elfman

Ah, I think I see the problem: is it really any wonder you were getting funny looks? I mean, British people are used to seeing dogs in pubs, but that's as far as it usually goes.

Jingsamichty

It all depends on why you left the UK in the first place.

If you left because you wanted to see the world, to give yourself and your family the opportunity to enjoy new experiences, and for excitement and adventure, then going back to the UK is simply another part of life's rich tapestry. You should embrace it as enthusiastically and open-mindedly as you would if you were moving to Morocco or Peru.

If, on the other hand, you left because you thought "the UK was shit and full of foreigners", well, what did you expect when you came back?

billybones

So it seems a few of you want to jump all over my comment about foreign people and make me out to be some awful person...
this was written late at night so I will clarify, by foreign people I mean immigrants indeed, however I could be more specific to the behavior and lack of English language skills of some of these people, I wont because I have already been accused of racism but I'm sure there are many on here that can understand what I am trying to say and the ones that cant I don't care . It seems it does matter what part of the UK you come from and I am a big city guy. Maybe I should condense this post as all I really wanted to convey is that after two years in Canada I needed a visit to the UK to remind myself why I came here in the first place.

lmartin999

I am curious as to how you knew "these people" were immigrants?

lmartin999

I believe I understand exactly what you are trying to say, you made it very clear.

Joe_Sleepy

I abhor prejudice in all it's forms..
Having been born & raised in South East London I can attest to "functional" problems with regards to immigration.

Growing up I had as diverse a group of friends as anyone could have, we were Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, Christian, African, Jamaican, Indian, Pakistani, South African.... There were few if any issues & everyone pretty much got on (I went to school in Deptford)..

When my wife & I had our first child we were seen by an Indian Health Visitor. She was terrified of being in a room with me (The stay at home parent) & would only visit if my wife was present (Defeating the point of our arrangement somewhat). This, coupled with the fact that her accent was so utterly impenetrable, meant that we gave up on the whole issue..

It's humour when we laugh at the notion of an unintelligible accent on the end of a telephone based somewhere in India & yet it's seen as overt racism if we compalin of the need to decipher the same accent standing in front of us on Waterloo station..

I feel the OP could have been more diplomatic in his language but I think I understand at least some of his point..

Incidentally, my girls are regularly tormented in school because of their accents & cultural mores & the idea that this would be considered racially prejudiced would be laughed at..

britsnake

I remember my first trip to Canada. I stayed a month in the suburbs. I spent the first couple of weeks coughing up all the stuff I had been breathing in all my life in the UK. After my lungs were finally clear I breathed in the fresh clean air of the Canadian countryside.

When I went back to London I was hit by the stench of 100 different restaurants and unwashed people all mixed together. After a few hours, I felt like my nose was on fire. I notice all the rubish which people would casually throw on the ground.

I spoke to a few of my friends who had come from other countries and asked if they had noticed the general grubbiness. Thier response was that they had and they were surprised by the extent of it as they had expected the streets of London to be paved with gold rather than dog poo.

I contrast an experience which I had had whilst in Canada where someone got on a bus without change. They asked for help and a few people came forward to help them. I got on a bus in london and the bus driver had no change I asked if anyone had change for a fiver and no one would make eye contact. All I heard was a couple of people complaining. The bus driver told me he would wait if I went across the road to change it, but as soon as I was out of sight he was gone.


After a few weeks I was able to get the friendly smile off my face (it made me a target for pushy salespeople and beggars). I also put the rush back into my step and the sneer back on my face.

Since becoming a PR, I have been in Canada for nearly 3 years. Soon, I will be going back to the UK for a visit. I know what to expect, but I still intend to have fun.

Joe_Sleepy

We were staying in Lunenburg, about 7 years ago, & my wife ran out of sunscreen. Whilst she nipped into the local Pharmacy I stood outside & smoked a cigarette.

Two police officers approached me & wanted to know about the roll-up I was smoking, I began to explain & one of them said "Ah, British, don't worry about it"..

We started chatting & he asked me who I was waiting for, I explained & he sent his (red haired) partner into the store to show my wife the sunscreen he uses..

