I know its negative but.....
#61
Re: I know its negative but.....
I don't live 1000 miles away from the lake district and the general opinion amogst the locals here is that it is easily one of the most small minded, racist and bigoted areas of the UK.
One of my ex-girlfriend's used to visit her parent's holiday home there once in a while with a gay male friend of hers and they used to have to pretend like he was her boyfriend when they were out there to avoid him being lynched.
One of my ex-girlfriend's used to visit her parent's holiday home there once in a while with a gay male friend of hers and they used to have to pretend like he was her boyfriend when they were out there to avoid him being lynched.
#62
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 13,553
Re: I know its negative but.....
We are seriously considering emigrating, for the 'better life', we are not after perfect weather etc, but an actual better run country, with less crime and better opportunities for our family, we have been researching on the internet, but all you get is statistics, and statistics dont really tell us what we need to know, I would like the real truth, of the country, we currently live in a small rural village on the outskirts of a nice town, however everything seems to be getting 'taken over' and no where really feels safe anymore, is it just me or are there any 'safe' places left in the world. I have looked at Canada and most things say this is the place, but i really need to know!!! Can anyone help me?
xxx
xxx
Ever thought of Saudi Arabia?
#63
Re: I know its negative but.....
Or pretty much any wealthy nation in SE Asia like HK, Singapore, Korea, Japan?
#64
Re: I know its negative but.....
I'd say probably not. Canadians are superficially friendly and it stops at the front door. I've been here for 10 years now. During that time, I've been into perhaps six houses (family not included), and then only fleetingly. To emphasise the point, we are on very, very friendly terms with our next-door neighbours of five years. We have never set foot in their house.
The concept of popping next door for a cuppa is alien to Canadian mentality.
The concept of popping next door for a cuppa is alien to Canadian mentality.
I remember calling around to my neighbours house when I was younger but not since then.
Ever since then I have either never seen my neighbours or if we have seen them I have just said hello in passing.
At the moment I do not have a lot to do with my neighbours at all (we live in a flat so we have got four neighbours). Well with the exception of one that moved into a bungalow next to us. We speak and they got the younglings a little present for Christmas but I would not think about popping around to their home for a drink and they do not call around to our home for a drink either. If I see them I will stop for a chat but that is that.
#65
Banned
Joined: Jan 2010
Location: Stratford
Posts: 401
Re: I know its negative but.....
I don't live 1000 miles away from the lake district and the general opinion amogst the locals here is that it is easily one of the most small minded, racist and bigoted areas of the UK.
One of my ex-girlfriend's used to visit her parent's holiday home there once in a while with a gay male friend of hers and they used to have to pretend like he was her boyfriend when they were out there to avoid him being lynched.
One of my ex-girlfriend's used to visit her parent's holiday home there once in a while with a gay male friend of hers and they used to have to pretend like he was her boyfriend when they were out there to avoid him being lynched.
#67
Slob
Joined: Sep 2009
Location: Ottineau
Posts: 6,342
Re: I know its negative but.....
It all depends on what you are like and what your neighbours are like as well.
I remember calling around to my neighbours house when I was younger but not since then.
Ever since then I have either never seen my neighbours or if we have seen them I have just said hello in passing.
At the moment I do not have a lot to do with my neighbours at all (we live in a flat so we have got four neighbours). Well with the exception of one that moved into a bungalow next to us. We speak and they got the younglings a little present for Christmas but I would not think about popping around to their home for a drink and they do not call around to our home for a drink either. If I see them I will stop for a chat but that is that.
I remember calling around to my neighbours house when I was younger but not since then.
Ever since then I have either never seen my neighbours or if we have seen them I have just said hello in passing.
At the moment I do not have a lot to do with my neighbours at all (we live in a flat so we have got four neighbours). Well with the exception of one that moved into a bungalow next to us. We speak and they got the younglings a little present for Christmas but I would not think about popping around to their home for a drink and they do not call around to our home for a drink either. If I see them I will stop for a chat but that is that.
