Living in the UK

Bloody hell... talk about not giving it a chance! 
She lived in a fairly nice part of Glasgow, and the kid was at a good school.
There must have been other factors at play there...

Yeah, I hadn't realised she'd actually left the UK.

The kid was in an expensive private school, but sounded a bit like she was having the usual cultural settling in issues. Dad seemed happy becaue he had friends and a job, but Mom was isolated, at home and being involuntarily unemployed.

I read back through some of her posts this morning, when I saw this thread - it also sounded like she had some issues with how fast kids grow up here, and that fact that, even though her daughter was in a private school, her peers were all drinking at age 13/14.

Talked about being short of money but was listing some impressively expensive trips/treats on a very regular basis, so....?

I saw she mentioned they were spending £500 a month on restaurants for the 3 of them... I mean, £500 a month?! I don't even spend that much on restaurants in a whole year !

But dammit, after shooting up there on a six lane motorway,

Watch Trainspotting and you'll know what he's talking about

Yeah, really!  She asked me to go for coffee once, and when I emailed her back a couple of weeks later to arrange it I go no response.

The kid was in an expensive private school, but sounded a bit like she was having the usual cultural settling in issues. Dad seemed happy becaue he had friends and a job, but Mom was isolated, at home and being involuntarily unemployed. Talked about being short of money but was listing some impressively expensive trips/treats on a very regular basis, so....?

My hunch is that she didn't want to be here long before she was here. Too bad, she'd be loving the 80F opressively sunny weather we're having this week, too! (Wonder if the husband went back with them, or not.) Didn't see the goodbye post.

Hope she's finally happy, wherever she is!

I mean, I've had a hard time adjusting and if I had a child to care for also struggling I'm not sure I would have stuck it out. I knew coming here I had to give it at least a year or more, so that's what I reminded myself on the worst days. I probably would have thrown in the towel if I hadn't held onto a remote job through the transition.

Hard to say. Too bad they couldn't make it the full year, but when you can't, you can't. I have lived places where one day I woke up and said "no, I just absolutely don't want to do this/be here anymore" and a few weeks later loaded everything into a U-Haul and drove days to leave it behind. So sometimes you just have to cut your losses and go.

I found it a lot easier to be here, even keeping the Daughter afloat, than living in the USA. I guess it's just a personality thing?

Either way, I really do hope Susan and her family are happy, wherever they are. At least the daughter has some stories now to tell the kids in her new (old?) school.

Yeah, I hadn't realised she'd actually left the UK.

I read back through some of her posts this morning, when I saw this thread - it also sounded like she had some issues with how fast kids grow up here, and that fact that, even though her daughter was in a private school, her peers were all drinking at age 13/14.

I saw she mentioned they were spending £500 a month on restaurants for the 3 of them... I mean, £500 a month?! I don't even spend that much on restaurants in a whole year !

Uhhh, my peers were all drinking at 14, but that was Texas.     Pinkie's 99-cent-wine-of-the-week at lunchbreak got me, and a lot of my friends, through my last two excruciatingly boring years of high school.

Funny, I don't even like wine or to drink (if I could), anymore.

Hard to say. Too bad they couldn't make it the full year, but when you can't, you can't. I have lived places where one day I woke up and said "no, I just absolutely don't want to do this/be here anymore" and a few weeks later loaded everything into a U-Haul and drove days to leave it behind. So sometimes you just have to cut your losses and go.

I found it a lot easier to be here, even keeping the Daughter afloat, than living in the USA. I guess it's just a personality thing?

Either way, I really do hope Susan and her family are happy, wherever they are. At least the daughter has some stories now to tell the kids in her new (old?) school.

This is how I currently feel about where we live and have lived for 12 years. Can you tell me why you prefer uk to us especially having made the move with a child?


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Uhhh, my peers were all drinking at 14, but that was Texas.     Pinkie's 99-cent-wine-of-the-week at lunchbreak got me, and a lot of my friends, through my last two excruciatingly boring years of high school.

Funny, I don't even like wine or to drink (if I could), anymore.

Hahahahaha yeah I was probably doing this same thing around 14ish in my small Texas town too. Where in Texas did you live? What took you to the uk?


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I saw she mentioned they were spending £500 a month on restaurants for the 3 of them... I mean, £500 a month?! I don't even spend that much on restaurants in a whole year !

You guys know I'm in finance.  Well, I keep really really detailed spreadsheets of all of our spending.

