R2D2

Oh what a weird couple of days
The reminising began over the weekend with double doses of Blackadder on TV and today I was chatting to someone at my sons school who spent a couple of years in Chester. We talked about the Xmas garlands that adorn the olde worlde streets and it all came flooding back AGAIN. I started to picture the quaint little churches up on a hill, (not remembering the bumper to bumper traffic jams I sat in whilst looking at the quaint little church on the hill though,)
How are you supposed to adapt fully to this new life when these spectacled little blighters keep rearing their ugly heads??????

Cadey

Just think of all the hoodies in the graveyards vandalising the headstones and drinking cider to excess..

Tiaribbon

That is what memories are made of! It is nice to have good memories - surely that is what we all do of past vacations.....doesn't mean we want to return to these places or live there.

You know, I think for me, my life here in Canada is soooooo the same as it was in the UK that I sometimes forget I am even in a different country.

Keep your memories alive - once you have been here for a number of years, you will find yourself doing it about Canada too!

Cowtown

What was the point then? There must have been something....

Rich_007

I just have to recall not long before we left the UK how a mini van full of drunken mixed-sex 20-something chavs woke us up at 3am while one of their number pi$$ed up our garage door, performing in full view of the halogen floodlight, the remaining chavs happily taking mobile phone pics of his wondrous achievements. Or maybe a bunch of middle class rugby playing accountants or a group of management trainees out on a "team building" session. "Oh yah, we had a great weekend, Rodney took a piss"

Or when two illegal immigrants spun a stolen hire car at 2am, right outside our place.

//etc.

All this in the duration of two months in a quiet stretch of lit road out in the countryside. God knows what horrors the poor urbanites have to put up with

That does me fine indeed. Rose tinted glasses not required, just "reality check" contact lenses and truth serum....they allow me to see the crack heads, panhandlers, street people here abouts.

Rich.

Tiaribbon

I loved my life in the UK - I love my life here. What do you mean what was the point? Happiness and moving house . Not everyone who leaves a country hates it or is trying to run away from something, doesn't mean you have to stay in the same house forever more. That is all I did - I moved house.

iaink

Shouldnt that simply have read "More land for the available money"?

Nothing wrong with rose tinted glasses, as long as they are not on when you make a life changing decision. Canada isnt the UK, its colder (or about to be) and a lot further from family for most of us. I Still think the lack of superficial olde worlde charm and decent beer is more than made up for in other ways here...one of the biggies for me is....more land for the available money.

Not to mention people are less wrapped up in themselves and there material stuff here. People in the large canadian cities probably think I have rose tinted glasses on myself when I post about these things

CalgaryBlade

No, not really.

Tiaribbon

Yep we gave up 35 acres in the UK for 100 acres in Canada - so that was definitely part of it - however we got less house for the money, but as I say, really all we did was just move.

ClareBC

To ensure that your rose tinted glasses are firmly in place, just have a trip back to Blighty. Endure the rudeness, expense, noise and dirt - then sigh gratefully as you fly back! :P



Clare

snowqueen

I remember when I lived in South Africa, years ago I longed for the quaint village pubs and log fires in winter so much that I decided to return home. I never forget arriving in Heathrow and on the journey home, everything seemed so SMALL and DRAB and GREY. I cried for 3 days.

However, I now live in Ireland (evern more drab and grey!) and still find myself longing for the quaint villages and pubs in England. Seems I will never learn! No doubt when I get to Canada I will miss things about Ireland... I think rose tinted specs are a fact of life, just be aware that they are not the whole story.

Snowqueen.

finallygotout

That better be true, or else am holding you responsible How long have you been here again?

hot wasabi peas

Missing stuff from where you're from is all part of the expat experience. Sometimes it aches like hell.

finallygotout

Couldn't agree more. How is it going cougar?

Cowtown

Everybody has a personal reason for moving. Surely something must have changed? I wasnt suggesting you hated the UK or that you were running away from something. It was more a case of it being such a difficult time consuming process that I would have thought there would be more to it than making your life exactly the same as it was before.

I see however from a later post that you moved from 35acres to 100acres - so perhaps that was your motivator.

Everybody has a reason.