What is it like in your area?

I've been off my work for the last week on paid holiday. I've not actually been doing anything as such other than going over the options in my life at this moment.

To give you a bit of background, i'm 22 years old and live in the north of Scotland. I've got a mixed bit of work experience mainly dealing with office administration and through this i did a variety of courses picking up the odd qualification here and there. Now, at this precise moment my job is pretty low, i'm earning enough to get by and there is no real movement happening in my life. Being completely honest, i'd say that i'm a bit unhappy with where i currently reside and would ideally be looking to move away.

I guess the advantage i have here at the moment is that i'm currently single, i don't own a home, i have no children and my job i can leave within days of giving notice. So, other than my family being in this part of the world i'm really open to jumping on a plane or bus or whatever and residing somewhere indefinitely.

It's funny because last night i watched the movie "Bucket List" starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. The movie is about two guys who are about to "kick the bucket" (die) and decide amongst themselves to do all the things they wanted to do in their life. The movie has a "why the heck don't you" sort of theme to it and it got me thinking about my current situation. There is very little keeping me in this area of the world and i know that i'd like to just go somewhere different. The question is, where?

Having been in New Zealand and Australia recently i know i would enjoy staying in either of the countries. The only issue with going to either of those countries is the current exchange rate between the GBP and the NZ or AUS Dollar. The last i checked it was hovering around the AUS$2 to the pound rate or NZ$2.30 to the pound rate. Because i'm paying off some debts in the UK i'd have to be earning roughly twice the amount in Dollars of my monthly payments, this is only a problem if i'm unable to find a job in either of the countries that doesn't have a reasonable wage/salary.

I'd happily move to Canada too, infact this is probably my preferred destination. That or in America. My brother lives in Oklahoma, so moving there might be a possibility too.

In honesty, what do you think about your part of the world? is it good for work (any kind) and is the cost of living quite fair?

Any posts are appreciated.

Move to New York.

I totally would in a second. Seriously. I'd love to live in New York.

Washington DC has excellent job opportunities with very good salaries. Living in DC is very expensive though so you would have to commute like I do if you want to enjoy your money.

How do you commute, Grinch?

Thanks, I was going to post something like this, Craig. I really admire your openness Craig. Thought I would shared but you did, and I'm going to post something. Please read this:
general-discussion/fan-friendster-t89511.html#p507208

Quit procrastinating.

I'd love to live in NY.... they'd never let me in though, even if I could afford it. for some reason NY was the only part of the US I ever seriously wished to visit....

SB - I'm considering moving out of serbia quite seriously, and in measuring up my options canada has always come out on top. I have a fair number of friends and relatives who have moved to canada and they have all found jobs they are happy with - both their content and the pay.... As opposed to america, canada has a reasonable social security system - america always scares me with all the stories of 'you get sick and your private health insurance finds a loophole to avoid paying so you wake up from anesthesia to find they've sold your house to pay the hospital bill' kind of thing........ maybe that's just movies but I do think that the US has nothing compared to the social protection common in europe, but canada sort of does...

also I have some canadian friends and they're bloody nice people, not that that means much - it's a big place after all... my only gripe with canada would be that it's too cold for too much of the time. if that doesn't bother you, I'd say it's a good choice.....

have you considered somewhere else in europe? spain, portugal? very comfortable lifestyle, and portugal is pretty good as far as life expenses are concerned... don't know about the salaries though, and it would involve learning a language. but such a beautiful country - might be well worth it..........

Whatever you do, don't choose South-Africa ...

I take a train.

You know your second and third paragraph there are pretty much exactly what I've been thinking lately. More on that in the hours to come, I gotta run, network problems!

Come to England

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO everyone else is here...hahaahahaha

They come for:

Social Security so free meds:

A conversation in a chemist shop between a dark person and the white chemist. 'How come if you don't like it here you don't go home'? (I came in mid conversation) She answerd ' don't be silly, its not free in Packistan'!

A free car and all that entails, all you need to do is hobble into their office fake some weird illness on a stick and hey presto...no checkups once you choose the car then they wonder where all the money is going to.

I had to visit their office once and because I picked a book off the table they failed me for sick purposes but others seem to know how to act.


Free housing through that use of the stick and llness then you also get housing benefit...and council tax benefit.

If you drink to excess and need a drink before 8.am then thats extra...gluuuuuuuug....gluuuuuuuuuh...haahahahahaha

If you need to go to jail you'll be much fitter when you are released and cry to be charged aagain. Gyn
mnasium, tele, games room. Probably meals on wheels too.

Its a joke and Brown talks of not wasting food, he needs to get his act together and spot the fakers.

