Moved Back To Uk Recently.....Arrrgghhh!

[Globaleyes]

I can honestly say, this post mirrors exactly what I experienced when I returned to the UK with my wife in 2009.  Admittedly, the worst time since WW2 to do so!

 

I'd like to add, having worked for the Public Sector previously, and during the 2 miserable years I was in the UK, I found the most galling problem was facing  'positive discrimination' (aka - DISCRIMINATION)

 

Also, the way that men are being treated by the law is just unfair. My brother was co-erced by the police into leaving his house after an argument with his GF. Her allegations, as easily shown on his recording, were simply lies.  The police were not interested in the fact that she HAD committed a crime, but were still taking action against him even though he evidently hadn't.  The police clearly (on tape) admitted that because it was a woman's complaint against a man, they had to act this way! Despite the evidence.

 

My friend split up with his Mrs,sent her two texts asking to get some of his stuff.  She just called the police, screamed 'harrassment', he got arrested and either had to accept guilt and a police caution, or they'd keep his phone until after a trial (evidence!) Apparently you just need to send any unwanted text, even one, and it's harrassment now. And she doesn't even need to tell you it's unwanted.

 

However, I think you may have chosen a good economic time to return.  Sure there have been better times, but I still keep abreast of UK matters, and I see very encouraging ECONOMIC signs for the future. Things will 'get back to normal' within a couple of years.

 

 

Hi Everyone,

Wow! what an interesting response. I should have posted this before I left, might have saved me from myself if I had lol. In response to one comment about retirement; yes we do have family inherited land up nr Mahasarakham which we intend to build on and retire to later in life. We will start sending money back to our respective Thai accounts over the next X amount of years to achieve this. Only problem is that if the kind of salary we are now on is going to be the norm for the foreseeable future, then it will be an uphill (almost vertical) climb to get there.

Some really good comments from forum readers and I thank you for all of them. I blew off so many comments from expats I knew in Bangkok about it being a bad bad move to come back here, I admit to thinking that some of them were just embittered and therefore ignored many of their comments. I was wrong and wish I had listened more carefully. Even my own Brother who is a successful London Radio DJ says that he wants to leave the UK desperately and thought me an idiot for coming back!

In between typing this post I am searching multiple jobs websites, it is a depressing and soul destroying endeavour. Aside from the obvious groans about taxes and the ever inventive ways the UK Government have devised for extracting money from it's citizens, now applying for even the most low level positions has become annoyingly lengthy and overly complex, not to mention the hundreds of other applicants you will be up against. I am a fighter and will not give up trying but have to admit to feeling a sense of hopelessness creeping up on me.

Ref to pgthompson; oh yeh I feel you on your post 100%. I too said "alright mate" to a guy I walked past on the high street in High Wycombe and he looked at me and said "I dont F***ing know you! I was so shocked I just said guess not and walked on, 10 years ago I would have smacked him right in the mouth! but not now, I just felt sick in my stomach that I almost got in a punch up for saying hi. Something is really wrong here. People are unfriendly unhelpful, aggressive and seem to be just plain angry.

I am sorry to bash my own country like this, I was once so proud of being British it used to impress people and still does in some places, but it is a shadow of its former self, the EU have contributed in no small way to our demise and as already pointed out by others the UK economy is in dire straits with little chance of improving anytime soon.

One thing to remember; coming back to the UK will not be a crappy experience for everybody, we all have different circumstances that affect our situations both finacially and otherwise. It saddens me that so many Thai citizens think that the UK is a country that will greatly enrich and improve their lives, unless they are from a HiSo family this is unlikely to be the case.

 

[HardenedSoul]

 I still keep abreast of UK matters, and I see very encouraging ECONOMIC signs for the future. Things will 'get back to normal' within a couple of years.

 

"Normal"??

 

Choice between soaring repossessions and a 50% crash in property values and everything built on the consumer spending those property values support

 

OR

 

Rampant inflation as the Bank of England tries to suppress interest rates by buying every gilt-edged security in existence

 

 

The BoE's near-zero interest rate policies and QE insulated an awful lot of people from what should have been a far more destructive reset of the economy.

 

It should have been like the US real estate crash but, instead, everyone's mortgage got cheaper 

 

The can has been kicked down the road.

 

It'll be spectacular when the government and the central bank catch up to it again

[supashot]

WHAT? You ship her?

[Lucifer]

The hatred that some of you feel about foreigners living in your Country, is the same as the hatred the Thai's feel about you living in Thailand.

[millwall_fan]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

 

Good post.

In a former life I used to travel and work abroad a lot sometimes being away from UK few years at a time.

