I have, it was simple, in fact really really simple, way easier then my 2 house purchases in the uk

but imho the schools in the uk suck, the teach down to the thickest person in the class, dragging everyone else down with them, the smart kids get bored and misbehave, the stupid kids couldn't give a toss anyway, and that goes on until secondary school when they will finally sort the wheat from the chaff, but by then its really too late for most.

Aye and you cannot control the parents, hence you are sending your brat into a warzone.

Which is why I slate the UK schools, nothing to do with the teachers/staff but the x factor/towie watching feral scum that expect something for nothing that attend these places.

Yup and that was the situation I was in 20 years ago, nice to see nothings changed eh.

Moved to the UK as a young married couple and held off having kids until we moved here.

The house I lived in was tiny by comparison and I certainly feel like I have way more space when i'm out and about here - I just go away from the crowds.

The kids tend to break the ice with the locals who seem to find them cute saying "bitte" and "danke" mixed in with English but they will still tell them off if we aren't quick enough at doing it ourselves when they do something that isn't allowed.

I can see the locals being not that friendly with new foreigners. Most are gone again in a few years and even I feel the same. Many live in their little expat bubble, never learning the language and send their kids to schools outside the neighbourhood - that's the main gripe of my neighbours towards foreigners.

Schools are not the sole reason....it is just part of the reasoning. I really don't think I would have any less a chance to get a job in the UK than here. At least I can speak the language and my skill set is aligned with the country.

Jobs here obviosuly require German, so that is immediately my short fall. Also, when I say the ice is hard to crack here with the locals....I get addressed as the English woman despite my introductions and my best attempts at the German. When I am walking the dog and there are a few owners together letting their dogs play...they move on and away from me (like I'm contagious) and as for my neighbours...well check out my previous posts. Despite my polite attempts at trying to resolve their noise...they blocked my car in the car park after my complaint about their hoovering antics at 11.30pm

So this is the thing, I love the countrys scenery, fresh air and order etc but find the people and job ops difficult to live with.

Plus the SVP campaign in our town just pis*es me off and I found out this was the winning vote in the last election here.

Then there is the UK....affordable housing, yes lower salary but lets not forget lower cost of groceries etc (even Tesco reported a loss today!!) but it is a dirty country in comparison to CH. The thug culture is everywhere and trying to avoid that requires you to live in the sticks away from any rail line or major transport network.

So my ideal would be to mix Swiss mountains, cleanliness and order with the good old Brit relaxed approach to meeting people and a nice big house with your own piece of lawn!

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Move out of canton Zurich.

have to agree there, we have never has any issues like that.

affordable houses in the uk are nowhere near where the jobs are (or decent schools) so that means you'll be stuck driving to work (seen the price of petrol and insurance recently?) or the hell that is public transport (seen the price of a season ticket recently??)

because this week is bash greece week.

next week is bash the US (again) week.

i guess the week after is free for the UK again, but maybe we should try France or Germany for a change?

Ha ha yes to all......15% decrease in sales of petrol in the UK apparently reported and 15% increase in season tickets. My commute to London 4k travel plus a fight to the death across London (shudders ) Ok some reality check...

but still you see my point?

Added...Oh no! Sat in friends UK house and dog going mental outside at a neighbour and I just hear myself grumble *control your dog*.......

or i guess you could work in switzerland for a couple of years and you'd probably save enough to buy a house in the UK outright

Aye I had one of the SVP muppets at Baar train station this morning handing out apples and pears.

I took a pear and said thanks from an "auslander" and I really appreciated his kind jesture to foreigners.

So what's this SVP then? Rofl. I didn't ask him where I could get a black sheep poster to put in my window, I think that would be pushing it too far.

kind of, but then I remember what my life was like in the uk, and what my friends and families lives are like (in the south east) huge mortgages for tiny badly built boxies, long train journeys costing a fortune to travel 30 miles (with no seat of course) and the hell of having to wait till the last minute to find out if there kids have got into the school 2 minutes walk away because its considered a 'good' school (whereas I think its a shit school) or if they have been placed in the school 5 miles away instead

as for nieghbours, I wouldn't be able to tell you the names of mine back in the uk (apart from my next door nieghbours)

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I would.

They used to be published in the newspapers during each court case...

Haha reminds me I used to look for old school pals in the local paper after their court appearances. 9 times out of 10 I'd find a name I knew.

I have a billboard with the face of a local SVP candidate staring at me from across the road from my office.

He was actually the first person I met in Switzerland. He mentioned foreigners taking jobs from locals when I joined my husband here and said I was looking for work but he was still happy to charge us a big increase in price for our apartment for the 2 extra months until we moved into our own place (allegedly 1. Feb-1. April was peak season). He complained that I was looking for work here yet his daughter couldn't find a job. A discussion on qualifications and actual experience then followed and he agreed that this country needs people like us - qualified, hard working and not a burden.

DHD, I would encourage you to not act too rashly based upon your current sentiments toward Switzerland and your move. Many people told me that upon moving here from the US that I would likely go through a pattern of emotions that is very common for expats. You may already be familiar with this pattern, but in case you are not, it basically begins with a few months or so of the "honeymoon period" during which you feel like you are on an extended vacation. That is followed by a somewhat downward spiral consisting first of mixed feelings about the move, which can further deteriorate into a period of mild depression and even anger. After a year or so, "integration" is supposed to be attained, complete with a leveling out of one's emotions.

