Jingsamichty

Yes, I was living in Calgary and working north of Fort McMurray.

Calgary was "fine", in the way that British people say fine. It was truly great to be able to go skiing and hiking and camping in the Rockies, but otherwise the city itself was deathly dull. I lived right in the centre of downtown when I first arrived in Calgary, and in the first few evenings I thought there must have been one of those neutron bombs that we all used to worry about - left the buildings intact and killed all the people. Completely dead downtown after 7pm, in a city with a population the size of Glasgow.

Then we moved out to a relatively prosperous suburb which was, if possible, even more sterile. Comfortable, yes. Everything you need? Yes. But it was like being in a zombie movie where the zombies are normal people. Dead in the eyes.

Interestingly, in all our global travels, Canada is the only place that Mrs Jings says she never wants to go back to. However, we had never intended to emigrate there permanently anyway, it was always just a temporary work assignment that turned out to be a bit longer than initially thought.

It's great for many people, it just wasn't for us.

raindropsandroses

I think that most people who've lived in several different countries have one they'd never go back to, I have two - the UK is one of them and I don't even like stopping there in transit to elsewhere

As you say different strokes for different folks, dead downtown after 7pm sounds like heaven to me, but prior to coming to Canada we were used to living in extremely remote places.

Jingsamichty

Don't get me wrong, there are parts of the UK I wouldn't dream of living, but there are so many fantastic places too. Where did you originally come from in the UK?

scrubbedexpat142

Is that question general or addressed to a specific individual?

raindropsandroses

Originally Kent.

Jingsamichty

Initially to raindrops but seeing as you asked... Where about in the UK did you live to have become so anti?

Kent's one of those places that has extremes isn't it? Impossibly lovely villages and horrific decaying urban blights. I can see why parts of Kent would turn you off the UK.

raindropsandroses

Yes it is, but in fairness I've lived all over the UK trying to find somewhere I liked living but with no success. Hence why I decided to move wround the world for a bit before settling in Canada. Each of the places in the UK I lived in were "nice" leafy middle class sort of areas, chocolate box cottages etc, but it wasn't the scenery I didn't like. Well...its not my favourite but still

Partially discharged

I can relate. At Christmas time we were scheduled for a 1 3/4 hour transfer at Heathrow which turned into about 10 hours and me losing my cool at various jobsworths. Lesson learnt...never rely on Air Canada getting their act together at Heathrow. It was our sons first time in the UK in about 7 years so he was fine loading up on Cadbury Flake's, chicken tikka masala sandwiches, Ribena and 4-4-2 magazine. On the other hand, I tried with little success to find a unique never had before cask conditioned ale at T2 and T5.

raindropsandroses

Now that is enough to strike fear into the most hardened hearts!

Jingsamichty

I don't understand. this thread is about saying good things about the UK, and you've just admitted you had 10 hours gorging on Flakes, chicken tikka masala sandwiches, footy mags and cask-conditioned ales.

When I was in Fort McMurray, that would have made Heathrow sound like a fantastic holiday destination.

dbd33

I believe that's in the citizenship test.

This month I flew into Gatwick on Air Transat and out on EasyJet, that went smoothly so I'm doing it again in September. I'm making a stop over, of course, so I can enjoy driving a good car on good roads in the company of competent drivers and then look at the sea from an attractive building. I expect I shall drink good beer.

I'm not taking the position that life in the UK is necessarily better than that in Canada but some things, especially anything involving the works of man, the built environment, are centuries ahead.

BristolUK

These things are all very nice but they're really not compensating for my opening post (which didn't even mention MP's expenses!) and the disgust I'm currently feeling about it.

Maybe the answer is to have examples of similar scandals, injustices etc for Canada (but recent ones, not from history) so I can view the UK as the lesser of two evils.

Jingsamichty

I think the native population is still treated pretty shabbily, at least compared to any population in the UK or Europe...

dbd33

The things listed, those you dismiss as "very nice" are those that affect people here directly. Those listed in the opening post are abstract or humdrum; the politicians are crooks, the poor have no safety, they're crushed in cages or burned in their homes and those in power evade responsibility by dragging the matter out until they are, anyway, on their death beds. We can sit in remote corners of the declined empire wringing our hands over the latter or we can celebrate the former, ideally by visiting and enjoying.

Canada may look better on these points but it's not because the politicians or honest or because the poor get a fair deal; it's because there's no quality news reporting. The Daily Mail may be a scandal sheet printing biased rubbish but it's well enough written that millions of people read it. I defy anyone to read a Canadian paper from front to back and remain awake; the tangled syntax, the relentless repetition of stock phrases (when in the Globe and Mail was a choice not a "smorgasbord of options") the simple illiteracy of the Star, make the dissemination of information ineffective. In any case, we turn a blind eye to the excesses of the authorities here because it's not our country and we don't identify with the victims.

People are shit. Politicians and horse people are worse; it's nothing to do with nationality and there's no cause for vicarious despair over events at home.

dbd33

Gypos? They get a rough deal in central Europe.