UK NZ comparisons

[veronica]

Ok folks have not been on the forum much at all the last 6 months but potted history is that having lived and worked at setting up two businesses in christchurch over the last 5 years I now find myself back in the UK for two months. Combination of work and family stuff. and have to say its been a bit of an eye opener.

New Zealand, at this point of my life is definately home and I am missing it. I am finding supermarket prices here are expensive compared to NZ although 2 years ago I would have said NZ (meat apart) was on a par with the UK prices. they seem to have shot up here.

what has surprised me more than that is the attitude of people generally. Maybe judging it over Christmas is unfair, but having been pushed aside in the supermarket on a couple of occasions, people barging past with no apology, everybody in such a rush, no time to smile, all seems to much stress to me. I've obviously got to laid back while I've been in NZ.

the other thing that I have noticed is the increase in peoples need to be secure, lock the house, lock the car, make sure no-one can see what you are punching in for numbers at the ATM. the general lack of trust both in other individuals and the govt.

to me at the moment England doesn't feel very English, I am not bothered by peoples colour or race but on a few occasions I felt like a bit of an alien!!

So Yep at this moment in time I am glad that we are residents of New Zealand and will be glad to get back there, warts and all.

[Carey]

Welcome back to the forum!

Interesting to hear your observations; even in rural Suffolk where we lived before emigrating, we felt everyone was in a rush and trust was disappearing fast, so it reaffirms our views that it is more relaxed here. We certainly know which we prefer.

[Kalla]

ahhh, now that is why we are immigrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!
in a nutshell.

[Jacqi B]

ahhh, now that is why we are immigrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!
in a nutshell.

you took the words out of my mouth

[IanR]

Veronica,

You're so right, that's just what it's like these days.

As an aside an old friend suggested we meet in an English style pub North of Auckland the other day. When we met she said "just like England isn't it"?... I said "Yes, shall we go somewhere else" ;o) I was only just joking too.

In fact it was, just like England, or at least the pubs in industrialised West Yorkshire... clientele seemed to be mainly 'Poms' and it had that slightly aggressive feel, you know the one where if you accidentally knocked a drink over everything would 'kick off'. And that's something I don't experience elsewhere in NZ.

Have to say that the food was tasty though )

[JandM]

Puhoi, by any chance?

[CJ22]

You can thank the UK government for years of drumming up fear and paranoia about your fellow citizens. It's a winning strategy, because it gets them swing votes, but the decline in 'sociability' in the UK is in my view a direct result of the cynical and deliberate engendering of mistrust between the people in British society. It started with single-mothers, then dole-scroungers, then teenage yobs, then every person with a darker skin being a potential terrorist. Now everybody's scared to death to interact with anybody in case they get mugged, murdered or blown-up.

The fear of crime is at an all time high, and even people I love and respect as clear thinkers are locked into moral panic over imaginary fears of what their fellow countrymen are trying to do to them. The UK has turned into a nation of Daily Mail readers, everybody looking over their shoulder. It's only in this kind of climate that the concept of ID cards would even begin to be considered. And it's all been engineered. It's sickening.

[dylan]

I agree with all the above comments. The lack of trust, mutual respect, common decency and tollerance has in the most gone from the UK, whos falt is that?, who knows.

As for the cost of living over here I constantly have a little giggle to myself when forum members who have been in NZ for a while keep comparing the cost of living here to NZ. You all don't realise who much things have gone up over the last few months, its terrible, the cost of everyday food items never mind clothes or shoes for the kids, fuel for the car (although this is strarting to come down again) or domestic fuel.

I for one can not wait for the laid back, easy going NZ way of life. No I don't see things through rose tinted glasses, i'm guite a realist but the UK is bad right now and the whole family can't wait to get out!!!

[2371]

It seems that most of us (including myself) opt to move to NZ for a better live/work balance. Just wonder what reasoning for the motivation moving to New Zealand at the INZ interview, as they might not like to hear that we are just coming to have a laid-back live?

BTW Happy New Year!

R.

[Paul]

Ok folks have not been on the forum much at all the last 6 months but potted history is that having lived and worked at setting up two businesses in christchurch over the last 5 years I now find myself back in the UK for two months. Combination of work and family stuff. and have to say its been a bit of an eye opener.

New Zealand, at this point of my life is definately home and I am missing it. I am finding supermarket prices here are expensive compared to NZ although 2 years ago I would have said NZ (meat apart) was on a par with the UK prices. they seem to have shot up here.

what has surprised me more than that is the attitude of people generally. Maybe judging it over Christmas is unfair, but having been pushed aside in the supermarket on a couple of occasions, people barging past with no apology, everybody in such a rush, no time to smile, all seems to much stress to me. I've obviously got to laid back while I've been in NZ.

the other thing that I have noticed is the increase in peoples need to be secure, lock the house, lock the car, make sure no-one can see what you are punching in for numbers at the ATM. the general lack of trust both in other individuals and the govt.

to me at the moment England doesn't feel very English, I am not bothered by peoples colour or race but on a few occasions I felt like a bit of an alien!!

So Yep at this moment in time I am glad that we are residents of New Zealand and will be glad to get back there, warts and all.

Hi Veronica

Are you back in your old area? If so we probably live in one of the most densely populated parts of the country and as you say at Christmas time everyone seems to go mad in the shops. Not something I enjoy either
Must be strange as you say comparing it to the relatively sparsely populated SI after being there for a few years now

Surprising to hear you say you think the supermarkets are expensive - guess it depends where you shop. Lidl and Aldi I would be surprised to hear you say they are expensive by comparison and they are the fastest growing supermarkets in the country at the moment. If you buy everything in Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose etc then yes probably does seem expensive. No different to anywhere else you need to know where to shop for what products

Still plenty to enjoy on the local area though even in the winter if you wrap up. Country parks, coastland and riverside walks with country pubs, Colchester zoo is a great day out etc etc

Hope you get what you need from the trip and enjoy getting back home to NZ and some warmth of the summer there

Paul