Editha

I've been living in Edmonton since 2006. My husband is a Canadian born in BC. We'd met in the UK, where he lived and worked for 25 years. We came/returned to Canada in our fifties because he was made redundant in the UK and couldn't find another job there, but was able to get work in Alberta. I was already retired.

I'm not at all happy here. I don't like the climate - snow in winter, mosquitoes in summer. I miss song-birds and country walks and the season of spring, which doesn't happen here, unless you count the month when the dog turds defrost.

I'm a foodie; I was disappointed by the poor choice and quality of food here, and the high prices, and the weird saltiness. I don't like our Canadian house. It's much bigger than the one we had in the UK, but because it is open plan, it feels much smaller, and I hate having a kitchen open to the rest of the house, so cooking smells get everywhere; plus having a gloomy unused basement is creepy. I can't learn to use an American oven. I've given up roasting meat, because the oven smoked every time and we ended up eating in a light smog. The noise of the forced air heating system drives me nuts in cold weather.

I'm embarrassed to be living in Alberta, the home of the environmentally unfriendly tarsands.

I hate shopping for clothing here, because the vanity sizing makes it impossible to work out whether something is going to fit, and the sales assistants are so intrusive. I buy my clothing mail order from the UK, or on my annual trip home.

On the positive side, my husband likes his job, and I recognise we were lucky he was able to get employment in his fifties. We've had better medical care here than we were getting in the UK, although that just seems to be luck. Our GP here is much better than the one we had in the UK. I also love the library system, which is so much better than the UK.

We are going to return to the UK in three or four years time, when my husband retires. In the meantime I spend a couple of months each year in the UK, or elsewhere in Europe. Without that, I think I'd go insane. Did I mention that Canada is the most boring country on the planet?

Auld Yin

Feel better now?

ann m

Oh dear - not a happy bunny.

Whereabouts are you?

Though I can identify with some of what you say, it doesn't get me down. There must be a way to cheer you up and make living here bareable? Are you working and socialising?

Sounds like you are depressed. I hope you can get back to the UK soon.

Steve_P

Your post to me sounds more like a testament to your inability or refusal to adapt.

Sounds like you decided before you got here that you weren't going to like it and nothing is going to change your mind.

I do truly feel sorry for you.

CalgaryPete

Well, this anniversary means you're another year closer to going home.

So, why not bake a cake! Make it an anti-versary cake, counting down the number of years left to go before your return to England. 3 candles this year, 2 next year and so on.

Editha

Thank-you Calgary Pete. That's a very nice and sympathetic suggestion.

Editha

Yes, actually.

Editha

No I didn't decide that at all. For the first couple of years I tried very hard to adapt. I never promised my husband that I would settle here permanently, but since he has more family here than I have there, a permanent move did seem to make sense.

I think one big factor has been my age. It is a fact that you become more set in your ways as you get older. If I'd emigrated in my twenties, rather than my fifties, I think I'd have found it much easier. Nor has it helped that I feel very concerned about my mother, who is in her eighties and living on her own in the UK.

I've made friends here, but all my old friends, apart from my husband, are back home.

Another factor has been that I really liked our lifestyle in the UK. We used to live close to the Peak District. It was really lovely countryside. Although I was retired, I'd been doing voluntary work, and had some success with what I was doing.

I've done voluntary work here, attended university extension courses, and go to a gym and so on, but not really found any activities that give me as much satisfaction as my lifestyle in the UK.

Almost Canadian

I'd love to know what it is about North American ovens that one can not solve after 5 years.

I hope you find what you are looking for

blue monday

What he said

I can't understand why anyone would return to the sh1t hole called the UK. I would bet money that within a year of returning to the UK you will start moaning about things that were better in Canada.

Piff Poff

I agree with Ann here, it does sound like you are a bit depressed and you may need some medical help to lift your spirits.

As with all forums you will get the less sympathetic comments you have experienced here Take them with a pinch of salt.

As with your oven - I NEVER use the roast function on mine unless I am using the very bottom shelf.

I understand your concerns about your Mum, my Mum is only 60 but for the last 6 years has been defying cancer, we heard last week that it has spread to the peritoneum, should find out this week whats going on, poor lady is so weak and feeble, she's trying to gather her cancer fighting spirits once again but is evidently struggling Worrying about parents is the worst thing about this emigrating lark IMO.

I get your comments about food - at least you live somewhere where there is more choice, we live in Red Deer, also known as Dead Rear, the choice of restaurants we have are mainly steak and rib type places or over/underflavoured (depending on dish) chinese. AND WHY, do they insist on serving barely warm food?????

Last winter was particularly brutal IMO and put the nail in the coffin for not just some Brits I know but from Canadians from other Provinces that are moving as soon as they can. For my husband and I we have a couple of years to wait before we move, it will be to an alternative Province, one that is more densely populated I think - we're bored but we still think Canada is the place we need to be.

I have no real suggestions for you, try to keep positive, there is light at the end of your tunnel, try to enjoy the good bits while your here.

Editha

I'm not depressed and I do not need medical help. Thank-you for your concern.

Piff Poff

Woah there tiger! That comes across as really stroppy! Your original post sounds as though you have nothing in life that you enjoy and that everyday is a trial. THAT is a sign of depression in itself. But there you go, I tried to post something sympathetic and understanding, letting you know that I understood with aspects of how your feeling and sticking up for how you are feeling and you shot me down in flames. I don't know why I bothered, I really don't

mandymoochops

I agree with Steve - where it seems as though you may have thought you were trying to adapt - thr underlying tone puts it in another light.

You can't get on somewhere if you don't try - stroppy is as stroppy does and all that.

Hope you are happier when you go back home.

Ps PP I thought your reply was lovely x

Steve_P

Surely it can't be that hard.

Here you go Gas Mark in bold and equivalent temp in °F.

1⁄4 - 225° Very Slow/Very Low
1⁄2 - 250° Very Slow/Very Low
1 - 275° Slow/Low
2 - 300° Slow/Low
3 - 325° Moderately Slow/Warm
4 - 350° Moderate/Medium
5 - 375° Moderate/Moderately Hot
6 - 400° Moderately Hot
7 - 425° Hot
8 - 450° Hot/Very Hot
9 - 475° Very Hot