Perhaps a ducati loving landlord that would not freak out if they saw my baby in the living room that has garden access...
Sunbury is where the BP research facility is, I recall. not a bad place if that is where you are heading. things to look out for; will your employer have a secure area to park and chain up a motorbike will you be ok not being too close to a train station (as Nasher points out, being near a commuter station to London will push prices up a lot) the screenshot below has an approx 50km radius from Sunbury with the red shaded area being "inside the M25" where only evil lurks ;-) (but seriously, the prices within M25 are again usually very high for poor standard of accommodation) Guildford, Godalming and nearby have historically been thought to be amongst the most expensive places for property outside central London (we have an office down there, so I've been plenty of times and have colleagues commuting horrendous journeys so as to be able to afford a home) I am sure there will be plenty of southerners along to help, as you mention, motorcyclists (and especially the bunch on here) are a decent lot. picture courtesy of google maps and my shonky artwork on MS Paint. Pete
I dont intend to commute with it. The bike will stay home locked. accommodation expectations very low. Main problem:
Kingston will be pretty expensive if your renting. Could be worth moving out a bit further (3 miles) like Surbiton. Then the money you have saved may afford you somewhere with secure parking etc. Just avoid the Claygate area
This thread gives rise to an interesting illustration of contrasting perceptions. There is a common stereotypical image in some of the British media of Greece being in a state of economic and social collapse, with excessive public debt, high unemployment, negative growth, weakening public services, and the flight of capital. Bad news! Avoid at all costs! Reality is somewhat different though, and here it is the person moving from Greece to London who is "terrified". Would you care to comment @drosei ?
There was an official twinning visit planned last Summer from an Italian town between Rome and Naples to Exeter in Devon. They cancelled at the last minute and never did give a convincing reason. Reading between the lines though, it was because they were afraid of terrorism...
@drosei ?[/QUOTE] Sure, Athens has never had an islamic terrorist attack ever. Having experience from the middle east I can even say that the arab world are friendlier towards Greeks compared to the rest of Europe. The only terrorist attacks are from left-anarchist" groups usually targeting buildings rather than people. In fact there have been only 7 deaths from 2000 of people that were actually targeted. Non were by standers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_Greece. I have lived in Canada, Italy and US and will easily say that Athens is safer than all of those. Probably one of the few safe places in the world right now. As far as motorcycle safety goes , I had parked my previous battered TDM900 on the pavement for months with only a disklock before someone stripped the front cowling, clocks, ECU without taking the motorcycle. Greece is now having a primary surplus (=more income than expenses without taking in to account debt repayments), unemployment is still staggeringly high to 20% down from 30% in its all time highs but still 46% youth unemployment. Growth is 0.8%. Public services where always shitty but you can still walk into a hospital and you will be treated. Flight of capital ceased because we have capital controls since 2015. Public debt as %of GDP is high but thats because GDP dropped 30%. Debt is a promise to repay and if the debtor believes the promise, everything is OK, which is apparently the case nowdays after so many years not being so. TL;DR The once naughty child of Europe is the new economic miracle because in my opinion, Eurocrats have bigger fish to fry with Brexit. So now, please tell me that London moped crime is government propaganda to prevent European immigrants from bringing their ducatis with them.
