Seven Year Itch...
#1
Seven Year Itch...
Made it to seven years in Calgary this week!
Quit my career not long after arriving, had two kids, did some temping and after five years have got myself back in a decent job and am taking some further courses to improve my job prospects in the future. Other half has been pretty happy with his lot, walking into his job on day one and still being there!
Still feel 'at home' here in Canada and a trip back to the UK in the summer confirmed it even more.
I like the space you get here - I felt claustrophobic for the first few days when we went back to the UK - it was like the hedges were closing in on me and traffic was driving too close in narrow lanes, oh and how small are those parking spaces!
I like the convenience in Calgary - the vast majority of everything is no more than a 20 minute drive, and the mountains are 1 1/2 hours away.
I like that people of all different backgrounds seem to rub along fine together most of the time.
I am happy with our experience of the health system so far. We are just venturing into the world of school with daughter no. 1 starting kindergarten but there are some teething issues so I'm keeping an open mind on how that is panning out.
I wish there was more of a vibrant downtown or even just some vibrant urban areas as I miss that side of London with all the different interesting neighbourhoods, attractions and places to see and visit.
I'm not a fan of the monotony in terms of big square box buildings, cookie cutter houses, one mall looking like the next, etc, but I'm prepared to put up with that in return for the convenience!
And, the vacation is crap (where I work anyway!) - all these wonderful new places to travel to for holidays but not enough time to cram them all in! I also wish there were better opportunities for part-time jobs/jobshares in reasonably-well-paid sectors.
And I still cannot fathom how there seems to be so many stores of various franchises - how do they manage to stay afloat when there are so many of them e.g. Tim Horton's, Starbucks, etc?
But.....now I am at seven years I have an itch. I feel the need for change - maybe a new job, maybe a move either within the City or out to a satellite town (before daughter no. 1 gets to first grade), or I could also be tempted with a big move to somewhere in BC if the job opportunities were right. Or am I just having a mid-life crisis???
Quit my career not long after arriving, had two kids, did some temping and after five years have got myself back in a decent job and am taking some further courses to improve my job prospects in the future. Other half has been pretty happy with his lot, walking into his job on day one and still being there!
Still feel 'at home' here in Canada and a trip back to the UK in the summer confirmed it even more.
I like the space you get here - I felt claustrophobic for the first few days when we went back to the UK - it was like the hedges were closing in on me and traffic was driving too close in narrow lanes, oh and how small are those parking spaces!
I like the convenience in Calgary - the vast majority of everything is no more than a 20 minute drive, and the mountains are 1 1/2 hours away.
I like that people of all different backgrounds seem to rub along fine together most of the time.
I am happy with our experience of the health system so far. We are just venturing into the world of school with daughter no. 1 starting kindergarten but there are some teething issues so I'm keeping an open mind on how that is panning out.
I wish there was more of a vibrant downtown or even just some vibrant urban areas as I miss that side of London with all the different interesting neighbourhoods, attractions and places to see and visit.
I'm not a fan of the monotony in terms of big square box buildings, cookie cutter houses, one mall looking like the next, etc, but I'm prepared to put up with that in return for the convenience!
And, the vacation is crap (where I work anyway!) - all these wonderful new places to travel to for holidays but not enough time to cram them all in! I also wish there were better opportunities for part-time jobs/jobshares in reasonably-well-paid sectors.
And I still cannot fathom how there seems to be so many stores of various franchises - how do they manage to stay afloat when there are so many of them e.g. Tim Horton's, Starbucks, etc?
But.....now I am at seven years I have an itch. I feel the need for change - maybe a new job, maybe a move either within the City or out to a satellite town (before daughter no. 1 gets to first grade), or I could also be tempted with a big move to somewhere in BC if the job opportunities were right. Or am I just having a mid-life crisis???
#2
Re: Seven Year Itch...
Ooh - I could have written most of that! (Apart from the satellite town bit ).
Glad you are very mostly settled - I agree that Calgary is an extremely "liveable" city. Maybe not beautiful, or hugely artistic, but it is a convenient easy place to live.
Come to Cochrane for a coffee so I can talk to you about your mid-life crisis.
Glad you are very mostly settled - I agree that Calgary is an extremely "liveable" city. Maybe not beautiful, or hugely artistic, but it is a convenient easy place to live.
Come to Cochrane for a coffee so I can talk to you about your mid-life crisis.
