I can't sleep!!
 

Okay.
Its 3.30 o'clock in the morning and I have a bad case of insomnia so I thought I would share my thoughts with everyone!
Me, hubby and three kids landed here on May 2nd (Whitby). Hubby came over in March to start work, left me to sell the house - thanks mate.. thats one I owe you!!! Had been to Canada plenty of times before and loved it. Totally 'hacked' off with the UK for various reasons which I won't go into. Decided that Canada would offer us so much more as a family - not just a bigger house - as I pointed out to the sceptics back home.
So I have been here 4+ months now and how do I feel? Well for a start I was desperately lonely. As a mum I was stuck at home all day (6yr old dropped back to kindergarten so 3 hrs per day, that was a bummer!). The Canadians are so very welcoming and friendly but SO different to what I am used to. My neighbours bought me a marrow when we moved in).
No retail therapy, no nights out with the 'girls', etc.etc.If you are married and over 35, forget ever having a social life of your own 'cos its not gonna happen! Meals out with the hubby.... all the restaurants here shut at 9pm - wot!! Forget trying to buy trendy clothes ( I miss Primark - sorry), the order of the day is shorts,ankle socks, trainers etc. I bought over tons of stuff from the UK which I will never wear again. Comfort seems to be the thing here. Went shopping today in a long skirt and a pair of cowboy boots and got stared at, probably would of done in the UK but what the hell!!!
Fourteen year old son has suddenly become a 'babe magnet' because of his accent. He was the reason that we came over here on a work permit to run along side the PR application. He loves it and doesn't want to go 'home'. I also have a 6 and 7 year old, they both have Canadian accents now which is pretty off-putting. The kids have so much more freedom, there is a huge park less than 300 yds from our house, we have a pool in the garden (sorry,back yard) I don't worry where they are any more and would never of let them play out in London unsupervised... if ever. All in all, life is pretty peachy for the kids.
As for us, hubby is working silly hours, 7.30 until 5.00, in downtown Toronto, has to leave at 6.30am and just about gets there on time. Gets home at 6.30pm due to the traffic on the 401.
Everything seems very cheap when you 1st come over here but in reality its not. Yes the petrol (gas) is only 80c per ltr which works out to about 40p but all the cars are 3 litre plus so you are putting in twice as much. The car insurance is astronmical, your no-claims bonus from the UK means 'diddly squat' here.The groceries are expensive and I go to the "kwik save' of Canada! For a family of 5, I spend on average $220 excl. + all the extras I run out of during the week. Much the same as I did in Tesco. Electricity prices are pretty steep and I have yet to spend a winter over here, so can't comment on the gas prices.
All in all, apart from property and car prices, Canada is pretty much the same as it is in the UK. Note that I come from the London area though so I guess a bit more dearer. I would say that all in all, Canadian prices are slightly less than UK prices, but you earn a lot less over here. Hubby cleared 950 pounds (sorry no pound sign on this keyboard) in the UK per week but over here he barely clears $1300....about 3/4 of what he earned in England.
I don't want to 'burst you bubble', but think seriously about the financial implications of your decisions, you might be better off where you are. If you want to be in the same position as you are now financially but just want to feel that you have done the best for your kids then by all means come on over but its not the financial utopia than everyone thinks.
Yes, the UK housing market has made things very easy for us to emigrate wherever we want, but at the end of the day we have to live in that country and pay their prices ,for whatever, out of the wages that country pays.
I don't regret coming over here, especially when I see how much freedom my kids have. I have an enormous house that I would never be able to afford in London but it has come at a price.
I spend my days cooking, cleaning,gardening (yeah right).I am bored shitless. I have been here 4 + months and have only just made some friends.(all British may I add). Mums, beware!!! Its hard.... if you are not an outgoing sort of person then you are going to be very lonely. You have to approach people in the supermarkets/along streets/at the school etc. or you are going to be feeling very isolated. 'Hi, your're not Canadian, where are you originally from".....etc.etc .
Please feel free to e-mail me or reply to this thread if you want to know a bit more about my life in Canada.
I'm going to bed!
Sam

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

Welcome to my life when I landed in 1996. Nothing changes - yes living here compared to London is great for the kids if you like the limitations that come with it, but kids do leave home eventually....and then what are you faced with, scrap booking??? :scared:

PS the £ sign is ALT key 156

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

Thanks for replying, I thought that everyone else was asleep and my 'moan' would get lost.I don't do 'scrap booking' most definately. I am going to sound like an 'alcho' here, but what is it socialising here.When we were in London we did'nt go out until 9pm, a drink, then a meal, went home about 1am. This is Hickvilles!!! HELP...!

