Further musing

Not at all sure how long or often I'm going to post on here, so might as well get on with it whilst I have the enthusiasm. I intend to generalise a lot on here, I don't particularly want to get into the fine details of my life, even I don't find that very interesting.
Returning to thoughts on moving countries, I can only observe that small differences are more obvious than large ones in some cases. The first thing  really noticed about Dutch differences compared to the UK (apart form the almost total lack of CCTV) was postal. For years I was used to getting the standard junk mail offering wonderful pre-approved credit cards, or bank loans, or debt consolidation, or variations thereof. For months after I moved here, all I got were letters inviting me to open bank savings accounts - which explains a lot why the UK has such huge levels of personal debt, and over here it just doesn't seem to be a feature. Like rather a lot of Brits, my personal debt levels were on the severely unhealthy side when I moved; I was one of those who subscribed to the "it's all right as long as you have cashflow" mentality. I'm happy to report that I have managed to reverse that greatly, old bank loans are paid off and are not being replaced, credit card debt has been reduced greatly (indeed it's not that easy to get a credit card here, even though it is a virtual essential these days). I was never exactly in danger of bankruptcy, my equity on my mortgage was never threatening to visit negative territory even during the worst of the shrinkage of UK house prices, but lack of worry about debt is always welcome. Money may not ensure your happyness, but at least it can make you comfortable in your misery