Someone was asking about adding a poll regarding moving back. So here is a quick one and if anyone has anything to add please do.
I have just done this for canada But we can do one for every one.

Yes do one !...this is really great

Thing is, not a lot of people look into the MBTTUK forum - I do because I am nosey even though I am very happy here .

To get a more accurate result you would have to put a poll in the Canada forum too.

A return to the UK crosses our minds occasionally - sort of drifts in and out of our consciousness every now and again, normally when one or other of us is pissed off with work, or generally fed up 'cos it's snowing again at the wrong time of year - like 6th June or 13th October .

Actually, I don't mind the snow at all - but 24th December to 24th February would be perfect. Oh, and book a spring and an autumn while you're at it (I do miss "green").

It was a hot topic in our house for the first 20 months or so, but comes up less frequently now - so I don't know if that means things are finally getting better, or we have become a bit more disassociated with UK, or what really?!

I've always had this underlying feeling we will return - not entirely sure why - but the longer I stay, the more I feel like I don't want to grow old here. And the longer I stay, the more involved life becomes and the harder it would be to actually make any decision anyway. There is an option to move to another area I guess, but I don't know if I've actually got the energy or impetus to start all over again, again.

I fully empathise with those on this section, and like to keep an eye on who's doing what and why - nosey to the core.

I miss friends and hubby misses his family. You can never quantify that feeling really. But I don't really miss much else, which is mystifying (apart from "green" - did I mention that already?)

I like it well enough, but possibly not quite enough. Who knows, eh? Gotta give it a go

.... by the way, I miss "green"

I am originally from the Midlands and have given Canada the 35yr go which is a fair crack of the whip IMO. I enjoyed a good deal of it and some of it I wouldn't wish on anyone...
Now that I am very nearly 62, well over the UK retirement age and still with 3yrs work in Canada, I see my schoolfriends in UK asking "where are you., we are going over to France for the wekeend ...you should be here with us"... so am missing out on all the trips...plus I live and work alone...family have moved further west.. I am relocating on South Coast around Plymouth area but not before a portion of travel on the way there. friends from school in that area ( we kept in touch which is a really super feeling at this stage)..I look very much forward to this next adventure.

With global weirding, Manitoba has in the lst year had flooding while 2ft of snow on the ground ( last Feb) a total freeze & thick snow while all the trees are green (last month)..never saw that before, There is no snow currently ...normally here Oct 31 on the dot....no sitting out at night in the heat due to mozzies June- first frost,... ant swarms in Spring, black flies in summer and wasp swarms in Sept...so all in all...put a fork in me I'm done!

Have lived in Africa, Asia, Europe and now Canada (N America). My siblings have done the same with their own families, whilst my parents refuse to leave the UK except for short visits to each of their children. Most of my school, college and Uni friends have done the same as me. The overriding consensus is that the ones who stayed in the UK are far far better off. Better established, better education and overall life experience for their kids, and a higher feeling of general satisfaction.

None of those categories fit for us. We come under Not Unhappy but Moving Back Anyway.

Kinda OT to this thread I know...but having moved countries a few times, I'm starting to appreciate the importance more and more of settling and putting roots down in one place, esp. for kids. I understand better why some people choose to stay in one place for their whole lives. There's a lot to be said for having a history, links and connections to a place, that the expat experience can't duplicate (imo).

I've been slowly coming to that conclusion lately, although know that OH and myself would always be bored and restless if we had stayed in the one place always wondering 'what if life were much more exciting somewhere else'.
The people I know in the UK who have always stayed put are certainly more secure financially than us but we have never chased the money so that doesn't bother us too much.
We are probably going to return to the area that we moved from mostly to make the move back easier on the kids as we know people there and know the schools well etc, when we moved away I was adamant that we'd never move back there .
What this (v expensive) experience has shown us is that our life wasn't all that bad before and I'm hoping that if we are able to get back next year that we will make the most of life knowing that this is as good as it gets and that there is no utopia where other people are all living far more exciting lives than we are.

I don't see any problem with people who move back. The only people that annoy me are those that move back after giving the new host country 12 weeks or something, those that move back and then spend the rest of their lives slagging off the host country on the internet, and those that "ping pong" back and forth like kids who don't know whether they want strawberry or chocolate ice cream.

IMO there is nothing wrong with living in Canada or Australia or wherever for a few years - really wringing everything they cna out the place and then returning - all this means is you had a great adventure and broadened your horizons and life experience - you 'll still be sat with the same friends and family down the pub only they never left the place and you got to live overseas for a time.

Moved back to UK after 6 years in Canada, moved back to Canada after 9 months. It certainly made us realise where we belong, been back in NA 25 years! As a very wise friend once told me " You're bu*****d if you move and bu*****d if you don't"

This is a really great post Ann. I have to admit I also come on here noseying at who is doing what and going where, even though I am quite happy in Canada.

I agree completely with such a lot of what you say - I too miss the green and the spring - that is the one time of year I really miss the UK, thinking about daffodils and hellebores (which I had loads of in my garden as I really loved them) flowering at a time when all we have here is either snow or brown grass.

I have made some really good close friends here, but I also really miss the ones who I have known for years, some since I was 11 years old. And I miss my family too. They come and visit regularly but the trip to the airport at the end of the stay is never easy.

You are also exactly right when you say that the longer you stay, the harder it would be to move anyway. I haven't got a crystal ball so have no idea where we will be in ten or twenty years, but I do know that if we did decide in "however many" years to move to the UK, or somewhere else (preferably warm and sunny!), it would be a hard decision to make to uproot the whole family - or just to uproot ourselves and leave the boys behind if they wanted to stay here.

Like I said, great post........oh and did I also say, I miss green too!!!

Lisa

Its worse than that. Most of the (happy) expats I know here have never even heard of britishexpats.com

Most of those that have posted on BE at one time or another stop posting within a year of getting here anyway, and are happily getting on with their new life. They only really bother to come back if they have a problem or issue that they are seeking advice on, so however you look at it, a poll here is unlikely to tell you how happy / unhappy most of the brits that moved to canada are anyway...

I agree with you 100% !

you can make statistics work for or against
figures can be manipulated.
I once read in the UK that red cars are in the most accidents - BUT nowhere in those statistics did it say that red cars dominated 65% of car colours!!!!

I have voted however and we are returning from Canada after a 5 year try.
We have found the people to be friendly but not chummy like in the Uk (cultural thing possibly)
we have also discovered that you won't get a job unless you know someone and in a lot of cases British qualifications mean diddly squat!!!
the big house and 2 weeks hol means nothing compared to being around loved ones and familiarity.
the grass is not greener, in fact it's quite dull in Ontario.
been here done that and glad we satisfied our curiosity.
going back satisfied aaahhhh