Vocal Voices

....and again, huge congrats Ria.

This has made me think.....

Where are we all originally from?

Does anyone still stay in or around where they were born?

Or, like some of us VVers, who has/have moved to another country?

And why?

And would anyone move from where they are now? And why?

All my family on my mum's side are Irish. My dad's lot are Lancastrian. I'm proud to be Yorkshire. It's where I were born and brought up.

Would I move away? Definitely.

I have looked at S. America, Africa, and other parts or Europe, but I am a bit of a scaredy cat. Would my pensions support me?

TBH I think that I am stuck here, but I would love to leave.

I was born and grew up in Birmingham, moved to Somerset in my late 20's, back to Birmingham in my 50's and now retired in Dorset. It's unlikely we'd move again, but who knows?

The moves we've made have simply been due to "going where the work is", but although I'm comfortable in both rural and urban environments, I think underlyingly I'm a country boy at heart. My S, in contrast, has lived in Birmingham all her life, the last 50 years in the same house.

In contrast to you, WM, I've never wanted to move abroad or any of that sort of shenanigans; you can count the number of furrin countries I've ever visited on one hand.

And no, you're not definitely getting me up in one, Ally!

Born in Liverpool, one grandfather from Yorkshire, the other found on Southport beach. Grandmothers from Liverpool and the Wirral. Moved about 16 times, around England and also spent a year travelling Europe, when I was 13/14 - with parents

We then settled (?) in Wiltshire and I left home at 16 and moved to London. Moved to Bristol when I was 22 and then onto Yate/Chipping Sodbury.

Have always had itchy feet and fell in love with Portugal on a school trip when I was about 10.

But having met Grumpy, we stayed in the same house in Chipping Sodbury for 22 years and then we were able to move over here. We loved living in Fuzeta, but it was getting too touristy and once you've had a break-in, you never feel comfy in that house. So a move to the country side it was. Grumpy is from Wiltshire, so feels at home in the countryside.

WM, why not rent somewhere for 6 months, just to get a feel for the place?

Born in Cannock. Lived in Hednesford, 2 miles away, until I was 20 when we bought our first home, which was 2 miles away in Heath Hayes.

Sold that and moved back in with my parents for 6 months while we tried to find a house we liked, eventually found one in Cannock which was right opposite the hospital where I was born. Lived there for almost 17 years before moving 3 miles away to where we are now, which is between Cannock and Stafford.

I'd love to move away but my parents aren't getting any younger, Mom's 84 and Dad's 86, and I'm not sure I could move far away now. Probably should've done it years ago.
We've talked about moving to the Manchester area though, around Saddleworth, which would put me nearer to the football and John loves mountain biking around the moors there.

My dream move would be Manhattan. I feel more at home there than anywhere else.

This is a really interesting thread Al

I was born in Northern Germany; we first moved to SA in 1969 because my dad was offered a job there. 1976 the Soweto Uprising caused a lot of issues and the family in Germany convinced my parents that it was safer to move back to Germany which we did. Parents were never really happy; we were back in Norther Germany for just over one year and then moved to South Germany and I found out much later in life that it was a job my dad really hated and was super stressed. So 1982 the opportunity arose and we moved back to South Africa; my eldest sister at this point was at uni so stayed in Germany. 1994 & 1995 I had my first taste of the UK; what was meant to be a 2 week holiday ended up a 2 year stay. For some misguided reason I felt that I needed to settle and be close to family so went back to SA; the worst decision I ever made and eventually Feb 1997 I moved back here and haven't looked back since; it's 100% home and for now I have no intentions of moving. But who knows what the future brings; never say never and I'm always open to it; but would probably never move away from Europe.

My paternal grandparents were both from Dublin, my maternal grandmother was from Co. Tipperary and my maternal grandfather was from Co. Wicklow. However both my parents were born and raised in Dublin, as was I. Apart from 4 1/2 years in the early 1970s when Edward and I lived in London, I’ve never lived anywhere else nor wanted to. While we were living in London, a friend was going to Australia and wanted us to go. I would have but Edward was more interested in South Africa and I didn’t want to go there, so we stayed in London. We never regretted our choice. We moved back here in 1975 and I was not interested in living anywhere except here in Howth so we bought a house here and have been in Howth ever since. Although we’ve done a fair amount of travelling, I’m always pleased to get home.

JanB wrote:WM, why not rent somewhere for 6 months, just to get a feel for the place?

A few years ago I had a plan ... get a campervan and do just that. The problem is that I would lose this place and I have such a great deal with my landlord that I would not be able to move back and have the same quality of life. The dream is still alive though, so who knows.

Born in Isleworth, West London, bought up in a part of Staines called Stanwell, about as close to Heathrow as you can get! Lived in London again for a few years - Ealing - then moved up to York with my first husband, via 6 months in Bradford, where he came from.

I loved York, but it was a very unhappy marriage, he drank and cheated, so in 1986 I left to stay with my parents for a while, until Christopher and I got a flat in Ashford, not far from Heathrow.

When I met my ex we lived in Egham - between Staines and Windsor - until we split up and I moved to Gloucester to be with Mick in 2003. We moved to Swindon in 2004, with his job, but then moved back over to Egham, to be nearer Becky and Harry - my ex was being an arse, many of you know the story

Eventually we moved back to Glos in 2009, Doreen was here on her own, and the kids were getting older (B followed us soon after) and we ditched a lot of mortgage too.

Gloucester is ok, but quite honestly D is the only reason we are still here. We wanted to retire abroad (Corfu or Canaries) for the sun - brilliant for my psoriasis and Mick's knee issues - but we can't leave D and neither of us would want to. Clearly, there will come a time when we're free to go, but whether we will be able to after what's happening at 11pm tonight is anyone's guess