Moving out of London

I’m not going get drawn into “i’m from further north from you and I grew up in a paper bag on the middle of the road” shit

A paper bag? We would have DREAMED of a paper bag!

Moved to just outside Paris during the Great London Blizzard of 2018, no regrets.

Santa Cruz is potentially back on the table, for a couple of years at least.

A friend of mine used to live in Chelmer Village, a really horrible development (a full card in bad development bingo) which I wouldn't recommend. I remember all the traffic issues you would expect (bypass, lots of severance, a surprising amount of congestion at busy times). However, there are some lovely bits and as others have said, great countryside. We took some amazing walks in the summer.

As for commuting--this won't be for all days, but I always cycled out there and sometimes cycled back, which at about 35 miles each way (I think) is probably doable as a commute once a week. The A414 is good for a bit of time-trialling practice, but it can get very busy and if that's not your thing, there are great routes available to the south and north of it (but mainly to the south, e.g. via Margaretting, Edney Common, Blackmore, Hook End, Navestock, etc.--north of it means a much longer route, but I really like it up there). Obviously, because of peak time travel restrictions, you'd either have to do there and back in a single day or leave your bike at the office and do the ride back on another day.

better than Chelmsford..

Much better!

Used these guys three times, they're so good. Super efficient, very friendly and good price. I found them very entertaining too, in a good way.

https://mrshifterlondon.co.uk/

That Cabrillo Highway route looks immense.

The thing to remember when moving out of London is that your new home isn't London.

Dreamed of a paper bag, ooh lardee dah having time to dream. We got up before we went to bed. No time for laying about dreaming.

I rode down it from SF to LA for my 21st birthday. Was amazing. I really miss that trip. My sister was living in LA and I wanted to make it there for my birthday so I did it in six days. If I did it again I'd take two weeks, have max chill time and just look around everywhere. Drivers on that road are ridiculously courteous too. Not a single car over took me in six days unless they could take the entire lane. California really is dreamland. #csb

Used JA Coles, North Ldn. Cheapest of the professional quotes I got: £800 (inc VAT) for a 150mile journey, also a packed 2 bed flat. Needed a 7.5tonne truck. They dropped off more boxes and bubble wrap than we needed a couple of weeks before. Getting them to pack would have been an extra £200 ish, but we didn't pay for that. Decent guys, professional company, move went well.

I like the colour of their vans too.

Bloody fucking hell. One of my wife's new "mum friend"'s husbands was killed (technically still missing) in a scuba accident out here yesterday. She had lunch with her on Monday while he went out diving, they laughed at the lunacy of his going out in the cold and murk... and he never came back. They called off the search this morning. They've got three kids including a 5 month old baby. Bleak.

As if that isn't bad enough this is the third time someone we know has karked it in the last three months. Each of them with a young family. First up my wife's best mate's husband died suddenly following a short illnessin December. Turned out he had undiagnosed leukaemia and a cold turned into sepsis and he was gone in 10 days. They had two boys who turned 2 and 4 on Christmas eve and boxing day respectively. They'd only got married in June. I'd thought that was about as bad as it got.

Then my old mate (and the singer in my old band) was killed in a car accident on the way back from dropping her son off at nursery. The dad (drummer in said band) was at home with their 8 week old baby daughter. Yep that's worse I thought... Now this.

Not fishing for sympathy here. I didn't even know the last couple and had only met her once. My wife is is very fond of her though and they'd been hanging out a fair it. Just... fucking hell really.

What the fuck do you say?

I don’t know you, I’ve never met you, don’t ever consider me a friend.

But yeah, when mates or colleagues drop dead it’s weird and makes you realise that whatever we do to prolong it. Life’s a fucking lottery and sometimes bad shit happens to really nice people. Not wanting to sound flippant but if you let things like this fuck you up, they will. Offer support and comfort where you can and pray to whatever entity you can that it only ever happens to other people.

Oh i’m fine. Joe (the first to go in Dec) I was closest to. Had known him for years and liked him a lot but not really a close friend I spoke with regularly. Jenny, I was close to but had lost touch over the last five years. The last chap i hadn’t even met. Just seems to have been a horrible run of these family tragedies in my periphary lately. Last one particularly gruesome and particular to the surroundings of the new place. Weird.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43645636

Holy shit, mate! Sorry to hear this! 🖤

I'm in Spain with my parents at the moment, came over for my godfather's funeral ten days ago... My parents are crazy, can't wait to get out of here and looking forward to catching up with old London friends for a few days next week, but...

I really miss Australia, I miss my heroic gf, our lovely little cottage, my tomato and chilli plants, my fucking lawnmower, my Fender Jaguar and Twin Reverb and my army of fuzzboxes... I'm homesick... If I could get a flight straight back to Oz tomorrow, I would!

I’m doing that right now, will be in Brisbane a week tomorrow.

We're gonna miss each other by a few days, too bad... How long you there for?

The jetlag is a bitch in that direction, I managed to get a dose of gastro on the way back last time... Spent my first week back in a delirious state not knowing what the fuck was going on...

I live here, if you still have questions.

Bloomin heck that pub in Grays with the dodgy bar decorations

‘It’s all about political correctness isn’t it? Children can’t play conkers anymore or have snowball fights in case they are hurt.’ Chris added that they sometimes provide catering for Indian weddings.

So that's OK then.

Has anyone here moved out to Margate?