Ain't that the truth. I used to live in Toronto and the business trips I took to Saskatchewan were some of the worst I've ever taken in my life. The capital Regina might be the most depressing place I've ever been. Makes Selby look like shangri-la

Crikey, you've lived a sheltered life if Regina is one of the worst places you've been!

Far from it.

But I didn't say 'worst' I said 'one of the most depressing.' It truly was. It was bone-chillingly cold, the street where we stayed was ugly as hell, and there were tons of homeless old Indian men drinking out of paper bags. No way that should be allowed to happen to a whole people and the rest of the country not know or care.

Jeez this happens to me daily at WORK

You will have been back over a month now.........how are you liking the UK life again ?
where abouts did you move back to?

A good laugh indeed, I missed the sense of humor sooo much.It was wasted on the Canadians.

OMG its not that bad.I have had 6 months away and though people are tightening their belts,they are still spending and enjoying themselves.A lot of it is media hype, but the tories wont last much longer anyway.
Its peoples negative attitude of the UK that does it.

I can soo vouch for that , got the T shirt, another reason I came back.

We have been back since 13th Jan but it feels like we have been back for months!

We moved into a rental 2 weeks ago when our furniture arrived - thankfully all in good condition apart from one broken lamp.

We are in the area we lived in before we moved to Australia - Ingleby Barwick.

My eldest daughter has settled straight back into her old school with classmates she has known since nursery, so she is very happy. Getting a nursery place for my daughter who was 3 in Oct 2010 has proved impossible as all the places have been taken in our local area. However, she will get a place starting in Sept this year and she is going to our childminder (who looked after my eldest for 8 years) twice a week while I hunt for a job!

I really started concentrating on job hunting just last week - once we had moved into the rental. The first day I sent my CV to a recruitment company, I got a call to say they were very interested in finding me work, so this has helped boost my confidence. I worked for 15 years in the chemical industry as a Logistics Manager and then a Business Manager. The chemical industry is really suffering at the moment, so I'm not holding out much hope of getting back in.

Thankfully, my skills should suit any industry, so I'm busy applying for everthing I can. I have a telephone interview tonight for a manager's job which sounds very interesting and pays a good salary, so fingers crossed for this. Again, after just one week of looking for a job, I'm hoping that this is a good sign that getting a job won't take me the 6 months that I was thinking it would.

My husband has an interview with the BMW dealership where he used to work later this week. He was thinking of setting up his own car sales business again but we can see already that the days of making a lot of money on each car sold is a thing of the past. At this stage, it's likely that he will work for someone for this year while deciding what to do about his own business.

So, as long as we can find jobs soon, it's all good.

We have bought a new build house near my daughter's school which should be ready in July/August - having been lucky enough to make money in the UK when we left and in Australia when we left on our house sales.

I have no regrets whatsoever about leaving Australia. My husband had a "wobble" two weeks ago when he was giving serious thought to returning. I made my feelings quite clear (!) and he knows that if he feels he needs to return, he will be doing it alone! That seems to have nipped those ideas in the bud and now he's back on track with building our life here. For him, it's the worry of finding work that made him want to get on a flight back as he knows his job is still available in Perth.

It is daunting returning to the UK after 2 and a half years away, but I feel so much happier in myself that I have everything familiar around me again. Finding employment is our next hurdle and once that is done, we'll be even happier.

So, I would say that the UK is not as bad as the press make out - I used to read The Mail online everyday while in Australia and fully expected to have been stabbed or at least battered by a gang of hooded youths by now (if the papers are to be believed), but thankfully we are incident free so far!

So great to hear such a positive report.

Glad things are working out and that hubby got back onside

Glad to hear you have settled. I am hoping that I will be there by the end of March. The inspection and appraisal have been done and the buyer has sent the full deposit to my attorney. I just needed to replace the outlets in the kitchen that were within 6ft of the sink with GCFI ones - that will be done tomorrow. Now I'm just awaiting time-lines - hoping to close on March 18th!! Should be home for Spring

Great update Gill and very good luck to you both on the jobs.

Lorac, hope everything goes well with your sale.

See you in Spring, my fave time of the year!! Only 4 sleeps left for me now.