Chi_Nook

Funny we must be very lucky as our kids are quite well settled and normal here in Calgary They both went to University and have very good jobs now in the oil industry (my daughter as a Land Manager and my son as a Web designer). They are doing very well and my daughter just got back from a 3 week tour of London, Ireland, Scotland and Portugal and is currently out on the west coast (Vancouver Island), water skiing and sailing for a few days. They have both been to the UK for extended visits with relatives (during their university years), but they prefer to live and work in Calgary. I've been here a number of years and I and my friends and family have not experienced all the nasty things you did in your 14 months of living here. I'll bet after your experience you're really glad your back in the UK. Goodness after what you saw and experienced here, if it was me I'd be glad to get out of here and move to Afganistan, never mind the UK...

My sister-in-law and her 2 children are moving here to live next month, after having visited Calgary twice (once in the winter and once in the summer). They are moving here primarily for a better life and more opportunity for their children (they currently live in a nice area of Manchester). They seem very excited to get over here, so I hope they don't experience the things you did though, that would be terrible for them.

Best of luck back in the UK...

ann m

With the greatest, greatest respect to you Chi_Nook - and I am truly not having a go......... with your 66 posts, you are the newcomer to this forum, if not the country, and have not yet had the time to get to 'know' dbd on this forum. He is well known here, and yes, begrudgingly respected I feel , and whining is not one of the words that comes to mind when describing him or his posts. He just tells it like it is. Read his blog - take in his style and tone, and note that he never uses smilies or winkies or any other emoticons. I just think you've picked the wrong person for the wrong reasons - and no, I don't think he's like Jesus Christ as you so delicately put it before

sans

Haha i was in Nanaimo and it is very pretty. I sometimes wished we had gone to NS, but it never entered our heads till it was too late

Chi_Nook

With the greatest respect to you too. You have you're views and I have mine. I've encountered dbd before on anther thread immediately after I joined this board to get some information for my sister-in-law and her family, who are moving to Calgary next month. I didn't find him very helpful, just very negative and annoying.

ann m

OK

sans

Sorry i didn't experience those things personally, i was just commenting on that in the 14 mths we were living their all these things happened. And that its not just in the Uk .

We all have different experiences in different places, and its nice that you have such a great life in Calgary. My Aunt moved to Calgary in the early fifties,she has moved away afew times, but has resently returned there.

After over fifty yrs she would like to return to the Uk, but is worried she would lose her pensions, if she did. Her only son died of Cancer last yr and she has 4 gran kids in Calgary, that she never see's. She is in her 80's now and is very alone in that big city.
We did go to Calgary to have alook and didn't like it at all, were not city people and that place just was'nt for us.

Chi_Nook

What's the number of my posts go to do with anything? Does having more posts make you more believable, right or honest?

For your information, I've been in this country for over 25 years, have been a Canadian citizen for the last 22 years and have two Canadian children. I've also travelled this country from the east coast (Newfoundland) to the west coast (Victoria) and the Yukon (Whitehorse) and many parts in between. I've lived, worked and owned property in Alberta, Ontario and BC (both the interior and the coast), so I think I know a little about life in Canada by now.

ann m

Oh crikey - I don't want a fight!

My reference to your 66 posts was simply relating to the fact that you are potentially a newcomer to this forum (but you may have been lurking for years) and I also did say "if not to the country" - because I took the time to understand that you have been here a good while and know the country well. My commenting on your number of posts had nothing to do with some virtual sign of believability !

So - my paragraph only asked you to get to know dbd's tone, if you felt so inclined. But as you rightly say, you have your opinion and I have mine. They differ on him. That's OK.

Chi_Nook

I can fully understand your desire to return to be with family, it's a big part of most people's life. Sorry to hear about you're Aunt's son, that can be tough, especially when your far away. Shortly after we arrived here my wife's Gandfather died suddenly and she was very upset that she couldn't get back for the funeral, so I can sympathize somewhat with how she must have felt.

If it's government pensions, you're Aunt should check it out, maybe those pensions can be paid in the UK as their is a reciprical pension arrangement between the UK and Canada. Private Canadian pensions, I'm sure could be paid into a UK bank.

Yes Canada is not for everyone. Some people settle very well and some simply can't for personal reasons or reasons beyond their control. We had freinds who were here for about 15 years, but their parents got older and they felt the need to return to the UK to look after them. That was a few years ago now and we've lost touch with them since they move back to the UK.

I detect that you are very glad to be back in the UK and I do wish you and your family all the very best in resuming your life in England. You need to look on your Canadian emigration experience now as an adventure you undertook at one time in your life that you can eventually tell to your granchildren.

Take care and all the best.

sans

Yes i am very glad to be back, if a little worse for wear it was a very expensive adventure and the second time i've done it, back in 1975 $4 per hr went a lot further and you could buy a brand new house for around $40-50.000 in Victoria ( but thats another story).
My Aunt says she would lose one of the government pensions??? She said she only gets it if she is in Canada My mum died new years day just gone, which was very difficult expecially as we couldn't get to the funeral, and not having fam or friends here. I already have 2 gran children, one of which i have just resently met for the first time

dbd33

Do you ever get those letters included in a Christmas card? The ones that have a family picture, perhaps outside a church. The ones that describe the family's year, Suzie is the star of her ballet company, Joe is the big hitter on his softball team, both scored straight As this year. The ones that make you scream to know the other side, about Suzie's abortion, about Joe being a fag,
about how the parents had to go all Carmela Soprano to get those grades?

That's the problem with your posts. I don't begrudge you being happy in Cowtown, I hope you love your truck and its antlers and all of that. I'm glad your children are paragons of virtue and fabulously successful. I just don't enjoy your posts because they don't ring true. I can't imagine it's all been good for you and I think your posts in praise of Canada would be more effective if you'd acknowledge that it isn't perfect.

By way of comparison, look at paradisefound's contributions, ludicrous overselling, or dingbat's, hurtful to read for the honesty about sometimes doing the wrong thing. What you give us is brochure Canada, what's worth reading is the warts-an-all account.

pinkmcfarquhar

Well, we moved over here to Newfoundland at the end of last year. Back in Scotland we had a nice house and a nice enough life (although I hated my particular job, but that's a LLLLOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG story). We both had always had the urge to just go and live somewhere else. Canada ticked our boxes (compared to Aus, a lot nearer, and the beasties a lot bigger and easier to avoid!). We came on a couple of recces - one to Vancouver/Edmonton, the other to Newfoundland. Fell in love with Newfoundland on first visit, and two years later moved here.

So, anway here's the good and bad so far:

Good

Bad

Is Canada for us long term? I don't know, time will tell. So far I love it 95% of the time, not sure 5% of the time. How much of that is due to getting out of a stressful job, and not having to work since we moved, I don't know. I know I am looking forward to getting a job here as I feel that will help give a more balanced view. On the whole though, when I am driving home at night and come round the corner and see the view of Middle Cove, I know that however it turns out, I am glad we came here and that we had the experience. That's probably the best way to make the decision - would you rather regret the things you did do, or the things you didn't?

hockeyhairdo

you're definitely not selling Canada (or UK) to me.

tracys

I have watched CSI Miami and thought it was good, try not get involved in too many series' as time consuming. But now I've heard ER is only making one more series I've got room in my veiwing itinery

tracys

It looked so peaceful there. Our realtor never mentioned any of those horror stories, I wonder why