Editha

Well, not quite a year; we moved back on 1st July '14 after eight years in Canada.

It's been a good year. We love our house and the area in Devon that we've moved to. We've got involved in the local community and OH has been offered more work by the local Uni than he actually wants. We go on a lot of country walks and we've been renovating our house. We've invested in solar panels and double glazing. Our biggest project is landscaping our big back garden, which is going to take a couple of years to complete.

To my surprise, my brother and his partner have decided to move down to the West Country near me. In the short term, that's landed me with a lot of work because it means my aged mum will also need to move, so I've been checking out old people's homes in the area. Fortunately the one nearest to me is lovely.

The only serious worry I had about moving back was the standard of healthcare, because my experience of NHS care in the decade or so before we migrated had been very negative. But, so far we've been favourably impressed. Our GP practice is friendly and efficient. Our local hospital has new buildings and we've not had to wait long for appointments.

So, it was a big surprise when our local healthcare trust was taken into 'special measures' for under-performing'. When we lived in Staffordshire, on the other hand, we thought the healthcare was dreadful, but the health authority was always top of the league tables. I don't know what to make of that.

This year I've been involved in the making of a documentary. That's been a lot of fun. In fact, I'm on the telly twice this month, but in accordance with the tradition of anonymity on this site, I'm not giving you any more details. Tee hee.

On the negative side, I'd forgotten how awful customer service is in the UK, or maybe it has just got worse while I was away. And worst of all nowadays is central government. A couple of days ago I spent 45 minutes on hold waiting to speak to someone at HMRC. I eventually gave up and then calculated that the call had cost me about £4.50. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that I've spent at least a week of my life in the last year either on hold waiting to be put through to call centres, or having fruitless and exasperating conversations with call-centre operatives.

I also have to tell you about the weird effect of exchange rates on Canadian CGT. I owned two properties in the UK. One already belonged to me in 2006 when I moved to Canada. The other was bought in 2013. So, when I left Canada last year there was a 'deemed disposal' of both for CGT.

I had expected to pay a whacking sum of $$$ for the property I'd owned since 2006 because it had gone up in value by 30%. But, I hadn't realised that the profit or loss was calculated using the exchange rate at the time, i.e. August 2006, when I moved to Canada, for 'deemed acquisition' and July 2014 for the 'deemed disposal'. Because the pound was much stronger in 2006 than in 2014, I'd actually made a notional loss that I could set against the notional profit I'd made on the second property. I'd only owned that property a year, but the CAD had sunk against the £ in that year. The result was that I still had to pay some CGT, but not as much as I expected.

Well that's it from me. Best regards to you all.

NiHao

Editha,

Thank you so much for such a great update! I love reading these updates from people who have moved back. Very glad to hear that it has been more good than bad!

I'm dying to hear more about the documentary and would love to watch it. Maybe I will see it one day and suddenly realize "that must be Editha from BE"!

Please keep updating us and I hope you have a wonderful British summer!

themajor

That is all excellent news. Good for you. It means that you have put the effort in and worked very hard. Well done.

not2old

Good to read your report, which for the most part you have found being back in the UK pleasant & not all misery or doom & gloom.

As for the 'customer service', it just goes to show how spoiled you were living in Canada. Imagine if the customer service in the UK compared favourably to what it was in Canada, what would there be [if anything] to complain about?

themajor

With regard to "Customer Sevice". When we returned to live back in UK. It was far easier to visit physicaly each and every department rather than telephone. It was still a pain inthe neck but got done so much quicker.

Glad to say now enjoy our life here in Cyprus.

Editha

Actually, I think I'd still be moaning about customer service in the UK, particularly government departments.

When I rang HMRC it was because I don't know how to treat OH's Canada Pension for his tax return. Do I put it down as 'foreign income' even though it is paid in sterling? Or do I put it down as pension income? I found myself on a voice recognition system telling me to

'say what your query is about. Say something like "child tax credits".

Nothing I said was recognised by the machine, and unlike some systems it did not eventually give up and put me through to a human. In the end I took it up on one of it's suggestions and said 'tax allocations' or something like that. It accepted that, and then I was put on hold for 40 minutes. Unbelievable.

not2old

foreign income

in the following link, page 2 item 5?

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...x-return-sa100

use form SA106, see page 2... tab 'Overseas pensions, social security benefits and royalties, etc – read the notes'

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...sa106-2015.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...notes-2015.pdf

Editha

Yes, I agree it is probably treated as an overseas pension. Thanks.

not2old

Sorted.....

A good old moan on BE will likely get better results than being on hold with some UK government dept.

rebeccajo

Good to see you're settling. And good to see you around.

Perth

Hard to believe it's a year already. Gives me hope that this next year I have to wait around here to go home will just fly by

feelbritish

Oh Editha what a lovely update, even if some services have been painfully slow and irritating. I guess in some ways we are lucky in Canada getting services from utilities so quickly but try get contractors to work here and commit is another story!

We are also looking now at Devon. As to where we have no idea. I am spending far too much time on Rightmove I see an area and then explore and become not too sure. OH likes the South, I like around Ottery St Mary and the small villages but also the West Coast and West Somerset around Minehead but am worried about weather being very wet in winter! Also flooding. OH says that East Coast is far too busy in summer with tourists. I have never been to Devon so it is quite scary. I also have to probably find myself a small part time job so have to bear that in mind too! The perfect place would be a larger village with shop, post office, church, village green, pubs and walks and easy access to a market town and also access to coast about 30 min away!

Our house has only been listed again and as before it is going to take some time and we could still be here for a long while yet! When it sells we will probably, put furniture into storage, rent somewhere central in Devon and then explore areas.

I have really enjoyed your updates over the year.

kevntrace

So university probably means either Plymouth or Exeter. And underperforming healthcare trust probably means Plymouth.

Am I close?

Seems like we have a few things in common. I was born in Staffordshire but my parents moved to Plymouth when I was nine. I still consider Plymouth to be "home". Heading back there in August for vacation.

My sister still lives close to Derriford hospital. She worked as a theatre sister there for many years, but is now retired.

Glad you are settling in to your life in Devon. It has a very special place in my heart, and I always love to visit. May be one day I will move back there, when I retire.

Editha

Yes, close kevntrace but not dead-on.



Most of the Devon health trusts have just been taken into special measures.

michali

We have the same challenge with HMRC and foreign income and will fill out foreign income pages. Calling HMRC is the worst experience I have had. I really have not had a problem with customer services otherwise. The automated voice would not recognize anything I said and I gave up before I could have become abusive! Less than a year ago, I called HMRC and actually spoke to a person immediately! How things can change in the name of progress!