Good post mate.

I hear what you're saying. When I meet someone I never liked from my past I always think, fuck, it's like in the Superman films where he is confronted by a baddie with a handful of kryptonite and he instantly loses all his amazing earthly powers and is just an ordinary cunt again.

But that's fictional.

The bottom line is these dudes are part of your history, like in a book somebody else wrote about your life. You can't change that. But the important thing is the book misses out a lot about you. Probably all the best bits. Reading a book about someone is nothing like meeting the person in real life.

These are cardboard cutouts from your past mate. They're totally irrelevant. You are above confrontation. That's what they would love. But your playing by your rules now not theirs.

I get your point about getting to somewhere where you want to be and out of the shithole (it was same for me when living in a hellhole in SE London). It might not need to be Europe. I'm in Brussels quite a lot, and it looks great to me. The nightlife is good, lots of uni girls, it's a great city - capital of the EU. I think it's better than London tbh. But I expect there are other places in the UK that are good too.

No need to backtrack or start repairing anything, you are on the right path, just consider the options.

You might not need to leave the UK, just spend some time researching the options.

Be assured that whatever you decide it will be the right decision.