Alberta_Rose

We didn't have a burning desire to leave the UK, but in 2003 we visited friends who live in Alberta, saw how well they'd settled, fell in love with the place ourselves, and decided we'd like to live here too.

2 1/2 years later we arrived, and find that we were right. We do!

kate holt

Have you been into central London lately for a night out! its scary...

skyturner

It's a bummer about your bro, and your right...there will be 1000's in the same situation as him thanks to the government, I hope he finds a solution.

Housing market is a strange one, as your link shows, hyde, denton and s.bridge are urban areas and priced in their £70's, I used to work in (Failsworth until I skipped over the border to Marsden in W.Yorks) yet 15 miles North surrounded by hills and countryside are houses priced in their £50's (yes they need a little titivation) but good solid houses in good communities and surroundings. http://www.vebra.com/home/solex/results.asp

christmasoompa

Yes, frequently. Often travel home late at night on my own and have never had any issues at all.

You may think it's bad but surely comparing it to a war zone is a little melodramatic?!?

Flogger

Spitting image of Bath.

dboy

Bath is hardly a major urban area and most certainly not typical. Lovely place i might add as are many other areas, York, Lancaster, Kendale, to name a few. I love visiting these places. If we could we'd all be living there - but reality is quite different.

dboy

I was in London a few years ago - biggest shock to me was the prices. Didn't notice much else beyond that.

Flogger

Didn't say it was.City in the uk it is,though.

dboy

Yes and a typical brit city it is. NOT!

Flogger

I was in London 3 months back and loved the place.Strange as i have been avoiding it as much as possible for the last 10 years.Think the knowledge that it would be the last time there before emmigrating turned me all setimental.

kate holt

so how late at night are you talking - after the trains stop running its a different story...

dboy

We should all agree to disagree. People from Bath and rural areas are going to have a very, very different outlook than those of us from large urban areas such as Manchester, Liverpool or London.

These threads always go the same way. Each to their own. Not sure why people feel they have to defend blighty, if you are happy, good for you. Same goes for Canada.

But someone living in Bath will find a move to Edmonton a very different experience from some one in Manchester. And Roman Spa's don't pay the bills i'm afraid.

JET747

I agree with an earlier statement. Where most people here are trying to help others understand tha reality of what they are experiencing in Canada, to help or warn people looking to do the same of any pitfalls or benefits - - there are others who throw in a curve ball which sends a decent thread into the gutter.

It is fine sharing bad experiences, worries and concerns as well as sharing the good ones, but please keep it on track and not let it sink any lower into a this place is worse than that. We can all look at where we are and name areas that we would not go - like the areas we would.

My wife as well as others who may come across and be a housewife for a period of time while I work is reading some of these comments and they do not help or educate in the least.

Thanks
JET

Iain Mc

No doubt it's a terrific place to visit, I enjoy wandering round as a tourist, soaking up the history etc. It has a character all of it's own.

Having done it for a bit though, I can't think of many worse places to have to live/work! But that's just me....

Having just read DBoy's post, I agree completely - these threads always go the same way. Should just sticky one and automatically merge every new one that pops up; there's something about immigration...

MR POT

Fair point about the grammar and spelling, I am doing it on a blackberry the buttons are little.
Once again people are aiming it on one area, you really need to travel, even in the uk.
As for schools once again a opinion of your local area, my brother and mother are both teachers who have worked all over the uk, my brother works in Vietnam in a international school, read the blogs on the expat teachers, and see if the opinion of people who work in that field is the same.
This is one reason I am looking at leaving the uk, people seem to be very opinionated about certain subjects but have little or no professional knowledge and qualifications to back that up.

With the employment and company policy, if you work for a professional company that is CITB registered then you must know that you have to abide by the rules set by ACAS and the CIPD. Quite simply another case of someone talking about a subject they have no knowledge of.

So people come here and dont get free handouts, on what planet are you living? They lie about there qualifications, they are not checked then they go straight on benefits.

We are one of the only countries with a CITB system for tradesmen to check the certifications authenticity, unfortunatly it is bypassed when it comes to imigrants.

Do you understand the CITB and JIB certification for qualified tradesman, clearly not as the comment about their requirements are absurd. Why do you think the HSQE have to sweep sites for unqualified men.
Hence the CITB certification here, that is a good thing and hopefully helps in the long run.

In reality construction is only one field, my partner is CIPD qualified, and this skill set of labour is rife across the board relating to many different disciplines, the only people who dont agree with it have no professional accreditation (suprise).

Hmm yeh most people was the wrong word, but it is spreading, the recession has highlighted both good and bad in the quality of this countries workforce.
We dont make anything, we rely of shipping transport due to our geographical location to earn money.
Dagenham Fords is a fantastic example, a huge area designed to mass produces vehicles and in turn employment.
Due to the deteriorating quality, they took a massive financial blow and sent it to germany to rebuild the whole centre.
Thats what happens when the market looses faith in product quality, someone else will take it over.

How many times has this happened in the UK.

The legalities are complex but set as standard practice in the force, if a incident happens and it is claimed to be initiated by race, the call out time is cut back to 25minutes.
If the individual is caucasian and he claims that he has been racially attacked the chance of it being taken further than a verbal warning are minimal.
If on the other hand it has been claimed by a black or Asian person a criminal sentence will be delivered.
Like it or not, that is a fact.
This will only be resolved when people start employing solicitors to resolve such discrimination, I have dealt with this so many times on site where people have wanted to slack off and as soon as you question it you are being racist, it makes you scared to do your job.
I now have my own CIPD qualified employment lawer for my department as simular issues arrise with the current workforce..

What has this country come to......

I will say again people live in there little box and thats fine, but to have a opinion of the whole of the uk based on that shows the lack of common sense and education I speak off.

England is overcrowded the figures speak for themselves, people are negative, maybe some people smile not in London, Scotland, Nottingham to say a few.

Sometimes I break the mould and say good morning to people when I get a paper, only to see a horrified look like I had just shot there cat.

Katie seems to have been outside her postcode so she gets it, she probably also gets the pain of using a blackberry and commuting.
Spot on about central london, its a weird place I am still quite young and spend a lot of time in the gym looking after myself, and due to that everyone wants a fight, how unusual.

Dboy seems to understand, the bigger citys may be worse, but it is spreading.
Read the news outside of your local community, its a big world out there.