#68
Re: I know its negative but.....
I agree, but it seems that a number of folks on here, see such posts as objects of their own amusement and quite frankly you and others come off as being rude knobs to the uninitiated. The comments you made above would have been better.
The op's comments are typical of many who have bought into the 'grass is greener' mentality and the Daily Fail, the poster is, after all, new on here and it doesn't take much effort to be cordial, while making the same point.
The op's comments are typical of many who have bought into the 'grass is greener' mentality and the Daily Fail, the poster is, after all, new on here and it doesn't take much effort to be cordial, while making the same point.
To the OP, if you are serious about Canada as a destination, then visit.
There is much truth in the idea that you are better to be drawn to the positives of Canada, rather than pushed from the UK. Also you need to think about employment, very few newcomers to canada seem to settle until they get a decent job as a foundation for everything else. And try ignoring the UK media that loves to talk up all the doom and gloom. Judge by your own experience, maybe its not all that bad where you are.
Last edited by iaink; Jan 14th 2010 at 1:49 pm.
#69
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 45
Re: I know its negative but.....
Well that excuses any spelling errors but it doesn't really provide a reasonable excuse for that load of bollocks that you just wrote.
I have wanted to leave the UK probably since I was old enough to think for myself but my reasons are not migrating away from crime or for financial benefit and are really just centred around the fact that I have never really felt like I truly belonged here and I can't exactly explain why. Ironically I took a trip to South Korea last year and in my short time there I actually felt more comfortable and at home than I have in the UK for years, like I could achieve anything.
There are those who move for the wrong reasons and there are those who move for financial benefits or for the good of their families but then there also those who choose to try to move abroad just because they feel like it is something that they have to do in order to get a real chance in life.
I have wanted to leave the UK probably since I was old enough to think for myself but my reasons are not migrating away from crime or for financial benefit and are really just centred around the fact that I have never really felt like I truly belonged here and I can't exactly explain why. Ironically I took a trip to South Korea last year and in my short time there I actually felt more comfortable and at home than I have in the UK for years, like I could achieve anything.
There are those who move for the wrong reasons and there are those who move for financial benefits or for the good of their families but then there also those who choose to try to move abroad just because they feel like it is something that they have to do in order to get a real chance in life.
#70
Account Closed
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,404
Re: I know its negative but.....
I love this notion that the media have "created" the belief that the UK has gone to the dogs, and without the Daily Mail, everything would be better.
However, it's bollocks.
You could always of course pretend that the it's all a myth, it's not really happening, and the press make the stuff up because there's nowt better to do. Or you could listen to peoples own experiences, people that actually live there and see it first hand.
Yes, there is crime in Canada but it really irks me when people say it's the same here as it is there. It's not..... by a loooong shot.
However, it's bollocks.
You could always of course pretend that the it's all a myth, it's not really happening, and the press make the stuff up because there's nowt better to do. Or you could listen to peoples own experiences, people that actually live there and see it first hand.
Yes, there is crime in Canada but it really irks me when people say it's the same here as it is there. It's not..... by a loooong shot.
#71
Re: I know its negative but.....
This is such a load of complete bullshit I can't let it go, even though others have already pointed out the crass generalisations.
I've been invited into more of my neighbours' houses in three years of living here, and have more friendly conversations, shared beers, cups of coffee etc in each others' kitchens or round the pool in the backyard than I did in seven years of living in the same building in London. From my perspective, Canadians are much more friendly and neighbourly.
Bollocks. It may be that you're out on a limb, but others of us have made better friends here than we had locally in the UK. Being a flight away from family rather than a drive makes no difference to the amount of time one spends with them - in my case, I probably speak to my sisters and their families more now than I ever did when they lived in the same country.
That probably says more about teenage culture the world over, and the mismatch between your and their expectations, than it ever does about Canada
Again, I call bollocks. In the corner of rural Hampshire where my parents live, people dress for form over function - the pig farmer isn't going to go and trudge through slurry in a 3-piece suit, now is he? Here, the weather plays a larger part in people's attitude towards appropriate clothing, but there's a big difference between dress-down casual and "scruffy."
