where would you move back to?

Out of everything you said, this is the only part I agree with. I don't get it with Brit's in general. How many times haven't we seen on here Brits coming on line saying they can't put up with the immigration in to UK so they are emigrating themselves to get away from the immigrants?

And what baffled me was the TV documentaries on British Expats in Spain, France, Bulgaria who never even made an effort to integrate in to the local community but instead built their own little British villages with British stores and not learning the local language. And when asked why not the response was "they're foreigners". What the heck is up with that?

Just the other day watching "A place in the sun" or whatever it was, they suggested a place in Portugal which looked exactly like any given suburban street in UK. I fell about laughing.

I like chavs and find them quite charming and affable. I definitely prefer them to all the gangsters around here with their guns and complete disregard for life. There was another fatal stabbing during a fight just last Friday night.

it's not that bad back in England at all! Maybe in the shitty Home Counties suburban desert... I look forward to every visit back to the homestead. And I refuse to believe all this stuff about it being more expensive there than in Canada.

And as for the size of houses... England simply isn't big enough to be able to sustain the kind of faux palaces you get here in Canada. Unless you want to suburbanize the whole damn country.

I despise those people. Especially since they're typically the type that moan the most about immigrants not integrating back at home.

But they are not really very different than many, many posters in the canadian section of this website.

To be honest I don't really know what 'integration' entails? I think one can be pleasant and courteous to people without having to frequent Tim Horton's, drink crap beer and watch ice hockey.

Didn't those attending Uni in the 80s qualify for grants and not have to pay tuition fees? Were you not clever enough to be admitted in the UK but were in Canada? Is it the fault of the UK that you mixed in circles you describe above? It is not the UK I recognize at all (being someone that could have gone to Uni in the 80s.

I own a house in a village not far from Hove, and I spend a few months there each year. I can't say I've noticed many "chavs" in East Sussex, but I'm not sure how I'd recognise one, and anyway I don't get into Hove much. I prefer Brighton.

I've just come back from my gym in downtown Edmonton. As usual, the downtown area seemed inhabited by miserable, lost looking people, lethargically shuffling around, like a scene from a zombie movie.

But, I guess Ontario is different.

In the 1980s only about 9% of school leavers attended university and the places were extremely rationed. And, if you were unfortunate to have to attend one those educational dustbins called secondary moderns your chances of being channeled into HE were very slim indeed. Of course the easy thing at that time was to blame the children instead of taking responsibility for their class ridden prejudice.

It was much more difficult, granted not impossible. Grants made it extremely difficult for all but the most gifted to get in.....no the case here. I was sharing my experiences. Yes. I suspect the uk does bear at least some, blame given the crime ridden, poverty stricken hole I grew up in.....would have been tough to up and leave at 15

Canada is much more equal and fair from my point of view a far as post secondary education went.....

Actually, we did go and I, at least, delighted in the white trash stereotypes on display; gypsies and wiggas.

Watching the local news. A main story is about the two murders and the dozen stabbings since new year.

There is also this:

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/...s-service?bn=1

though some of the fighting does look a bit crap.

Just landed back from the UK 3 hours ago.

It was great catching up with family and friends and nice to watch thinking man's TV like Eastenders. I thought Pat Butcher was indestructible

It was good to go to decent supermarkets and do some proper shopping.

I did however miss the bar in my lobby somewhat.

On New Years Eve Eve (day before New Year). I found myself in an expensive bar in Mayfair. The Mojito's were being made by simply throwing all the ingredients in a glass, adding a spoon and a half of brown sugar and stirring it with a spoon. Unfortunately in an attempt to beat the happy hour promo deadline I ended up with four of the things.

I also got held up in London because someone had committed suicide on the train tracks apparently it is happening quite often at the mo.

I also squeezed in some trips to Birmingham and Bristol for some top nights out.

Mixed feelings about returning to Toronto but I enjoy my job and should make good cash this year. That combined with my amazing commute of a 10 minute walk each day will keep me ticking over.

I think the OP is still on their honey moon period. If some one told me I had to live in Barrie or head back to the UK I would've been landing at Heathrow before they got to the "or".

My experience on BE over the years is that it is frequently those that slag of the UK with the most vehemence that are the ones that crawl back there with their tail between their legs when the new land of milk and honey (whether it be Canada or anywhere else) doesn't quite live up to the initial rose-tinted aspect.

They also forgot to put their hoodies up!

I checked out the Star yesterday to find out what I had been missing.

Headline story was a young black male murdered in a drive by shooting on New Years Day just down the road in Scarborough.

All this gang land activity and misbehaving youth is turning Toronto into Vancouver.......