Voyager970

Hudman

I fully agree about not going out in the evening
Glasgow city centre as far as I am concerned is a no go area.
Yes if you look the wrong way, look at the wrong guy, you could end up with a bottle over your head, and a shit load of abuse, or worse still, slashed or stabbed. It beggars beleive that Glasgow city centre does have no-go areas.

Yes Canada may have the same social problems, but as far as what I have researched and the folks I have spoken to, it is miles better than Blighty.

CANADA GETS MY VOTE ANYDAY, The quicker I get my family out of the UK, the better we shall all be. My daughter was assaulted in school the other day, YES ******* school of all places . This is where you send your kids to be educated in the knowledge that they will be safe. NO ******* CHANCE !!!! Even more

Anyway enough for me as I will get on my soap box and it will be hard to stop me ranting

Eddie

Hudman

The School thing is bad, my lad in rural Aberdeenshire has had similar levels of grief, its a major worry. Did you see them rampaging mob of 40+ kids scrapping in Bournemouth of all places.
My last visit to Van in 02 was very refreshing after living in UK, not knowing any better we stayed in what is meant to be quite a lively area of Van around Granville/ Davie, in 3/4 weeks there didnt get, or witness any of the sort of mindless behaviour you get here. People were friendly but not as full on as their American cousins, better suited to UK sensibilities.
This may sound strange but BC as our choice of destination was sealed by a car crash north of Whistler,... doing a left turn in a place called Pemberton, a cop car going about 80mph (behind us in oncoming lane) clipped us and to our horror flipped overabout 3 times. Our lives flashed infront of us and I envisaged spending the rest of the vacation in the local jail as the sex toy of my cell mate, the local redneck lumberjack. While this was flashing thru my mind my missus who was driving rushed out to see if the cop was ok, his car had righted itself, the dude was sitting there cool as a cucumber and said no problems ma'am. The first guy on scene offered us to come into his house, very friendly, turned out to have skipped from some former communist country's olympic team in 60's or 70's and was granted asylum, had created a life here IN BC and loved it. The next guy was a cop, my nightmare seemed closer, but he was local native police, he hugged & consolled my by now distraught wife. No 3rd degree nothing, just kindness. Finally local RCMP Sherriff bossman, again really friendly, few questions etc etc. Ended up this guy giving my wife advice & contacts for her legal career in BC.
I have been treated worse by UK cops for entering a bus lane. This is a true story and any where else in the world this could have been a holiday wrecker but ended up helping us decide to give Canada a go.
My only negative about relocating to Vancouver is that some of the 'burbs in the Fraser Valley seem a bit soulless, but folks we know who live there say they grow on you. I suggest you stay on your soapbox till you leave as its been a good source of motivation during the arduos CIC process for me in our darker hours of being messed about by the Canadian High Commission. Good luck.

Voyager970

I saw that on tonights news about the mob of about 40 school kids surrounding one poor lassie outside her school, bloody disgusting. All I can say that these mindless yobbo's deserve all whats coming to them.

Well what can I say, well done to the bobbies of Canada, yes you right if this was in the UK you would have been carted off to the local nick, to be the local jail sex toy, trust me I know as I work in a jail !!!!

We are looking at Maple Ridge to the east of Vancouver, do you know the area at all, have you visited this area, any info would be much appreciated Hudman.
How far down the immigration process are you. We are just starting out. I sent the first installment of our lawyers fees off today, yes we are using a lawyer to help us get there. It will be worth every penny if we succeed getting into Canada.

Eddie

Hudman

Hiya again, we received our visas last weekend, and booked flights to Van Jan 15....Thank the lord we are getting outta here. We also used help with our application and think overall it was worth the cost.
Funnily enough Maple Ridge is an area we have visted as we have made friends with a familly who live there. By all accounts it is a fantastic familly centered community, we are even considering the area ourselves as house prices are far more reasonable than central Van and one of our friends is a realtor there. It is also close to Golden Ears Park which is absolutely stunning and the size of Wales. We spent a few days there and as I said before the towns are a bit soulless and the main downtown shopping areas are more like our large modern shopping complexes, the facilities and overall friendly/ safe feel make up for this. Also they seem much prouder of their environment and you'd probably get hounded out of town for dropping litter.
I would also say you'd probably not want to be much further East if you worked in downtown Van, but our friends say the West Coast Express is cheap, clean & reliable to get in. If working in Van aint on your agenda things get even cheaper towards Langley and Chilliwack.
I am no expert as last visit was 2 years ago, and spent time moving about, but got good feel for most areas.
Needless to say we are very excited as from deciding on Canada to now has taken 3 years and I am sick to death of West Yorkshire.
Good luck, (as I said I am no expert but will hapilly share my limited experience.)

