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Moving back to UK from Canada

Moving back to UK from Canada

Old Sep 30th 2017, 1:41 pm
  #31  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by glendem4
. We found St Catherines and Barrie to be similar to Bournemouth in the UK. Both St Catherines and Barrie are near a lake, they are large enough to have all the amenities close by and only 1-1.5 hours from Toronto and the International airport.
I think comparing Bournemouth to either St Catherines or Brarrie is quite a stretch.
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Old Sep 30th 2017, 1:45 pm
  #32  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

To the OP. Halifax or St Johns might suit you better if you were to stay in Canada. Both have a good Pub and Restaurant scene. However there are some drawbacks to both of these cities compared to Toronto and Southern Ontario.
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Old Sep 30th 2017, 4:14 pm
  #33  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by scilly
I've known several people who moved back after 3, 5, 15 years because they missed "whatever" in the UK so much ...................

and then regretted leaving Canada, because the UK they moved back to was not the UK they left, friends had moved on, and they realised what they had left behind.


Take an unpaid leave of absence, if possible, go back for 3 months with your wife, and see how like living back there vs visiting for 2 or 3 weeks. The decide whether you still like it as much "back there" .............. and whether your wife would be willing to live there.


Travel around Canada and see what the rest of the country is like


and realise that Canada is a huge country, with a small population hence cannot support a transit network such as you think you are missing.
People always say that but whenever I go back it's changed but changed for the better.
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Old Sep 30th 2017, 6:36 pm
  #34  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by jsinco
Transit also bother me, in scotland i could travel by train everywhere. There are no trains outside the GTA here, I cant go to Muskoka by train or to Port perry for a day.

Once upon a time there were a lot of passenger train lines in Canada. I think there used to be a trainline up to Collingwood, ON for example. There was even a train line that went up to Grouse Mountain in Vancouver. After WWII passenger rail transport was scaled back massively due to the rise of the car.

This is the only G7 country which doesn't have a dedicated passenger rail track. CN Rail freight trains get priority on the track which causes delays. There are finally plans for VIA to build a dedicated electric passenger train line in the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor.
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Old Sep 30th 2017, 7:05 pm
  #35  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by jandro
Once upon a time there were a lot of passenger train lines in Canada. I think there used to be a trainline up to Collingwood, ON for example. There was even a train line that went up to Grouse Mountain in Vancouver. After WWII passenger rail transport was scaled back massively due to the rise of the car.

This is the only G7 country which doesn't have a dedicated passenger rail track. CN Rail freight trains get priority on the track which causes delays. There are finally plans for VIA to build a dedicated electric passenger train line in the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor.
Bit like when Dr Beeching decimated Britain's amazing rail network in the 60s.... very sad.
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Old Sep 30th 2017, 7:48 pm
  #36  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by Paul_Shepherd
Bit like when Dr Beeching decimated Britain's amazing rail network in the 60s.... very sad.
I didn't know anything about the closing of railway lines. It was a good read.
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Old Oct 1st 2017, 10:05 am
  #37  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by Oink
People always say that but whenever I go back it's changed but changed for the better.
I'm very surprised by that but I think if you stayed rather than visited you'd probably have a different opinion.
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Old Oct 1st 2017, 1:51 pm
  #38  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by Shakyuk
I'm very surprised by that but I think if you stayed rather than visited you'd probably have a different opinion.
I would agree. But of course to each his own!

In the UK, the traffic density and driving behaviour is getting worse year by year. Housing density of new developments is getting tighter with smaller room sizes and now miniscule plots. Service in general is terrible and getting worse. Brexit seems to have brought out some nasty thinly disguised racist overtones back into the mainstream.

Our recent experience of Canada (Ottawa burbs) is a hugely refreshing change. Drivers are generally very polite, you can actually use cruise control! Service is very good / excellent (Mrs H is still in shock!). Sure the new developments are 'cookie cutter', but still larger rooms than new UK houses, and at lower prices - plus the earlier developments still have good lot sizes. Of course house prices vary wildly with Toronto and Vancouver being silly 'hot spots', but there are other cities in Canada other than these two!
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Old Oct 1st 2017, 3:18 pm
  #39  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by Hurlabrick
In the UK, the traffic density...

Housing density of new developments is getting tighter with smaller room sizes and now miniscule plots.
Traffic and housing are my main issues. In my town there's hardly any open space now, every small bit of woodland or grassland is being snapped up and tiny houses for ridiculous prices are being built there. Developers still haven't grasped that cars exists either with most new developments having no parking around here. So they look like a mess with cars lining both sides of the streets.
My town is already heavily congested with traffic still present on my road at 10 pm but the houses continue despite local protests.
It's a stress to do anything around this area now and it's just getting worse.

