Off Topic... Suffolk, UK?

[Thatch]

but if you squint real hard, you might be able to see a connection.

My wife has a job opportunity in Suffolk. (contractor for the USAF). We have both lived abroad before (my wife in France for 6 months, myself in Italy for 3 years) but I don't know much about living in the UK, especially the day to day things that a family requires. Now that I'm the old married guy with 4 kids/house/2 cars/ 4 metric tons of stuff ect its a much tougher decision to make and requires allot more answers than just "how much does it pay?", "When do I start?"

I know there are many UKers on this board and thought you might have some useful information that might quell a few of our questions. Any info you can give me in either direction would be helpful. When I was young and stupid this would of been an easy choice. Now, well, I have practicalities to think of and its not so easy.

Anything like child care, housing costs, weather, practicalities of Americans working for UK companies, Xara user groups in the area (thats my "no really its about Xara" question [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] ) State of the economy in general... and a host of other things not mentioned would be great.

Thanks in advance folks. If you would prefer feel free to e-mail me if you'd like to keep things off board at joe@skeesick.com


Joe

[Thatch]

but if you squint real hard, you might be able to see a connection.

My wife has a job opportunity in Suffolk. (contractor for the USAF). We have both lived abroad before (my wife in France for 6 months, myself in Italy for 3 years) but I don't know much about living in the UK, especially the day to day things that a family requires. Now that I'm the old married guy with 4 kids/house/2 cars/ 4 metric tons of stuff ect its a much tougher decision to make and requires allot more answers than just "how much does it pay?", "When do I start?"

I know there are many UKers on this board and thought you might have some useful information that might quell a few of our questions. Any info you can give me in either direction would be helpful. When I was young and stupid this would of been an easy choice. Now, well, I have practicalities to think of and its not so easy.

Anything like child care, housing costs, weather, practicalities of Americans working for UK companies, Xara user groups in the area (thats my "no really its about Xara" question [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] ) State of the economy in general... and a host of other things not mentioned would be great.

Thanks in advance folks. If you would prefer feel free to e-mail me if you'd like to keep things off board at joe@skeesick.com


Joe

[michaelward]

I can answer two of those questions:

Weather - often rainy in winter. Sometimes cold, but not often severely cold. Summers are mild to warm at best (sometimes we get scorchers, but they're few arnd far between). Spring/Autumn sort of don't really exist [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Economy - suffereing as part of the world wide slowdown but holding out well. No recession but manufacturing, farming and tourism is suffering badly. Most other things are holding out well, and retail is still doing pretty well. House prices have been rising steeply for the last 18 months or so, but now seem to have slowed.

That's all I can help with...



Michael Ward
http://LeighCenturions.net

[williama]

One thing to bear in mind is the exchange rate. I'm a UK bloke who's been living and working in the US for the past couple of years. One pound is around 1.4-1.5 dollars. So $100 is around 65-70 pounds.
A lot of day to day things cost around the same sort of price as in the US (something that costs a dollar will often cost around a pound). Car insurance is MUCH cheaper in the UK, but petrol (gas) prices are MUCH higher, as are the cars themselves.
House prices on the whole are probably higher in the UK on average.
The phone bill will be different as local calls aren't free, but the standing charge for the phone line is generally lower. You don't have to pay to receive calls on a mobile phone either.

I'll probably be heading back to the UK early next year, but the stay out here has been fun.

Don't forget the most important thing - you can get real beer in the UK. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]