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

tried it, it don't work.

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

Use the numeric pad with numlock enabled. That should do it. Numbers across the top don't usually do it....not sure why though.

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

Hi Dingbat!!
Where abouts in London are you from ...I bet its a 'posh' bit. Me and the other significant one (?) are from Stratford, East London. Home of the asylam seekers and other peoples!

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

Me either! :o

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

Come on.... you can't all be asleep!
I'm in the mood for a natter!!

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

Although I am still in the UK (but moving soon) I think you have hit the 'slump' when everything starts to settle down after what must have been months of running around like a maniac, stressed up to the eyeballs :eek:

It's mum's job to make sure her family are all settled, and now the kids are at school and have made new friends, hubby into the routine of working/commuting, your suddenly left doing the washing, ironing etc and have no outside life :confused: . Its now time to concentrate on your own quality time. You will have to get networking to get friends. I don't expect it will be easy (I am a bit of a yap, so hopefully that will help me). You can try inviting some of your kids friends over for tea, meet their parents, then perhaps throw a BBQ to say hello to everyone.

Definitely get a girls shopping trip into Toronto organised to help save your sanity. :D

Look in the local newpaper and see if there are any events coming up that your family would enjoy, ask at the kids schools if they need a voluteer to help out with any forthcoming event.

I intend to join a gym, not that I am soooo into it but I go to one here a couple of times a week and you soon getting chatting to other people there.

I have been joking with people that I may land up in Tim Horton's with my coffee and a pile of timbits looking around desperately asking 'Will somebody be my friend' :o

Over the next few month's I am sure things will start changing for you. Hate to say this but its the run up to Christmas and there is always lots going on. Maybe those scrapbookers would jump at the chance of a girls night out/in with some good food and nice wine - you may be surprised at how much fun they can really be ;)

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

Okay Willmore,
Theres obviously someone else in this country that is still alive!!
Tell me a bit about yourself seeing as we are the only people awake now!!

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

I am wide awake...its 9:49am and I'm writing some lovely VB.NET code and working on SQL Server 2005. Its doing its best to send me to sleep though. :zzz:

Sorry about your situation. We moved from the Midlands to rural Scotland to "get away from it all". We're now back in the Midlands as we thought it was best when our daughter was born so she could see family and they could easily see her. We really miss the rural lifestyle and simpler things though. We sold a listed lodge there and I think about it all the time. We had a huge garden, woodland, paddocks. Now we've literally got a backgarden which is about 40ft by 40ft!

We are hoping to move to NB. I don't think there is a perfect place to live for me, I certainly would always want X from there, Y from somewhere else etc. All in all, from what we've seen and things we like, I think NB will be good for us.

CB

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

They don't do 'girls nights out' over here (floosies).Scrapbooking is for the over 50's, the local gyms are full of people who don't need to go to the gym, the "mums" groups are patronising.......ooh!eer! Not good!
Sam x

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

Good grief girl, what are you doing up at this time. I'm only up as I'm saving lives!!! Are you coming over on monday? Think we need a few bottles of something strong!! Better get back to work as don't want to be on the end of a malpractice suit!!

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

Start a new trend then - cowboy boots with skirts 'Girls Nights Out'...... bet they are desperate for it :p

Re: I can't sleep!!
 

GOOD GOD, YOU HAVE JUST SPENT THE NIGHT SAVING LIVES AND NOW YOU ARE ON THE INTERNET. OKAY I AM A SAD BITCH WHO CAN'T SLEEP AND STILL ON THE 'NET AT 5.15AM. TOO MANY BEERS AND FEELING BADLY HOPESICK. FEELING PRETTY CRAP AS USUAL, GET LIKE THIS MOST NIGHTS. STILL IN THAT 6 MONTH PERIOD YOU MENTIONED.WANT TO GO HOME, AND BADLY HOMESICK. GONNA GO TO BED B4 STU WAKES UP AND GETS THE UP.
RING ME TOMORROW PLS.
SAM XX :-)