Why is this a problem? Are you an inveterate snob, or some sort of Hyacinth Bucket type? I like the fact that (admittedly within the context of Oakville, an affluent middle-class suburb) there is a great mix of trades and professions and levels of income represented on my street.
This, surely, depends entirely on where you are. Granted, you won't find the thatched houses, but there are certainly historical villages and great rural walks in NS/NB; there are various sorts of military fortifications to be found throughout southern ON and QC. Rural living in the UK also involves driving everywhere, now that fewer villages have a functioning pub, shop or post office.
Bullshit again, unless your drive happens to be across the prairies. This is simply untrue.
That's your prerogative, of course, but you do a very poor job of getting across to others that it is anything other than your own failure to appreciate what's here, or your inability to cut the apron-strings to your own parents, that is driving you back.
Most Canadians, eh? I'd love to see a source for that claim. All those that can afford to head south for the winter - really? You're losing your last vestige of credibility by this point.
No... I think what you meant is "I get troubled..." - I certainly don't and I know many others in southern Ontario for whom neither mosquitoes nor blackfly pose any problem at all.
well, that's something, I suppose.
Again wiht the generalising from personal experience. My family, of 2 drivers, pays nothing like that amount in fuel costs, even with a daily commute by car. Perhaps you should have considered more fuel-efficient vehicles before complaining about their lack or fuel economy.
Insurance costs do tend to be higher, but that is because the market functions differently. It's not as simple as a function of a lower population.
I don't know where to start with this one. Don't buy bloody jaffa cakes if they're too expensive. Try assimilating, develop a taste for something that doesn't offend your sense of parsimony. I can buy Colman's mustard powder in any of three or four supermarkets within about 20 minutes of home. I don't know what you even mean by clothing stores not being "as well equipped" - all the ones I've been in have clothes in them, which seems to me about the totality of equipment that matters.
Crap. My son's teachers are excellent. They correct both spelling and grammar to the extent one would expect in elementary school. The examples of work I see on the walls when I visit the school - and my impression through conversations with neighbours over a cup of tea or a beer - give me no cause to believe that standards will decline as he goes up through the grades.
Yes, it is, for some people.
Quite apart from the insensitivity of assuming that every child's grandparents are still alive, this sentiment only applies to those parents whose relationship with their own parents cannot stand a separation. Others of us flew the nest some years ago so this is simply a non-issue.
I'd hesitate to criticise your diagnosis of your parent's health, and I sympathise with your desire to care for them, it is surprising that their health has been adveresely affected by your departure. Your cause and effect linkage is somewhat suspect here.
Depending on how you look at it. Others might think it's inexcusable emotional blackmail.
You don't say.
Again, I call bollocks. In the corner of rural Hampshire where my parents live, people dress for form over function - the pig farmer isn't going to go and trudge through slurry in a 3-piece suit, now is he? Here, the weather plays a larger part in people's attitude towards appropriate clothing, but there's a big difference between dress-down casual and "scruffy."
Bullshit again, unless your drive happens to be across the prairies. This is simply untrue.
Yes, it is, for some people.
#72
Re: I know its negative but.....
I love this notion that the media have "created" the belief that the UK has gone to the dogs, and without the Daily Mail, everything would be better.
However, it's bollocks.
You could always of course pretend that the it's all a myth, it's not really happening, and the press make the stuff up because there's nowt better to do. Or you could listen to peoples own experiences, people that actually live there and see it first hand.
Yes, there is crime in Canada but it really irks me when people say it's the same here as it is there. It's not..... by a loooong shot.
However, it's bollocks.
You could always of course pretend that the it's all a myth, it's not really happening, and the press make the stuff up because there's nowt better to do. Or you could listen to peoples own experiences, people that actually live there and see it first hand.
Yes, there is crime in Canada but it really irks me when people say it's the same here as it is there. It's not..... by a loooong shot.
