Those who escaped the capital...

[M.C]

Where did you go and what did you do (for work etc)?

[Robster]

Only lasted 3 months in Laahndaaan before I was almost completely broke, out of the job and yearning for greener pastures. Got some freelance work up in Manchester in my studied field which didn't go too well - but meant I could stay at home with the folks.

In the mean time, got completely unmotivated, depressed and suicidal - put on a course of Citalopram which helped but completely killed my libidoboner - thankfully off that and now working for a local car auction in the north west - doesn't pay well but I get to fuck about with expensive machinery and its something I find interesting, oh and also passed my bike test up here and got my super-awesome VFR.

So London
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Up the bum no babies.

[chickenstrip]

I lived on the edge of London for most of my life, but it got too expensive, and wasn't making ends meet so shifted to Oxfordshire. Tbf, not much cheaper there either. In London I'd worked in parts and accessories departments in various bike shops. In Oxfordshire, I worked for Oxf**d Prod***s in their warehouse, handling returns. A boring job, but always busy and brought the sheckles in.

Here in Carlisle, no idea what I'm going to do yet. Well, some. There are a couple of bike dealerships around, but I've also got my eye on outdoor clothing retailers, as I learned a fair bit about that when researching kit for my 2 month fell-walking trip in the Lake District a few years ago. Loads such places up here, and always jobs about, as a lot in places like Keswick (assuming it's not underwater - then i'll open my own shop selling scuba gear ) get filled by Uni types in summer, and they all bugger off out of it later in the year. So that's the plan as much as I have one.

I'm lucky in that I only need part time work, 3 or 4 days a week, and that'll see me ok.
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[smegballs]

[Robby]

I know a few people that have retired or taken redundancy and set up businesses in the regions, but these are all experienced professionals.

If you're young and inexperienced, why would you leave London to look for work? You leave once you have kids and want more space.

[M.C]

Mainly due to working full time (on ok..ish money) and only being able to afford a bedsit. Just sick of he whole place tbh, ideally I'd like to move somewhere slightly more civilised, where you can afford to live on an average(ish) wage.

[grr666]

Left about 5 years ago after 36 years inside the M25. Moved to little town near Bristol and Bath.
I wasn't aware just how spoiled it was in London and how wound up it made me until I was away from the place.
It literally sucks the life out of you, it's tense, unpleasant, dirty and getting worse as the amount of no go areas
always seem to increase rather than reduce. It's quickly becoming entirely tribal, and with all the 'benefits' that
comes with that. Yet it costs a premium to live there??? I'll never go back. Much happier where I am now, maybe
because it's still largely untouched by the multicultural experiment gone wrong. If you hear a siren round here it's
probably an ambulance, police cars are a surprisingly rare sight round here. No tribal warfare here so no real need
for them, got a rebate of 400 quid on my car insurance when I moved too. Wonder why that was, the car was
the same, the driver was the same, just the area was different.but whats different about the area? Hmmmm...
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[Lord Percy]

Did a year of uni there, then had my year in China and decided I would transfer to Leeds (birthplace) when I came back. So now I'm in Leeds and it's far better. The people are so much friendlier it's unreal, and pubs are fun, you can make random chit chat and comments on other people's conversations and you won't get a weird look for doing it. Go to the supermarket and the people on the fresh food counters talk to you as if you've known them forever. That kind of thing. It's great.

I'm off to London next weekend actually, and I'm now so used to 'being northern' again that I sort of fear it's going to feel a bit like this - A Northern man has left a trail of terror across London by attempting to interact socially with everyone he meets.

Also, you can't go wrong with the countryside around here, right on the doorstep pretty much and is absolutely great. London has nothing to compare.

[pepperami]

Escaped London because of the ever increasing pace and cost of life.

Moved to Suffolk and immediately took a 20% pay cut due to the crap wages they pay here
On the bonus side, It`s not as aggressive here compared to London
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[stevo as b4]

If you have the same job at the same firm outside of London, then should you not be better off as the living costs saved being more than London weighting of your salary?

