Anglolovers

Then how did that guy get away with it? :lol: Over here, you just have to know someone to pass you on the emissions part and you're good to go. Pretty easy.

Money. Lots and lots of money to pay for gas, registration tax, and insurance. With the right amount of money, you can get around any law, anywhere. So the short answer to "can I do X in location Y" for most values of X or Y is "Yes, if you have money".
 
Here is a picture of the street, the top is from Google Streetview and is a year old, the bottom is from the 1960s.
oldvsnew8.jpg

You live in Royston Vasey?

I loved the time I spent in the UK, back in 1986.
We were supposed to be doing a NATO exercise off of Cape Wrath, but a storm came up and we sailed into Moray Firth, just north of Inverness Scotland and set anchor. Looking out the flag bridge at the Highlands, I had the strangest feeling - "I'm home."

Later, we pulled into Portsmouth at the Royal Naval Base there and I got to do some sightseeing. I had the best pint of Guiness I have ever had at a pub in Portsmouth called the Eastney Tavern, if memory serves. (A later experience with some excellent Spumante in Italy led me to the conclusion that Europeans and people from the British Isles keep the good stuff for themselves and sell us crap.)
I later took a day trip to London and had a blast. Like BlaRo said, it was very easy to walk around the city and I did so. I saw all the traditional tourist sights, and did a fair bit of carspotting as well. I saw a Ford RS200 in a carpark at St.James's Park near Buckingham Palace, and I saw an Aston Martin V8 Volante in an alley just off High Street. Not to mention more Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars than I had ever seen in my life.

tl:dr version: I was there in the Eighties and loved it. You owe it to yourself to visit first to make sure you really like it and if you do - go for it.
 
I'm actually seriously considering working there once I have my full teaching qualification in a couple year's time. I already know someone who's over there working as a nanny, and she absolutely loves the place. Also, unlike many places in Australia, coming from where I do, the weather conditions won't be so much of a shock. Dull / overcast? Yeah, no problem. Freezing? I know can take colder than the average winter here. Snow? I'll get used to it. Horizontal rain? Meh, used to it. :cool:
 
One swaperoonie coming right up :D
 
I'm a couple of years from finishing my degree, then I'm off.

I've traveled North America and Europe extensively, and as far as I'm concerned, the UK is one of the most over-rated countries on the planet. Why? It's painfully expensive, particularly in the South East and London (AKA the wealthy bit).

Sure the history is great and the cities (particularly London) are wonderful, but the country faces massive problems going into the future. Most of the UK's post-1945 prosperity has been based off the abundance of North Sea oil (which peaked in 2004).

Don't get me wrong, nobody is more proud to be British than I am, but I can't help but feel that the UK has further to deteriorate.
 
To quote a good friend of mine "It seems foreigners view the UK as one big theme park".

I do get surprised by the number of people abroad I know who want to either visit/live in this country. Don't get me wrong, I like where I am, it's home and I don't think I'd want to move anywhere else, because, quite frankly, this country has everything I need. Apart from properly good snow in winter that you can ski or snowboard on.

Like everywhere though, it has its good and bad points.

I don't see the appeal of London myself. I've visited a couple of times as a guest of the BBC and didn't really like it. But, I'm a country boy myself. Much prefer the peace and quiet and beauty of the countryside, which makes it great where I live. I can get to somewhere like the Peak District as easily as I can get to the only town I can sort of tolerate, Sheffield.

And to quote someone else "Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, 9 out of 10 people couldn't start a conversation."

Good luck to those wishing to live in this country. But if I was you, I'd say don't bother and stay where you are. The UK is up shit creek without a paddle because of the economy and various other on going problems. Not really the best time to move here, I'd say. Far better just to visit on a holiday (or vacation, before that starts again).
 
I prefer this, which I have on a T-shirt:

So is it pretty much a given that money or a lucrative career is necessary to move into the UK?
 
So is it pretty much a given that money or a lucrative career is necessary to move into the UK?

If you want to have a decent standard of living, I would say yes.

It also depends on which region you decide. Property prices in London and the South East aren't cheap. Most central London properties are beyond the reach of the majority of the British population and mainly sell to high net-worth individuals from Russia and the Middle-East.

In Northern England, Wales and Scotland houses are much cheaper, but by the same token the incomes in those respective regions are lower. A zero-sum game almost.

