To London or not to London?

bouicca21

I don't think you should be thinking in terms of a place you could commit to for 25 years. Think maybe 5, because in 5 years time you will have different ideas and priorities. Then you can either move on, or stay wherever it is you have settled on.

Personally I'd go stir crazy in the kind of jumped up village that Davesnave clearly regards as heavenly. I'm very definitely a city person. You need to think about what sort of person you are. City? Country? Suburbia? What nearby facilities do you need to make a place liveable? Shops, supermarkets, cafes, glorious views, galleries, empty roads? What floats your boat? Decide that sort of thing first. Personally I'd also be thinking that I'd want to buy a place to live in, not pay rent for everyday living and a mortgage on a place I'd only see for a few weeks a year, though Paris for weekends by Eurostar has definite attractions ...

Davesnave

bouicca21 wrote: »

I don't think you should be thinking in terms of a place you could commit to for 25 years. Think maybe 5, because in 5 years time you will have different ideas and priorities. Then you can either move on, or stay wherever it is you have settled on.

Personally I'd go stir crazy in the kind of jumped up village that Davesnave clearly regards as heavenly.....

Totally agree. I could only stomach London for a couple of years, then I moved to a small (80 000) city which offered a better balance from my POV.

But 25 years is a long time, and eventually that city proved too busy, once I'd taken what I needed from it, like work, education, entertainment etc.

Another 10 years from now, I may not want to drive 20 miles to a decent shopping centre.

One's needs and priorities change, and places change even more than we do, sometimes.

remorseless

I am an urban person... so something around the 1/2 mil inhabitants is nice. Not too big, not too small with most services at hand. I wouldn't mind a smaller centre within close proximity to a smallish town (same size) which can be reached by public transport if needed.

London is too big, prices too high to make (IMHO) much yields if I plan to rent it out. I suppose I could sell! My heart isn't in it though...

What concerns me about the UK, say Leicester is that life in the UK is getting more expensive for services like trains, rates, etc - obviously no one can know if this trend would continue in the future.

On my side I have that I don't have a language barrier in few European countries!