While away I would think about the green fields of England country pubs on a summer evening and all that stuff but each time I returned after just a couple of days I just couldn't wait to get out again.

Been in LOS about 12 years now and couldn't go back now.

:-)

The trouble with English country pubs is that with virtually no public transport, you'd have to drive there and after 1 pint you could get breathalysed and potentially, do time for it. 

 

Great post, I can relate to everything you say.

I remember being in a Whetherspoons pub on a Tuesday afternoon, a long bar and me and another guy who was stood at the other end of the bar were the only customers, I said to him "How's it going mate" his reply was "Who the fuc_k are you talking to" I thought, welcome back to England. Just confirmed to me to stay in Chiang Mai.

I always bring back Sausages, bacon, black pudding and loads of chocolate when I do go for a visit, nicer and cheaper than Thailand but apart from that, bugger all else.

I have found problems getting these things in Bangkok, but in Chiang Mai there are excellent bacon, sausages and black pudding available from several British butchers!

 

I also go through agonies about where I should be living. I have an aged father, but am lucky that one of my sisters lives very close to him and he is still very sprightly at 84. I worry about my sons future - he is a dual national but I want him to spend time in UK so that when he grows up he has a real choice about where he wants to live. I'm also concerned that my wife would get better care in UK when I'm not around.. I can work in thailand or UK.

 

The weather is the big plus here and the low cost of living (although I agree it has shot up in the past 2 or 3 years). You can still eat for under 70p and cooking at home is cheap. Chicken is 90p a kilo, pork under £2.50. Beer is getting expensive though. I can buy almost all my Brit essentials here - although at an expensive price: Marmite, Branston Pickle, Marmalade, bacon, sausages, ham.

 

On balance I am very happy here and don't want to return to UK, but for the sake of the family, I may have to - at least for a few years. 

 

This thread has been a valuable tool in looking at both sides of the argument. 

 

 

[AfterLOS]

Hi Everyone,

Wow! what an interesting response. I should have posted this before I left, might have saved me from myself if I had lol. In response to one comment about retirement; yes we do have family inherited land up nr Mahasarakham which we intend to build on and retire to later in life. We will start sending money back to our respective Thai accounts over the next X amount of years to achieve this. Only problem is that if the kind of salary we are now on is going to be the norm for the foreseeable future, then it will be an uphill (almost vertical) climb to get there.

Some really good comments from forum readers and I thank you for all of them. I blew off so many comments from expats I knew in Bangkok about it being a bad bad move to come back here, I admit to thinking that some of them were just embittered and therefore ignored many of their comments. I was wrong and wish I had listened more carefully. Even my own Brother who is a successful London Radio DJ says that he wants to leave the UK desperately and thought me an idiot for coming back!

In between typing this post I am searching multiple jobs websites, it is a depressing and soul destroying endeavour. Aside from the obvious groans about taxes and the ever inventive ways the UK Government have devised for extracting money from it's citizens, now applying for even the most low level positions has become annoyingly lengthy and overly complex, not to mention the hundreds of other applicants you will be up against. I am a fighter and will not give up trying but have to admit to feeling a sense of hopelessness creeping up on me.

Ref to pgthompson; oh yeh I feel you on your post 100%. I too said "alright mate" to a guy I walked past on the high street in High Wycombe and he looked at me and said "I dont F***ing know you! I was so shocked I just said guess not and walked on, 10 years ago I would have smacked him right in the mouth! but not now, I just felt sick in my stomach that I almost got in a punch up for saying hi. Something is really wrong here. People are unfriendly unhelpful, aggressive and seem to be just plain angry.

I am sorry to bash my own country like this, I was once so proud of being British it used to impress people and still does in some places, but it is a shadow of its former self, the EU have contributed in no small way to our demise and as already pointed out by others the UK economy is in dire straits with little chance of improving anytime soon.

One thing to remember; coming back to the UK will not be a crappy experience for everybody, we all have different circumstances that affect our situations both finacially and otherwise. It saddens me that so many Thai citizens think that the UK is a country that will greatly enrich and improve their lives, unless they are from a HiSo family this is unlikely to be the case.

 

>>>>>  and as already pointed out by others the UK economy is in dire straits with little chance of improving anytime soon <<<<<

 

It is going to get a whole lot worse - some excerpts and analysis for you and others follows here  ...... updated for 2014

 

How can a key business and financial center like this keep inflating to unprecedented heights when the everyday people who work there can’t even remotely afford such prices?

 

http://economyandmarkets.com/economy/londons-housing-market-has-gone-bonkers/

[Albertosez]

I was back in UK last year and I felt like a spot on a domino. Pakkis, Indians and Wogs everywhere....the place has gone mad. Civil war is on the cards for UK!

