Italians abandoning GB

Today's 'i' picked up on an interesting article in Il Fatto Quotidiano about why ex-pat Italians are returning to Italy.  Several commented on the British obsession with alcohol and binge-drinking as an almost sine qua non of social interaction.  That certainly strikes a chord with me.  Other reasons are more predictable: high cost of living and the frenetic pace of life in London, abysmal weather, the difficulty of striking up friendships with the British.

Il Fatto Quotidiano

I detect a change in attitude in Europe and immigrants (as we are) are not as welcome. I think this very much more noticeable in the UK, but without any concrete reason think the same applies here...

... oh and very nice to see you back Neil ...

stevegwmonkseaton wrote:... oh and very nice to see you back Neil ...

Grazie, signore.

Interesting - many of the comments in the article accord with what my younger Italian friends have said (after having tried London, and returned to Italy). Yes, they could pick up a job in a bar or restaurant in London at what looked like a fabulous rate of pay - but then the realities of how much getting to work (on the tube) cost, and the complete otherworldliness of having to live 10km from where you had to work - (daily commuting is hardly known in Italy) - I mean, what a complete waste of time!

Very high flyers no doubt will have found more success in the UK, but it certainly isn't a land of milk and honey for somebody just looking for an 'ordinary' job. 

In this respect I think it is very different from those periods when there was mass emigration from the poorer areas of Italy to Switzerland, America, Australia and Britain.

Perhaps if they were looking/living outside of London a lot of the problems would not be there... Obviously the binge drinking would be in most places in the UK....

The Original Relaxed wrote:......the complete otherworldliness of having to live 10km from where you had to work - (daily commuting is hardly known in Italy) - I mean, what a complete waste of time!

Not sure where you live Lax but here in rural Toscana, most people commute great distances to get to work every day, as work is very scarce and locals now travel (an acquaintance of ours does a round trip of over 50km each day) where the work is. In fact most people in our village do at least 10-15km to get to any job.

In London terms that's still not that far really. I think Italians would be horrified to hear I used to travel 2 1/2 hours each way.

Tell me about it Penny, in a previous life I used to have to travel from Bristol to Kings Lynn every Monday and back every Friday, 5/6 hours if lucky.

LOL Flip. I used to do  special courier type runs on a Saturday to collect Sainsburys orders for the Monday. Leave 6 pm arrive back home @ about 2.00 am on sunday.
I had one run with some special docs that I could not collect until 6 pm from Harlow, Essex that had to be in Milford Haven before 2.00 am. got there, but on the way back had to rest just over the bridge into the UK!!!

Geotherm wrote:LOL Flip. I used to do  special courier type runs on a Saturday to collect Sainsburys orders for the Monday. Leave 6 pm arrive back home @ about 2.00 am on sunday. I had one run with some special docs that I could not collect until 6 pm from Harlow, Essex that had to be in Milford Haven before 2.00 am. got there, but on the way back had to rest just over the bridge into the UK!!!

Isn't Wales part of the UK