[HPsquared]

The UK is such a trap for professionals. It's one of the worst places in the developed world for living standards of white-collar professionals, except a tiny slice of finance workers in London. Especially bad for engineers, and has been for a long time.

[0_____0]

I was reading about UK housing and had to look up "rising damp." We don't have that here, or at least not to the level we need a word for it.

[Smaug123]

The UK climate never really stops being moist, and our houses are routinely at least a hundred years old and made of brick, built before we knew how to deal with damp and built without AC. If we rebuilt everything we'd fix it, but we can't.

[0_____0]

new england is also pretty wet but because it freezes, we have basements (not sure about UK), so the stonework is below the habitable levels.

i get what you mean about not being able to fix it. from what it sounds like, the UK is leading the US by about 10-20 years in terms of "energy leaving the system."

[HPsquared]

That just means they've had 100 years to fix it.

[tetris11]

DPC is pretty routine these days, and a lot of old houses get the treatment before they're flipped (as is the custom of our times)

[oliwarner]

Your criteria for "living standards" being pay?

[HPsquared]

I mean living standards. The size and quality of housing, quality of food, public spaces, infrastructure, healthcare, social conditions and so on that is available and affordable to the average working professional.

[oliwarner]

It depends if you fight for city jobs, doesn't it.

We live semi-rural, 700sqm house, office and workshop on an acre. Fibre makes working from home easy. Kids' school is 500m up the road. Village is friendly. Healthcare is acceptable, paid through taxation. We don't worry about surprise bills. And 10 minutes away from a 1h train to London.

I could absolutely earn more working in London but I'd be living in a shoebox or missing my kids' childhood while I sit on a train. Nah. We made a good choice.

Are there better cities outside the UK for tech work? Maybe? Do they offer me a better lifestyle than rural Britain? Doubtful.

[HPsquared]

The shires are certainly pleasant if you can swing it. But that sounds pretty exceptional to me.

[akmarinov]

Yeah but companies want butts in seats in their offices, so not anyone can swing it