Originally Posted by Dave n Ailsa

We're in Darnley, south side. Happy to meet up for an "AA" type therapy class any time you like lol.

Originally Posted by Oink

You don't see a little irony in your original post?

Originally Posted by Dave n Ailsa

That makes no sense.

I was reffering to the folk who have moved over for the wrong reasons, so don't apply to me

Originally Posted by dbd33

Why? And that's almost an innocent question, Tim Hortons is ok but not much different to Starbucks. They probably have Starbucks in Scotland and you probably don't spend much time there. Canadian Tire, very much like Halfords, how much time do spend buying Chinese tat in Halfords?

Originally Posted by GC44

Never bought dog food at Halfords, never seen it there! Or kitchen taps for that matter.

Originally Posted by Dave n Ailsa

That makes no sense.

I was reffering to the folk who have moved over for the wrong reasons, so don't apply to me

Originally Posted by dbd33

I'm surprised that Canadian Tire keeps dog food and horrified to think that someone would buy it. Is it a guard dog for a junkyard?

Originally Posted by Dave n Ailsa

Umm, you know dog food is all garbage anyway don't you, lol.

Our dog would eat a pile of socks if you poured some gravy over it

Originally Posted by dbd33

I'm surprised that Canadian Tire keeps dog food and horrified to think that someone would buy it. Is it a guard dog for a junkyard?

Originally Posted by Novocastrian

So refresh my memory. You want to "move over" for a better life for the kids, because the UK has gone to the dogs, so you can drink disgusting sludge at Timmies, shop at Crappy Tire, and because you can find spare parts for gas guzzlers. Did I miss anything?

Originally Posted by Dave n Ailsa

I've been on this forum, on and off for over 4 years. In that time I've seen the good and bad stories of the immigration process.

So I've starting thinking, that a high percentage of expats have moved to Canada for the wrong reasons. Things like "I hate this country now", or "there's no work here", or even "my children have no future here" etc etc.

My pet hate is when I read about folk who move to Canada because it was "too hard to get into the USA", or "Australia was too far away"

These are not reasons to move to Canada, they are excuses to leave your own country. And when you do make the move, how depressed will you be when you realize it's just the same, and maybe even worse than what you left behind.

I think the reason I'm getting so uptight about this, is because of the application delay stories I'm reading about. Is it possible that if more people took the time to assess their situation in this country, and decided that they could have a better life if they just changed a few things and made more of an effort, then CIC wouldn't have such a HUGE pile of applications to sift through, from people, many of whom decided to move to Canada on a whim, or because Oz was full.

So what's my story, and could we have a better life if we stay here?

Well, yes, probably. We could get a bigger house. I could get some daft American rust-bucket, I could go fishing every weekend, Ailsa could get a much higher paid job, I could grow my own small business into something big, and our kids are at an age where they will go with the flow.

But it's not Canada.

We want to move BECAUSE of the differences. We won't be looking for british pubs, or footy, or be upset with not seeing eastenders, or not getting baked beans etc etc. We want Tim Hortons, and Canadian Tire, and rusty old muscle cars sitting on the driveway, knowing I can buy parts and if I do get to drive it, it won't look ridiculous like it would on a narrow wet road in Scotland. We want to know it will be sunny in Summer, and snowy in winter, even if it is extreme. We like the accents, we like the space, we even like the stereotype attitude that Canadians seem to have from other nations.
Some seem to complain of Canada having no culture compared to the UK. What do they mean by that? Going to a museum then back to ye olde pub for a steak pie and a pint of best ale?

Maybe I'm lacking in Culture then. I want to have Barbie's at the weekend, maybe go to a comedy club once a month, teach my kids how to ice skate, maybe get them into Hockey, learn the rules of baseball and football, and drive on the wrong side of the road, lol, I want all of that.

We are not moving across the Atlantic because we feel our country has nothing to offer. We just want to do all things we've wanted to do half our lives, but were unable because Scotland was not the right place for us.

So now we sit, and wait for our application to be processed. My only link to Canada is reading this forum, or some excellent blogs from folk on here, or googling Canada for places to work live and play. Ailsa has work coleagues she can contact for the odd photo update, but it's really tough living here, knowing that your heart is in another country. Every day just watching the clock tick by, waiting for the day you can book flights and get on with the rest of your life.

Now I know I'm going to get the odd flaming, but the truth is, I'd rather be miserable in Canada, than miserable in Scotland

Dave.

Originally Posted by GC44

If you drive past a Canadian Tire to buy your dogfood elsewhere then you have more money than sence! Check it out, they sell all then normal household brands.

Originally Posted by GC44

If you drive past a Canadian Tire to buy your dogfood elsewhere then you have more money than sence! Check it out, they sell all then normal household brands. Thought you may have known a little more about the place as you used it as an example.

Originally Posted by Dave n Ailsa

That makes no sense.

I was reffering to the folk who have moved over for the wrong reasons, so don't apply to me