[AfterLOS]

Just another American whose thread was blocked for saying anything negative about the UK.   To bash

Americans is allowed and encouraged, but to have an American just drop one nail on the UK coffin which

has been in the making for aeons already - is not allowed!

 

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/724665-uk-quality-of-life-trending-as-a-bottomless-pit-and-accelerating/

 

 

Comparing UK with USA is akin to comparing a frog's uterus to the Panama Canal.

 

Freedom of speech complaints about Thailand?    Heck, right here on thaivisa, a brit colony, there is no freedom for

any non Brit.

 

Me?   I don't give a hoot, LOL.   I've got Southern California - put my blinders on, step up my total focus, block out all

feelings of don't-fit-in, and just go to town on making fast bucks which then get exponentialized TWICE upon re-entry into

outerspace aka Chiangmai, LOS, the latter exponent occuring in the quality of LIFE arena.

 

There is a downside though, LOL.   My TGF (been with me 14 years) said to me, "she has gotten hooked on nice things that my largess

has bestowed on her"   Hahahaha, she doesn't know that I have nobody else to give it to and nobody that I'd WANT TO give it to.   She just does

not get the fact that there are still some Americans who value their WORD and don't give it lightly and willy-nilly -  a few years ago when I ran out of money

and had to come out of the retirement style of life, she stuck with me, could have left for someone who pays better - she didn't, her friends later told me of the

pain she went thru'.   She earned her rewards.     CALIFORNIA came to the rescue.

 

The USA - there be no place on EARTH like her.

 

:)

 

 

 

 

[AfterLOS]

I was back in UK last year and I felt like a spot on a domino. Pakkis, Indians and <deleted> everywhere....the place has gone mad. Civil war is on the cards for UK!

 

 

>>>>> Civil war is on the cards for UK! >>>>>

 

Secession in America highly likely.   California is the horse I back to the hilt.  

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6jFn9T1ge2g

[AfterLOS]

London = ripoff city, ditto for Singapore and King Kong.

 

On the flipside, shocking that MANY  things in Southern California have actually gotten cheaper than even LOS.

Clothes and shoes, told LOS to scramb, US is where its at.   Food?   Anything one wants and cheaper than

Rimping, LOL and soon will be cheaper than Tesco Lotus.   HOUSING and HOTELS is one arena where

LOS flogs America, but America flogs LONDON with both eyes closed.

 

Yeah baby, my So. California might end up cheaper than Chiangmai, LOL

 

Recently nailed a Marriott room in Bangcock for $98, played the Hilton against it and was offered $70 including

their usual nice brekky for 2.   Hotels.com, booking.com, travelpony.com, trivago.com etc., cannot beat 'em stateside,

but in LOS, one phone call to the senior manager opens doors - that's why its never good for the entire world to just

become one big giant USA or UK - we'd die in a week, so boring it would be.

 

That's why the winning formula for me is

 

So. California + LOS = match made in Heaven!!!!

 

May God be kind to both!

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuqlRcmmyPw&feature=player_detailpage

 

[chiang mai]

 

I was back in UK last year and I felt like a spot on a domino. Pakkis, Indians and <deleted> everywhere....the place has gone mad. Civil war is on the cards for UK!

 

 

>>>>> Civil war is on the cards for UK! >>>>>

 

 

Maybe a bit far fetched but we get the idea, civil unrest on a grand scale has long been thought probable.

[transam]

The hatred that some of you feel about foreigners living in your Country, is the same as the hatred the Thai's feel about you living in Thailand.

 

I think you are wrong. There is a big difference regarding reasons for migration between the two countries.

[AfterLOS]

 

 

I was back in UK last year and I felt like a spot on a domino. Pakkis, Indians and <deleted> everywhere....the place has gone mad. Civil war is on the cards for UK!

 

 

>>>>> Civil war is on the cards for UK! >>>>>

 

 

Maybe a bit far fetched but we get the idea, civil unrest on a grand scale has long been thought probable.

 

 

 

Farfetched is a good way to describe how an observer would view my statement.  But Texas, CA and 3 or 4 other states have been

persistently talking about it.   Hawaii for example wants no part of the mainlander crap and wants OUT - this is very clear to me.  Whether

secession actually occurs is a wait and see.

[Bernard Flint]

Appreciate your post mate, and to enjoy Bangkok more, tells me a horrendous story about Bucks.

 

 

[Bernard Flint]

London = ripoff city, ditto for Singapore and King Kong.

 

On the flipside, shocking that MANY  things in Southern California have actually gotten cheaper than even LOS.

