[hot wasabi peas]

Hello British Expats,

I've read this forum, on and off, for a few months. I've found it very interesting to read about various people's experiences of Canada but have never contributed to the discussions since I'm not a 'British Expat' and would have felt a bit out of place (I'm actually the opposite; I'm a Canadian woman living in Britain).

But anyway...

I've lived in England for three years and I'm going through a bout of homesickness. I know what I love and miss about Canada - it's all I'm thinking about at the moment as I'm sure any expat can appreciate. It's been two years since I've been back to Canada for a visit and I feel it's easier to remember what I miss than what I don't, making my feelings of homesickness seem worse than they have to.

So I'm asking you a favour - what irritates you about Canada? I feel like I need to add some balance to my homesickness.

Thank you,
Ms Wasabi

[oceanMDX]

The politicians - especially at the federal level.

[indybrit]

Originally Posted by hot wasabi peas - what irritates you about Canada?

Nothing. At least nothing that comes to mind. Not much help to you I know but what can I say.

I'll ask the wife if she can think of anything.

Originally Posted by hot wasabi peas what irritates you about Canada?

The same things that irritated me in the UK ... bad driving ... rude people ... unreliable tradespeople ... office politics.

The one unique thing about Canada that still gets me is distances ... the place is so bloody big ... there's no equivalent to nipping over to France for a bit of foreign culture ... western north america is culturally homogenous ... you have to get to Quebec or Mexico to see something different ... the sea is a 12 hour drive away ... it's all too big.

Sit down and write yourself up two lists ... what you REALLY do miss that you can't get in the UK (I still say chocolate is just chocolate) and try a bit harder to write your list of stuff you relly don't miss.

All we really miss are friends that we got to know well over almost 20 years ... we dropped off people's radar really fast and that was a surprise ... there are people we though were really good friends that we just haven't heard from ... we've only been here for three years so it's hard to get a 20 year friendship going.

If you really miss friends, family & familiarity ... go back for a visit ... it'll probably cure the homesickness.

Reading the BBC news on the web does the same for me .... I don't miss anything enough to get me back over there

Emigration scrambles your brain and does odd stuff to your memories ... you just need to ground yourself and get your brain back in check.

[indybrit]

Okay, just asked the wife.

1. Government bureaucracy. For example 9+ months to get a birth certicate... :scared:
2. Traffic lights on red for too long
3. Paul Martin

Originally Posted by indybrit Paul Martin

Paul Martin is worse than George Dubbya or Blair??

Originally Posted by hot wasabi peas what irritates you about Canada?

Celine Dion ....

[Corky]

What do you miss about Canada aside from Family and friends. Where abouts did you come from?

[Rhodes]

I don't live there yet, but communist fences in Canada annoy me. And that in some modern housing developments, the mail is delivered to a central point a mile down the road. How are you meant to read your utility bills in your pyjamas there?Another thing that annoys me is the smugness at not being American (in the U.S. sense), which goes hand-in-hand with people often thinking that they are American. Such as people saying "We think of Benedict as a traitor's name" (with referenec to Benedict Arnold and my first born whose name is Benedict).

Originally Posted by Rhodes Such as people saying "We think of Benedict as a traitor's name" (with referenec to Benedict Arnold and my first born whose name is Benedict).

Just makes me think of eggs ....

Buy an old enough house in Calgary and you get mail delivered to your front door ... you even get a regular postie.

How many times have you been over?

[Toontje]

Originally Posted by hot wasabi peas ......since I'm not a 'British Expat' and would have felt a bit out of place.

That's okay. I'm not Britsh either and I feel fully accepted by my "brit friends". FWIW I'm a dutch wannabe expat.

Originally Posted by hot wasabi peas what irritates you about Canada?

Speed limit of only 100 km/hr. It takes ages to get somewhere.

[willmore]

][/quote]

Welcome to the forum....and don't feel out of place at all....I'm totally out of place here being born, raised and living in Canada.....but forced my way on the forum on the grounds that my mom/folks were from Ireland.....and generally speaking the people here are a good groups of folks - with a great sense of humour.....they have somehow even managed to tolerate me.....so don't worry.....about being an outsider.......

What part of Canada are you from?

[Interested]

Have to agree with the traffic light thing. There are WAY too many traffic lights in Toronto. They create avoidable grid lock.

Infact, I hate the way you can't go anywhere without sitting in traffic.

I hate the lack of paid holiday time.

I hate the crappy T.V.

I hate the way that you have to pay to recieve calls on a mobile phone!!

I hate all the bank charges, they charge you money for making transactions, for keeping money in the account, etc.

Int.

[Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Glaswegian Buy an old enough house in Calgary and you get mail delivered to your front door ... you even get a regular postie. How many times have you been over?

It's really put me off if mail wasn't delivered to the door. That might be illogical, but one needs some way of reducing one's options. But $$$ might be a more powerful determinant.

I've been to Canada 6 or 7 times, I think. Every time to Ontario. The only time I ventured beyond Ontarion was a day or two after we were married, when we stayed in Hull (arse end of Ottawa, it seems, just over a river) because we needed to get Mrs Rhodes's permanent residence of the UK sorted out at the British High Commission.

Originally Posted by Rhodes It's really put me off if mail wasn't delivered to the door. That might be illogical, but one needs some way of reducing one's options. But $$$ might be a more powerful determinant.

In Calgary you don't have a choice for new properties ... they all have mail collection points ... our house is about 20 years old and has a mail box ... couldn't face driving to get my mail at -35C either.

Originally Posted by Rhodes I've been to Canada 6 or 7 times, I think.

Most of our first trips were there too ... so glad we gambled and came over to Alberta.