Your thoughts please

la_farfallina

I live in a London borough that over the last five years or so has become a horrible place to live.

We have the second highest level of knife and gun crime in London and gangs are rife and very visible.

I recently got hurt whilst trying to flee a fight between two gangs in the middle of the afternoon in the shopping centre.

It has become a town full of betting shops and fried chicken outlets. There is nothing wrong with betting shops but there are eight of them within the space of a four minute walk.
Each shop seems to have their own gang standing guard outside.

It has become full of people whose staffie dogs are ashamed of their owners.

I am desperate to move but can't afford another mortgage. I have to work part time now because I have contact dermatitis with the constant hand washing that my work involves. I have been a nurse for over 20 years and work for an agency.

My mortgage has around £20,000 outstanding. I want to sell and rent somewhere nice but my friends tell me I would be a fool if I got off the "property ladder". If I was lucky I should end up with around £75,000 after expenses.
It is a leasehold flat and to be honest as long as I got my mortgage paid off I would be happy.

Of course if I rented I would have no security of tenure, but I certainly am not feeling very secure here. I a,m single and am starting to feel very isolated.

Would you sell and rent elsewhere? My income is not enough to qualify for another mortgage.

Thanks for reading.

Farf x

Fire_Fox

Off topic ..... Your employer has a statutory duty for your health, I believe the agency counts as your employer. Are there gentler (sulphate free) approved hand cleansing products that you could carry with you? Do you avoid sulphate surfactants - preferably all anionic surfactants and alkaline soaps at home -shampoo, shower gel, hand soap? Have you tried a hand cream that contains the lipids found in a healthy skin barrier?

Back on topic ..... Could you get a different part time job and pay your mortgage off quicker? Are you claiming all the benefits you are entitled to? Have you considered getting out of London? You could buy a flat outright up north.

la_farfallina

The agency has given me a foam hand sanitizer to carr/y with me and I avoid all irritant products at home. Water itself is an irritant and my skin cracks when exposed to water for lengthy periods.

I am seeking work in other areas but I am in my fifties and the opportunities are rather limited.

I will have a look at properties up North.
Any suggestions of where would be a nice place to live

carefullycautious

Hi sorry to hear you are feeling like this I can empathise as my home town where I have lived all my life now feels like an alien planet.

It has become very hostile and I have to really stop myself from running for the hills so to speak.

If you are a qualified nurse could you go into another area eg occupational therapy, teaching nursing, lifting and handling etc.

Or you could try a live in job nursing which would give you accomodation whilst you rethink what you want to do and where you want to live. Or house sitting there are jobs out there.

The very best of luck with your search. We only live once and should not feel terrified every time we walk out of the door. Shame on these dreadful people.

la_farfallina

Some good suggestions there CC.
At the moment my priority is to get out of here before the area goes downhill any more.

We now have secure entry buzzers to our flats. Before this I used to see sex workers and their clients leaving the bin room. Classy eh?

Fire_Fox

la_farfallina wrote: »

The agency has given me a foam hand sanitizer to carr/y with me and I avoid all irritant products at home. Water itself is an irritant and my skin cracks when exposed to water for lengthy periods.

I am seeking work in other areas but I am in my fifties and the opportunities are rather limited.

I will have a look at properties up North.
Any suggestions of where would be a nice place to live

Water irritates my skin if it's already sore, I often wear disposable gloves with hair elastics around the wrists to wash my hair! :eek: Have you tried a hand cream that contains the lipids found in a healthy skin barrier? You might find medical grade lanolin beneficial, cholesterol particularly depletes in the skin as us ladies age.

Yorkshire is a lovely county (well several counties really) and many really friendly people, as long as you have a smile and are willing to initiate conversation which you should find easy as a nurse. You can get the train direct to London for visiting friends from York, Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield or Doncaster. York is a bit like Cambridge or Oxford, Bradford is 'up and coming'/ blooming awful, Leeds is quite young/ sociable with two universities and two huge hospitals. Beautiful villages with decent transport links around many of the towns and cities and with less good transport links throughout the dales and moors. If you are a cash buyer you could purchase at auction and get something bigger for less.
http://www.yorkshire.com/

la_farfallina

Fire Fox, I will investigate Yorkshire, thanks for the tips.

Actually, daddy was a Yorkshire man but he cleared off when I was three years old. Haven't seen or heard from him since.

I lived in Yorkshire as a toddler....Keighly. Apparently I spoke with a Yorkshire accent as a kid so I should fit in there.

I do find it easy to talk to strangers, although not in the area that I live in at the moment. Very few people speak English here.

Doctor has given me steroid cream for me hands but I can't use it too often as it thins the skin eventually.

Lanolin makes me hands itch so much that I want to chew them off.

david29dpo

Love the gag about the staffies! and why is it the worse the area the more the betting shops? (always wondered)
Your happiness is more important than money, sell while you can!! (as the area goes down hill, so will house prices)

Limana68

I would definetley try to sell up and move up north! LIfe is too short OP, plenty of other jobs as a nurse, what about working in a care home for instance, still hand washing but not as much.
I am up north, love London to visit but love to get back out again.:D

dacouch

david29dpo wrote: »

Love the gag about the staffies! and why is it the worse the area the more the betting shops? (always wondered)
Your happiness is more important than money, sell while you can!! (as the area goes down hill, so will house prices)

Betting shops and fast food outlets tend to congregate in poorer areas as it's full of their target audiences.

pineapple123

I feel sorry for you, the area you live in sounds horrible especially for an older woman living alone.
I tend to be in agreement with others sell up and rent somewhere else or rent your property out and live somewhere else, though selling now probably better, less hassle and property may even drop in price in this area.

You work as a nurse but have a skin condition then you should consider leaving hands on nursing for yours and others sake, Sorry but you have to consider cross infection and the pain your hands give you when sore maybe as others have said you could go into another area connected with nursing become an nurse assessor, student teacher, work as a medical supply rep, company occ health nurse, boarding school nurse, research nurse, specialist nurse ie parkinsons nurse, hospital discharge nurse co-ordinator, nursing home manager etc etc.
Maybe even leave nursing and get a full time job doing something else totally different as a part time nurses wage is not all that great.

Whatever you decide I hope you will be much happier and feel more safer, money is not everything and your friends are not living the life that you are. I know that anyone I cared about I would not want them to live like this.