British Expats - One year back from Canada

Wow how time flies! Today it has been a year since we arrived back and the last year has been a mixed bag. Happy to be back in England. Love the culture, food, tv, walks, National Trust and being much closer to friends and family. We moved back to our own house in South Bucks and spent the last year decorating and fixing up the garden and opening up driveway for extra parking.

I love the way the house is and my little garden but the parking issues and closeness of neighbours, especially as we live in a very family orientated place, with a new build behind us which was not here when we left has driven us quite crazy with the noise. This new building with townhouses and flats has had to have "social housing" resulting in lots of noise from screaming kids and barking dogs. Of course not enough parking either so it has spilled over onto our estate. Some of the houses here have been bought for "buy to let" and some tenants do not have the same values as home owners, they park wherever they find a place and if it blocks you in, then tough. They also do not keep their properties tidy and you can definitely tell who is a tenant and who is an owner. The good side is that our neighbours directly next door are the same and we all get on well. Unfortunately one lot who have stayed friends for all the years we were in Canada are retiring to Somerset!

The town has also changed dramatically with a lot more people moving out of London for the good schools and commute so it is very busy! I usually now walk everywhere because parking is at a premium and expensive. I tried to join a few groups and societies and almost everyone was full with a waiting list, including the WI. Only two groups I could join was a Bucks health walk and Weight Watchers! You need that here with all the cream teas and fish and chips!

OH settled quickly, got an allotment which keeps him busy but he was much more affected by the noise in the school holidays and insisted on every window in the house being shut and would not sit outside.

It was the right decision to move back here at the time but now we think that we may be better off somewhere in Dorset closer to the coast and in a more "retirement" environment so will be pursuing that option in
Spring next year.

We took a few trips, namely to Kent, Dorset and Devon in caravans or holiday chalets and loved these little breaks and intend to some more next year. We always visit National Trust properties while on holiday and get to see a lot of the areas.

We have found it a bit more expensive than we expected but UK is still more affordable to retire here for us than Canada and next week I will be doing a full audit of what we spent in the last year to assess how we will be budgeting for the future.

One fact I love about being back in Britain is the way we can just chat to anyone and people are usually very friendly and love a laugh! My friends here are at the end of a telephone and we see them quite a bit but as we do not live close, we usually make the effort more than them.

Our big disappointment was the OH's family who we thought would be happy to have us back and who would see more of us but that was not to be and all the old issues are still there and not likely to go away!

To sum up there is good and bad everywhere it is just how to deal with it and what is important to you. I am more settled and looking forward to now buying a bungalow near coast and making it my forever home!