Terry, FYI the company had a house in Exeter for quite a while... I guess that's "South Coast". I lived there almost half the year in ?2001...
Yes, NZ is a country of contrasts. I choose to live here for a number of reasons. But next year I'll be coming back in your direction to set up home again for a year or 5. I think I'm qualified to say that while Brits are very good at identifying the shortcomings of Old Blighty, sometimes I wonder whether you see all the positives, which are many.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1