I think that plays a large part in my decision to prefer moving outside the UK. Without trying to sound rude, but i can't see myself ever living in England unless i was offered a job i just couldn't refuse.

//you'd be amazed how having a vpn drop can cause stupid idiots to get on your nerves.

The only time I've ever been outside of the US was when I canoed into Ontario and once when I drove to a town called Cardston, AB to have "western food" in a chinese restaurant (short story, don't ask), so I don't have a whole lot of a world view. I do however have a 2nd or 3rd cousin who is a pilot based out of England, and his wife is a former flight attendant from the Phillipeans. He loves it in London, but she hated it. He is only a few months from retirement right now, but about a year ago she moved back to the farm here in Nebraska because she couldn't wait any longer. So that is pretty much my thing with England is you either love it or hate it.

I live in a town in Nebraska called North Platte. It is pretty much in the geographic center of the state and almost in the nation. We've got about 25000 people and pretty good services like internet and retail stores and stuff, but I think this is about the biggest town I would ever live in. My sister lived in Omaha a few years ago, and once we were visiting and I watched the evening local news and decided the big city didn't seem like it would be a great place to raise a family. There was a story about a drive by shooting, stuff about meth labs getting more common, a story about how kids get abused in private day cares in peoples homes, just all bad news. I have an aunt and uncle that live way out in the middle of nowhere in Montana. They have dial up internet but pretty much only use it for email, and no television, no cell phone, not a whole lot of the stuff that controls everything we do in our busier lives. They live pretty self sufficient, which I think is awesome. The down side of where they live is that they have to stock up big time on supplies before winter because they might get snowed in, and if they do get out to a grocery store they have to make a day long trip out of it. But in a way that disconnection almost sounds appealing to me. My aunt home schools my cousins, and my uncle makes pretty good money as a forest fire fighter, he's in NorCal right now working on those and he got to fight the big Yellowstone fire in the 90s.

But I'm kind of at the same cross roads as you, SB. I'm in a good steady job that pays good, especially for a 21 year old single guy with no kids. So you and I are pretty similar in our situations. I like the work that I do, doing general computer and network admin stuff in city hall, but I'm just getting burned out on it all. I do computer repair and network consulting on my own outside of work, but after 8 or 10 hours of it all day long I just don't want to even think about it when I get home. My biggest thing I dislike with my work is that it is horribly inconsistent. I can spend days on end just sitting at my desk in my office with no windows surfing the web just waiting for something to happen, and then the very next day I might not even step foot in my office. My sedentary job is taking it's toll on me too, I've gained unnecessary weight over the last year but in the last few weeks I've been taking care of that. What I am looking for is a guaranteed paycheck twice a month like I have now, but where I am actually doing something, a job where I am working with my hands. I love it when I have to go pull cable or climb up on a roof or something because I am actually working, I'm actually doing something. Last week I pulled cable in the dog pound, and it was hot and dirty and smelly, but I loved it. It was the highlight of my last several weeks. The 4 or 5 hours I was crawling around that attic space flew by like it was only a matter of minutes.

In fact, I just had to stop typing so that I could go around the building with a locksmith to change batteries in our RF card door key system thingamabobber, so it has been a while since I've been typing this. And that was fun popping ceiling tiles and opening up controller boxes and stuff. If I could find a job doing service work like that, I think I would be a lot happier.

One reason why I despise my town I live in is because we have a bunch of rednecks and hicks. I went to high school with a guy who dropped out when he was 16 so that he could be a paid plumbers apprentice. Then when he was 18 he married a 32 year old lady who just by coincidence happened to have the same last name as him. Thats weird, but not as weird as this: She had four kids from previous marriages, and the oldest of which was 16. So this guy I went to school with is only two years older than his oldest step child. That is why Nebraskans have a reputation and bad image of being imbread redneck hicks and one reason why I want to get the heck out of here.

So I figure I have a few options. I can stay here and tough it out but be miserable. Or I can stay here but do other work. Maybe I could leave here and head for the mountains and find any sort of manual labor type of work, I'd really like to get into forest fire fighting like my uncle. My final option is military service. I'm an army kid, my dad retired from 25 years in the army. My dad has told me I don't have to follow in his foot steps, but he thinks everyone should serve their country at some point. And being a soldier or a marine would certainly get me far far away from my desk job. The thing that is holding me back from that the most now is my physical fitness, but I'm quickly improving that with good results.

Sorry everyone, I just saw my last post and realized I wrote a novel. Please don't fall asleep reading my life story!

No it's great thanks for posting and reminding, I'd like to read it soon.