It says it an when the locals strongly object to every development yet they all still get built. So much for democracy!
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Old Oct 1st 2017, 3:52 pm
  #40  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by Former Lancastrian
but being able to fit the UK into one of the Great Lakes that has double the population of Canada I must disagree.
Sorry to be pedantic, but I hear stuff like this repeated often and it is simply not true.

The area of the island of Great Britain (alone) is 209k sq km.

The area of the largest of the great lakes is 82k sq km. The combined area of all of the great lakes is 244k sq km. So perhaps that is where this misunderstanding comes from

The other one I hear is the GB is the same size as 'Newfoundland' (people saying this usually mean the 'island' itself). Again, incorrect. The island of Nfld is 108k sq km. Now the area of the province of Nfld and Labrador is 405k sq km. Perhaps that is where this comes from.

But yes, absolutely agree that UK with nearly double the population of Canada and a relatively tiny land area makes it a pretty crowded place. One of my reasons for leaving! The most useless accessory on a UK car is cruise control (with turn indicators being left off the accessory list for BMW's and Mercs!)
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Old Oct 1st 2017, 5:21 pm
  #41  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

I always like to use the 5m in Alberta vs 65m in UK comparison.
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Old Oct 2nd 2017, 2:26 pm
  #42  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by Hurlabrick
I would agree. But of course to each his own!

In the UK, the traffic density and driving behaviour is getting worse year by year. Housing density of new developments is getting tighter with smaller room sizes and now miniscule plots. Service in general is terrible and getting worse. Brexit seems to have brought out some nasty thinly disguised racist overtones back into the mainstream.

Our recent experience of Canada (Ottawa burbs) is a hugely refreshing change. Drivers are generally very polite, you can actually use cruise control! Service is very good / excellent (Mrs H is still in shock!). Sure the new developments are 'cookie cutter', but still larger rooms than new UK houses, and at lower prices - plus the earlier developments still have good lot sizes. Of course house prices vary wildly with Toronto and Vancouver being silly 'hot spots', but there are other cities in Canada other than these two!
i disagree ...driving etiquette in Canada leaves a lot to be desired compared to the UK..nobody seems to understand the basic rules of the roads..indicators are obviously obsolete in Canada because nobody uses them...people think nothing of swerving across 4 lanes of traffic at the very last second to get to the exit..also i thought you were suppose to stop at red lights ...and do even get me started on how to use roundabouts?!
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Old Oct 2nd 2017, 2:36 pm
  #43  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by Hurlabrick

In the UK, the traffic density and driving behaviour is getting worse year by year.
Well, I only drove around the south coast but, last week, it was an absolute joy to be on well surfaced roads with fast moving well driven vehicles and an 'orrible shock to get back to driving around Toronto. It may be that these things are getting worse in the UK but it'd take decades to get down to the standards seen here and, by then, the Canadians will be even worse at driving.
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Old Oct 2nd 2017, 2:48 pm
  #44  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by cheeky_monkey
i disagree ...driving etiquette in Canada leaves a lot to be desired compared to the UK..nobody seems to understand the basic rules of the roads..indicators are obviously obsolete in Canada because nobody uses them...people think nothing of swerving across 4 lanes of traffic at the very last second to get to the exit..also i thought you were suppose to stop at red lights ...and do even get me started on how to use roundabouts?!
Canadians consider themselves polite for pulling out of the passing lane to let the coming car pass, they then drift back into that lane. They have no concept that they shouldn't be there in the first place. The idea that anyone should be able to drive at any speed they choose in any lane they choose is daft and it's worsened by the fact that the drivers are engaged with their cars; they have cruise control, they have automatics, the government controls their light switch, so, rather than driving, they sit there stuffing fried dough into their faces while their vans drift along in one lane or two.

Drive from, say, San Diego, to Toronto and, as soon as you cross the border it's obvious why people in Canada pay ten times more in car insurance than people in the US. Oh, and Canada produces Chryslers, vehicles with steering so vague that even if the driver wanted to choose a lane, he or she would not be able to stick with it.

Gah!
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Old Oct 2nd 2017, 3:01 pm
  #45  
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Default Re: Moving back to UK from Canada

Originally Posted by dbd33
Canadians consider themselves polite for pulling out of the passing lane to let the coming car pass, they then drift back into that lane. They have no concept that they shouldn't be there in the first place.
I long for the day Britain follow's BC's lead, and makes being in the overtaking lane when you're not overtaking a driving offence!
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