SANDRAPAUL

If you were wealthy would you want to leave the UK. Why would you sell your home and move to a strange country? The reality is that the Uk is a great place to have as a base if you have large sums of money. A good many of the worlds famous and rich come to here. Why - because it is a haven for culture, steeped in historical feelings of aren't we a great nation, it is a short distance from the capitals of Europe (more culture)(more playgrounds), it is a place where if you have money you can be left alone to a greater degree than most other places. Look at the street where Princess Diana used to live - mainly foreign exile billionnaires who just love this country to bits. Freely flowing alcholol, totty to hand, no-one aiming a rifle at your head. Relate the list to the conditions.

Family money is good. If you have it and can keep it the UK is lovely. Thats how the rich view the world. Money makes money. Put a million in the bank and that will give you say £40,000 a year for doing nothing. Put £10 in the bank and it generates F'ck all.

If you have money you will live in the world. A place in France, another in the US, holidays in the Carribbean. When your tired come home for a rest.

If you are poor or just trying to get your head out of the rabbit hole (council house boy done good) it is hard to keep your place. You have to fight to retain a so-called good lifestyle you have spent years building up. Eventually your face no longer fits.

The UK is still a place of have's and have nots. It is still a divide between upper middle class and upper class family money types and the rest of us that lived in the gutter as they would view it. No one wants to talk about it but it is there. It is not a country where you can get a good crack at the whip. It is an unfair biased society to those that fit in and always fit in.

Win the lottery then decide would you still leave the UK...

If you move with a small amount of money to a country where the exchange rate allows you to buy a property outright it will hurt your bank at home by some tens of thousands of pounds that you do not have to find. You might be able to save for a retirement (pensions in the UK - its can be better to die early for us 40 somethings) Your lifestyle may be improved. You might live longer due to less stress. You might actually enjoy it.

But if you have close family ties, love your friends to bits and would want to have them with you in your new country you are getting off to a bad start. I am amazed about Get a New Life contestants, I say contestants because I piss my self laughing at times how stupid people look on the programme. (remember the one where the lady who went to Italy said it was the spirits that told her to go - wonderful) Its good entertainment! And yes there are also times when the programme is brilliant at showing how it is done properly. Plenty of prepration, realisation that it is going to be tough and nothing takes 5 minutes. Hell - if you are over 40 you know it aint easy.

A move anywhere will work if you have the motivation to do it. It could just as well be from Newcastle to London or Bristol to Manchester. Why not UK to Canada. If you look over your shoulder anywhere in life and want to go back you will never move forward. Life aint easy and you need a positive attitude.

Mind you OZ would scare the s**t out of me with all those things that move and bite and crunch and crawl. I am a chicken. A rattler and a bear are enough.

Tiaribbon

Yes

So is Canada if you are rich. Europe is only 6 hours away and only a few hundred pounds for the flight.

That is percentages, I'm afraid - would you have us all as Socialists?

Easily do-able in Canada, even if you aren't rich.

Have you been to Canada - not much different from the UK.

Agreed.

Couldn't agree more. Do you have one? You sound a tad negative to me...........

SANDRAPAUL

Not in the least. But the wait is grindingly slow. A lot of the elements are not mine. I simply posted them to hopefully generate a thought process. I am amazed how many people do not consider properly what they are doing and what the reprecussions are or could be.

But... I am negative about my prospects in the UK from a personal viewpoint and my childrens - maybe that is what is coming through...

Tiaribbon

The wait seems interminable at times. I would totally agree with you on the considerations some people DO NOT take into account when they make such a momentous move.

Ours has been thought through, talked about to death, thought through a little bit more and discussed even more, lol!!! Deciding to go down the Study Permit route has taken even more discussion, especially with the costs involved, not only to get things out there.....but also to cover the costs of getting everything back to the UK afterwards if PR is denied........mind-blowing I can tell you.

For us, the final decision to go was made about a year into PR when we bought our Canadian house. Even if, god forbid, my husband or I were to keel over, we have both categorically stated that the other would still go. We feel that our house over there is our home and any time away from it is painful. Even taking into account the lower level of education in Canada, we still believe that the country offers so much more than the UK for our children. I stand by my earlier comments about my love for the UK, but the mind has wandered now and we are not people ready to do an about-turn. Canada is our future now and the UK will soon be a distant happy memory and the location of some wonderful future vacations.

