Quality of life issues

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  • Dave2002
    Full Member
    • Dec 2010
    • 17964

    Quality of life issues

    Some quality of life issues were briefly touched on in another thread - see http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...0292#post60292 and the post which follows it.

    An individual's or family's quality of life depends on many factors, and sometimes choices are to be made, perhaps at critical decision points (e.g getting a new job, getting married, retirement etc.). Some around here may prefer to live in cities, with access to concerts, theatres etc., while others may prefer to live outside them, have a quieter life, and possibly also be able to enjoy a cheaper way of living - assuming house prices and other factors are lower.

    One question (amongst many) that I've had is whether it would be worth moving to a cheaper and quieter part of the country, but then using the money saved for blitzes on major cultural excursions. Instead of spending perhaps £20-£50 per person for a cultural outing, perhaps once or twice a week, spend maybe £200-500 .... or more ... per person once a month - for example going to a music festival, or to a foreign city for a few days of opera. I don't know whether it would work, and it's perhaps always easier to maintain the current status quo than to effect change. Obviously on the raw figures it's easier to stay put, but consider that the monthly savings of a move could easily run into £hundreds.

    I wonder if others have had to make such decisions, or are considering them, and in the case of those who've changed their circumstances, how is it working out for you now? What quality of life issues do you find important (now/before)?
  • Serial_Apologist
    Full Member
    • Dec 2010
    • 37355

    #2
    It depemds on whether or not one is still working, access to the job, etc.

    On retirement I had two choices: move further out of the London 'burbs to a more peaceful rural lifestyle, or back into the metropolis and become more in touch with the music I was interested in and the musicians.

    In the end I suppose I had the luck I guess to find a flat in district of London that seems to provide some resemblance to the best of both worlds, being quiet (not directly under a flight path), elevated above some of the pollution and summer heat, within comparatively easy cycling or public transport distance (on over 60s free travelcard) of places I want to reach, as well as shops, doctor/dentist, art galleries, concert halls, jazz clubs etc etc.

    For me the countryside is for visits. The idyllic rural retreat is something of a myth, I think: lack of services or distances to be travelled requiring a car, which I now don't have; the questionable aspects of rural culture, its conservatism, near monoethnicity, its isolating qualities if you don't fit in and bite the lip or intrusiveness; subjection to agripesticides, herbicides, low-flying military aircraft; the list goes on and depends on if you're gregarious or not, and what kind of gregariousness, etc etc.

    You could I suppose build a hut in the woods, make and sell charcoal...

    S-A

    Comment

    • Panjandrum

      #3
      Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
      For me the countryside is for visits. The idyllic rural retreat is something of a myth, I think: lack of services or distances to be travelled requiring a car
      Get a bike; get fit; and then you can get around the country without a car.

      Comment

      • Dave2002
        Full Member
        • Dec 2010
        • 17964

        #4
        Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post

        You could I suppose build a hut in the woods, make and sell charcoal...

        S-A
        You've been watching too many Grand Designs.

        Comment

        • MrGongGong
          Full Member
          • Nov 2010
          • 18357

          #5
          Surely it should be
          "Build a hut in the woods, and write symphonies"

          Comment

          • Dave2002
            Full Member
            • Dec 2010
            • 17964

            #6
            Originally posted by MrGongGong View Post
            Surely it should be
            "Build a hut in the woods, and write symphonies"
            Then build a bonfire and burn them. Wonder who did that.

            Comment

            • Boilk
              Full Member
              • Dec 2010
              • 976

              #7
              Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
              the questionable aspects of rural culture, its conservatism, near monoethnicity
              S-A
              Most of the world's populations live in near monoethnicity - deviations from this norm tending to be in larger, wealthy cities.

              Comment

              • ahinton
                Full Member
                • Nov 2010
                • 16122

                #8
                Originally posted by Panjandrum View Post
                Get a bike; get fit; and then you can get around the country without a car.
                Try telling that one to someone who lives in US, Canada, Russia, Brazil, Sudan, China, India, Australia...

                Ahem.

                Comment

                • aeolium
                  Full Member
                  • Nov 2010
                  • 3992

                  #9
                  My preferences are quite different from S_A's: the city is for visits, the countryside (or at least, a small country town) for living in. Where I live I have access to clean air, walks or cycle rides by river or in a forest, wild flowers and varied landscapes, relatively light traffic, and the ability to use a woodburner. Drawbacks are the need to have a car and the relative infrequency (compared with London or other cities) of concerts etc. Yes, it is fairly monoethnic though the nearest city which is definitely not is only half an hour away by train or car. I don't have to put up with the vast expense, the gritty air (which always makes my eyes water) and the constant press of crowds in London - not to mention the hell of tube travel in summer. Nowadays I rarely visit London, preferring to go to Birmingham or Cardiff for concerts or other events.

                  Comment

                  • David Underdown

                    #10
                    Well I can't do actual forest, but within easy reach of my London home are Richmond Park, Putney Heath, Barnes Common, the London Wetland Centre and the Thames

                    Comment

                    • Panjandrum

                      #11
                      Originally posted by ahinton View Post
                      Try telling that one to someone who lives in US, Canada, Russia, Brazil, Sudan, China, India, Australia...

                      Ahem.
                      I thought we were talking about the UK. Anyway, the bicycle appears pretty popular in India and China...

                      Comment

                      • aka Calum Da Jazbo
                        Late member
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 9173

                        #12
                        fuel or food?

                        or neither
                        According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.

                        Comment

                        • french frank
                          Administrator/Moderator
                          • Feb 2007
                          • 29919

                          #13
                          I wonder, is it that 'the elderly' aren't what they were? If I had to choose between food and heating, I should choose food because that's essential. But I can still remember (erm, quite clearly, actually) when cold weather meant you piled on extra clothes. (I remember when I was a student and there were cold winters, I stopped getting undressed to go to bed: I used to put on more clothes.)

                          Price of food, yes, you have a point. But fifty years ago there weren't supermarkets with their cheap food offers: No Frills, Basics &c.

                          Poverty has now become relative - not what you need but what most other people can afford.
                          It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

                          Comment

                          • aka Calum Da Jazbo
                            Late member
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 9173

                            #14
                            ...relative in one's own life too ff; what one could afford but no longer can .... eating out is getting to be off-puttingly expensive ... and travel too ...

                            i love living in a rural; setting, but quite frankly do not do a blitz on the big cities .... the travel and accommodation costs are prohibitive and, as today, i enjoy concerts in the local churches, and the odd exhibition ... i will own to an element of choice or preference too since i loathe going to London now ... but there are many provincial cities within a drivable distance of the middle kingdom ...
                            According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.

                            Comment

                            • Eine Alpensinfonie
                              Host
                              • Nov 2010
                              • 20564

                              #15
                              Surely quality of life is about more than the conveniences that are laid on for you. It's about day to day living, contentment, etc. But for many people, it's about what you own, or your status - quite sad really. I don't take any notice of this town vs. country baloney. Those who claim to be "country people" are desperate for home comforts, buying 4 x 4s, even though they only ever drive these antisocial monsters on conventional roads. I could go on, but I wouldn't want to upset anyone.

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