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Thread ID: 35929	2003-07-26 00:45:00	OT: Living costs in London?	nomad (3693)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
162861	2003-07-26 11:46:00	We were there in 95 for a month or so - half the time with relatives. The pound is deceptive. You look at something, think "oh, that's slightly cheaper than home", do a double take and think "bother! Multiply that by 3". You've got to earn pounds to spend pounds. The dollar just vanishes. 20 or so years ago friends of ours moved to the UK for a couple of years. They looked at flats, winced, and bought a canal boat. Spent their time drifting round the canals and commuting to work from different spots. Now THAT's the way to go!	Heather P (163)
162862	2003-07-26 12:38:00	I am job seeking. Hopefully I get successful on the job websites :D London - good for the experience. And I prefer my own little room - at least I have it to myself ;) Where to live in London? Dunno yet .. I am a fresher ... Hopefully not too far. I am willing to pay 100 pound per week, hopefully it leaves me $200NZ equivalent a week on the hand.	nomad (3693)
162863	2003-07-26 13:20:00	i contacted me mate hes gonna do some calculations.. with some rough costs for some nice areas (not expensive) of london.. and he hasnt been to the flicks for a while but will tell u the costs of them from the last time he went lol...amongestthe other stuff ur wondering gonna expect a email sometime sunday my time ... ur willing to pay 100pound week..thats $300 here... if i am right that is...	csinclair83 (200)
162864	2003-07-26 19:23:00	Have just returned from the UK. I go back there occasionally just to reinforce that I don't like it ! Been in NZ for 30 years now. Some prices for you. Petrol is about $2.40 a litre. Top steak (fillet) is $98 a kilo. Minced meat is $18 per kilo. Leg of NZ lamb $85. An elderly couple in front of me in Sainsbury's had a bill of 241 pounds ($720) and the trolley wasn't even full ! That's food. House prices vary tremendously and hence do rents. My daughter in East Grinstead, which is south of London and in a good area, is 750 sq. feet and cost 178000 pounds. It's the middle of three. Old council house (state house). Rental is worth 750 pounds a month. My other daughter in the north west - near Blackpool- has just sold hers for 148000 pounds - it's about 1400 sq. feet. In London you can pay 90000 pounds for a one room flat - if you are lucky enough to find one. Rental is usually 200-400 pounds a week for a 2-3 bedroom place, but not in a flash area. The general rulke is read pounds for dollars, i.e. everything is three times the price. Unfortunately, wages are not three times higher !! How the poms live I have no idea. Having said that some thiongs are cheap - a tin of backed beans is about 30c. As for internet - don't grumble about this country !!! Dial up is about 7-10 pounds a month, depending on who you are with. There are a lot of compound schemes as well, i.e. get your phone + internet for a bargain price ! ADSL is a joke. With the population of the UK at somewhere in the region of 57,000,000 (Britain only) you would expect every exchange to be hooked up to a DSLAM. No way ! Prices are about the same as here, 20-30 pounds a month. BUT, max of 512kb download. How the folk put up with dial up is a mystery. You can get a good connection speed - 47-49Kb but try doing any downloading and you might just as well go for a holiday whilst waiting. Even getting your e-mail is a marathon event !! Best of luck if you are going, but make sure you get paid well and if it can be avaoided avoid London - way too expensive. Crunn	Crunn (1068)
162865	2003-07-26 23:59:00	My gut feeling was that pounds should be read as dollars. Crun has just confirmed it. 90,000 for a one bedroom flat - if you can one? Sounds a familiar figure for Auckland City. 241 for a half full trolley? Again sounds very familiar from my trip to Pak 'n Save last week. Now canal boats on the other hand... (the one thing we miss out on here in NZ! We hired one for a week and loved it. A dream is to live on one for a year) Check out these links: www.viking-afloat.co.uk www.englishwaterways.com	Heather P (163)
162866	2003-07-27 00:51:00	I wonder if you can get cheap(ish) internet connections on a canal boat. Heather, if my wife reads this about canal boats, she gonna want to to go over. So then it will be your fault :D If I can get access to the internet on the boat, it could be real fun... I wonder if you can drive a canal boat and surf the internet at the same time.	Dolby Digital (160)
162867	2003-07-27 00:56:00	Thanks for ur replies. I will look into London as well as not in London. I am renting a room, not a building :D I am also not driving. Cannot afford a car so soon. Transport with the subways are great :) Do these link up most of the housing to the CBD ?:|	nomad (3693)
162868	2003-07-27 00:58:00	Dolby, Well there is always the pricey option of wireless or satillitte dish. :D	nomad (3693)
162869	2003-07-27 04:09:00	Be aware that although Internet connections may be cheap, you pay for all local calls, so your on-line experience costs by the minute! It can get expensive. Practice downloading your email then going off line to read it. My neice is in London at the moment and confirms that you pretty much pay in pounds what you pay here in dollars. The pub job with accomodation is still a good option - not much pay, but no rent. Suggest you move west to Slough (20 miles) or Reading (about 40 miles) - still only 20 -30 minutes on the train to London, and much cheaper living. Enjoy your visit.	andy (473)
162870	2003-07-27 05:46:00	Dolby, that has always been the one draw back in my mind. However if you use a laptop and cellphone and keep your surfing to work I'm sure it could be overcome. We heard about the canals a couple of months before we went. Our friends were so enthusiastic that we had to try it - and wished we'd thought of it 20 odd years ago. Who knows? We may have gone and stayed just for the boats. The other half keeps talking about doing it again within the next few years. One major problem looms though (and it ain't just money) - The Dawg. We'll see.	Heather P (163)
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