Family and friends will be missed; there's no two ways about that......but aeroplanes are a fabulous invention! We have terrific friends in Canada too and for us it is not really a case of Immigration, just moving.

12 days to go and I am certainly looking forward to it. Best of luck as always to everyone in the search for a better life.

eila

Excuse me? Half of the adult people I met in UK could not write correctly. In Canada most people have been well educated, even many musicians in the band have University degrees. A career course I did in Canadian college was University level education. To compare that for NVQ that I did during my work in UK... ohhh ...that was a really low level and simple education, that anyone could have passed anytime. Sorry to say, but UK might have a good reputation with old Univerities, but all other....well....

SANDRAPAUL

Well they must be good as they offered Mark Thatcher a place at Oxford even though it said in the paper he only achieved 3 O'levels (thats an old GCSE). I was amazed. I thought it was a place reserved for achievers - not people with the contacts in the right places etc. Silly old me.
Sorry I am being negative again - must stop it.

Education in most western countries is good - it's what the students make of it - but I do agree that the environment and facilities make a difference. While in Canada went with my eldest around Waterloo Uni near Cambridge/Kitchener - what a lovely place. And Western Uni - absolutely lovely!!!

Tiaribbon

An NVQ is non-vocational, therefore was never designed to be taxing. It was established as a sideways step from High School; made suitable for some children who don't choose to, or are not capable of, doing A-Levels and continuing down the University route.

I will not be drawn into an arguement about which education system is better or worse, but I will draw on my experience of the school syllabus in both countries. My daughter has just turned 8 years old and is in Grade 4 in the UK; on viewing the schools in Canada, the work she is doing here in the UK is exactly comparable to children in Grade 4 and 5 in Canada, which houses 10 and 11 year olds.

Not sure where you were staying in the UK where you claim that half of the people could not write. I have never in my whole life met any adult who could not write, and I have been on this planet for 40 years. I'll take your word for it though.........

the-smiths

Actually......you won't find many 8yr olds in grade 4 in canada, 8yr olds are in grade 3, 9yr olds in grade 4, and 10yr olds in grade 5. We have a daughter that is 8, and she is in grade 3 ( french immersion school )

Yes.....there are quite a few illiterates in the UK, trust me on this one. LOL

Voyager970

Hudman any info on Maple Ridge would be fantastic

We are booked to go over next July, fly out on the 17th July and come back on the 5th / 6th August, overnight flight.

CANNY WAIT.

I am going to try my hardest to get any offers of a job, if this happens then I will go there and set things up for the family

HAS ANYONE DOES THIS BEFORE, WENT TO CANADA ON A HOLIDAY / RECCIE, GOT A JOB AND ENDED UP STAYING. ANY INFO ON THIS WOULD BE GREAT.
Maple Ridge sounds like a great place. I researched and researched places in and around Vancouver, but for some reason maple ridge just looked spot on !!!

Will have to wait until next year to get a good look around, BUMMER !!!

Eddie

Tiaribbon

My quote did not say that 8 year olds were in Grade 4 in Canada, it said........."the work she is doing here in the UK is exactly comparable to children in Grade 4 and 5 in Canada, which houses 10 and 11 year olds".

My daughter starts school in Canada in January and she will be in Grade 3 as it has 8 and 9 year old children in it and although (after she was assessed by the Ontario school board) we were offered for her to go into Grade 4 which would be more closer to the work she does here, we decided that she should remain with a same-age peer group.

I must live in the wrong part of the country - sheltered from all these apparent illiterates, lol!!

Alberta_Rose

I believe that there are, most probably, "illiterates" even in Hampshire! I suggest it is the circles in which you move, rather than the area in which you live, that has "sheltered" you from them.

Why else would you suppose that "adult literacy classes" are so widely advertised?

Here is a link to a "Skills for Life" programme for adult education, including a survey of adult educational levels in the south-east (including Hampshire and the Ilse of Wight). The data, should you care to look at it, is pretty dismal!

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/wbsnet/events/presentations/seeda%20event(10)/johntempestpresentation.pdf

You probably already realise this, but I shall explain for anyone who does not, that kids in Canada start their formal schooling at age 6, so numerically their "grades" are going to be one less than our "years", ie Canadian 1st grade = UK year 2, and so on.

I am not commenting here about the comparative levels of academic education between the two countries, except to say that kids appear to stay as "kids" for longer in the Canadian system, which personally I feel is a good thing, although I accept that is a matter of opinion.

And secondly, that the Canadian system in my (albeit limited) experience would appear to produce a more rounded, confident, community-minded individual than the UK, where too many kids leave school with low morale and expectations, and a feeling that the world owes them a living!

Morw.