friendly people, close to london and in stunning countryside. Downside..cost of houses!!!! Vvvvvvvvvv busy roads. 4x4s

I loved living in Surrey - I made some really brilliant, genuine, mutually supportive friends there when I had my first baby, and found more genuine friendships than growing up in Yorkshire. I was at the first baby stage of life, and though some of my friends had much bigger and nicer houses than I did I never remember anyone talking about house prices, nor about jobs except in the whether they would go back after maternity leave/ juggling job and baby sense.

I grew up in Yorkshire but as an "incomer" to an insular inbred rural village where I was constantly aware I wasn't "from 'round 'ere" - I found southerners about a million times more friendly and accepting - where I grew up "up north" people do say hello to strangers but they don't actually genuinely accept anyone that isn't born and bred within a 5 mile radius, and that is far more significant.

Nobody talked about rugby either - all the rugby bores I know are northern.

Sometimes you just have an allergy to a place. I lived near Winchester for 2 years. Nice place in theory but I couldn't hack it, had a couple of friends, joined things etc but just couldn't settle and hated it. I've moved somewhere else that is often in articles about how much people hated somewhere they lived and I am so happy here. Happy moving day when it comes

I've just moved from Surrey to East Kent.

Stifling claustrophobic commuter-ville to a real community. I'm so happy i left. (I'm sure it's not all of Surrey, but it was my experience there)

Oh! We've only been here a year and a bit and really liking it so far, in fact think we could stay here til the kids leave home. There are some ridiculously massive houses which I find very motivational I'm loving the countryside life and though DH takes the 6:30am train, it's only 40 mins to Waterloo which is pretty impressive given we are definitely not in London. I was as desperate to leave London as you are to leave Surrey, ha! I've made friends much easier than when we lived in Lonely London. I hope as we become more settled here we don't end up hating it! Eek!

Oh dear, am thinking of moving to Surrey!

We moved to Surrey 10 years ago and love it. I don't recognise the place you are describing - it isn't like that here,

This is unfair. The people I know constantly refer to 'property' and their property prices, not 'house'.

It really isn't all like the op describes, pipistrelle....