I wish I could escape the UK...

[Itsokay2020]

Just that really! I used to love this country, but I feel really deflated today.

I read the headlines and it’s so depressing, I go for a walk and I just see overgrown hedgerows and weeds everywhere. Footpaths are becoming impossible to negotiate due to overgrowth. My energy supplier went bust, the new supplier are dragging their heals and have blocked our attempt to switch to a better rate with a new supplier. I can sense growing frustration amongst the ordinary folk in the street, it’s a melting pot. Shelves are more bare, made worse by panic headlines in the media. The cost of living is increasing, yet wages are stagnant. The government seems unable to get a grip on all that’s wrong - where is all the money going? Our local fields are being built upon - our beautiful village of 2,000 dwellings will soon increase to 3,000 plus. This is repeated across our part of East Anglia. Selfishly, I wonder where I’ll walk the dog, whilst also knowing that my DC won’t be able to live locally due to the cost of housing. Don’t get me started on GP’s and the lack of appointments.

For the first time, I feel fear about the future. Am considering escaping the South and moving North to reduce our cost of living and maybe enjoy a slower pace. Am I just having a down day or do you feel it too?

Will a new government make it better?

what's a disaster capitalist

Cause turmoil for personal profit.

@Itsokay2020

I don’t mind a ‘backlash’ and I really appreciate the varying views. When I referred to a slower pace of life, my perception of that is having less congested roads (and less aggressive driving) and therefore reduced travelling times as well as finding that people have more time to stop and talk - less busy shops for example, and having time to exchange pleasantries rather than a growing queue behind you huffing and puffing! For me, these little things can make a big difference.

With regards to community action, I do participate (litter picking) and support elderly neighbours (especially during Covid lockdowns) and having a dog results in making lots of additional dog walking friends! I live in a lovely place.

But, as others have already stated, government policy (or lack of) is having a greater affect on day to day living in my opinion

Less busy shops? Seriously? You do realise that here “up North” a quiet shop is a worrying sight, and rather than making me feel I’m living in a nice gossipy episode of The Archers* actually makes me worry for its survival? For every un-busy shop in the north (or anywhere) there are people worried about their jobs.

*notwithstanding Borsetshire is west rather than north of the Watford Gap!

The problem is we either build housing or we leave people homeless - which, as well as cruel, is hugely expensive for the taxpayer (temporary accommodation is often crap but it isn't cheap).

The major issue is far too many of the new builds aren't genuinely affordable - to rent or buy. So more and more gets built, taking our green space, yet not even solving the problem of the housing crisis.

There are also too many empty buildings. A problem for a long time affecting only London, it's beginning to spread. Investors, often based abroad, buy up homes and leave them empty year round.

You are so very blinkered, hundreds of thousands risk their lives trying to get into the Uk, are you aware of how some people have to exist in other parts of the world ? They would swap with you in an instant.

I went for a sunny walk today in the countryside and thought what an absolute crying shame this once lovely country has such a shit self-serving government and has chosen to go down the economic self harm Brexit route.

Make a plan that’s what I’m doing.

The UK compared to the vast majority of the world, especially your situation with a village and country walks, is paradise.

The governmnt is shit but it won't last forever.

Will a new government make it any better?

No, I doubt it. Sorry.

Look at it this way - you're no longer legally confined to your house so things are better than they were a year ago already, and you clearly have a house in which you can have a dog so you're doing better than many people.

The north isn't any better. In any case, I think they have also declared themselves full.

Cheer up and resist the temptation to be a NIMBY. All NIMBYs do is make other people's lives worse. If we build enough housing your children will be able to afford to live by you - yes, it might look a bit different and you might have to walk the dog a bit longer to reach a field, but it will be worth it.

Still if only we had the choice to elect political representatives and not be forced to have the same people all over again...

Oh wait....

Murdoch and the right wing press are the problem in the UK. Even the BBC is in the tories back pocket. You don't get balanced news in this country like you do in most other civilised countries.