#73
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 13,553
Re: I know its negative but.....
This is such a load of complete bullshit I can't let it go, even though others have already pointed out the crass generalisations.
I've been invited into more of my neighbours' houses in three years of living here, and have more friendly conversations, shared beers, cups of coffee etc in each others' kitchens or round the pool in the backyard than I did in seven years of living in the same building in London. From my perspective, Canadians are much more friendly and neighbourly.
Bollocks. It may be that you're out on a limb, but others of us have made better friends here than we had locally in the UK. Being a flight away from family rather than a drive makes no difference to the amount of time one spends with them - in my case, I probably speak to my sisters and their families more now than I ever did when they lived in the same country.
That probably says more about teenage culture the world over, and the mismatch between your and their expectations, than it ever does about Canada
Again, I call bollocks. In the corner of rural Hampshire where my parents live, people dress for form over function - the pig farmer isn't going to go and trudge through slurry in a 3-piece suit, now is he? Here, the weather plays a larger part in people's attitude towards appropriate clothing, but there's a big difference between dress-down casual and "scruffy."Why is this a problem? Are you an inveterate snob, or some sort of Hyacinth Bucket type? I like the fact that (admittedly within the context of Oakville, an affluent middle-class suburb) there is a great mix of trades and professions and levels of income represented on my street.
This, surely, depends entirely on where you are. Granted, you won't find the thatched houses, but there are certainly historical villages and great rural walks in NS/NB; there are various sorts of military fortifications to be found throughout southern ON and QC. Rural living in the UK also involves driving everywhere, now that fewer villages have a functioning pub, shop or post office.
Bullshit again, unless your drive happens to be across the prairies. This is simply untrue.That's your prerogative, of course, but you do a very poor job of getting across to others that it is anything other than your own failure to appreciate what's here, or your inability to cut the apron-strings to your own parents, that is driving you back. Most Canadians, eh? I'd love to see a source for that claim. All those that can afford to head south for the winter - really? You're losing your last vestige of credibility by this point.
No... I think what you meant is "I get troubled..." - I certainly don't and I know many others in southern Ontario for whom neither mosquitoes nor blackfly pose any problem at all.
well, that's something, I suppose. Again wiht the generalising from personal experience. My family, of 2 drivers, pays nothing like that amount in fuel costs, even with a daily commute by car. Perhaps you should have considered more fuel-efficient vehicles before complaining about their lack or fuel economy.
Insurance costs do tend to be higher, but that is because the market functions differently. It's not as simple as a function of a lower population.
I don't know where to start with this one. Don't buy bloody jaffa cakes if they're too expensive. Try assimilating, develop a taste for something that doesn't offend your sense of parsimony. I can buy Colman's mustard powder in any of three or four supermarkets within about 20 minutes of home. I don't know what you even mean by clothing stores not being "as well equipped" - all the ones I've been in have clothes in them, which seems to me about the totality of equipment that matters.
Crap. My son's teachers are excellent. They correct both spelling and grammar to the extent one would expect in elementary school. The examples of work I see on the walls when I visit the school - and my impression through conversations with neighbours over a cup of tea or a beer - give me no cause to believe that standards will decline as he goes up through the grades.
Yes, it is, for some people.
Quite apart from the insensitivity of assuming that every child's grandparents are still alive, this sentiment only applies to those parents whose relationship with their own parents cannot stand a separation. Others of us flew the nest some years ago so this is simply a non-issue.
I'd hesitate to criticise your diagnosis of your parent's health, and I sympathise with your desire to care for them, it is surprising that their health has been adveresely affected by your departure. Your cause and effect linkage is somewhat suspect here. Depending on how you look at it. Others might think it's inexcusable emotional blackmail. You don't say.
I've been invited into more of my neighbours' houses in three years of living here, and have more friendly conversations, shared beers, cups of coffee etc in each others' kitchens or round the pool in the backyard than I did in seven years of living in the same building in London. From my perspective, Canadians are much more friendly and neighbourly.
