Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

I talk to my parents in England once a week or so, they always say something along the lines of "we looked at your blog, we feel so lucky to be here".

Personally I don't think Canada should let any more Brits in, I hear they're all chavs and scumbags.

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

Ah, but if you are so clever and left to escape the likes of us, why are you on here with us? Not so clever after all eh? Ooh, I do hope I didn't leave out any apostrophes anywhere...lol

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

It would be better if this subject could be debated without resorting to personal comments and insults. Cut it out please.

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

Maybe just a comma required ;) :p

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

OK back to the thread..

Was cheesed off with the UK and life in general, Dad died, was treated poorly at work, split from my long term OH, one night saw the advert and answered it. Took the test, passed it. Came over did all the tests and physical stuff etc..passed it..
Got the job..
Here I am in Canada.

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

I left the UK to go to the US because the alternative would've meant getting a proper job.

I've stayed away ever since because Margaret Thatcher got elected a couple of years later. I could see what was coming.

I was right.

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

Any thoughts about market demand for potash?

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

More like:

http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/warriorshtm/jerk.htm

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

I've been in Canada for three and a half years and moved here because my wife is Canadian and we were tempted by the affordable cost of housing. I didn't leave the UK because I hated living there and there are a lot of things I miss about my old home.

I think people will be much better off by moving to Canada for positive reasons as opposed to leaving the UK for negative reasons. If they don't it could all prove to be terribly disappointing for them.

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

Exactly! The pull needs to be stronger than the push.

We love it here and have no desire to live in the UK again, visits will suffice, but Canada isn't for everyone. In fact emigrating isn't for everyone.

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

There were lots of reasons for us that can be summed up by the phrase looking for a change. There was more of a pull to Canada than a push from the UK; if our visas had not been granted we'd probably still be happy in Belfast or Yorkshire.

We were first attracted to Canada by the work ethic, liberal attitudes and general personality traits of the Canadians we'd become friendly with over the years. It should be said that we realised these were generally well educated and/or well travelled and not necessarily representative of the average Canadian but we had some confidence that we'd be able to settle in and find new friends here.

We considered British Columbia, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta and Montreal and gradually ranked them on factors varying from employment availability, to distance from ocean, to number of feet of snow likely to have to be shovelled every winter, eventually identifying coastal BC as our prime target because it offered us reasonable employment opportunities in combination with easy access to the leisure pursuits we most enjoy and our most preferred climate.

I suppose the push factors were:

1) being surrounded by friends and neighbours constantly twittering about the latest school league tables and their effect on (a) house prices or (b) little Tabitha's ability to do calculus by the age of 7;

2) a growing discontent with the polarisation of society (living surrounded by constant them and us mentalities is very wearing);

3) increasing urbanisation;

4) dumbing down of news coverage (I know, I know, but we had high expectations of the BBC when we moved back to the UK in 2000 and frankly, low expectations of Canadian news media when we moved here last year) and popular opinion (and therefore political decisions) being dictated by a couple of powerful media barons.

In some ways, our situation has not improved over what we had in Britain - one of us is still doing a lot of work-related foreign travel and one of us has a long (for Canada) commute. That is a downside of choosing Vancouver - lots of traffic! In other ways, our lives have improved beyond expectation. We are healthier and fitter (with the exception of a few Christmas pounds ;) ) than we have been for years, in spite of no longer spending four evenings a week at the gym. We have been astonished by the level of trust between people here - it is a real culture shock that the default position is "I trust this person" rather than "this person is going to shaft me", especially in the workplace. (There's a good example of this difference in another thread on here at the moment.) We are generally much more relaxed, are enjoying life and feel prepared to tackle the challenges of settling in. It has been a good move for us, but if we hadn't left Britain we'd probably be doing OK, financially at least :p :D

edit: 5) the wanting something for nothing whether it is kids expecting to get a qualification just by turning up to class or the scuzz ball claiming falsely for whiplash after setting up a car accident with mates (because its only insurance innit).

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

I began reading this and thought "I don't recall posting that."

It almost mirrors my situation. Even the time being here (nearly). Though there is not much that I miss from England. TV was good, though quality had been reducing. Pubs I miss. And a football team to support.

I had been looking to leave the UK anyway; retire early and take a reduced pension when I hit 50. The plan was to go to Spain, buying somewhere with the money from my house sale, leaving a bit of capital and living on the pension.

Instead, I met a Canadian woman and things changed. I still left work early but came to Canada instead.

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

Here goes, i'm probably setting myself up for loads of angst here but these are my reasons for wanting to leave the UK.
1) Both me and my OH are or have been in the RN so there is no requirement for us to live near the family as we're used to spending most of our time away from them. (This probaly shouldn't be #1 but it is why i don't anticipate too many problems settling elsewhere as my "friend" groups change quite a lot.

2) I don't care what people say about us thinking the grass is greener, i don't like the way the UK is heading, there was a mugging in my area not long ago where the man's child was threatened if he didn't hand over the money. It was only a babe in a pram. This was in the middle of the day and is the same route i walk with my own 2 year old.

3) I understand that me and my OH will be on less than half the money we make in the UK but i accept that and i will work with that. I honestly beleive that money doesn't give you happiness, it just helps to pay the bills. Both my and my OH never had much money growing up and we were both happy as children. I want the freedom to be able to allow my child to play outside without worrying that she might be taken from my own garden.

I could rattle on for ages but no doubt i've put you all to sleep by now. I don't appreciate people slagging off the Brits, i don't think i'm a scumbag or a lowlife, i work hard to make sure i pay my bills and i don't get into trouble. I'm not an angel but i do think that there has to be something better than this. We've got years before we make it to Canada but i for one think its a very worthwhile labour. :)

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

Bazz all due respect how long since you left, this country has changed dramatically over the past 2 years, ? and even more so in the past 6 months. i would say at any one time in our shops over half are EU That in itself isn't a problem wait till you get hit by an uninsured driver, or like we were our son beaten so badly needed major surgery to save him, they were EU and they have the animals on CCTV but can they do anything no because they haven't the resources or the time to deal with it, its happening everyday here.

Toes guy and many others on here see it day in day out, don't agree with everything but its getting really bad here, even to go to town now i hate it, saw and heard someone form EU openly had a knife in our town he was talking with some others thats how i know he was from EU, there are lots of scum here British as well, but the people coming in should be monitored like we all are to get to Canada.

There isn't a Great Britain anymore,

Re: Why do you want to leave the UK?
 

I do believe we were posting on this thread before you stuck your beak in with your in depth contribution.

The internet is a great place for people to openly debate things even if you don't agree or have the bottle to say things face to face. SORRY but I don't really have as high opinion of you as you do yourself and I certainly have no need to follow you around considering all your other flannel on other threads ....don't flatter yourself dude.

ON SUBJECT

House prices
Cost of living
Customer service
Constantly being ripped off
Crime
Attitudes
Crap Government & politians who also talk crap and never do anything about serious issues
Discipline
Respect