What would it take for you to leave the country?

[treibeis]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

WOM wrote: The Association of Crazy Golf Proprietors' annual ball run a bit late this year?

If there were such a thing and it were organised by crazy-golf proprietors, it would never start, let alone run a little late.

"You've come for the annual ball? Sorry, we're not opening. Yeah, I know it says on the invitation that it's due to kick off at seven, but we're not bothering after all. It's not worth our while. You should have rung before setting out. Your fault, not mine."

[Satchmo Distel]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

I already left. If you're an academic, the US is a more interesting place to work. UK universities are still class-ridden, emotionally repressed and stifling.

Generally, you leave if there's a more attractive opportunity and culture somewhere else. Pull factors are as important as push.

Although England has gone to the right and is still going, it's a mistake to assume that Toryboy Britain is as bad as the Republican hellholes that exist in many US states. Watch any Republican conference and the Tories suddenly look like the wets in Thatcher's 1st cabinet. Better the devil you know than the right-wing bastards that you might encounter elsewhere.

[Ginger Yellow]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Is this the thread on the Investigatory Powers Bill, then?

Because what a piece of shit that is. Has there been any explanation from the government as to why they can't be made to get a warrant for "internet connection records", or are they just trying to police a maximally narrow definition of "content of communications" so that they can snoop on as much as possible with zero meaningful oversight?

[Disco Child Ballads]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

If Britain votes to leave the EU, I'm going to see if I can claim Irish citizenship.

[Toby Gymshorts]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

treibeis wrote:

You're right about all of those things, other than having the means. We have no savings to speak of, other than a small amount of cash which my parents gave us which we're really trying to add to. We're stuck on the rental treadmill with no real means of getting back off again at present; all our money goes on keeping our heads above water, much in the same way as millions of others, I imagine.

Add to that the fact I have no flair for languages, and that insurance isn't really a "skill" that is in demand, and I'm a bit stumped. I guess all of this combines to put me in the state of mind I'm in 95% of the time.

Not to say you don't have a point.

Sorry if I came across like an pissed-up barstool keyboard warrior earlier on. Erdinger Dunkel can do terrible things to a man('s lavatory-paper bill).

Now I'm no longer pissed, I'll go on anyway:

I don't know how much "a small amount of cash" is. (I came here with 300 quid in my back pocket (Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I know: I was 22 years old; this was over 25 years ago ("Aye, lad when 300 quid were REALLY 300 quid"); I wasn't part of a couple; I knew nothing and thought nothing through properly.).

However, depending where you go, I don't reckon it would cost that much just to try things out for a while. More than 300 quid in new money, of course, but not 30,000 quid.

I sound like one of those greedy West German scavengers who bought up half the GDR in the early 1990s for ten marks and a bag of fresh vegetables, but you could rent a gaff in parts of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern or Brandeburg for literally next to nothing. Whether you'd want to live there or not is another thing; I'm just saying that moving abroad temporarily doesn't always have to cost the earth.

And even if you don't have a flair for languages, English is your mother tongue. I'm going to get the qualified English teachers' collective back up now*, but it's still possible to get a job teaching English even if you're not qualified.

(*I'm not saying it's right and I'm not belittling teaching qualifications and I'm not condoning these fuckers who ruin the prices for everybody else; I'm just saying that there are people who will pay native English speakers, whether they're a professor of Linguistics or an insurance crack, to talk to them in English.)

Not at all, no offence taken. I happen to think (know?) you're right, as it goes. There are complicating factors though.

For one, TLMG has already done the "living abroad" thing, and I'm not sure she wants to do it again. In fact, I know she doesn't - she has a career she loves and is currently diving headlong into more qualifications (via yet another degree) to strengthen her position in her field.

Secondly - and this may not come as a surprise - I'm one of those dreamers who thinks things will magically be better "if only". If only I earned more money. If only I had a job I was proud of. So on and so forth.

Alluding to Rogin's mid-life crisis thread; I think this is mine.

[Duncan Gardner]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Begorrah. Welcome aboard, Disco.

I'm quite envious of Trebeis, Herr Altermann and others who moved to Germany as youngsters. I thought of it during my Auf Wiedersehen period but chickened out and went to the London/ Kent Borderbadlands instead.