I wouldn't dream of moving to the UK unless I was financially comfortable, but that's just my opinion.
 
If you want to have a decent standard of living, I would say yes.

It also depends on which region you decide. Property prices in London and the South East aren't cheap. Most central London properties are beyond the reach of the majority of the British population and mainly sell to high net-worth individuals from Russia and the Middle-East.

In Northern England, Wales and Scotland houses are much cheaper, but by the same token the incomes in those respective regions are lower. A zero-sum game almost.

I wouldn't dream of moving to the UK unless I was financially comfortable, but that's just my opinion.

It's the in-between regions that I'm most interested in, but which don't really make the newspapers for their lack of sensationalism. Centers of major cities are expensive in the US too, and there are also economically depressed areas with cheap housing (see: Detroit). What few people hear about are the growing cities with not-yet crazy property prices and the suburbs and towns near big cities that are still livable for young professionals. Those kinds of regions are all over the US; surely the UK has its share as well.
 
London is basically in its own little city-state microcosm, if you want to live the same lifestyle you would have in London but don't want to pay for it then go to one of the other ancient cities like Edinburgh.
 
What few people hear about are the growing cities with not-yet crazy property prices and the suburbs and towns near big cities that are still livable for young professionals. Those kinds of regions are all over the US; surely the UK has its share as well.

In which case, that sounds like either Reading (Berkshire) or Guildford (Surrey). Reading is about 35miles South-West of London, with fairly realistic property prices, a buoyant job market and is home to Microsoft, Cisco and and a shed load of other blue chips. Guildford is also nice.

Both very easy to commute to/from London.
 
The following is rant against the British government, be warned:

I love British TV and film, and enjoy their cars, but fuck if I'd ever live there. They are one step ahead of the US in over reaching government, and I disdain class divided society. Yes we have classes in the U.S., but here it is not only possible to move up the scale it is encouraged. Having an inbred "gift from God" royal family given special privileges is a horrid notion that has been outdated since Tarquin Superbus was booted out of Rome.

I can go and start a longer rant of the advantages of Republicanism (no not the dipshit American party), but that may move us a bit too far off topic.

//ducks
 
I'd say it's a fair assumption that a lot of us non-UK posters are Anglophiles. I myself have wracked my brain trying to figure out how to frickin' live there. Anyways, what do you all like about that fair isle? Wales and Scotland are included. Don't give me crap about "Scotland isn't England" blah blah blah I know, "bugger the Queen" yada yada

I can't really explain why I like England so much. I think it's the combination of a rich history and a very vibrant, green landscape. And the amazing sense of humor (humour, there you happy?)

1. Join the Air Force
2. Get stationed in England (like me, flying there today. Yay!)
3. ???
4. Profit!

Like a boss.
 
As a mainlander who likes the British Isles very much (just got back from the Northern Highlands: WOUW) I can honestly say that if I had the money to retire there my ass would be on the first plane looking for a nice cottage in the middle of nowhere and a Range Rover to park outfront, however moving there in my working life and making a living? No.

It's all very nice, it rains alot so everything is green, some of the scenery is spectacular, roads are well maintained, people over 30 tend to be friendly and outgoing once you got over the initial introduction......the problems arise when you go to mayor cities, most are, in a word: depressing.
And it gets worse when you meet certain young people (no offence to any young British people on this board, if you are here you probably aren't one of them), sure every nation has it's share of chavs and no-hopers, but Britain has managed to spawn the most hopeless, ugly, permanently depressed, barfight-looking sweatpants wearing nitwits I have ever seen....real shame.
 
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Hey KaJuN welcome, you will probably be over in East Anglia - decent beer in that neck of the woods so you start with a big +.

If you can get to see a Premiership football (Soccer) match, that will open your eyes wide! It is a bit pricey but good fun. Remember we drive on the same side of the road as the Japanese. Fuel is horrendosly expensive, get it on base if at all possible. Try to get to a good Curry house, a family run Italian Restrauant, a Chinese and better still a Thai restrauant; if at all possible.

You will spot loads of US type fast food but in my opinion our versions are not as good as the same ones in the US for some strange reason.

Will you get to go to an RAF base when you are here? The best place is the empire flying school at Boscomb Down - I think that they still regularly spin a Hawker Hunter (on purpose) to teach recovery techniques.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Test_Pilots'_School

Anyway have fun.
 
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