What are Brits missing?

Leave poor Max alone! He's off the hook!!

Yeah, for people who have no olfactory bulb  .

Yeah, for people who have no olfactory bulb  .

I resemble that remark!

And boogers on upholstery for all those who thought him 'cute'.   

Jog on, expat. 

When does BB finsih? it seems to have been on all year.

Jog on, expat. 

You're just jealous b/c Derek is still in da house and Maxwell the Bogeyman isn't  .

He might have an online fan club set up, tho, for fans to keep up w/him.  Anyone want to set up a kitty to send him a can of Lynx and a bar of soap?

how come big brother ended up on this thread  its bad enough where it is  lol

how come big brother ended up on this thread  its bad enough where it is  lol

BB is everywhere. BB is watching you.

how come big brother ended up on this thread  its bad enough where it is  lol

Hmm, well, let's see.  Brits miss British BB when they go to the US, but as they have the Office of Homeland Security there they shouldn't miss it too much  .

Hello,

I haven't read through all the posts, only the first and last pages. I have to say that where I currently live which is Sweden, the UK is cheap in comparison. I'm originally from San Diego, CA but have lived for over 5 years here in Stockholm, Sweden with my Swedish fiance. Income taxes here are sky high and sales tax/VAT is 25% on ALL purchased goods. The social welfare system here is generous if one has children but he is 35 and I am soon 34 and we don't have plans for children. Please don't take this to mean that I don't love children, the sad fact is that I can't have kids. Keeping that in mind, we feel that we pay out quite a bit for services that we do not use.

Petrol/gas is over $5 a US gallon, meanwhile income taxes here are the second most expensive in all of Europe second only to Norway. Not too mention that average salaries here are some of the lowest in western Europe (www.nationmaster.com)  Both he and I would like to move to the UK for many reasons not the least because of lower taxes, higher salaries and just plain more money left over. Sweden has many things to offer and I have liked it here very much (my parents are from here but I was born and raised in the US) but we are thinking about our future and we don't want that to include paying through the nose. Taxes here are extreme even by UK standards. I think that my living here in Sweden has been a great buffer to get me used to life in Europe. I've learned a new language (my parents never taught my sister and I Swedish) as well as so many other cultural differences than the US. I think that the UK will be a happy medium for the both of us, we'd be in a neutral country that neither of us has "ties" to. I don't want to move back to the US since I really do love being in Europe but I am getting to a point of really wanting to try out something else. Besides the greater London area do any of you have some ideas as to areas that an IT professional and a grade school teacher can live?

Sorry, I should have added that I have both American and Swedish citizenship so a possible move to the UK should not be a visa issue problem.

I haven't read through all the posts, only the first and last pages. I have to say that where I currently live which is Sweden, the UK is cheap in comparison.

I didn't realise Sweden was so expensive! I have a friend here in Wales who's married to a Swedish man. They have a small house on a lake somewhere in Sweden where they go for holidays -- it must cost them a fortune!! Best of luck to you, Sabeine!

Besides the greater London area do any of you have some ideas as to areas that an IT professional and a grade school teacher can live?

Newcastle upon Tyne!  DH is in IT (though kind of on the journalism side) and I'm a teacher (though I'm "teaching" at a university at the moment rather than teaching high school).  Depends on your exact qualifications, of course, but your husband could expect to earn at least £25K and the least a qualified teacher makes is around £18K.  Even if you're making those bare minimums, you can live quite comfortably here.  We both make a bit more than that and are just fine -- we buy what we want and are able to save at least £1K/month for a down payment......hopefully next year we'll buy if the market cooperates with us!   

Thank you for the responses.

Belinda, it depends on where your friends place is. If it is near Stockholm then it is pricier though this also depends on when they bought it as well. Owning property here isn't bad if one lives elsewhere since then you aren't slapped with all those taxes that those that live here have to pay.

Lola, I'll look into that city. It sounds nice. Do they have a website?

Another reason that I would like to leave Sweden is because it is so dark and cold here in the wintertime!! I think this also plays havoc on people's attitudes which is probably why many foreigners think that Swedes are cold people. This is a serious generalization of course but for the most part it holds true for those in the Stockholm area. Other parts of Sweden are different though.

www.newcastle.gov.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_upon_Tyne

Gotta say, though -- if you're not looking for cold, dark winters, the UK isn't the place to be!   

It's lighter there than here in the wintertime. For example here in Stockholm in December it won't get light (this does not mean sunny, just light hitting the horizon) until 10am and then it is black out by 2:30pm. If one lives more north of here there is even less daylight. In the summer though the sun is out much longer than in other non-Scandinavian countries.

When it comes to winter here I can handle the cold but it's the utter darkness here that gets to me. I've been to the UK in December and I told my fiance "it's so light here!"    Compared to Stockholm in December, it was.