#3
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2012
Location: Uk
Posts: 70
Re: Seven Year Itch...
Congrats on your 7 years. Hope we can say the same about Calgary in 7 years
#5
BE user by choice
Joined: Oct 2010
Location: A Briton, married to a Canadian, now in Fredericton.
Posts: 4,854
Re: Seven Year Itch...
Yes Flossie go for coffee with Ann M...I've always wanted to!
I really enjoyed your post.
Many congratulations to you and your growing thriving family
I really enjoyed your post.
Many congratulations to you and your growing thriving family
#6
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 37
Re: Seven Year Itch...
Made it to seven years in Calgary this week!
Quit my career not long after arriving, had two kids, did some temping and after five years have got myself back in a decent job and am taking some further courses to improve my job prospects in the future. Other half has been pretty happy with his lot, walking into his job on day one and still being there!
Still feel 'at home' here in Canada and a trip back to the UK in the summer confirmed it even more.
I like the space you get here - I felt claustrophobic for the first few days when we went back to the UK - it was like the hedges were closing in on me and traffic was driving too close in narrow lanes, oh and how small are those parking spaces!
I like the convenience in Calgary - the vast majority of everything is no more than a 20 minute drive, and the mountains are 1 1/2 hours away.
I like that people of all different backgrounds seem to rub along fine together most of the time.
I am happy with our experience of the health system so far. We are just venturing into the world of school with daughter no. 1 starting kindergarten but there are some teething issues so I'm keeping an open mind on how that is panning out.
I wish there was more of a vibrant downtown or even just some vibrant urban areas as I miss that side of London with all the different interesting neighbourhoods, attractions and places to see and visit.
I'm not a fan of the monotony in terms of big square box buildings, cookie cutter houses, one mall looking like the next, etc, but I'm prepared to put up with that in return for the convenience!
And, the vacation is crap (where I work anyway!) - all these wonderful new places to travel to for holidays but not enough time to cram them all in! I also wish there were better opportunities for part-time jobs/jobshares in reasonably-well-paid sectors.
And I still cannot fathom how there seems to be so many stores of various franchises - how do they manage to stay afloat when there are so many of them e.g. Tim Horton's, Starbucks, etc?
But.....now I am at seven years I have an itch. I feel the need for change - maybe a new job, maybe a move either within the City or out to a satellite town (before daughter no. 1 gets to first grade), or I could also be tempted with a big move to somewhere in BC if the job opportunities were right. Or am I just having a mid-life crisis???
Quit my career not long after arriving, had two kids, did some temping and after five years have got myself back in a decent job and am taking some further courses to improve my job prospects in the future. Other half has been pretty happy with his lot, walking into his job on day one and still being there!
Still feel 'at home' here in Canada and a trip back to the UK in the summer confirmed it even more.
I like the space you get here - I felt claustrophobic for the first few days when we went back to the UK - it was like the hedges were closing in on me and traffic was driving too close in narrow lanes, oh and how small are those parking spaces!
I like the convenience in Calgary - the vast majority of everything is no more than a 20 minute drive, and the mountains are 1 1/2 hours away.
I like that people of all different backgrounds seem to rub along fine together most of the time.
I am happy with our experience of the health system so far. We are just venturing into the world of school with daughter no. 1 starting kindergarten but there are some teething issues so I'm keeping an open mind on how that is panning out.
I wish there was more of a vibrant downtown or even just some vibrant urban areas as I miss that side of London with all the different interesting neighbourhoods, attractions and places to see and visit.
I'm not a fan of the monotony in terms of big square box buildings, cookie cutter houses, one mall looking like the next, etc, but I'm prepared to put up with that in return for the convenience!
And, the vacation is crap (where I work anyway!) - all these wonderful new places to travel to for holidays but not enough time to cram them all in! I also wish there were better opportunities for part-time jobs/jobshares in reasonably-well-paid sectors.
And I still cannot fathom how there seems to be so many stores of various franchises - how do they manage to stay afloat when there are so many of them e.g. Tim Horton's, Starbucks, etc?
But.....now I am at seven years I have an itch. I feel the need for change - maybe a new job, maybe a move either within the City or out to a satellite town (before daughter no. 1 gets to first grade), or I could also be tempted with a big move to somewhere in BC if the job opportunities were right. Or am I just having a mid-life crisis???