scilly

I'm an old timer ..............

we left the UK 10 days after we married in 1967, lived in the US for a year, then OH was offered at faculty position at a university in Vancouver.

We came for 2 years, for the adventure of living in a different place, and for a better salary than either of us could have got in the UK ......... just as we had gone to the US a year earlier.

We arrived in Canada on August 22 1968, and knew within a very short period of time that this was probably "our" place. The decision was made on our return from our first holiday back in the UK in 1973 when we walked down the steps of the plane in Toronto and one of us said to the other "Isn't it good to be back HOME!"

We immediately took the steps to become citizens.

We came with nothing except some wedding presents (no furniture), rented a furnished apartment down south, then had to start buying "stuff" as soon as we got up here ....... thank heavens for the Sears card we had got in the US!

We slept on air mattresses with sleeping bags for about 4 weeks, the apartment manager lent us a card table and 2 chairs from the swimming pool deck. First thing we bought was a hide-a-bed. It was about 6 months before we managed to buy a proper bed.

It was all an adventure!


I've usually found the reverse of what most people on here have said ........... we only went back to England at 5 to 7 year intervals, and I was usually astounded by how much more some things cost. OK, so OH"s Clarks shoes were cheaper, but my latte was more expensive.

I also noted how dirty the streets were in many of the towns we would visit when seeing friends and family. I'd forgotten about shoes sticking to the pavement

Swings and roundabouts.


We both had larger salaries than we would have ever got in the UK, have a nicer house than I'm sure we could have afforded, and love the life here. Our daughter had an excellent education here, both at school and at the 2 universities she attended, getting a BA and an MA followed by a degree in Architecture.

The pub was never really a large part of our life in the UK, tho' OH was known to spend time in a rather lovely thatched pub near where he taught . That means that we never really missed the "pub" life.


FWIW ............ I was born in Oldham near Manchester, and OH is from Cheshire. Mill town vs rural


Give yourself time.

Don't slag everything about Canada, realise that living in a place is very different from visiting for 2 or 3 or 4 weeks.



PS .............. I don't know much about pharmaceutical research, but I know a lot about other kinds of research being done in Canada, and I'm not sure that you were accurate in an earlier statement!

Pulaski

But that is where your experience appears to be fundamentally different from the LeesaRouz's.

Oink

I noticed this about Vancouver. The streets and sidewalks are grey and dirty and everywhere has mold or mildew on it, especially shop awnings. It's disgusting, especially when they are restaurants. I know the weather is partly responsible bit it just seems not very many people care about cleanness. I'm surprised that not more get sick here.

Paul_Shepherd

Well don't read them then silly!!

Besides that I have no idea what you are talking about....are you available with subtitles?

dbd33

I think he's referring to the "send a message, something, Skype, something something" text that blocks out some of the lines of your posts.

Verdant

That's odd. While his location stream of consciousness does seem a little messy, it's not blocking out any of his posts on my browser (chrome). It remains contained under his username pic. Are you using a pc or phone? Hmmm or potato?

dbd33

This is internet explorer. Where the text string falls depends on the length of his post, on short ones it just overruns the signature on longer ones it's overlaid on the body of the text.

Siouxie

Could you do a screenshot and post it to the Site Feedback forum please? That shouldn't be happening, I suspect it's something to do with the way the webpage is set up.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/site-feedback-63/

Cheers!



Edited to add, it's not showing that way for me on IE.. laptop with 17" screen

scilly

Post doc salary in 1967/68 was about $9,000

Starting faculty salary in 1968 was $10,000

I earned at least twice as much as a research assistant/technician as I had done as a specialist teacher in the UK, while OH also earned about double in real terms as he had done in the UK


Granted that is long ago, but we had just as much of a struggle at times to save the money for a new car, a house, etc etc etc ..............


It is all relative isn't it???


Lots of advice was posted on an earlier thread re salaries



In fact, what I meant by having "larger salaries than we would have done in the UK" was that this applied all the way through our careers ..... starting with the fact that we had both worked for 2-3 years before leaving so we had experience under our belts and were not "fresh behind the ears" post docs.

Danny B

oh my God really? That's it? he must be bored.

Paul_Shepherd

Wow....seems I have caused quite the stir! How trivial.

I wouldn't waste you time Siouxie, no one else has a problem. He's just a bored >snip< man.

christmasoompa

Actually (pops head up above parapet), it completely skews it for me too, your location is so long that your posts appear much further right than everybody elses when I'm reading a thread and it throws the formatting right off.

Sorry. . Please don't call me whatever name Siouxie just had to snip out above.

Paul_Shepherd

There we are, all done.

I'd like to point out that I did that for you and Siouxie as you are polite and pleasant people.

Just to set the record straight for other posters on here, I'd like to add that I feel I have always had a pleasant congenial attitude toward posting on here, and have always exercised great diplomacy.

I have never called people names, that one off case was an adjective and just for the record it was not foul language as some people may now think, but I understand why Siouxie snipped it out, also I'd also like to point out it wasn't directed at you as you said in your post above.

I just want everyone else on here to know that, I take pride in my reputation and I am not that kind of person. That's all I want to say on it and will draw a line under it now.

Siouxie

No need for explanations Paul, we all know that you are a total gent and always polite!

christmasoompa

Oh, I know all that, it was only a joke and you are a very pleasant chap indeed.