Watching a BBC NI nostalgia show about migration to Canada I discovered that Eaton's went bust and the first Orange Hall is now a mosque. So, next flight to Pearson

[My Name Is Ian]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

The USA would be our most likely destination for obvious reasons (my wife's American and the boy may get dual citizenship - with all the baby vomit and so on, it's been fairly near the bottom of our list of priorities recently), though the immigration process there is pretty nightmarish, I think.

Whereabouts would be an interesting question. My wife is from South Jersey, but her mother is Cuban and has just retired to Florida, so her ties to that part of the world aren't anything like as strong as they were, though she still has friends and family there.

Whenever we've discussed the subject, my wife has said that she'd want to live back in Burlington, Vermont if she ever moved back there, where she lived for until she was in her mid-twenties (though, to be honest, it's difficult to keep up - as an adult, she's lived in New Jersey, Burlington, Philadelphia, North Carolina, Dallas and Athens, Georgia.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

There is a lot in what EEG says. There is a risk when one considers the conditions in which one lives to think it can't get much worse, but having seen state censorship (Dubai), endemic corruption (Kenya) and shit governance (Pakistan) first-hand, we're not so badly off. I suppose if you wish to compare political and social conditions with similar European and North American countries, then you may find a better fit for your own world view, but I suspect that it's a lot more difficult and more complicated than you think. I've lived in a few different countries, mostly fixed-term appointments, but the only place I'd move to permanently (apart from where the family is now) is Albania. We bloody loved it there and we would move back there tomorrow.

[Fussbudget]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Evariste Euler Gauss wrote: I love the standards of behaviour, good manners, sense of humour, the laughter in the face of pomposity, and all the rest.

None of this is specifically British though (not that you said it was.)

If Scotland becomes independent, I would really, really want to move there, if I can convince sw2boro to follow. Doubly so if the UK decides to leave the EU (though it's likely to happen the other way around isn't it?)

[Antepli Ejderha]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Share to Buy is really an affordable way to buy in London Toby. That's the way we got our house, for the first six months after a property has been released it is only sold under strict conditions, salary, occupation etc however after that time has gone the property is then put on the open market and anyone can buy it. You'll be surprised what you could get and it's cheaper than renting even when you have to pay a mortgage, service charge and the equity on the share you don't own.

[ursus arctos]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Ian, was your missus in Burlington while Bernie was mayor?

It's a rather particular place, even by the standards of Vermont.

[My Name Is Ian]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

I'm not certain when Bernie was mayor, but a quick check of her Facebook says that she lived there from 2005 to 2011. Dates are not her strong point, though, so I'd be unsurprised if those dates were way off.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

there are people who will pay native English speakers, whether they're a professor of Linguistics or an insurance crack, to talk to them in English.

Is this one of those dial 0906 services?

[hobbes]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Not all of it. Not by a long shot. But so long as most of the world continues to believe that, local housing prices will increase at a merely ludicrous rate, rather than totally batshit crazy

Thing is Amor (and I bow to your infinitely superior knowledge on this) is there anywhere in Canada where it never snows? Or in fact never gets below about 15C? And where you don't get 8 hours of daylight in the winter?
Because those are the things I hate most about dear old Blighty that would make me want to more somewhere more temperate.

[meregreen]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Pretty much what EEG said.

I can't imagine the circumstances in which I'd live somewhere else. Well, I can, but even if a neo-fascistic party took over, I'd like to think I'd be part of the resistance.

Why would I leave the place where almost all my friends and family live? Yes, it's not perfect by any means, but it's a good deal less imperfect than a lot of places.

Like many people I suspect, my life sometimes feels like it comprises a seriies of minor little stresses, but none of these would evaporate if I upped sticks and moved to another country.

Bit more sun/heat in the summer would be nice, but that's about it.

Thinking about it, and in particular about a couple of people I know who live abroad and who I see occasionally when they return. There's always something a little wistful about them, as if they haven't entirely said farewell to the UK. Even though they have new famililes they still speak about the things they miss from home and their status as an outsider - albeit ones who have been embraced by their new countries.

