sallysimmons

Having lived in Canada, I think this is really cute. "Icy shores" ...

And yes, Canadians may grit their roads, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with sub zero temperatures for 5 months solid. I'm pretty sure I can hack it in the UK.

sallysimmons

Surely you are not accusing the Daily Mail of exaggerated doom and gloom???? For shame!!!

Wawa

Totally agree Sal, anything after Canada is going to be a breeze! We have lately had temperatures of -14C (with the windchill around -23C), so bring on the UK winters

Giovanni

You are not crazy, life in the States is not like it used to be especially CA. I left CA after living there for 40 years and came to Italy. Being an Italian citizen, Italy seemed like a logical choice. Now after a year in Italy I am seriously thinking about moving to the UK. I love Italy, the weather the lifestyle even the people, but business here is horrible, the people in Italy refuse to advance and the ones who do have their hands in your pockets trying to steal whatever they can, It's really sad, but true. I hope to find a balance in the UK between the States and Italy, maybe it exists and maybe it doesn't but it's a new adventure I am looking forward to. Good luck

cinzia

I say, follow your heart, only you know how you feel, its not the end of the world if you go back to England and it doesnt work out. But i must say i do agree with you, there is a constant pull back to your roots! I am fortunate i live in Italy, and to go back to England is not that far away, and i go back whenever i feel the need to. Good luck on your decision.

2passports

Lothianlad, I think I remember from some of your previous posts that you are pretty bothered by the weather way up where you live. I went to university in Scotland, and I know the lack of daylight in the winter because of the short days really got to me. If I ever lived there again, the first thing I would do it buy one of those sun lamps that stop you getting depressed! Do you have the opportunity to go somewhere sunny for a while, even if not emigrate. A neighbor of mine joined a house swap website and had a really good experience. It's a cheap way to live somewhere else for more than just a holiday, if you have some free time.

Lothianlad

Thank you for your comments, much appreciated. I've lived in Edinburgh all my life apart from short spells working in London and much as I adore London and all it has to offer andwhich appeals to me, I am always happy to be back in Edinburgh especially as I have finally left the parental home and now share a flat with my partner in Stockbridge, a lovely location inthe city and much closer to the city centre, but the living costs are quite something! But it's fun nontheless.

The weather this winter and the very short Scottish days - now at their very shortest with little more than 7 hours of daylight, but then I think of the good people of Hammerfest, in northern Norway (a place I have been to and where I think I ate my weight in fish for the duration of my stay there) where the poor souls don't have any daylight at all right now.

It's turning out to be a horrible winter here - again, worse thsan last year's - by UK standards - very cold, really hard frosts, penetrating winds with mounds of snow and after about three days of "mildish" conditions the cold is back again and forecasters say a White Christmas in much of the UK is more or less "guaranteed". The good old Daily Mail says the bad weather will last until February....very cold, but not at all cool.

I know what you mean about sun lamps but although I regularly work out at the gym I haven't done the sun lamps thing at all - are they absolutely safe? Unfortunately I have very fair and sensitive skin and turn red and burn quite easily. I don't think I am any more prone to bouts of depression than the average person, but even so I reckon I could well be so affected to some degree in certain circumstances. Perhaps one of those circumstances is the ever more firm realisation that I will never actually emigrate to another country after all, to experience life in a different cultural environment, for reasons I have stated in another post. That has tended to make me feel a wee bit low, but then I know how lucky I am to have what I have got in my life now, including a partner who has made no secret of the fact that he has absolutely no intention of emigrating anywhere. If he maintains that he would not even consider moving down to England unless it was really worth his while to do so, then a move to anywhere else outside of the UK is a total non starter. He says that he would seriously miss too much so many things he loves about Scotland and the UK generally, things which he says are "unique" to this country. I don't think I could adequately argue against that too well, really.

My sister and her husband have a second home near Antequera, in the Andalucia province of Southern Spain (their main home is in Glasgow) so if I fancy a dose of real sunshine then I have popped down there occasionally, but most of the time it is occupied by other people from the UK to whom it has been let. The last time I was down there it was over 40C in the shade, and I spent most of the time in the pool.

Thanks again for your post.

Beedubya

Lothianlad, it would be nice if you and your partner went over the border and explored some of the Southern counties of England, the weather is definitely milder down in the South and there are some stunning places to be seen.

Also re the sun lamp this is not the same as the tanning beds, keep right away from them, especially as you have fair skin. There is a movement on here to get them banned completely as Australia has the highest rate of melanoma and surely doesn't need any more help.

I think the lamps being talked about are lighting boxes for sufferers of S.A.D. Seasonal Affective Disorder...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasona...ctive_disorder

My daughter reckons she would get this majorly if she had to live in the UK.

The lights are not cheap but way cheaper than a one way ticket to Australia.