Clothes and shoes, told LOS to scramb, US is where its at.   Food?   Anything one wants and cheaper than

Rimping, LOL and soon will be cheaper than Tesco Lotus.   HOUSING and HOTELS is one arena where

LOS flogs America, but America flogs LONDON with both eyes closed.

 

Yeah baby, my So. California might end up cheaper than Chiangmai, LOL

 

Recently nailed a Marriott room in Bangcock for $98, played the Hilton against it and was offered $70 including

their usual nice brekky for 2.   Hotels.com, booking.com, travelpony.com, trivago.com etc., cannot beat 'em stateside,

but in LOS, one phone call to the senior manager opens doors - that's why its never good for the entire world to just

become one big giant USA or UK - we'd die in a week, so boring it would be.

 

That's why the winning formula for me is

 

So. California + LOS = match made in Heaven!!!!

 

May God be kind to both!

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuqlRcmmyPw&feature=player_detailpage

 

Are you an alien because i havent got a clue wtf you are talking about, its gibberish

[AfterLOS]

  Similar problem, but in the U.S.

Went back to my old "home Town: area in Western Massachusetts about a year ago.

All the factories I remember were my father used to work are closed down, building abandoned and shut.

Only people staying there are old folks, or youngsters still in school.

No real jobs available, all outsourced to India or such.

And that area is considered to be relatively "better off econmically" than many other areas.

Everybody there just trying to hang on by their figertips or leaving for anywhere they hope they can find a decent job.

It's a farming (mostly Diary farms) area, and farming families whose family  names I recognise that have been there for 3 centuries are now leaving...... they just can't can't afford to run a Diary farm anymore.

Taxes and low Milk sales profits on their farm is the main problem.

In order to sell your milk the state and federal governments insist on more and more expensive storage equipment to certify you as a milk producer, and the milk company you must sell to keeps lowering what they will pay you for your milk.

Everybody is being squeezed out so the banks can foreclose on the mortgage on their land, tear down their old farmhouses, and build new cheap houses to sell to those from the cities.

Except that the banks can't sell those properties now .... but they are still building new housing projects.

That's what the politicians call "progress" .... the rich get richer and the working class poor pay for the rich.

Anyway, once I saw what was happening, i decided never to go back to "retire" there.

Thailand is not perfect, but at least the weather is better, and so far I can still afford it here.

In my home area of the U.S. the dream of a "nice quiet and comfortable retirement home in the country" is just an old dream that dies a while ago.

I frankly believe less than half of Americans working now will ever actually be able to afford such a home when they reach retirement age .... just won't be able to afford it, at least in the U.S. then.

 

63% is the employment participation ratio, dismal indeed.   But save yourself all the heartache of figure-figuring by having a look at the real = unemployment picture shown by Williams,

a supremely reliable fellow who used to work for the FEDS but got fedup with the lies and deceit and bs.

 

True unemployment rate hovers around 23%

 

and this despite all the QEs and whatnot pumped into the system.   The Govt. will not include disillusioned workers who have totally given up or who can only find

part-time gigs etc.,

 

click on EMP

 

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts

 

 

[AfterLOS]

On Tuesday, July 1st the tsunami comes ashore.   What tsunami?

 

FATCA

 

 

[Rumblecat]

Yeah, because anybody who use those terms are obviously going to have a balanced viewpoint... lol 

[transam]

Yeah, because anybody who use the term 'pakis' is obviously going to have a balanced viewpoint... lol 

 

I am called a "Brit' a "Honky", which I am not, but must agree too eh......?

[Albertosez]

It's just an abbreviation right ?
I didn't see any issue with that.

[AfterLOS]

I was back in UK last year and I felt like a spot on a domino. Pakkis, Indians and <deleted> everywhere....the place has gone mad. Civil war is on the cards for UK!

 

 

4 Inidans of the unfeathered variety at Tesco Lotus a while back berating the 2 nice Thai girls at the counter for not doing their job (fast enough) and for not understanding their problem.

Then came the insults and it got to a point where I had to step in and when I do its No Mercy.  

 

"you clowns are complaining about this country?  Yours produces 100,000 engineers a second and you can't even build a bridge properly - even the cement sucks.

And what about all the naked bums we have to see when we take the train in the early morning?   And what's with the constant shaking of the heads?"

 

They turned around and walked out.

 

When my turn came up for payment at the cashier, the manager stepped in and said to me, "No charge, Sir"   - his smile and the smiles of the 2 girls were positively

breathtaking.

 

Truth be told, this is a phenomenal country, its 3rd world but you could have fooled me very often.   For example the service I get in the brokerage industry is so way

head and shoulders above that of the USA its amazing.

