Is UK getting boring ?,..or is it just me ?

I drove up through the Scottish Borders the other week. Some great scenery in that part of Scotland. My wife loved it.

It'll be interesting to see which way you end up going with. For the wife and me going out this year its strangely her that seems most worried about going back and the adjustments we'll have to make after life in the UK. For us for the time being I plan to keep life fairly simple out there because the intention is to return to the UK. I'm not thinking about setting up any business apart from maybe buying abit more rice farm in the province if it's the right price.

I think I'll give it 12 monthsand see how we are doing. We're shutting up the house in the uk while we're out there. If we decide to make a go of it in the phils then we'll get a 20 or 40ft container and ship our gear across. Sell our place and maybe buy 2 smaler places. One as a bolt hole and one to rent out.

Its a plan but I think its important to be flexible.

Very sensible approach IMO.. Im sure you will do well wherever you decide to live Stu..

As many people on these forums already know..The UK aint for me anymore. If I never see the place again it would be too soon.
I came over here with the wife and kids when I was 44 and have spent the best 6 years of my life here since then..
The Philippines is certainly not an ideal place for everyone and it takes a great deal of experience,money and luck to be able to live here successfully..
When know it alls told me it was not possible,I dug my heels in.. What they perhaps did not realize is that I had been planning my escape to paradise for over 30 years..
If you want something and you are determined enough,its yours.
IMO.

How much money would it really cost to build a small eatery with a hot-glass counter at the front ? Wouldn't break the bank to set up.
Build it in the corner of our large garden nearest to the road and build a wall round it .
Can't see it costing much at all.

Ohhh,...and as for the joke of a government we have here,... just watched an interview with the benefits agency and the BBC,... that bastard Philpotts was getting £98,000 a year in benefits,....thats over £1,850 a week of the taxpayers money !!!
Don't think he's the only one claiming these sort of amounts either !!!
Who the hell wants to work anymore ??
Rant over...................

That is unreal. I'm actually not that far from Derby (20min) but you think these things happen in other parts of the country. Was it really £98000? I'd heard 60 grand which made me angry but 98!!!! Still lets not get side tracked on this thread by what is obviously a unhinged f****r and his evil duo.

double post

It was on the BBC midday news,..someone from the welfare system talking to the newscaster,..thats what they said it amounted to with his free housing, free or reduced rates etc.
Anyway,...that was just me being in a rage ,..nowt to do with the Phils anyway.

Good set of posts so far on the original topic

Good post Oss,...yes, we already have the house / large garde to front and rear,..right on the roadside and between a school and a busy shipyard. I've tried to read the situation a few times now, watching where the workers go when they come off the boat in the mornings, and the school kids too. I'm not looking for a 'restuarant' per say, more of a large shelter at the corner of the garden, something that would be large enough to serve the local hot food, just the cheap end of the market. Wife's mother has worked as a cook for a richer local family so she's pretty well qualified to help us out. I just had visions of something more of a 'roadside stop' where more 'takeaway' food was on offer rather than a full blown sit-down resturaunt. As I say, i'm not looking to get rich on the venture,..just something to keep me and my wife busy along with some members of her family. Its a very nice village we are in, actually, its like three villages all joined together, and we are in the middle.
There is another western guy lives there already for two years,..he opened up a small internet cafe, (there were already 3 operating ) and he is making a nice earning from it, he's in the middle of building a small house just now. He tells me he is very happy with his situation there . There are only another two westerners that I know of it the local vicinity.
I'm still giving it a lot of thought at the moment and we will have decided one way or another after this season in UK.