Our total spend at restaurants for my family of 4:
2017 Full Year total:  £960.60
So far 2018:  £499.12

This includes lunches, holidays, date nights, night with the girls, etc.  Granted we don't eat out much.  But 6 g's a year is a lot of eating out.

Amber - one big difference to note is that eating out is done much more rarely here.  It's more of an experience and a bigger bill.  So think longer evening (you've got the table for several hours) but it is more expensive.

Amber - one big difference to note is that eating out is done much more rarely here.  It's more of an experience and a bigger bill.  So think longer evening (you've got the table for several hours) but it is more expensive.

Yeah, definitely - my family didn't have much disposable income when I was growing up so eating out at a restaurant was for special occasions only... meaning maybe 5 times a year for birthdays. Even McDonalds was a treat that we only got once or twice a year. We never, ever got take-out, and rarely ate microwave meals, so it was home-cooking all the way in my parents' house .

These days, I do eat out more, but not all that much, maybe once or twice a month (some months, it's more often, some months not at all)... I've been on a tight budget this month, so the last restaurant meal I had was on 2nd June (my birthday meal).

Didn't see the goodbye post.

I looked for it today, but can't find anything. Maybe it was on FB rather than UKY.

On eating out... It is also typically more courses... starter, main and a dessert plus drinks or coffee.

I can't ever eat that much food.

When we want to eat a lot but are cheap, we go to the Chinese buffet. And I almost always get ice water because soda is way too expensive at a restaurant. 

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On eating out... It is also typically more courses... starter, main and a dessert plus drinks or coffee.

I can't ever eat that much food.

When we want to eat a lot but are cheap, we go to the Chinese buffet. And I almost always get ice water because soda is way too expensive at a restaurant. 

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Are you talking a casual place where you’d take kids or somewhere for a date night?


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Are you talking a casual place where you’d take kids or somewhere for a date night?


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Everywhere!



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This is how I currently feel about where we live and have lived for 12 years. Can you tell me why you prefer uk to us especially having made the move with a child?

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Well, I lived around the country a bit, and was in Southern California for the last 20-ish years. I just really disliked the general culture there - very fake, conspicuous consumption, and in-your-face. Lots of talk about taking care of the environment, over wine and cheese, with people having driven gas-guzzling Hummers to get there. Plus, it was expensive and bloody hot there in the summer, and kept catching on fire!   

Glasgow is much calmer, a slower pace, and sooooo much greener! Seriously after being here like 3 days I could tell my daughter that I felt more "at home" here than anywhere else I have lived.

My Daughter isn't actually a child these days, and hasn't been for quite some time now.    She had some serious health issues that stole several years from her so she sort of got back in the saddle again late and is now in higher education over here. She came over on Ed Abroad for several semesters and loved it, and so came back to do her post-grad work. She had saved up some money for the international student tuition but couldn't afford to live here, and I have dual EU citizenship and could retire - and wanted out of SoCal - so we got her a "dependent family member of an EU citizen" pass, gave most of our stuff away, packed up the rest, and moved over. She has friends here, the climate isn't trying to kill her, and she's happy.  If she's happy, I'm happy.

I think a part of my comfort level is that there are some vague cultural similarities to parts of West Texas, where I lived for some years when I was younger. The sidewalks roll up early, Sundays are short days for shops, the people are generally kinder and more friendly than in a lot of the USA. And the massively tall trees outside my windows remind me of an earlier time in my childhood.

And gosh, the food is really good here! I'm cooking more (and have time to do it now) than I ever did in the States and enjoying the heck out of it.

I see another post about eating out. I agree, it is more costly. We do eat out a few times a month, but we go for specials and use coupons, that sort of thing. I almost never spend more than 20pounds for a meal for the both of us, out. Usually it's less.  (We always drink tap water with our meals, and that saves a chunkachange right there, over alcohol or sodas.) I can get a very nice pizza delivered by my local Dominos for about 10 quid, on the lunch special, so we do that about once a week. There are a few places in City Center we go to, and some in the West End, that also have good deals. You just have to watch for them.

My total "shop" budget is about 50 pounds a week, and throw on another 10 or 20 to fritter away for pizza and the occasional meal out. We are not scrimping at all - I've put on 10 pounds since I got here! And, again, the quality of the food is really nice. [In a pinch, I could probably get that shop down to 40quid a week and still be eating well.]

Hahahahaha yeah I was probably doing this same thing around 14ish in my small Texas town too. Where in Texas did you live? What took you to the uk?


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Here and there. Odessa, Lubbock, Amarillo, El Paso, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin, and a few smaller points in-between. Where were you stuck?