Gregory's Server
 70 comments
 @Gargron Looks very much like the area I grew up in, in Appalachia. Low cost of living and very beautiful, so it is definitely within the means of most remote workers. #justsayin :just_saying:  I mean that. I want to move to the UK. Slowly working on a visa application. It’s so daunting.  @Gargron Plenty of us wouldn't mind leaving #brexshit island. But Putin and his 17.4m #brexshitters have made that vastly more difficult - we can no longer just get on a boat or a plane or a train.  @Gargron I think everyone I know living in the UK is looking at trying to do the inverse migration, to get away from the austerity and terrible politics Places that are pretty can still be shit to live in (I used to live in the UK myself) I'd suggest asking the locals about cost of living and how they feel about immigrants.. it might be an eye opener  @Gargron Oh man, same here. The visa paperwork requirements are so daunting, I have a hard time getting started. You should have pretty good chances on the Global Talent visa, but it’s so much stuff to scrape together. Hope you can make it work! @Gargron good luck 👍 and what part of the UK do you want to move to? Be warned, I'm in the UK and whilst yes it is a beautiful country in many ways it isn't all roses and green rolling hills. It has bad bits too. @Gargron having moved to London 12 years ago, I can report that the visa situation is daunting, difficult and extremely stressful. But London is great! My big tip is: do whatever you have to to limit the time the Home Office has your documents. Periodically there are still reports of things like this from 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/31/vital-immigration-papers-lost-by-uk-home-office?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other @Gargron the government is not the people, so good luck. You should also go look at Scotland and Wales. And then Ireland. So much stunning scenery, and so many good friendly people. Crap politicians, but that's universal. @Gargron if this can help here is my experience in the UK: @Gargron I’ve been here over a decade from the US and it’s one of the best life choices I made. Come to Scotland though, cost of living is more realistic vs England and the NHS is better here @Gargron as I'm sure many Brits are telling you, now isn't a great time to move here... Our healthcare system is collapsing, our government is asset stripping and distributing the proceeds amongst the already wealthy, inflation has made even basic items very expensive, the property market is still insane, people are stressed... That said, there are still only a few other places I'd be happy to live - namely Scotland and Ireland. If you're set on it, best of luck and welcome in advance 🙂  @Gargron It's such a hostile proces, even with family ties. Good luck and hope you have an easy time of it @Gargron @Gargron I didn’t expect most of the replies to this to be about how apparently terrible the UK is. 😅  @Gargron I jumped the ship UK right before Brexit was finalised and Corona Hit. After 18 years, better luck for you. @Gargron I wanted that years ago, but life got in the way. Back then, it would’ve been easy. Now, after Brexit, and me getting older and sicker, it is something to think about thoroughly. Afaik you need to be rich to afford our standard in healthcare in the UK, and life in general. I’ve lived in the US, UK and Germany. Even now, Germany still has the best social net. But my heart will always have that soft spot for the UK and then there’s planes…  I'll put in a good word for Wales as a potential country to live in should you move to the UK 🙂 @Gargron Cumbria really is a beautiful place, I’m not surprised you’d want to move there. @Gargron yeah sorry about that part, Boris Johnson sort of messed it up for everyone. Hope you make it through though, and you're right on the views. We do have some truly breathtaking scenery here that too many people who visit never see because they obsess over London.  @Gargron really? Why the hell would you want to live here? Consider Ireland, same beautiful countryside, but still part of the EU and not run by a troupe of incapable clowns. @gargron ahhh, to be young and healthy and not care about a functioning healthcare system when you emigrate... I miss those days... @Gargron Just moved from the UK myself, and I miss it so very much. Was just flipping between web cams along the coast. @Gargron You've got free movement to Ireland, incl for a British spouse. It has a vibrant tech sector. Cheap & easy travel to from UK. Higher standard of living (ahead of UK on every metric of human wellbeing). Beautiful readily accessible and uncrowded countryside. You can recruit from entire EU. Oh, and more people take German in school leaving exam in Ireland than UK (w 1/14th of the population) - - it's a bit less insular (17% non native-born, and most people have lived abroad).  @Gargron As beautiful as it is here, from the perspective of running a social media organisation, you're better avoiding it because of the new Internet Act thing... @Gargron Apart from why you said you wanted to do this, I have to ask, what’s driving you? You don’t want to regret the move later. @Gargron the Lake District (and Scottish Highlands) are beautiful on a human scale. Sure, the Americas have incredible scenery, but it’s almost overwhelming. This feels like the size of beauty humans were designed to actually live in. For what it's worth, think again. The waters you are admiring will in all likelihood be contaminated. Wait for regime change, then not only will it be an easier proposition, but as the inevitable swing against all that the last 13 odd years have stood for kick in, an exiting and welcoming place to go.  @Gargron that is indeed beautiful. @Gargron , plenty of places like this in Norway. Living in a rural area is also not very expensive with regards to housing either.  @Gargron agreed it's beautiful.. sometimes easy to ignore or take for granted here, or we just moan about the weather or trains, but then when you stand and take in a view like that you realise it's all worth it. @Gargron you know that old adage, "be careful what you wish for"? @Gargron I'd welcome you here, it has its flaws (or should I say people) but it could only be improved with people like you! Also, despite our grumblings about the weather, in terms of geographical locations on the planet it's a lovely, temperate, stable area  @Gargron as a tourist the U.K. does indeed have some incredibly stunning places. It appears within the replies you are looking to move here - I strongly recommend you review the broadband connection and other services such as heating (a lot of places are still in oil boilers or very old inefficient electric systems). Those gorgeous scenic areas are unlikely to have great broadband & mobile connections unless you’re in a popular well built up town - and even then it’s still 50:50.  You could live there. As long as you can afford the sky-high house prices and put up with millions of tourists clogging up the beautiul landscape for most of the year. You wouldn't have mind that many local people can't afford to live there and have to work seasonal jobs because tourism is the only industry. I know whereof I speak. I lived in Keswick for 4 years. The Lake District is a poisoned picture perfect postcard. @Gargron Gorgeous! I would love to be surrounded by nature every day. So good for the soul.  |
The dream of every software engineer: to live out in the woods alone, not to be bothered by “pull requests” or “dependency issues” at any point in time, ever.
@Gargron