@maisypops
@DaphneDiligaf
Many people I went to school with are in the same area. I live in the area I grew up in. Like many others I moved away and then came back to set up home. It's a bit rude to assume people haven't moved on because they've chosen to live in an area they like.
Some of my friends are spending £1,000-1,500 a month on renting a box in London and doing the city living thing still. It started as a year or two after uni and they've stayed. I've a good job, a house in a nice area, my mortgage is a fraction of that. Neither choice is better or worse.
I agree with this. There is always one isn't there, who assumes that people who stay in their home town are some kind of loser or failure . 
Just coz someone has moved 100s of miles from home (even 1000's,) that doesn't mean they are any better, or any more successful, or that their life is anymore exciting than those who now live 3 miles from their parents, and work 5 miles from where they grew up. And it certainly doesn't mean they are any happier.
Many people travel, and have holidays, and a good social life, and great hobbies, and rich and rewarding careers without moving 100's (or 1000's) of miles away. (And in fact, stay near where they grew up!)
Conversely I know a few people who shell out half their wages to live in London - just to say they live there, and don't have a pot to piss in. They are so poor that they rarely travel back home because they can't afford the train fare. Not everyone who lives there earns £100K a year! (Though many people on mumsnet claim to!)
I also know several 20-something people who live in the midlands and Cheshire who are on £40-50K, in middle management and who have a 4 bed detached home that they paid £275K - £350K for. (You wouldn't get a broom cupboard for that in London,) or anywhere else down south! They also travel abroad extensively, and have great social lives and successful and rewarding careers. So moving away doesn't always equal 'exciting, vibrant life,' and staying in your home town doesn't always equal 'backward and stunted.'
Re the bitchy bullies at school, I agree with a pp @serialweightwatcher
As for saying 'they are adults now...' I think generally childhood bullies turn into adult bullies ... it's hard to imagine a child who makes someone's (or many people's) lives hell just being a nice, decent human being when they are older .. those traits aren't silly pranks, they are vicious and nasty and without empathy and don't just go away like they never existed.
The worst, and vilest childhood/school bullies I knew at school, went on to be horrible bastards in adulthood. They didn't hit 18, and then suddenly become sweet fluffy angels. And the girls who were quiet and studious, and also the girls who were bullied, didn't turn into bullies at 18. They all generally stayed the same.
The worst bitches in the school gate mafia (who were in their late 20's to mid 30's) were bullies at school. Their kids are often bullies too.
And despite the virtue signalling from some, and saying it's 'mean and nasty' to be smug and 'look down' on peoples jobs. Maybe that is true. However, if someone was an utter thundercunt to you for years at school, and near enough ruined your school life, affected your grades, and affected your confidence and self esteem, it is more than reasonable to feel smug and glad if you are now successful in your life, relationships, friendships, and career, and everything of theirs is shit.