His tail hasn't stopped wagging yet!

The poor thing is exhausted though, his eyes were puffy and everything, I don't think he got a wink of sleep with all the other dogs keeping him awake, so needless to say he has been spoilt rotten. I even made him chicken and vegetables and gravy for supper last night (he left the peas).

Ditto all of the other posts...welcome back
Best wishes,
Lorraine G

Hey Piff, glad to see you back! I can't believe the pair of us have been going through the same thing, a matter of days apart!! We just got back today (landed at 4.30pm and eventually arrived in Red Deer at 7pm) but unfortunately, unlike yourself, I am not glad to be back . We had 6 days back in Manchester (5 when you rule out the day wasted on sleep and jetlag!) and in that time we had to cram in as many visits on Hub's large family as possible, as well as visit my folks & sister too.

Sorry to gatecrash your thread Piff, but if I may use this opportunity to tell as briefly as I can on our trip. After all the balarva with son's and my passport and booking the tickets the day before we flew, we were told the devastating news on Monday morning that my father in law's funeral was (and is) going to be held on Tuesday 29th! We only booked a week as my mother in law had requested Thursday the 24th, and so we thought everything would go to plan. Unfortunately, due to the number of elderly deaths in the region and the timing of the funeral directors, crematorium & church service, the 29th was the only day that "gelled together". We'd gone all that way, ran up $4,000 on our credit card and we still couldn't attend the funeral. The only consolation was visiting him in the chapel of rest and spend some time saying our private words of love and goodbyes. We also got to see OH's sick mum who really is deteriorating at an alarming rate with motor neurone disease. As we said our goodbyes on Friday, our tears were literally saying "goodbye".....it'll be a miracle to us all if she sees this year through. I have been battling homesickness for months now, and a bad feeling of not being there to be with the people we love, and one of them has already passed on. I will be honest. I didn't want to come back here. If I'd have won the lottery, I'd have stayed. I had a complete sense of "comfort and ease" being back there and I have now looked at the UK through different eyes. Sure, 6 days isn't long enough to get a real picture - the whole picture - but despite the rain and litter, I felt it really wasn't as bad as I'd been believing it to be. I found people so absolutely down to earth and knew instantly what I was talking about without the odd looks!! We found food shopping unbelievably cheap....I was "high as a kite" piling my trolley with bits to bring back and commenting on how little it was costing!! The rain didn't bother me at all...in fact I found it wonderful to be back in the UK in January, seeing such greenery and no piggin' SNOW!! No more spending 10 minutes wrapping up before you left the front door to venture out in frigid temps! We actually had it quite mild up north. As much as I've battled with this all week (and for the past few months) I know that my place is back there, surrounded by "my support network", but OH is very mixed in his feelings. He does agree that the bond of family cannot be replicated with "friends" over here in Canada, and he doesn't see himself as an old man living here in Alberta, but he isn't ready to throw the towel in just yet....he wants citizenship first. He does worry about certain elements in the UK that he had when we first immigrated, and he does accept how "lonely" we are over here, BUT we are not on the same page in what we want. So we've come back today with lots of talking to be done. I have come back today with a refreshed outlook on what I want for my future, but sadly, I don't see it here. We must catch up Piff and swap our experiences. Back in work Monday

Ruby - how awful - very sorry to hear that after all that, you still won't be able to attend the funeral

Best wishes with all the 'talks' with hubby too - how long till you could apply for citizenship? Is is far off? Could you hang on that long? who knows what you might want in ten years! Thinking of you ....

Hi Ann M........we definitely qualify (timewise) to put in our application for citizenship but it's the cost and timeframe to take the test (I'm sure it would cost us about $1400 and won't be another 12 months to take the test). The thought of having to stay here another 12 months doesn't thrill me right now....I may feel better as the warmer weather starts to appear, but right now in this deep freeze, I just want to jack it all in and be back there.

I could be forgiven for talking utter crap right now as I'm jet-lagged to death (I'm still up at 10:45pm and I was wide awake at 4am in the UK....so I have been up for several hours!!)

I'll give you a call later

I had amazing fish n chips in Squarmish on Saturday night. Mr L2S had a bar of Galaxy for pud!

Was it a deep fried Galaxy bar?? I will definitely have to satisfy my fish and chip craving soon...