[WOM]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Duncan Gardner wrote: Watching a BBC NI nostalgia show about migration to Canada I discovered that Eaton's went bust and the first Orange Hall is now a mosque. So, next flight to Pearson

That'd be fascinating to watch. Yeah, Eaton's went bust twice, I believe. Its resurgence was hopeful but brief. However, it lives on in gifts given at Christmas in old Eaton's boxes, which are collapsed and used annually. I didn't know that about the Orange Hall, but I think I've tracked down which one it is/was. Very near where my grandparents lived, of course.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Bored of Education wrote: Not particularly inspired by Theresa May's actions today but they are apposite. As most of us live in countries that a revolution is hardly likely to happen, emigrating is probably our ultimate reaction to actions that we didn't approve of. I appreciate that some of us live in countries that already have things in place that may make others of us leave their own country. For instance, I would leave if they re-introduced the death penalty and the right to carry guns here.

Another often-mentioned affront to human rights is no freedom of the press but I think that is is more difficult as, unless there was some hostile takeover where the media was shut down and/or controlled by the government overnight, these freedoms would be taken away by increments. Indeed, I am sure that there are some outside Britain and, perhaps, inside that think that the BBC is state controlled media. Anyway, I think that it is hard to think, firstly, how any increments too much wouldn't be challenged individually (even at the level that May is suggesting) and, secondly, which increment would make me stop and say that's it, I am off to Canada, is hard to say.

Not sure I'm prepared to go through the pain and stress of learning to hate another country as deeply as I hate this one.

[Fussbudget]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

meregreen wrote: Thinking about it, and in particular about a couple of people I know who live abroad and who I see occasionally when they return. There's always something a little wistful about them, as if they haven't entirely said farewell to the UK. Even though they have new famililes they still speak about the things they miss from home and their status as an outsider - albeit ones who have been embraced by their new countries.

I think it depends a lot on the person and the circumstances. I feel more of an outsider in France than in the UK these days, and wouldn't go back for the world (leaving aside the question of where I would go back to anyway, as my family is dotted all around the country, and none of them in the town where I grew up.)

[Balderdasha]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

I tried living in China for two years. My husband's family had three generations of attempting to return to their homeland and being made refugees again, before giving up and settling in the UK. From these perspectives, the UK still seems like a pretty damn good option. We'd move abroad for say up to 5 years if there was a startlingly good financial opportunity somewhere else, but otherwise it would take a lot to shift us.

[Amor de Cosmos]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

hobbes wrote:

Not all of it. Not by a long shot. But so long as most of the world continues to believe that, local housing prices will increase at a merely ludicrous rate, rather than totally batshit crazy

Thing is Amor (and I bow to your infinitely superior knowledge on this) is there anywhere in Canada where it never snows? Or in fact never gets below about 15C? And where you don't get 8 hours of daylight in the winter?
Because those are the things I hate most about dear old Blighty that would make me want to more somewhere more temperate.

Absolutely never snows? Probably not. But it didn't snow here last winter, and there's — apparently — a fair chance it won't this coming one. Rarely do we get more than one snowfall a year, and it lasts about one (very mucky) day.

Never gets below 15C? No. That's sunbelt weather. Average January temperature is 6C. Can't promise more than a couple of hours of sunshine a day in winter either. Though it's more like two months of rain, then a couple of weeks of unbroken sunshine.

It's wet here. But not particularly cold.

[Flynnie]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Some combination of San Francisco having affordable housing prices, the Republicans being permanently discredited and the Democrats assuming the mantle of right-wing party in America, my wife's family passing away in entirety, and David Cameron becoming, literally, Adolf Hitler.

Oh, and the rest of the Anglosphere also permanently rejecting shithead right wing governments, because they all either have one or had one recently.

So basically, I'm not leaving the UK. Although I might move to an independent Scotland.

[Gangster Octopus]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

An independent Scotland's going to be very full...

[ursus arctos]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

Ian, Bernie Sanders was Mayor of Burlington in the 80s, though she may know him either as the member of the US House of Representatives (1991 - 2007) or as one of the state's US Senators (2007- present).

Vermont is one of those unusual states whose population is so small that they have fewer Representatives (1) than Senators (2)

[S. aureus]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

I spend far more time than I think is healthy worrying about where I should live in the future, without ever coming to any conclusions. To the extent that it pretty much dominates my thoughts in my spare time (so mostly the drive to and from work).
So a reasonable percentage of my brainpower is spent on making a choice between moving back to the UK, or remaining in California, when I might never actually need to make that decision.

[ursus arctos]

What would it take for you to leave the country?

I'm clearly behind, as I thought you were still in Houston.