Originally Posted by jericho

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.

Originally Posted by j and k

Been there done that! i'm talking from experience...all you have is holiday memories!

Originally Posted by Oakvillian

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.

Originally Posted by DigitalGhost

....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.

Originally Posted by Alan2005

It's not actually that much different on a day to day basis you know.

Originally Posted by jericho

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.

Originally Posted by Alan2005

It is a myth.

Show some figures on crime rates between the UK and Canada that prove otherwise.

Originally Posted by iaink

Figures, as discussed so often in the past, are often meaningless.

Dboy had it pretty well covered yesterday...
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...&postcount=152

Originally Posted by Alan2005

That feeling you have of being more comfortable in asia is an illusion.

If you don't feel at home in the UK, then you won't feel at home here either once the novelty wears off. It's not actually that much different on a day to day basis you know.

Originally Posted by Alan2005

It is a myth.

Show some figures on crime rates between the UK and Canada that prove otherwise.

Originally Posted by DigitalGhost

I know that as I lived in America for a short while as a student and had American girlfriends who had the same family and day to day problems deep down as I did at home.

As for the Asia thing, well if I explain that my girlfriend is natively SE Asian and I have researched the culture and things before and I speak one of the SE Asian languages to a level then it may explain things a bit better. I think in general that you are probably right though and the grass all too often does seem greener on the other side, SE Asia is like a different world to the UK though and I think it would probably take a lot of getting used to anyway.

Originally Posted by jericho

You're deluded.
I dont care what statistics say- as I have my own real life experiences to call on.

Originally Posted by jericho

A typical UK news story, taken from todays BBC...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...et/8458792.stm