If anyone has a huge amount of money to give away or has a place for me to live, I'd much appreciate it!!!!!

Yup, this is the beginning of a rant but I don't give a damn as I'm violently pissed off!

To those who wonder what it's like living in the UK, well it's crap, and here's why.

Unless you're rich you have no chance of finding a place to live. If you do then it's because you got onto the property ladder before house prices went beserk, or you screwed the benefits system but even then you're restricted to renting a crappy flat at £120 a week (which is more than some people earn in a week). If you've screwed the benefits system, and you're not rich, then good on you.

If you're thinking of buying your own home, forget it. To afford anything here you have to get yourself into a huge debt by getting a mortgage (I know, same for most first-world countries but third-world countries should rejoice at your debt-free freedom). However, it is now at a point where first time buyers can't afford a mortgage at all because:

1. The money lenders (banks) aren't dropping their interest rates to the 0.5% base rate. The current average rate is 7% (yup, 6.5% above the base rate - banks are still being greedy bastards)!

2. The estate agents are ignoring the recession and are keeping house prices deliberately too high. They of course only want to sell to rich people who have the money to be immune from a recession - screw the poor (and even those with a moderate income).

3. Now that the banks have had their wrists slapped for lending out money that didn't exist (and still doesn't exist, as if they give a crap) they are now only giving loans of between 50 and 75% of the property's value. So on an average £180,000 you need to come up with between £45,000 and £90,000 cash just for a deposit. ...and if you think the £45,000 is the better option, think again; the interest rate for that is much higher so you're paying back more or less the same amount.

4. EU regulations and laws have increased the red tape surrounding buying and selling a house, and of course the cost that goes with it.

5. Property prices have only really fallen in the high end market such as the multi-million pound mansions (i.e., £10 million is now worth only £8 million - bummer). Prices have not fallen for the normal housing market. Indeed they're rising again - right in the middle of a big recession, growing unemployment, and general job insecurity. Go figure!?!

6. I'm self-employed so I therefore don't have a regular income. I'm therefore considered a big risk to give a loan to despite the fact that not too long ago I could have self-certificated myself and pretended to have an annual income of £100,000 and ask for anything I wanted - yep, it was that easy (and that stupid).

7. Renting (money down the drain) is now much more expensive than having a mortgage because the rich people, who haven't been able to sell their second homes, are finding they can make huge amounts of money out of poor people who can't afford to buy their only home. (...and no, if you're paying for rent that is higher than a mortgage, ie., meaning you can afford the cheaper mortgage, you still won't be able to get that mortgage, such is the greedy, sadistic whim of the banks.)

There are so many other reasons why this country is so crap but I'll leave that for another day.

The irony is that I can buy outright a 12 acre plot of land in the mountains on the edge of a National Park in British Columbia and have enough left over to build a decent log home and be self-sufficient. Here in the UK it won't get me a deposit on a small bungalow, or even a shitty leasehold flat. If I could get to Canada I would (and hope to one day) but I need to get my degree first... but then I need to run my business to earn the money for that... but then I need to have a place to live to run my business... ...oh crap!

If you're honest, hard-working, and try and fight for a better life you get screwed.

I hate this bloody country!

...and it's because of the worry of looking at homelessness in the face that I've not been able to get out and do some photography (I knew there was a point to this whinge).