Paul_Shepherd

Yeah I think I have become that kind of person too.... if someone had told me in my late 20s that I would leave the UK behind and live in Canada for years I would never have believed them....I used to think how can people leave "home" and the country of their birth, family and life long friends....I found it hard to grasp, but hear I am almost 10 years on

Although I was leaving behind all that in the UK, it wasnt enough to keep me there, all my friends and family had their own lives with their own families, I didnt have a family so felt I didnt belong there anymore, on top of that I had had a number of fantastic vactions in Canada while living in the UK, and felt the Canadian lifestyle suited me better than the British one, and it turned out I was right......in summary I had reason to leave UK and reason to go to Canada it was calling me.... i think its as simple as that. Home can be anywhere you want it to be....its definitely a mindset....something I could never grasp until I had a reasons to leave and somewhere calling me. That said, I could also live in the UK again, just dont want to at this time in my life. Both countries will always be home to me now.

zdenka

I ski a lot in Alberta and all the people working on the ski hills seem to be either Australian or British. When I tell them that I cannot wait to move back to the UK (not British but lived there for a while) they think I've lost my mind.

Personally, I loved the first 10 years in Canada. I was having fun, meeting new people, went to school, got a good job. Then one day I woke up and all my friends were married and started doing couples things or had kids and now do only parent things. Some moved away. That was when the disconnection and loneliness started to seep in. I am still grateful to have lived here but I need people in my life. I want to know my neighbours and feel like I am a part of the community I live in, maybe go on a date. Yes, I can afford a lot more adventures and have hobbies and travel but doing all that alone is not fun after a while. I think it is about timing, location and the people around you. I know things might not be better elsewhere but I am hoping for different. For now, I am trying to enjoy my last two years here (fingers crossed) as much as possible, do the things I love and spend time with people I will probably never see again once I am gone.

DigitalGhost

It is but have you seen how much it costs? I have a weakness for French Vanilla (don't judge me) and the last one I bought from a Tim Horton's in Manchester cost over £3 for the regular size. Plus the cup they served it managed to be even more cheap and flimsy than the Canadian equivalent so when the wind picked up, the lid flew off and went sailing down the street.

andyjolly

Snowy560

What a great post Andy! I can relate. I found the first 4 years super tough, but like you, it feels more like home now (7 years).

DMajor

A few observations from my time here since Aug 2012:
I'm finding take away food to be so poor that it regularly ends up in the bin. That includes fish n chips, curries, pizzas..etc
Also, it's very hard to find a good local restaurant that serves a good Sunday roast, it's mostly packaged rubbish with a pile of gravy shoved on top.
I don't get the Canadians obsession with Tim Hortons either...I drive regularly into the USA from either Niagara or Windsor and it's crazy the first opportunity they get to stop at 'Timmies' they all pull over..the coffee is awful and the food is bland and often served luke warm..Even at Buffalo airport the line up for TH is huge whilst the other places are empty, is it just accepted that Tim's is the best or is it just a 'Canadian' thing to do..?
The driving is even worse than some parts of Europe, the QEW a death trap, so bad now that I try not to use it, same as the 400, even in the snow people still driving bumper to bumper at 120-140kmh...Crazy..then the opposite end of things some people will spend 5 minutes at a stop sign before they go..infuriating...such extremes!

Other than that, it's great here, I love it..!

shelley748

I agree with you about the food- a decent carvery would do really well- and the chinese food is surprisingly bad. I was looking forward to having chinese food prepared by a chinaman, and having lived in Singapore and experienced it first hand, I can categorically say its not great. Now of course depends where you are, if you are in Toronto or another big city I am sure its fab.

We do like Timmies actually, hubby loves the hot chocolate and the frozen lemonade in summer.

We have made some friends but we live in the country so its harder to make friends. When I retire I am sure when we going RV we will make many more!

Yesterday was our 17th anniversary of being in Canada- its be a real rough go- BUT we love it here (apart from the winters).

shelley748

I did actually find some english back bacon made by Presidents Choice but for some reason they have stopped making it. We too have made "friends" but not like the close friends we had in the UK. I find Canadians are very "flighty" and by that i mean hot and cold on friendship and to b e honest i cannot be bothered with that, so tend to keep ourselves to ourselves.

andyjolly

raindropsandroses

Yep. The food is pretty abysmal here.

One thing I find particularly frustrating is that the fruit and vegetables are frequently slightly (if not very) mouldy, and still being sold full price. It's the norm too, not just an occasional annoyance. Potatoes are especially bad for it. Its not location either as we've lived a lot further North and didn't come across this before Canada.

The vegetarian food isn't great, but the gluten free food is very lacking. Its one of the things I like least about Canada, we previously lived in countries which had absolutely amazing gluten free and vegetarian food, and where food was fantastic in general so I'm obviously just a bit spoilt.

Gluten free food in Canada seems like being back in the UK (where gluten free food was also rubbish or was when we left anyway), and we hadn't lived in the UK for a lot of years when we came to Canada.

Still, it means I spend a lot more time in Bulk Barn and it means our kindergartener can cook a pretty wide range of food from scratch, so every cloud.

Siouxie

Try Lou's Double Smoked Back Bacon it's not too far from Brit back bacon - but without the fat or the streaky bit = it's very lean - (so buy a packet of Canadian streaky and chuck a slice or two in to 'grease it up' lol. It's available at most grocery stores, Walmart etc.

Back Bacon | Lou's BBQ

CanadaJimmy

Pretty sure it is related to location. Fruit and veg is delicious here in BC, but we do benefit from being able to locally grow so many fruits and vegetables. Save-on-Foods produce is truly superb, and Kin's farm market isn't bad either (though they're cheaper as they do sell fruit/veg a bit closer to expiration). Some people drive all the way to Keremeos to stock up on fruit and veg - a farm town in the interior of BC with an amazing food market.

Not too familiar with gluten free, but I do agree the vegetarian selection is lower. I think this actually has more to do with the fresh-product selection in Canadian stores being much less than UK supermarkets in general. The Beyond Meat burgers and sausages are really good though, comparable and maybe even better than Quorn in terms of taste and texture, soon to launch in grocery stores across the country. I still get Quorn by driving down to Fred Meyer in Bellingham, WA to stock up!

scrubbedexpat091

Maybe your local stores?

Fruit and produce around Vancouver is pretty decent, most of it is imported but still decent.

In summer there are locally and semi-local grown produce but they tend to sell at a premium so I tend to not buy them, opting to save money on the US imported stuff. WA cherries for example taste the same to be, but tend to be cheaper.

scilly

They must be dumping them here!

Doesn't always apply though ...... we often find the Washington taste older, and cost as much if not more than the BC ones in our local Sobeys/Safeway.

In any case, we're trying not to buy US.

raindropsandroses

God I hope it is just a location thing (wouldn't surprise me), we're moving to BC very shortly so that's very heartening to hear thanks