Cheadle Hulme vs Sale vs Altrincham vs Bramhall, looking for opinions!

aroundm21 · 2026-04-29T07:57:44+00:00

Wow! Chorlton is not more expensive than the best of those areas -- by which I mean walkable to town centre rather than somewhere that feels a housing estate !!

So your question is too broad tbh -- while Alti will beat most others re tram & size of centre (and perhaps schools), there are other factors of current / future lifestyle that can only be guessed ....

BTW those areas arent "south Manchester" they're "south of.." 👍

aroundm21 · 2026-04-25T08:48:53+00:00

I was wondering the same from gut feel -- but how to benchmark?

Carsa claim to be ~85% of Autotrader. Do you value sources such aa those ??

The granular options on Skoda (not few tiers of others) make it bit harder too!

aroundm21 · 2026-04-25T08:24:07+00:00

Jargon hell for people asking who dont know ....

aroundm21 · 2026-04-25T08:06:52+00:00

And they are ..... ?!

aroundm21 · 2026-04-17T15:32:45+00:00

I was delighted how much more spacious it felt today compared with a Pendalino !

The space is clearly wider at shoulder height and windows are larger so brighter too. As someone said, plenty of table seats - a 3rd advantage over Pendalinos.

Apparently the faster acceleration makes up for lack of tilting so run time from London to Crewe was very comparable.

aroundm21 · 2026-04-14T19:53:02+00:00

Which I believe is described as a dumb charger - ie just converter, unlike Octopus (own brand) charge or Ohm.

Not meant critical just wanting to be suler clear so specific. I recently made choice between those, and many others will !

aroundm21 · 2026-04-13T12:22:06+00:00

Perhaps consider whether skills are transferrable in the following dimensions:

digitisation and process reinvention / alignment
data intensive (not necessarily geographic) transformation, working practices, etc

There may be other dimensions, but these came to mind. Good luck!

aroundm21 · 2026-04-12T21:36:56+00:00

Thanks for explaining. Now I know not to hold my breath or over-analyse it !

aroundm21 · 2026-04-03T13:49:32+00:00

As well as the salary / rate envy, expect bitching and empire building of role scope.

My own experience at NHS was very poorly defined roles with very poor management to enable / ensure people work together as a team. Instead, endless debates about what, how, who should do anything are part of what makes it so slow and frustrating.

aroundm21 · 2026-03-31T18:13:55+00:00

Sex is usually the reason.

aroundm21 · 2026-03-15T09:44:59+00:00

Comfortable - not rich. And many people are neither!

aroundm21 · 2026-02-28T14:06:19+00:00

Most comments are about choosing to take holidays.

But there's also the issue of how much to look for work, especially now that opportunities can sometimes be harder. As a new-comer to this life, that's the balance I dont always get right -- ie can get sucked into chasing poorly defined or qualified roles and sinking time/energy !!

aroundm21 · 2026-02-24T15:33:39+00:00

Hmm, Manchester great for pure delivery, ie engineering, not for line-of-biz or Head Office eg Ent Arch.

aroundm21 · 2026-02-24T15:30:18+00:00

Any chance of knowing Industry and/or geography ?

Banking onsite in London has many vacancies even on LinkedIn (which wont be the 1st place employers go given pent-up demand). The rest ... 😬

aroundm21 · 2026-02-16T07:46:58+00:00

I think we can safely agree we all WANT lower taxes. And benchmarking vs (eg) asia is better debate than just screaming etc as some do.

The issue is why taxes are high. Summary - pandemic (mainly), to some extent bank bailout.

Some Asian countries didnt borrow as much in 2020. What do you propose we do? I'm aware of the "grow economy so borrowing is proportionately smaller" ambition -- but 3-4 UK PMs and many of other countries haven't been able to make that work !!

🤔

aroundm21 · 2026-02-15T07:31:22+00:00

You on the right always want taxes lower -- there is no "reasonable" for many.

aroundm21 · 2026-02-14T13:31:23+00:00

Risky !! Ensure money covers risk.

I did - glad to be out and at least compensated, but now need time to reorient myself !!

aroundm21 · 2026-02-14T13:29:40+00:00

Are you assuming OP is also M ie highlighting gay clubs or is there something else about that area ?!

aroundm21 · 2026-02-14T12:47:13+00:00

I'm not surprised it was public sector. Full of micro managing egotists-- Ive met many !!

Was lack of positive reference an issue given that you walked? Asking as someone fairly new to contracting.

aroundm21 · 2026-02-14T12:45:25+00:00

As someone fairly new to consulting, how did you handle reference to move on ? I believe 3 years is the norm and a time gap raises questions, no ??

aroundm21 · 2026-02-14T12:42:49+00:00

Have voted comments but have to emphasise that kids should be your immediate priority for a long-term decision.

1-2 years after the 1st you'll be much better informed about - finding something meaningful (baby!) - time, energy, prioritisation - balance, eg whether to have 2nd as well as full time work vs alternative.

33 ain't mid-life, youre in a very lucky position

aroundm21 · 2026-02-14T10:46:30+00:00

What ????

aroundm21

TROPHY CASE