A Letter From The Uk...for Those Who Remember Me.

[Mark1971]

I would have to be very rich to provide my kids the opportunities they have in the Uk (North East), if we moved to Thailand.

Local school is excellent, sporting opportunities are fantastic, plenty of activities, excellent local swimming pool, free healthcare, good quality housing at affordable prices, safe roads.

Thailand may be a no brainer for single blokes & retirees, but the North East of the UK makes a lot more sense for our family currently.

The kids don't even mind the rubbish weather.

[jinners]

Doppa, I also empathise. I visit UK regularly and the general cost is shocking (food apart, do miss the home comforts of Morrisons or Tesco et al), the control though is another.Form filling, total lack of identity that has been beaten out of the native population is another. As you rightly state, everyone doing a CYA action. One of the main reasons to move is of course the weather but there's a lot of <deleted> over there that I'd just rather do without. But then I've been travelling for a long time and realised long ago, there are much better places out there than UK. Latest stop is Thailand and having been here for 2 years that's not a lot I know to many on here, but am really enjoying myself.

Majic, my Mum has now to call on the phone to make appointments or to get medicine. She's 86 and after almost a week of trying on a premium phone line, to make an appointment, visited the doc's (5 work there) and was seen by a nurse, without a word of apology about the lack of customer service she was faced with, then waits almost 2 weeks for results, then a cursory 10 minute visit with the GP. If the NHS really is the largest employer in Europe, which I believe it is, then that is a negative rather than a positive issue. More managers and middle men than nursing staff. And it has been that way for years. But nobody dare mess with the sacred NHS, heaven forbid, so it keeps on swallowing enormous amounts of money while the service it is there to offer deteriorates, as do the patients.

Most, if not all vacancies now seem to go via recruitment companies, so phone vetting would make total sense.

I don't wish to be a UK knocker, but being a regular visitor don't see enough positive points to be anything else.

Thank you Thailand for being a comfortable home from home for me.

The NHS is the biggest single employer in the world. apart from the Indian railways and the Chinese army.

Don't forget the Pentagon!

[jinners]

I would have to be very rich to provide my kids the opportunities they have in the Uk (North East), if we moved to Thailand.

Local school is excellent, sporting opportunities are fantastic, plenty of activities, excellent local swimming pool, free healthcare, good quality housing at affordable prices, safe roads.

Thailand may be a no brainer for single blokes & retirees, but the North East of the UK makes a lot more sense for our family currently.

The kids don't even mind the rubbish weather.

I'm quite amazed at that post. Being from the north myself (though Yorkshire, Gods country, not the north east) I can't for the life of me figure out how on earth people that aren't "rich" afford to live. Petrol over 1.43 a litre, electric on the rise constantly, 10%+ increases in gas bills, water increases (don't mention the hose pipe ban after 2 weeks of nice weather) 5% + increasein normal shopping bills, public transport way expensive, never mind a taxi! If you have a good local school you are EXTREMELY lucky as there is a load of shit out there nowadays masquerading as a school. Sport opportunities, that must be down to you, because the weather puts a stop to a lot of the outdoor activities. Health care is a mess. Housing might be affordable there, but that is an exception in the main, and try getting a mortgage by the way. I think this positive note is based on your view (well done) rather than the reality. Keep making the best of it, I'll keep living elsewhere.