Hey Gurus As a few of you know I moved to London a few months back for a year (new job). Thought it'd be a good opportunity, and on the work front, it has been. Social wise, however, this is a god-damned miserable place to live. Being a Northerner (from up Manchester way, 200 miles/300 km give or take), I've basically left behind my family, most of my friends, and most of my stuff. In return I've moved somewhere horrendously expensive (the rent is 3 x my old place), polluted (constantly coughing/struggling to breathe), rude (you can't strike up a conversation with anyone), noisy (a given, really), and generally horrid place I've ever been to. Yes I've met new people who have helped the move a bit (and the cheap beer of working at a uni helps, been drinking far more than I probably should be), but still, that doesn't really offset the hellishness of this urban death maze (10 points if you get that reference). I love my job, but I don't think I can stay here any longer than my contract for the good of my health/sanity (finish in Sept, nominally), though my boss wants to keep me on as long as possible. I'm at the stage in life now (27) where I'd like to settle down and think about buying a house, etc., but on the meagre wage of a university researcher (c.a. £30k/year), that's just not viable in this craphole of a city, given the horrendous cost of housing. Any advice? Cheers BLEH!
You're not happy, can't breathe, and can't really settle down in London with your current earnings ... I think you should leave when you can.
Move out of the hell hole and to a better place where you can feel comfortable. Being miserable is not good for you even in short run. Even if you love your job if everything else is **** it ain't worth it.
Unfortunately, for the "industry" I'm in (academia), experience in places such as London is required as are a lot of research papers, which I am getting here. Where do you draw the line between career and life, though?
pick an 1 hour destination with the subway , and rent an appartment there... Stay as long as you can , saving money and gaining job experience Once you hit lvl 90 you can head to Draenor and build your dream Garrison
This. Until you get all the experience you need you're going to have to suck it up. I grew up in Harrow (NW, zone 4/5). Lovely part of the world (well, it used to be). Check out Balham for a place to live, nice bars, people etc... http://balham.com/
BLEH! A lot of ppl live outside of London and then get the train back in or ride. Ppl that I know do at least. My bro used to have to work in London and moved to Stevenage for almost a year. Maybe you can do the same?
London is a big city, it's not all that bad, you just have to know where to look, live, etc... However, I have to agree rent is VERY expensive... I could say the same thing about Dubai where I currently live. Noisy, polluted, 24/7 traffic, constant car accidents and stressful.
I lived in London in the past. Didn't enjoy it. You get stuck and sucked in. I sold my car, because there's no need to have one when you live in London. It was too busy and exhausting. Living a 45m train journey from London is much better. I get to live in the beautiful Hampshire countryside and I get to go to London whenever I choose to. Don't get me wrong, I love the city for a good day out, plenty of great restaurants and boozers to enjoy, also a lot of history. The place itself is amazing. I just wouldn't want to live there.
After commuting 4 hours daily into London for my career, i am finally moving on. I will now be working 20mins away and my yearly commuting cost will fall from £6250 to just £380!!! I cannot wait. I did enjoy working where i worked but i will not miss the commute. Central London is a hole, the outskirts ie Watford / Kent etc are not too bad at all.
As others have suggested, try moving outside of London and commuting. If it's important to your future career to have experience while working there, stick it out for a year or two and start saving/planning where you can to move elsewhere. I'm not keen on London, great for a day out but I definitely wouldn't want to live there.
Pretty much the same with what I want to write, because that's what I do. One hour motorcycle ride from home to work.
I already live on the very edge of London, but rents don't drop that much by going much further out if that makes sense. Everything about this city leaches all the money out of you.
living in the country side can be as expensive as living in London, honestly. Where I live, the property value is through the roof. There's a lot of millionaires around who prefer to live here. Property price reflects that. Some of the villages are really picturesque, but the prices are omg.
Emigrate before the right rises further. Can you imagine the south after UKIP get more legit seats in parliament ?
30k? didnt you have a phd in computing? You should look for something better When I was looking for, 35-40k pounds was the "target" salary for me (25 YO), luckily I found something more or less the same salary in Madrid so I can go by car to my homeland easily (and that money in Madrid is enough for a studio in a good part near my job). Btw, 300km is nothing, just 3h and a half driving, you can drive that to see ur family.