Bollocks. It may be that you're out on a limb, but others of us have made better friends here than we had locally in the UK. Being a flight away from family rather than a drive makes no difference to the amount of time one spends with them - in my case, I probably speak to my sisters and their families more now than I ever did when they lived in the same country.
That probably says more about teenage culture the world over, and the mismatch between your and their expectations, than it ever does about Canada
Again, I call bollocks. In the corner of rural Hampshire where my parents live, people dress for form over function - the pig farmer isn't going to go and trudge through slurry in a 3-piece suit, now is he? Here, the weather plays a larger part in people's attitude towards appropriate clothing, but there's a big difference between dress-down casual and "scruffy."Why is this a problem? Are you an inveterate snob, or some sort of Hyacinth Bucket type? I like the fact that (admittedly within the context of Oakville, an affluent middle-class suburb) there is a great mix of trades and professions and levels of income represented on my street.
This, surely, depends entirely on where you are. Granted, you won't find the thatched houses, but there are certainly historical villages and great rural walks in NS/NB; there are various sorts of military fortifications to be found throughout southern ON and QC. Rural living in the UK also involves driving everywhere, now that fewer villages have a functioning pub, shop or post office.
Bullshit again, unless your drive happens to be across the prairies. This is simply untrue.That's your prerogative, of course, but you do a very poor job of getting across to others that it is anything other than your own failure to appreciate what's here, or your inability to cut the apron-strings to your own parents, that is driving you back. Most Canadians, eh? I'd love to see a source for that claim. All those that can afford to head south for the winter - really? You're losing your last vestige of credibility by this point.
No... I think what you meant is "I get troubled..." - I certainly don't and I know many others in southern Ontario for whom neither mosquitoes nor blackfly pose any problem at all.
well, that's something, I suppose. Again wiht the generalising from personal experience. My family, of 2 drivers, pays nothing like that amount in fuel costs, even with a daily commute by car. Perhaps you should have considered more fuel-efficient vehicles before complaining about their lack or fuel economy.
Insurance costs do tend to be higher, but that is because the market functions differently. It's not as simple as a function of a lower population.
I don't know where to start with this one. Don't buy bloody jaffa cakes if they're too expensive. Try assimilating, develop a taste for something that doesn't offend your sense of parsimony. I can buy Colman's mustard powder in any of three or four supermarkets within about 20 minutes of home. I don't know what you even mean by clothing stores not being "as well equipped" - all the ones I've been in have clothes in them, which seems to me about the totality of equipment that matters.
Crap. My son's teachers are excellent. They correct both spelling and grammar to the extent one would expect in elementary school. The examples of work I see on the walls when I visit the school - and my impression through conversations with neighbours over a cup of tea or a beer - give me no cause to believe that standards will decline as he goes up through the grades.
Yes, it is, for some people.
Quite apart from the insensitivity of assuming that every child's grandparents are still alive, this sentiment only applies to those parents whose relationship with their own parents cannot stand a separation. Others of us flew the nest some years ago so this is simply a non-issue.
I'd hesitate to criticise your diagnosis of your parent's health, and I sympathise with your desire to care for them, it is surprising that their health has been adveresely affected by your departure. Your cause and effect linkage is somewhat suspect here. Depending on how you look at it. Others might think it's inexcusable emotional blackmail. You don't say.
#74
Re: I know its negative but.....
We live on a very small and very quiet street. Over the last few years we have made a point of getting to know all our neighbours. We are on good terms with all of them and will chat in the street for long periods of time. There is, though, an invisible line that seemingly cannot be crossed.
My sister lives in a beautiful small town outside of London down a lovely little cul-de-sac. She's friendly with the neighbours yet she's not set foot in anyone's house other than her own.
That said, up in Yorkshire where my mum lives and where we grew up we knew and still know many people in the neighbourhood and would often pop in for a cuppa. My mum still does and has people round to hers for a chit chat and bit of idle gossip.
I love a nice community feel yet my wife (the Canadian) loves anonymity.