scilly

I have never been sorry that we left England 50 years ago, neither is the OH .......... and neither of us would even consider moving back there now.

If we did have to leave Canada, we'd go across the Pacific to NZ or certain parts of Australia, both countries that we have lived in and have enjoyed.

Mind you, we never expected to find England or English "things" when we moved to the different countries ........... and I much prefer the idea of being an immigrant to Canada, than an expatriate.

To me, using the term expatriate implies that a person has never let go of the past and moved on to settling and really becoming part of the new

Shard

Yes, that's a good point too. Have you been back to the UK very often in the intervening half century? It's certainly changed.

scrubbedexpat091

I'd venture if I had not come to Canada in 2004, I would have finished my program that I was in and making an okay wage, maybe even have a house..

But we shall never know.

BristolUK

Perhaps you could have gone to work for Mr Trump. The way things are going they would surely have got around to you.

cxx

Property-wise we have a larger house than we had in the UK but the area is not as nice. If we had we stayed in the UK we could probably have bought a similar sized house in a much nicer area than where we are now.
Work-wise we have better jobs here, but we may have got similar jobs in the UK had we stayed.
We miss easy access to Europe, and whilst we're closer to the US it costs more to get there.
I regret moving to Canada, and wish we'd moved elsewhere in the UK. Financially we'd be much worse off if we tried to return to the UK than if we'd stayed there.

scilly

We went back about every 7 or 8 years on average, with the last trip back in 2008.


Of course it has changed ......... and those who long to "go back" do not realise that it is no longer the UK they left, no matter how many years they have been away.

I went back in 1971 when my father died. It was only 4 years after we left, but I got lost in the centre of my home town, there had been that much change in that 4 year period.

bats

You wouldn't have met your wife though.

Jingsamichty

There is an ancient Scots proverb that sums up such ponderings:

"If yer auntie had baws she'd be yer uncle."