Re: Is Canada Home?
 

Ha yes but you are in Toronto!
I was just relating what he'd told me of his experience today.

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

I was surprised when I read the comment and so I can well understand how some here would react to it.

But in fairness I also take into account the poster, in this case you Morwenna. In my books, and I expect general agreement, you hardly have a 'nasty' track record here so I would urge readers to take this into account. I am sure nothing sinister was intended.

If truth be told I am sure we have all said or written things which we, upon later reflection, wish we hadn't.

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

I am probably a good candidate.

I lived in England until age ten. From then till age 16 I was sent abroad (France, Switz. India). When I returned to the UK in late 1959 it was, in many ways, like discovering a brand new country.

I recall taking my first double decker bus ride. Funny thing was that I had been on buses as a young child but it was just distant memories.

Despite a dozen short visits over the last 40 years I returned to the UK, this time for a six month period in 1999. Pleasant enough but I never did quite fit in. The country had undergone massive changes and it sure wasn't the England I had left in 1962.

I recall visiting some of my old neighborhoods. But in one instance I was in for a surprise: The flat my dad had rented in the early fifties (Granville Place near Marble Arch and very close to Selfridges) had been demolished and replaced by a Marks and Spencer's warehouse.

Canada, actually Quebec, is and always will be my home. I was never really homesick. I went back mainly to visit family and relatives many of whom are now dead and buried.

I suspect I never did have firm roots in the UK to begin with. So I never really missed the place.

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

Maybe for financial or practical reasons? Because I lived in England for the first forty three years of my life I can't imagine Canada ever feeling like home. It's taken an absolute age to feel settled here and just when I begin to think I'm more comfortable with my new life I then find myself longing for England again. The problem is though that I realise that moving back would not be good financially and it would be tough. Plus I'm married to a Canadian who's settled back here nicely so I see myself staying here maybe for the rest of my life but it probably never really feeling like home. Mind you, never say never of course!

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

Hi!
Love living here, but not sure its for me longterm..............too provincial.
Plan to take advantage of the TN under NAFTA and head to the States sometime, and then reassess. Would be fine returning home, at whatever stage, appreciate it much more now.:thumbup:
Been busy converting my qualifications and fighting protectionism for 18 motnhs, once I am back practising in June, may feel different, but for now enjoying the adventure :)

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

I'll throw in my 2 cents (or .8 pence!) Although I was born in the UK I grew up in Canada which was "home" I then moved to London 6 years ago. When I'm in Canada London is "home" but when I'm here in London my friends in Canada are "friends at home", etc. And when I talk about DH and I going to Canada I tend not to say "moving home". Its funny isn't it. I honestly think home IS where your heart is - whether for the place or the people.

I guess the point for me when I realised that the UK had become home was when someone asked me what exactly I was pining for in Vancouver. I when I talked about having all my closest friends nearby and our Sunday brunches in English Bay he pointed out that of the people I was missing so much - 1 had moved to Toronto, another to the Yukon, 1 to North Van (that bridge is the great divide :p ) and 2 had kids now and probably wouldn't be able to manage every sunday morning. Faced with the reality that I was missing something that no longer existed and although they hadn't moved countries everyone had moved on too "home" was where I was happy.

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

I can see how its hard if your partner is canadian and was the driving force for coming...makes sense. I agree about the money, Im sure most people take a financial bath returning to the UK, but if you really arent happy (and the wife isnt either), it really is "just" money. life's to short to waste it someplace you dont like, and there are plenty of happy people out there who are a lot worse off than me.

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

"just money" is a strange concept. If one has children one is obliged to do one's best for them and even the most abstract "good thing" is better achieved by more funding. For a parent, living in a place one finds unattractive in order to maximize the chance of one's children graduating with globally saleable skills isn't much of a price to pay; otherwise there would be no Indians in Dubai, Mexicans in the US, Poles in the UK or Londoners in Canada.

It's a very bourgeois idea that people emigrate for the good of their health; most displaced people move simply because abroad offers more money.

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

I agree it happens, but im not sure I agree it results in the best for the children. IMO the best thing any kid can have is happy, settled parents. Debt can cover everything else, but you cant put a price on happyness and the effect that has on a kids outlook on life.

Shit look at all those celebrity brats on TV. Money is no issue, but they dont seem all that happy to me:confused:

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

I agree. I have spent less time in Toronto then I have living anywhere else. Toronto *is* home. I don't miss UK or Sweden at all when I'm there. Although, strangely enough, there are aspects about Sweden I miss when in UK. Can't see myself moving back to it though as it isn't home. Neither is UK. It nearly got to be home but not close enough.

Toronto is it.

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

I'd agree with that. We are a recycled family but now pretty much settled and established as a family. We're not rich by any means; indeed we are less well-off than most of my stepson's friends' families. However, our small, nondescript house is where an awful lot of them like to hang out.

Over time I have come to realise that one of the major attractions of our place is mealtime. It's not just that Souvette is a good cook, there is also the fact that we usually all sit down together to eat. This seems to be less and less common. The teen friends clearly enjoy this family dinner thing, even if it's not their family.

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

I just spent the last week in Blighty, negotiating the M40, M25 amd M6 with not a little apprehension. Countryside so exquisitely British I wanted to cry. Cities that hummed to the wee hours. All I can say is.....I felt alive again. I loved it. My kids loved it. The bloke loved it. Canada is not home, it never will be for us, but it will have to do until that perfect job comes long :) I do agree with Souvenir about the dinner thing though - we have always done that, here as well as in the UK.

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

Must be all those landfill sites, the stench can be quite off putting. :D

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

Oh the quaint Britishness of it all - green meadows, chirpy snotty-nosed kids in Dennis the menace jumpers, the comfort of familiar graffiti, burned out Robin Reliants, market stalls selling stolen goods and fake DVD's with Japanese covers, jumpers for goalposts, sausage rolls and cucumber sandwiches. Aunt Bessie and a nice cup o'tea to make everything alright.

I have such a deep yearning - to avoid at all costs :sneaky:

Rich.

Re: Is Canada Home?
 

I felt at home when the plane touched down on the runway :thumbup:

Am currently in the UK and can't wait to get back home to Calgary. I love seeing my family and friends, but I am going to wait for them to come out and see me from now on. I could never ever live in the UK again, it's small,cramped and dull. Give me the wide blue Alberta skies and the Rockies.