Moving out of London

My sister also moved to Oz and isn't coming back. What do you do for work, TS, and was it a hard process?

Process was easy because of Aussie partner, took a year and a half or so to do all the paperwork, mainly because I'm so slack...

I was a full-time graphic designer when I left, I still do freelance jobs when they come around but my day job is at a day centre for disabled adults... I assist them with art, music and other fun stuff... I've accidentally changed careers and I really, really love it... Money's shit but life is cheaper here and the freelance jobs top me up... I did get a design job but I left after three weeks, couldn't handle working in an office anymore... Or the three hour commute there and back every day...

I've bought two guitars (one custom made) and a couple of guitar amps while I've been here so I'm not starving... ;)

And a bass, I also bought a bass... 😬

Sea or fresh water?

There's still things that I miss about London but I don't think I could move back there now.

It's not that there aren't the same sort of things to do in Sheffield, they just aren't there in the same sort of volume. It does mean that you end up going to the same places a lot more because they're pretty much the only ones doing a certain thing. But that isn't such a bad thing though. I feel that I build up more of a relationship with places and venues and more invested in them. Sheffield has also got a pretty diverse cultural cross section as well so I don't feel as if I miss that either.

I think what I couldn't give up now is the amount of space that I feel that I can take up as a person. I don't feel as if I'm constantly elbow to elbow with everyone else in the city. Sometimes that was an oddly nice feeling in London, but often enough I felt too constrained and couldn't move how I wanted to. I feel less pull to be out in the odd times and the quiet hours which were necessary to take up the amount of space sometimes needed to enjoy your surroundings. I also like that in 20 minutes I can ride to almost all of the parts of town that I'm usually interested in and from my house I can be out in proper fields and cows countryside in under 10. On the occasions I wanted to ride out of London it felt like a long slog only to experience a brief taste before having to turn tail and slog back in.

I think what I miss most of all is the scale and the centrality of it and the hustle. There's no experience quite like slipping through a busy Camden market watching so many things balanced on a knife edge or the great leaps of faith at opportunity as some new business attempts to ride the wave of a tenuous emerging zeitgeist into permanence.

But when it comes to the choice, I'll take the space and the closer community of people who aren't from that far away. And if I can't have both, I'd rather have the great outdoors that's on my doorstep then the great indoors that's on yours. I'll never stop loving London, but I love it here more.

Do they still have a red triangle on the can?

Interesting as I'm considering a move out of London now I've been made redundant (after 36 years ffs - I'm 60 y'know). My sister lives in Sheffield and I know Chesterfield from work meeting visits and my Mum lives in Leicestershire so I sort of feel comfortable in that M1 corridor I suppose.
But I've always been wary of actually living up there (London centric snobbery ?).
I'm currently drawing up the pros and cons and why do I need to be in London anymore ? Sell this tiny flat in Woolwich and get a little house with a garden and still have surplus cash. 2 hours into London when I want to which could mean more 'use' of London than I presently get as I just go into an office in EC1 and then go home again to SE18 (which could be any old hellhole in the whole country).
This is just me but the reasons that made me want to be in London are not really there anymore.
The kids live in Wales and Glasgow bar one son who is bogged down in Lewisham ffs so I'm slowly getting unglued to Londons famous London.

What are wary of? Really good beer? Wide open spaces? Friendliness? Easier access to Wales and Glasgow?

Yeah everywhere has it's pros and cons but if anywhere is going to rival London for just about anything then its Yorkshire.

The thing for me about London is the things you get to see and do. If you're just existing in a corridor between EC1 and SE18 then get the fuck out of there. You're paying the premium and not getting the benefits.

Come up for a look around some time and have a think about what your life would be like out of LFL. I honestly think the only thing we couldn't offer that you currently have is a huge river that's a right ballache to cross on the daily.

Thanks - I think I just needed some convincing.
Sister in Sheffield has offered me her house for a week in August while they are away on hols so an opportunity to explore ( and water their allotment).

Give us a shout if you fancy hanging out/getting some local knowledge. What's the Chesterfield connection? Post Office?

Thanks for your offer mate.
Yes.
The ever shrinking Post Office !

move to Bristol. It's pretty decent. @skinny is right

Just working some numbers out. If me and my girlfriend sell our places in London and buy up north we could easily live on the profits for more than ten years. The gap is a bit depressing

oh well... seems like the decision has been made for me now.

Head for somewhere sunny.

Now with Brexit on the horizon, is it still worth considering leaving London? Reason I ask is that I have an opportunity to chase if I want to move out with a young family up North to in and around Liverpool? What should I take into consideration other than cost of living and reduction in salary? Im still young I 'd say.

We bought in Bristol on Tuesday. Heading back to the south west to be close to our families. Bristol is great. Good beer, good food, good music, stone's-throw countryside and coast. Fun, hilly cycling.

The fact your kids could end up with a Scouse accent? One of the reasons Essex is off my list

Seems like everyone is leaving. Who's left and misses if terribly and is dying to come back?

@1000archangels

We are planning on moving out of London in the near future. We went to see John Lewis-Stemple talking about his book "The Running Hare" yesterday and would like enough space to set aside a few acres as a natural habitat for British field wild life and have some woodland for our dogs to run around in.

Sounds blissful.

Where are you gonna find that? What part of the country?

Sounds great.

Wales.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/revealed-londoners-find-their-lives-less-worthwhile-than-the-rest-of-the-uk-a3355546.html