How to Set up In Food Business in the Philippines

I'm sure it's not just you, Jonnyivy. Even my husband is sharing your thoughts, too. He is a "golden-boy" now and is still working (thank God he still has work as I've heard lots of factories are closing down in some parts of UK lately). However, from a regular 5-days-a-week work, they are now on short-time at 4-working-days-per-week for almost a year already. He told me that there was even a time their work was shortened to 3 days in a week! That happened before we met. We are planning for me to follow him in UK next year, by God's help, and stay there together up until he retires. Hopefully, too, I will be able to find me a part-time job while I'm there, as my husband doesn't want me to work full-time and affect our "together-time". Once he retires, he wants us to come back here in the Philippines - in my hometown, and live the rest of our lives happily together. He personally thinks, too, that the future is gloomy for us in UK compared to what we might have here in the Philippines, once he gets his regular pension. Before meeting my husband, I thought UK is also an ideal country - land of milk and honey just like the USA. But learning lots of things from a British citizen himself, I guess "land of milk and honey" is not at all true after all. But one thing I'm sure of, I understand UK is giving big benefits to her citizens (compared to us here in the Philippines)! The reason why UK is very strict when it comes to immigration, as if the country doesn't want any other foreign people to migrate there.

Currently unemployment in the UK is at 7.9% . Flip that over and it stands as employment at 92.1%. Ironically, wasn't unemployment a lot higher under Margaret Thatcher at almost 12%?

It isn't doom and gloom across the board and the UK has seen hard times before, this isn't the first time.

I think it's true that many of us of a certain age have been through tough times before.
Certainly life here in UK is a daily struggle for many folks. A lot of the population haven't yet found 'bottom', but that may be around the corner.

I feel that things are a little different this time around in that the demographics has changed significantly, especially concerning age.
We all know that government borrowing is a major problem and I really can't recall a time when public spending was under such pressure.
Health and Welfare are huge consumers of public spending and yet these are 'icons' of life here in UK.
As for many folks around my age or a little older, make no mistake that the state pension alone is not going to provide a happy life.
When you add age and health together the costs are almost unbelieveable.

If something isn't done very soon to preserve the basics behind the NHS, I fear that the private control and profiteering will continue to creep until it's too late and it's no longer an NHS for all.
Just look what's happening with care for the elderly.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, those incarcerated at her majesty's pleasure are far better looked after than many of our old folks.
It just ain't right in my book

Just my rant. I deserve it, I've earned it and so I've had it.
No offence.

I understand the point you are making but is, for those folk that you refer to, escapism to the Philippines a solution? Especially when one considers that some folk are coming back this way.

People decide to leave UK for all sorts of reasons.
In thinking about those in retirement, there are plenty of destinations. I suspect Philippines is just a very small number in the scheme of things.

John, you've travelled a bit. You'll likely understand that living abroad is not for everyone.
Whether it's Australia and New Zealand or Spain or Florida or even Phlippines.
There's always a good stream return home for good reasons.

That's why I always strongly suggest not to burn all your bridges. Don't re-locate to Philippines if your partner is unable to return to UK with you when returning is necessary.

Life in Philippines is not for everyone. Period.

I spent over 20 years in and around Japan. For me there's nowhere better to live.
But.... even Japan is not for everyone. I saw many many people just quit because they couldn't settle, couldn't hack it and be happy.

So escaping is not always a solution. Sometimes it makes life worse.
Still doesn't take away the fact that life here in UK for many folks in retirement is just not a happy life. No fun at all.
What can they do?

Agreed, but like the employment statistics it isnt doom and gloom for all here in the UK. By contrast in the Philippines the stats are less favourable. And as I suggested in an earlier post, what about the rest of either package? Retirement in the Philippines needs to be looked at across a range of advantages and disadvantages and a range that is a moving target too. It seems to me that there are many facets of the Philippines that needs to be looked at closely.

To be honest, Peter, for all my travelling, I found the move to the Isle of Man a bit of a culture shock!

I suppose it depends on many things.
For just about every Brit that I know living here (and other countries) that have successfully escaped the UK for whatever reason, I would have to say a resounding yes.

Good post.
It makes me bloody angry that working people in the UK that have worked most of their lives ,now have to face the kind of circumstances that you describe..

As you know,my opinion of the UK`s future is a little more bleak than your own.
I dont think I will express them here though as I can imagine things there must be depressing enough.