It is hard to be happy if your basic needs are not met. By basic, i mean, food, water, health, not in pain, not too hot, not too cold, warm, dry, safe and have company. I find it useful to watch survival programs and then remind myself how lucky I am to have all of the above. The papers are overplaying the crisis. It's not a 'crisis'. It's an inconvenience and our purses will be a bit tighter. But buying less stuff (apart from food and heating etc), travelling less, car pooling etc are all good for the environment as well as mental health. I think that people need to start to appreciate the simple pleasures a bit more.

We moved to a beautiful area in the rural NW of England from a beautiful area down south where the villages were gradually merging with each other due to the endless new housing and the traffic was a nightmare. I'm not complaining - people need houses. But we wanted to live somewhere less busy (and expensive).

I don't necessarily agree with the rest of your reasons though. So many people seem to think 'abroad' would be better. But abroad where? All countries have their problems, some of them a hell of a lot worse than the ones we have here.

@Moonface123

You are so very blinkered, hundreds of thousands risk their lives trying to get into the Uk, are you aware of how some people have to exist in other parts of the world ? They would swap with you in an instant.

People die in alarmingly big numbers every year trying to get across the border and enter the US from Central and South America, but that didn’t make me want to continue living there, even though I had a visa that would have led to permanent residency. I mean, you can’t be made happy in a particular society purely because people fleeing war and want view it as less bad than their place of origin.

The problem is we either build housing or we leave people homeless

Can anyone explain to me who is going to live in all these new homes? Who are these people?

Serious question

People got what they voted for every election for 11years. It’s always a case of waiting for the county to be raised to the ground before anyone notices. The opposite of levelling up.

Murdoch and the right wing press are the problem in the UK. Even the BBC is in the tories back pocket. You don't get balanced news in this country like you do in most other civilised countries

Most ridiculous post ever

@mustlovegin

The problem is we either build housing or we leave people homeless

Can anyone explain to me who is going to live in all these new homes? Who are these people?

Serious question

I know at least four people in their late twenties/early thirties still living with their parents trying to save up money for a deposit and not get gouged on rent.

So, them, for a start.

The opposite of levelling up

Do you think other parties would be 'levelling up'? Wake up

Yanbu. Unfortunately it's harder now than ever to.move abroad. I lived in another European country. There were things I didn't like about it, certainly but the public services were so much better. I had health insurance at minimal cost through my employer, could get a doctor's appointment at the drop of a hat, streets and public spaces much better maintained than in the UK (I totally hear you about overgrown public footpaths), public transport infinitely better, even outside the cities. Tax was higher but housing and transport much cheaper.

Would like to move to France when the kids have left home but it is so much harder now you need a visa.

I know at least four people in their late twenties/early thirties still living with their parents trying to save up money for a deposit and not get gouged on rent

But there are already new homes available for them if they had a deposit.

There is no shortage of homes, there is no need to build more

@Pythonista

Still if only we had the choice to elect political representatives and not be forced to have the same people all over again...

Oh wait....

Ha! I wish. If you don't vote Tory where I live you will never get a politician that represents your views.

Where would you like to live?if you have skills it may be possible (assuming it’s Australia. It’s always Australia).

But there are already new homes available for them if they had a deposit

I mean, they are living with their parents because they are saving for a deposit, not because there's no houses available for them to buy/rent

I'm with you OP, not for the same reasons, but lately I've just felt this country is a cesspit of seething hate, protectionism and nationalism and I hate it. I'll get over it, no doubt, but you're allowed to feel the way you feel.

The news, today, of that awful gobshite Priti fucking Patel and her plans to basically make seeking asylum in the UK 'illegal' were the icing on the cake - that smirking poxy face of hers sends me into a palpable rage.

Fuck knows where else I'd choose to live, but right now I live virtually in the middle of nowhere, and have a charmed life by most standards, and yet I still feel like this on a regular basis these days.

My only advice is to ignore the news for a while - I'm definitely 'better' when I don't engage with news media for a time. Just concentrating on the little things, pottering about the house, cleaning, tidying, gardening and trying to disengage from the absolute shitshow that is UK (and world) politics is a tonic.

Failing that, I'm looking at moving to a remote Scottish island where only the sheep can hear me muttering!