haggis88

this must depend on where you live in the UK...tbh that has been my experience of Canada.

Well, excepting the weather comment, although it takes me the same amount of time to drive to the Rockies as it would have to drive to Aviemore back home!

Scribble

It's refreshing but having lived in the UK, it takes some time to get used to!
Someone posted this a while back based on accents (not a fan of musicals but this explains the English class structure):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhninL_G3Fg

seriously? most people in Canada have houses with pools paying the same as as someone pays for a small 2 bed flat in the UK

charlsar

Ah but here they get called 'Metro' and 'Satchel', what's that all about?

MarylandNed

My wife is a nurse. She went to a job fair in Manchester along with a friend who was interested in working abroad. Toronto General Hospital was there recruiting UK nurses. After the friend told the TGH recruiter she wasn't interested, he turned to my wife (who was only along for the ride during her lunch break) and said, "What about you? You want to come work in Toronto?" My wife just looked at him and, for some reason she still can't quite explain, she muttered, "Er...ok."

This was 1989 and there was no internet to help us understand how things worked. The day after we arrived (my wife on a work permit and me on some type of visa that allowed me to accompany her), I was interviewed and offered a job as a software developer. So I go into some government office in downtown Toronto and tell them "I now have a job. Can I have a work permit please?" The agent serving me just looked at me and said "It doesn't work that way, sir."

Anyway, eventually I got a work permit a couple of weeks later. We only intended staying for a year but we loved it so much we ended up staying 7 years, had 2 kids and bought a house.

I loved the blue skies and hot summers. I loved the friendliness of the people. I loved Toronto and the ability to travel around to see other places in Canada and the US. We visited many places including Montreal and New York which we also both liked. I learned to skate and ski and even played curling. I became a huge Maple Leafs fan and was lucky enough to see the Blue Jays win 2 World Series. It was a great time to be in Toronto and we both enjoyed it.

We returned to the UK for family reasons. After 2 years in London, we decided to return to Canada. However, my IT skills were outdated and no longer in as much demand. I was working in a dying technology that still had a relatively strong presence in the UK and US at that time but not so much in Canada. I found a job in Maryland instead and we've been here ever since - 15 years.

I still miss Canada but I still get to visit there a lot due to work. Also my oldest daughter now goes to college there so I'm up and down visiting her a lot too. My IT skills have since been upgraded so a move back to Canada is a possibility but it's harder now to convince the wife and 3 other kids to do so. I still think I'll end up retiring there even if I don't move there beforehand.

Oink

That's just some people who grew up in some bum***k little rural Canadian town and now they've moved to one of the "big cities" and have bought a couple of pairs of naff shoes from Gravity Pope. They then make a beeline to some version of Vancouver's Commercial Drive in some desperate attempt to shake off the dandruff of parochialism.

cheeky_monkey

orly

Well my wife is Canadian. So we had a choice of UK or Canada.

Really there isn't even competition.

In Canada I've found jobs, higher pay and a better quality of life. I find the weather generally better. I live close to Toronto and Niagara so there are lots of things to see and do.

Back home in my part of the UK (Northern Ireland) there was high unemployment and fewer skilled positions. I found myself unable to get even full time work in low skilled roles. Even if you did find one you became subject to "are you the right religion for this?" and often I was not.

It's refreshing to live in a country that has it's own parliament rather than one that is just spoon fed by the EU.

I also believe in the coming decades Canada will be far better off as a result of immigration policies that, in the main, bring people with skills and work ethic to the country rather than the UK version where it's a free for all for any "benefit tourist".

Really besides my friends and family (and some food stuffs you can't get here) there is little I miss about "home".

haggis88

yes seriously...i'm wondering if you're being serious...

i'm probably paying double on rent for my 2 bed townhouse (with no pool) here than i would be paying on a mortgage for a similar place back home

my grocery shopping is a fair bit more expensive when buying fresh foods and fresh vegetables...and the quality/selection is very poor unless going to specialised places

and your comment on the streets/shops...where in Canada do you live? Every neighbourhood is a carbon copy of the last one in Calgary with the exception of the oldest ones

Almost Canadian

I don't know of anyone that has a pool in Canada and I know some very wealthy people

Oink

I think he's mistaking pool for skating rink.

Howefamily

It depends where you live, in NS we have a 5 bed house with a pool for less mortgage than our 3 bed house back in the SE of England. We are 40 mins outside of Halifax

BristolUK

Or one like this



Actually, to be fair, we could have bought a house with a pool when we were looking to buy. And if we could.....

Almost Canadian

It was the reference to "most" that I took issue with. I accept that some can afford to purchase properties with pools.

I doubt many could afford to purchase a house with a pool in Vancouver, and certainly not for less than the price of a small 2 bed flat in the UK

davidsk

When I was in London, a Canadian colleague, who grew up in Toronto and had lived in London for 10 years, said she hated to live in a place where everybody only talked about hockey even when the world was going to end.

For myself moving here, the most appealing to me is space. In the UK, I could either commuted a long way or lived in a noisy and packed semi or terrace house.

I could buy a 2-bedroom tiny flat in London (Zone 3 maybe) where I still had to commute 45 minutes to the central London to work. Here with the same amount I bought a 5-bedroom with one acre land and an Ocean view. I only need to commute 20 minutes to the downtown to work. It is just much better life here.

If I had enough money (£1-2 million) to buy the same size house in the UK like here, I would just stay there.

Almost Canadian

When was that going to happen then?