Moving

Well, maybe they didn't keep coal in the bath - it just looked like they had......

Newcastle is beautiful, in a brooding sort of way. All that lovely Northern stone.

You can fly from Heathrow too. I want to go there again.

Mandelson was MP for Hartlepool and would have known that you get mushy peas in a chippy, not quacamole.

I thought that John Prescott, former MP for er, Hull, had admitted to starting this urban myth

It could be worse. He could have suggested .........no darent say it - I might get hung, drawn and quartered!

Oh, go on!!

The Lake District. (Ducks and runs for cover)

I lived in the north west for four years and absolutely hated it - especially the cold, wet weather. While living there, I met a young woman at the playground with her children. She had moved with her partner down to Buckinghamshire and she absolutely hated it in the south. It's not that the north is lovely and the south is horrible - it was just what she was used to - although, of course, some people are more adaptable than others.

Flamenco I think it's unfair of your partner to expect you to move away, especially as you describe yourself as "quite old" and he'd previously assured you that he wouldn't want to move back up north.

On the plus side, my cousin and her husband moved to the Newcastle area many years ago from Essex - and when her mother died her father moved there too to be near them. They really like it. I have never been there myself but I've heard it's a great city and I believe the countryside and coast is very beautiful (though I couldn't cope with cold either).

The problem here is not Newcastle but that the 'partner has decided' - was there no discussion? If you say no, will he leave you and go anyway? If you go and hate it will you be miserable and blame him, and split up, and what then? Would it have to be in Newcastle or just outside? Tyneside/Whitley Bay is on the coast but the Metro takes you into town.

Having sorted that out, I have to say that, as a regular visitor, Newcastle has a lot to offer. Wonderful deserted sandy beaches (albeit a bit cold and windy), art, culture, super friendly people, your ear will attune to the lingo after a year or so.

But if you have a lot of friends and relatives close to where you are and don't want go leave them, then you have to choose - who do you want to spend the rest of your life with?

I totally agree that you should spend a week or so there before deciding - it may be nothing like your partner is dreaming it is. Plus it depends on how much you would have to spend on a house as to which area you would be able to live in.

flamenco agree with others that it's wrong if there's been no discussion, presumably must have a good reason why he has changed his mind. I think I'd feel like you under the circumstances. Ana my grandma kept her coal under the stairs-I remember the coalman coming in with the sacks on his back and emptying them in. You brought back a forgotten memory.

I kept my coal under the stairs when I was renting half a house but in sacks. It would have been stolen if I had left it in the garden!

This was only about 25 years ago (not "olden days")

My mother was similarly frightened of going oop north. She spent 34 years in a village between Newcastle and Durham and absolutely loved it.

flamenco I wouldn't go there either ( bloody freezing!) I am a Northerner that prefers living in the South.
Ask him why does he want to go back there now after all this time, and remind him that you always said that you didn't want to go.Good Luck.?

moomin what a wonderful photo of the Tyne - now one of the best salmon rivers in England, which makes it one of the cleanest in England too!

Haven't you discussed with him why he needs to go and also how you feel about it. I think if you have found your sole mate, you will make the right decision. If it had been me and I thought my other half was really unhappy living where we were and had good reason to move I would go.. I wouldn't like an ultimatum, with no discussion and reason for moving so would stay put It us all about why! and the sort of relationship you have with each other.

Do you not want to move at all or, are you happy to move, just not to Newcastle

You need to consider Flamenco that if your partner died you would be living in a place not of your choosing and would you be able to afford to move back ?

If you're still there Flamenco this is for you
www.facebook.com/BuzzFeedUK/videos/1649193425108807/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

Have you asked him why? I would not want to uproot myself on a whim . There would have to be an exceptionally good reason to move . Sit down and have a proper talk about it .

Brilliant Janeainsworth . I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

And apparently the natives are really friendly too !