Or are the home counties as expensive property and living costs wise with London itself?

[angryjonny]

I moved out of London itself but kept within striking distance. Problem these days is that no job is for life. London isn't where my current job is, but it may well be where my next one is. I wouldn't want to find myself out of work in a small town in the middle of nowhere, having to relocate every time I needed a new job. Stay around London and you should always have work within an hour or so's commute.

[angryjonny]

[Islander]

I escaped London 25 years ago with no regrets whatsoever. The pace of life here is relaxed, I have a 20 mile commute that takes me a leisurely 30 minutes with hardly another vehicle to be seen - the same time it took me to do 4 miles through traffic jams in London. I have fresh air, countryside and sea all around me, heaps of wildlife and the community here is open, friendly and helpful. What's not to like?

[someotherguy]

[M.C]

[chickenstrip]

[M.C]

[chickenstrip]

Well, it might not be entirely relevant for you, but I am in a similar position of having no current, useful qualifications myself. So when I came out of the RAF, I had to think about what I could do. Physical limitations also meant it wouldn't be easy to come up with something, as I couldn't just pick up labouring or other physical work to make ends meet anymore.

The first questions I asked myself were, what am I interested in, what do I know a bit about? Ok, easy, motorcycles. But I'm not a qualified mechanic, wouldn't trust myself to work on other people's bikes. Ok, what about sales? Didn't fancy selling the bikes themselves, but parts/clothing/accessories I thought I could do, having had some experience as a Saturday lad when I was a kid. So I kind of knew my way around a typical parts department, had enough bike knowledge to get me going, and then, when I found such a job, it was working with a couple of guys who knew their stuff and filled in the gaps in my knowledge, got me up to speed.

Now having moved, I'm thinking, maybe I don't want to work in a bike shop (although it's a possible perhaps), but what else am I interested in? Outdoor clothing, since I've done a bit of fell walking/camping/long-distance hiking. I learned a fair bit about all the latest lightweight gear when researching to replace all my old heavy Millets crap for a 2 month fell walking/camping stint in the Lake District. So I reckon I can bullshit my way into doing that in a retail position, learn more on the job and go from there (hope so anyway).

So before I chose to move up here to Carlisle, I looked up what was around here in those two fields. There are a couple or 3 bike shops here. But also, being near the Lake District, there are loads of outdoor gear retailers around. When I did my 2 month adventure up here, I looked around at the situation, spoke to shop keepers and managers, and discovered that there are jobs coming and going all the time. So I thought my chances of finding something would be pretty good (still yet to prove it though, but that can wait till the new year now).

So I've taken some risk, but also my situation when I left the RAF meant having to reassess, find something else - and I'm not the world's most resourceful chap. I think my point is that you don't always have to stick to what you have been doing, and you won't even necessarily need to do any specialist training to change to something else.

I'm now in the advantageous position of having a small Armed Services pension and owning my own home outright, so you're probably thinking right now! But I didn't have the house, or the prospect of being able to buy one when I left the RAF, and this was the case up until my father passed away last year. I did manage to keep a (rented) roof over my head working in the bike trade on the edge of London (Ilford, Waltham Cross, Woodford etc) for a number of years without any qualifications though.

Maybe this will help you, get you thinking 'outside the box' as it were, or maybe it's no help at all. We're all different, and such questions are difficult for others to answer sometimes. Maybe you have dependants, which can make things harder than I've had it, and I probably couldn't offer much helpful advice if that's so. Anyhow, that's my contribution to your question
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[M.C]

[chickenstrip]

[M.C]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not above retail, it's just not my preferred line of work. I have a front line customer service job now, and I'd rather not have to deal with people if it can be avoided, or rely on my awkward interpersonal skills to earn a living

[chickenstrip]

[techathy]

[chickenstrip]

[J0Al1]

I did 4 years in London.

Moved to local mainly because the 3.5hr commute and train delays became a burden and fitting my 'sport' in was difficult.

Local has it's perks, but I belive, with far more career opportunities; I'd be much better of had I stayed in London.


Glad I did London, was a great experiance.