At six months, you are right at the period during which one may become extraordinarily conflicted about his or her move. Rather than acting now, maybe you could tell yourself you will wait a few more months prior to making the decision about staying or leaving? It would hopefully allow you to parse high emotion from the decision-making process and result in a better outcome. In the meantime, there are books you can read and resources such as expat clubs/groups that might be able to help you weather the emotional storm you are currently enduring.

Best of luck to you and yours as you sort it out.

New Zealand? Full of english speaking people, big houses, and as the Lord of the Rings films show.... South Island has the odd mountain or two.

Find it such a shame when Brits have come to really hate their own country. I lived in the UK for all my adult life, and still love it very much. Always will have a big place in my heart. Mind you so has Switzerland. I love both - and I also see the bad points in both too. If I had to go back to UK for any reason, I'd look forward to so many things.

Thinking of you - it depends where you are headed to some extent. London is where the jobs are, but the stress there is enormous, public transport and roads saturated and beyond, etc. One of my daughters lives in Surrey and commutes to London. Finding a house which is in the catchment area of a good school and with fair access to a train station is near on impossible - and the price will make your eyes water- both renting ad buying Same for all the surrounding Counties. And if you want qualified child-care - you will have to pay about £30000 a year Even Kindergarten places are hard to find in a location which makes commuting possible, and cost a bomb (or 2).

If you move to the lovely Devon or Norfolk, perhaps the Lake district you will find excellent schools perhaps - but houses priced out and NO jobs. Parts of the Midlands are very nice - actually- and prices much more affordable. But are the jobs necessarily there. Schools will be hit and miss - but there are many good ones. So not saying at all not to move back to UK - but with your eyes totally opened abut the pros and cons- and trying to think 'outside the box'.

DB's got it right though - move away from Zurich - too crowded, too expensive, too many ex-pats making the locals a bit negative and touchy.
There are plenty of parts of Switzerland where both rentals and purchases are much much cheaper- and where jobs are coming thick and fast with the displacement due to overcrowding on the Geneva-Montreux riviera and the Zurich golden triangle. Fribourg, Yverdon, Biel/Bienne, Bulle even (don't tell Anthony though). How is your French? BTW I know it is not easy - but if you know the key is to learn the language (be it French or German) have you pulled all the stops to learn and improve with regular lessons, total immersion, etc. A language doesn't just 'happen' - like most things it requires a lot of effort, determination and practice.

Bonne chance - viel Glueck.

i still like my holidays back to the uk but I wouldnt go back to live there now not now I have kids the way of life is so much better for them over here. I lived just outside london and i did have a nice house near station and schools but the best schools were full there is just not enough places for the children of primary age so they sent me to school that there was driving distance away i always said i never wanted to be mum who drove to school but i had little choice and there was never anywhere to park! there was no public transport from my house to the school either so not an option..

There are daily reports of stabbing and murders many of whom were close by and mainly young boys so was worried that despite our best efforts this may be in store for our boys.. crime is everywhere i know but it seemed to be getting a little close to home and then the riots recently made me so pleased that our children no longer lived there.

I love that here the children all play outside together without having to watch them constantly they are in and out of each others houses i could never have done that at home, the traffic was heavy and would have been scared by that.. the quiet of an evening is priceless at home there was shouting, sirens, cars at all times, we didnt notice there but do now we are here. plus the views and clean air, my eldest son was constantly ill at home and since being here has not had a single, ear, chest infection or cold. i had my youngest just before we left at 2 weeks old he had his first chest infection and been thriving since we got here.

good luck with what you decide you have to do whats right for you and your circumstances like a pp said ch maybe right for others for not for you but you could try another area. My parents had a similar issue as they emigrated to Canada 5 years ago the place they picked was nice but not for them so they returned to the uk, my dad was really peed to be back so after persuading my mum to try one more time they moved to calgary and they love it there now coming up to 2.5 years since they went. So moving could be the answer

Even tube drivers in the UK earn around £45-50K. Salaries in London are relatively high for most skilled people.

As an IT consultant I can get the same salary back in the UK as here. It would take a bit of time to find that well paying job, but if I lost my job here in Basel tomorrow it would also take as long. Plus I live(d) in the centre of London so commuting usually involved cycling to wherever I was working at the time. Same as here, albeit there's more of an adrenaline rush cycling through London traffic. Kept me awake at least.

I think some people move here from shitholes (*waves at DB) in the UK and then their memory goes all foggy and cheese filled, and they imagine the entire UK is like the shithole they used to live and work in. It isn't.

I've got friends living in beautiful country spots in the UK. Their salaries aren't that hight, but there are many schitzo people on this forum who seem able to complain that the salaries in Switzerland are high so that makes them happy, but that the UK is too focussed on money.

Switzerland is totally money driven. It's not so much "in your face" with large flat-screen TVs everywhere, but that's only cos the TV programmes are shit. The Swiss still flood their over-sterile apartments with designer furniture and buy expensive cars and very expensive but oddly cheap looking clothing. Life is pretty much the same everywhere, when you average it out enough.

There are bad places in Switzerland. Crime rate here is nothing special when you factor in population density. Money talks. Some neighbours suck. Being annoyed by a barking dog in a council estate in east London is as annoying as being woken up by high-heel wearing upstairs neighbours here, or being harrased as a foreigner by an old lady.

Is one country better than another? No.

Are countries different? Yes.

Do people get overly emotional about where they are or are from? Yes. Because they either need to justify their decision or are trying to prove something to their family who they left behind.

Or they really did live in a shithole