Aviator

You have looked at the inheritance tax implications if you buy below market price from a family member?

https://www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk...-market-value/

scilly

I did not read Stinkypup's remark as meaning that the person was his close friend, but that she was a colleague who had made more friends in Canada than in NZ and was therefore happier here.

May I point out that you may have more friends in NZ because your wife is from there and therefore was an "in" to society? When you came here, the onus was on you to find out how to fit into Canadian society.


I do hope you find what you are looking for in the UK.

TheBear

So do I.

As for the first comment, could you be more patronising? Short of having a lobotomy, I have tried my best to fit in.

TheBear

Thanks for posting this. I was aware of the tax ins and outs, the more nuanced piece is deliberate deprivation should they need care. That can vary from one local authority to another.

Left Eye

This is a very interesting thread and I think spot on with regards to the generalizations, but also the difficulties when you realize that the grass is not always greener. Wherever you go there are good and bad things about a place.

There's always a lot of talk on this forum about how Canadians are unfriendly and unsocial which is of course a generalization in itself. But I wonder if there are just certain types of people who need a large social network to feel happy. I'm Canadian but lived in the UK for 13 years and the pubs are great, people are conversational, but the longer I was there, the more alienated I felt when in a large group. There is a huge culture of keeping up with the Joneses in the UK....I found more often than not that socializing was more about gossiping about other people and trying to put them down. People brag more in the UK about their TV's, holidays, what their kids are doing etc. I found it quite difficult to have an intelligent conversation because people just wanted to talk about themselves. I really do think that UK society has become quite individualistic and there's some compulsive need to one up each other.

Right now I could list a number of good and bad things about both Canada and the UK so it really is down to what type of person you are and what you want out of your environment. For me, getting away from the aggression, violence and crowds in the UK became essential. But it always is a bit naughty to generalize Canadians as boring...or to say that all British are drunken chavs.

scilly

I COULD read that as those of us who have fitted in and found friends here have had lobotomies.

I do hope that you did not mean that!


I've lived in Vancouver for 49 years, felt at home immediately we landed in Canada, and have many friends here and all over Canada. I have never even dreamt of going back to the UK since day 1.

Maybe you did chose the wrong part of Canada!

Our friends never talked trucks, fishing, hockey etc .... they all had much more wide-spreading interests before any conversation descended to that! The closest we have is 2 Canadian guys we met recently who are fascinated with "detailing" of muscle cars ............ which goes right over my head when they start. But even they are entertaining and interesting when they don't talk together about that topic!

We've travelled all the way across the country almost 20 times in the last 12 or so years, and met Canadians from every province. None of them has had conversation even mentioning about trucks etc. I have found that Canadians born in each Province or area can be very different.

What do you expect?

People born in Sussex are very different from those born in Buckinghamshire, Yorkshire, Cumbria.

Did you expect Canada to be just another England, with all the same foods, attitudes, etc?



EDIT:- I see that you have edited your post since I began to answer you!!

No, I did not intend to be patronising!

And I asked the last question above because I have seen too many posts on here from immigrants who had expected to move to another England and had a surprise to find Canada was a different country with its own rules, regulations and customs!

TheBear

I think the problem is more related to what I said earlier. I sort of expected Canadians to be similar to other Anglo Saxons, but they are not at all, much more like the Swiss.

Anyway, could flog this one to death. My last thoughts are that while I confess to generalizing, the fact that many others have found the same, suggests that the generalizations are at least partially applicable. We came with an extremely positive attitude, and have tried really hard up until about a year ago, but have realized that for whatever the reason, we don't belong here.

Almost Canadian

Not an issue if the parents live for 7 years after the gift

dbd33

I do wonder how you've found enough cradles to be able to generalize about them, they're a tiny proportion of the people I meet; Australians in London are more common than cradles in the GTA.

pontcanna

Lots of good beer in the Okanagan (and in BC generally) if you stay away from Molson and Labatt products. Often served a little cold it's true, but it warms up in the glass

Stinkypup

Yeah- I have thankfully sniffed it out on our arrival

magnumpi

The middle paragraph on this post was one of the reasons I wanted to leave the UK. I had almost forgot about all the keeping up with the neighbours and gossiping

cxx

In some ways I find the Canadians are worse for this, especially when it comes to toys in the garage. Everyone around us seems to have to have the SUV, ATV, snowmobile, boat, cottage / cabin / RV, etc. and most of it is financed by using houses as ATMs.

Stinkypup

I think that you will find that anywhere in the world- well, maybe not Ethiopia- just different toys depending where you live. Keeping up with the Jones is an expression derived from the UK which does imply that it does frequently happen in the Uk. Worse in Canada? I'm not so sure about that.

dbd33

Around here the snobbery is all about the cottage. People, mainly cradles and Indians, are fiercely competitive about their cottages and which lakes they're on. As on an onlooker it's absurd, if you've less than $500,000 worth of cottage it's a bug infested damp hut with 1970s pine paneling, if you were offered it as a motel room you'd run a mile. If you've a million dollar cottage it'll be nice enough but a pain to maintain, eating up your holiday with painting and decorating; the interest on a million bucks would buy you a better holiday somewhere different each year and, if you go different places, you won't have people at the office sneering because, at their damp hut, their boat has a bigger motor.