 

Just another day in LOS for AFTERLOS - LOS was a life changing experience for me.

 

Goa, India?   The Brits f-ed that one real good.  Its a sewage dump now.

 

Costa Rica?   The Americans f-ed that one up totally, now its so bad that everything is priced in dollars and the value is gone, gone, gone.

 

UK and USA, 2 clowns whose time has run out.

 

Chinese next?   Damned if I know but they've got to somehow get BENEVOLENCE into the picture or else they will never make it, at best a military dictatorship superpower

[AfterLOS]

 

London = ripoff city, ditto for Singapore and King Kong.

 

On the flipside, shocking that MANY  things in Southern California have actually gotten cheaper than even LOS.

Clothes and shoes, told LOS to scramb, US is where its at.   Food?   Anything one wants and cheaper than

Rimping, LOL and soon will be cheaper than Tesco Lotus.   HOUSING and HOTELS is one arena where

LOS flogs America, but America flogs LONDON with both eyes closed.

 

Yeah baby, my So. California might end up cheaper than Chiangmai, LOL

 

Recently nailed a Marriott room in Bangcock for $98, played the Hilton against it and was offered $70 including

their usual nice brekky for 2.   Hotels.com, booking.com, travelpony.com, trivago.com etc., cannot beat 'em stateside,

but in LOS, one phone call to the senior manager opens doors - that's why its never good for the entire world to just

become one big giant USA or UK - we'd die in a week, so boring it would be.

 

That's why the winning formula for me is

 

So. California + LOS = match made in Heaven!!!!

 

May God be kind to both!

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuqlRcmmyPw&feature=player_detailpage

 

Are you an alien because i havent got a clue <deleted> you are talking about, its gibberish

 

 

Figures!  :)

[mikhill]

Moved back t bkk recently (from roi et) .....arrrgghhh,

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Bernard Flint]

Moved back t bkk recently (from roi et) .....arrrgghhh,

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

May god protect you hahahahahah, sorry to here that

[Cypress Hill]

 

The hatred that some of you feel about foreigners living in your Country, is the same as the hatred the Thai's feel about you living in Thailand.

WRONG

 

In the uk, we dont get money and houses off pakis or rumanian gypsys

 

 

Yeah but I'm sure those Romanian gypsies can likely spell better than your average racist bigot

 

And, BTW, if the Thais were so enamoured with foreigners, why would they be enforcing the immigration rules so much more strictly now?

 

Wouldn't they want MORE arrogant tossers who think the few inches of money they've got gives them the right to talk to the locals like crap.

[transam]

 

 

The hatred that some of you feel about foreigners living in your Country, is the same as the hatred the Thai's feel about you living in Thailand.

WRONG

 

In the uk, we dont get money and houses off pakis or rumanian gypsys

 

 

Yeah but I'm sure those Romanian gypsies can likely spell better than your average racist bigot

 

And, BTW, if the Thais were so enamoured with foreigners, why would they be enforcing the immigration rules so much more strictly now?

 

Wouldn't they want MORE arrogant tossers who think the few inches of money they've got gives them the right to talk to the locals like crap.

 

 

Eeeeeeeeeeeer, I think that Thai immigration is trying to clean up riff raff running businesses here illegally.....
 

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Hmmm so you worked for 11 years in "a promising company with a good future"...but your lifes savings amount to the cost of two plane tickets back to the UK and the bond on a rental apartment.

 

You are better off back in the UK because Thailand is no place to be if you don't have any savings in case of an emergency.

[Cypress Hill]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

 

 

 

 

The hatred that some of you feel about foreigners living in your Country, is the same as the hatred the Thai's feel about you living in Thailand.

WRONG

 

In the uk, we dont get money and houses off pakis or rumanian gypsys

 

 

Yeah but I'm sure those Romanian gypsies can likely spell better than your average racist bigot

 

And, BTW, if the Thais were so enamoured with foreigners, why would they be enforcing the immigration rules so much more strictly now?

 

Wouldn't they want MORE arrogant tossers who think the few inches of money they've got gives them the right to talk to the locals like crap.

 

 

Eeeeeeeeeeeer, I think that Thai immigration is trying to clean up riff raff running businesses here illegally..... 

 

And you think they're not taking the opportunity to throw out the nonces and sex pests too?

 

 

[transam]

Their country, up to them, not you or me...............

[Tham1]

It's just an abbreviation right ?
I didn't see any issue with that.

 

agreed, Jock, Paki, Chinky, Septic, Paddy, Ozzie, Taffy, Canuck, Polak, Camel Jockey It's all friendly fun in Jimmy Saville's home country