Whilst we were chatting he noticed a minute scrap of paper on the sidewalk, picked it up & dropped it in a nearby trashcan. "Sorry about that.", he said.
I told him he'd cry if he saw the litter coating the streets where I lived in London.. He told me that we Brits should do what they do there & "fine people if they litter"....

Different worlds..

Jingsamichty

It's quite amazing, isn't it, how different people percieve the same things.

We visited London this summer, first time back since we lived there over 10 years ago. My first impressions were those of cleanliness, vibrancy, prosperity, but most of all, energy, energy, energy! This sights, the sounds, the noises, the smells, the colours, the people... it all made you feel like you were alive and part of a city that was full of life and raring to get on with life. The diversity of being able to go from somewhere vibrant and lively like Brixton to somewhere classical and serious - so completely different - like Westminster within a mile or two is so refreshing.

The English countryside remains, as AX said upthread, beautiful and idyllic.

In contrast, on our return to Calgary, we were struck by the sterility and homogeneity and insularity of life here.

Even though I'm still going to be working here, I genuinely can't wait to get back to the UK to live.

snowshoveller

So you mean people living in a country that they do not originate from, right!

Essay

Thanks to the OP for starting this discussion. Indeed, fascinating how perception = reality.

There are Canadians who do not feel at home in places far from where they grew up, and there are Canadians who feel at home very far from where they grew up. Personally, I adore London, Belgium, Paris and several Italian cities, where I visited within the last five years. I'd love to try living in each of these places but that is unlikely to happen. When meeting someone who chose to move to Canada, their stories intrigue me and generally make me realize how lucky I am to have been here my whole life.

Of course, I've been in Edmonton for over a decade and still get comments about my accent (apparently I sound like I'm from Toronto). Some of these comments are less than kind. People. Funny things, aren't they?

Lorry1

Totally agree. I would never live in London, you couldn't pay me enough, but I love going there for a day or 2 to soak in the atmosphere.

The British Countryside will always be fantasic, in my opinion.

After being in Nova Scotia for over 3 years, we visited New York and the moment I stepped off the train, I felt so alive. The noise of the cars beeping, the people, the atmosphere was fantastic.
Halifax is a little village in comparison with not alot really going on.

Halifax, small though it is, also has its problems. There are bouncers on the doorways here. Shootings, muggings etc. No where is immune.

billybones

First of all I may be jobless but I live from my own savings and not The Canadian taxpayer

Secondly my comments regarding immigrants may seem hypercritical however they are not... Immigrants from Europe do not need any security or background or health checks to enter the UK, neither do they need to have a job, Hence we get a lot of undesirables from Europe living in the UK and crime figures involving Immigrants is a growing problem which the government publicly recognizes. I was reading in the Telegraph that new government figures show a rise of convictions and imprisonment for EU immigrants of 850% in the last 3 years, this re-enforces my point and is factual so please no more of this finger pointing!
I am disappointed that whilst trying to write my first thread highlighting MY experiences in relation to the UK I have attracted so much negativity.

britsnake

I love the convenience of a big city. I love the wide deversity of people and cultures that you find. I loved being able to go to the supermarket at 1 AM in the morning and find what you need.

When we lived in London my wife was always looking out through the curtains to see why the police were there or to watch a local gang or a couple arguing in the street. To her it was free entertainment. It was never dark.

I used to hate the ladettes you would occasionally see wandering the streets and the casual violence that they were capable of. To me they were worse than the men.

I also hated the racial tentions that in my view was becoming worse.

Now we live in a medium sized town in Canada. Where we live now it is extremely quiet. The only fights we normally see are between the local wildlife. When you turn out the lighs you cannot see anything.

When we first came to Canada my younger children were too afraid to turn off the lights. And my older children complain about how dead it is here.

Sometimes I miss the thrill of living in a big city but not enough to move back to london. Though I will visit.

izzi81

There is some scary truth in this... I have been asthmatic from the age of about 10. I used to have to carry my inhaler everywhere, and would need to use it about once a day. In 2003 I spent 3 months living in Vancouver. By this point I'd had this level of asthma for 17 years. My 3 months in Canada all but cured me. I'm not kidding. I went out for my stay with a huge supply of inhalers, and I hardly used them. Now I use an inhaler about once every 3 months, if that. I don't understand, but I'm not complaining!