I Hate London

[JamSandwiches45]

We've been here as a family for three years now. We moved from Auckland, New Zealand. I can't be the only expat that spends every day regretting the decision?!

Apart from the shopping and the proximity to Europe/US for holidays, I can't think of one thing that's better here than we had at home. The place is a filthy ghetto! The general attitude/reluctance for people to actually put in a hard days work is astounding. I won't even mention the schools, are DH is a supply teacher and the stories I hear are beyond me.. I fear for his safety daily.

I miss my house on the beach! Time to pack it in and go home I think.

I didn't say offices shut down at 5pm, I said in my experience, most people exited them at 5pm.

Like I said, I lived in Auckland for four years and liked it there. I think if I had been miserable there as you clearly are in London, I'd have made plans to leave, rather than go on a local website and trounce the place.

Finally, comparing the numbers of homeless people in Auckland and London is deeply flawed. One is a significantly bigger city than the other.

Long story short: London has its problems and Auckland has its problems.

Did you really think you were going to make yourself popular on here by trashing many people's home city? Don't be surprised if people counter your extreme language with extreme language of their own.

I'm pretty shocked by your post. I'm a Londoner and I'm currently working 7 days a week in the tourist industry. To brand a whole city full of people as workshy is just ridiculous. If anything I think many people have to work incredibly hard in London to make ends meet as it's so expensive.

Of course it's not perfect. It's overcrowded (tourism is booming!) and can be dirty in places. But it's one of the most vibrant, tolerant and multicultural cities in the world.

I love London (and UK in general) but on return to live here a few years ago I too was rather shocked by a few things. It's (always!) complicated, but could be correlated imho with the relatively low productivity here (although whether the chicken or egg came first I know not). For anyone interested, here's link to the latest ONS report and main points pasted below.

www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/productivitymeasures/bulletins/internationalcomparisonsofproductivityfinalestimates/2015

Main points
Output per hour worked in the UK was 15.9% below the average for the rest of the G7 advanced economies in 2015; this compares with 15.8% in 2014.

Output per worker in the UK was 16.6% below the average for the rest of the G7 in 2015.

Compared with the rest of the G7, the UK had below average productivity growth in both output per hour and output per worker terms in 2015.

Output per hour was lower in all G7 countries in 2015 than would have been the case if pre-downturn trends had continued since 2007.

The UK’s “productivity puzzle” – the difference between post-downturn productivity performance and the pre-downturn trend – was 15.2% in 2015; this was the largest in the G7 and was double the average of 7.5% across the rest of the G7.

I think she wasn't aggressive at all

😂😂😂

Nice weather we are having

Indeed, we are set fair for a beautiful day shirking our work in the ghetto

@gamerchick I've said I hate London and didn't like Staffordshire due to issues with DD I won't go into. I loved Wales, Brighton.. just not doable right now for DH job.

There’s a lot of romanticism around London on this thread, possible from people who don’t even live here.
I do, & it’s not the ‘wonderfully diverse’ place people think.
The people who live here are either very rich or poor, that’s not much in between.

OP, a lot of us are confused about your DH's job. You said earlier that he is a supply teacher. Surely, if that's the case, you could live anywhere in the UK? Or have we misunderstood, and he is not a teacher after all?

Wow your attitude is quite
Ghetto, really? That’s actually pretty offensive.
Lived all my life in London, I cannot fathom it being described as workshy!

Indeed, we are set fair for a beautiful day shirking our work in the ghetto

I will indeed be shirking but not in the ghetto - and earning around 4x the average salary of a person in New Zealand (75,000 NZD) for working half the hours. Why would I be anywhere else but the UK

@French2019 He works as a supply teacher part-time. We have a severely SN daughter and moved to London from Auckland to be closer to PIL to help care for her. Neither of us can work full time due to her needs.

"@pinkdelight Oh jfc. You benefit from a system that was built on the destruction of my whakapapa. You have our decapitated heads in your museums and won't return them, evidence enough?"

By that token, so do you. So does your DH and your DC, who are now Londoners, just like millions of Londoners with all kinds of heritages. Not really that simple, is it?

I’ve just joined & thought this was a forum to share information & discuss relevant topics not moan about where you currently live? Hmmm...🤔

@Chanelprincess My 27 year old niece is on $125k back home, not unusual either. Not sure where you got your figures.

@pinkdelight We would have been better left alone, actually. I don't benefit from having my ancestors murdered as trophies. I'm sure the Indigenous Native Australians, and the Native Americans would agree.

He could find supply work ANYWHERE in the UK, Op. don't know why you're so focussed on Birmingham and London only.

JamSandwiches45

125,000 NZD is not an impressive salary - that's considerably less than half of what I earn in the UK working 3 days and a quarter of what my DH earns (we are in the North, not London). I can imagine that salary wouldn't be unusual in NZ but the figures I were quoting were an average salary and not based on a sample size of n=1 - quite a difference as I'm sure you'll appreciate.

OK, but couldn't he do PT supply work anywhere? You've said London or Birmingham so I'm assuming that you're not tied to London just because your PIL are there? There are still plenty of places within easy reach of these cities that you could look at. Where are PIL based?

JamSandwiches45

I should probably also mention that my DH is a very happily settled expat Aussie who loves the UK.

Just reading this thread and finding it hard to understand the hate towards London but there you go. Can't all love the same place.

Interested though OP, and I think someone else asked it up thread. What care are you receiving for DD? Is it any better than in NZ?

I agree with French2019, what you think of London says more about yourself than about London. Some people just aren't happy living abroad and you are one of them, or you wouldn't be so negative about absurd things (why do you care if people seem workshy? can you give an example of how it affects you?) I've seen people like you move from place to place, always whining, and happy only once they move back home.
What's the point of your thread anyway? Is it only to get off your chest what you can't say in real life?

@Chanelprincess Actually $125k is impressive in NZ, there are other factors to consider other than the current exchange rate. I really don't need to know how much you earn, but here, here's a clap since you seem to need it.

@runwithme Very little help for DD with SN's, nothing financial. Have had multiple hospital stays where DD is treated like an inanimate object and us criminals for daring to turn up to the ER with her, always asked for proof of citizenship and asked why we're in the country. Hence why we need to live close to PIL incase anything happens.

Sorry to hear that. That's definitely not the way it should happen and certainly not the experience our close friends and my family member have. You seem to have so much disdain for London and the people around you, I'd leave if I were you. I absolutely love London, and take offence to the words you've used to describe it, but they are based on your opinions and experiences so I respect that.

@runwithme and no, care is not better in NZ which is why we came here. DD was born with her conditions so only qualifies for a few hours of home care and about $80 a week. Seemed like a better compromise at the time to be closer to PIL but at least in NZ there was some compassion and group activities she was involved in. Nurses work hard, not ragging on them, but there are too few and too many people.