hi!
just a quickie to all those contemplating returning to the UK.
i came back from Canada over a year ago now, and on the whole we are all quite happy, BUT..........
everyday we hear of the violence, both general intimidation, by knives, guns etc in the London area and sometimes sit and think would we have been better off in Canada, in the longer term!
sure there is the same stuff abroad too, but here in the UK, what with the impotent police, law system and loonie Labour, the country seems to have gone straight down the pan, and i feel in 5 to 10 years more, worse is on the cards.
so, in a nutshell--i would think very seriously when you contemplate your move back--you will not be coming back to the England of your memories--that England seems to have disappeared forever!

How long had you been away?

That was exactly how we felt when we went back to Greater Manchester in December 2004. It was not only the sights we saw of gangs you just would not dare look in the eye, and the heavy traffic, but for us it was how utterly ridiculous to be offered a house (didn't have enough money to be able to buy again, so it had to be council). We were told to expect a very long wait as there were 1,000's on the waiting list - and we thought we stood a good chance because we were living at my parents in their 3 bed house and had points for overcrowding. We put our names down in the January and by the time we packed up and left for Canada again in August 2005 (8 months) we STILL had not been offered a house. Yes, I had been on the phone with the the housing office most weeks to mither them, only to be told the same drivel......you're in the system, you're in the queue! Well, sorry but we just weren't prepared to wait months and months for a flea-pit on a hell-hole council estate and we did the best thing and moved back to Red Deer, Alberta. Best thing we ever did. I would advise anyone wanting to go back to the UK that if you are returning with a very good wedge and are lucky to get back on the property ladder then you will no doubt think you did the right thing moving back.......however, for those who will have lost almost all their money (like us) then you could find yourselves struggling for a council house. There are private rentals that we could've signed up for but again, in a nice area the rents were 650 GBP a month :scared:

Wishing all those going back the very best of luck.

Hi
I have to agree and disagree on some points of your post!!!!
Yes we we're in a very similar position to yourselves on our return to the UK
We came back with very little money, we had sold the house in the Uk to get out there and spent all our precious savings on setting up a home, job etc,
Uniforms, school fees, school supplies, all sorts of stuff we we're unprepared for, yes i know thats our mistake.
We came back thinking after years of working and paying UK tax we would surely be entitled to some help. we had the door firmly closed in or face everywhere. We'd made our bed lie in it was basically what we we're told, but as I've said before it was the best thing that could have happened to us, it made us get up off our arses and stop feeling sorry for ourselves.
We are now having a good life yes we are renting, but we we're renting in Canada, so to me we are no worse off than we we're in Canada. we have good jobs, We have more time together as a family, we have more free money than we had in canada, so for us our move back wasn't a disaster, Just because we're still trying to get onto the property ladder doesn't mean coming back was a mistake
My biggest regret and its massive was being stupid enough to loose all we had in the first place, our life in the UK was good better than we thought it was at the time, i think we had just been hit by a wave of boredom, and saw the job offer in Canada as a way out, when all we probably need to do was move house.
Its always easy to look at life from the right side where ever that may be.

Good luck
Shelly

Hello there Julius

How it's going this time round ?

Hi Shelly,

Thanks for your points raised. Where in Canada did you live? There were lots of other factors that played a part in why we couldn't settle back in the UK last year (in addition to those I mentioned), but they're kind of personal and it wouldn't be right to go into detail - as each persons experience is their own eh. I was the one who had to be brought back to the UK kicking and screaming anyway, so I think no matter how many houses we would've been offered, I'd have refused them. It was always in my mind that my OH would eventually get his act together and accept that our lifestyle was definitely better in Alberta, so I never felt our time back in Gtr Manchester was permanent. In that time, we didn't work and lived off our funds so by the time we came back here, it was touch and go whether we'd have enough to get set up again. We managed it though thankfully. Glad to hear you made the right decision going back and that you're glad you are back
Jaycee

Unfortunately 8 months to wait on a council house is nothing - some people are waiting years and they are in bedsitswith 2 or 3 kids (depending what part of the country you are in) Lack of council houses due in part to so many being sold off to occupants and unaffordability of housing (lets face it if you are only earning £15000 how can you afford to buy even a £70,000 house - and lets face it they are few and far between).

We were really lucky when coming back to Canada.....found a townhouse community advertising vacancies online, phoned the Housing Manager (in early August) and explained our situation that we were coming back to Red Deer and needed a house to rent. Was told there were just 2 left and they were going very fast due to the crazy housing market here, but she said she would keep one of them reserved until we arrived on 28th August 05. Arrived, looked at the house and asked if we could think about it but she said she needed to know by that lunchtime as there was a long list of people waiting to hear if we were going to take it. Nowt more to be said I suppose - the house had to be ours and we moved in the very next day!! Not bad for finding a house to rent after 4 weeks from the UK!! We realise now just how lucky and fortunate we are that the Housing Manager did that for us, as there is a similar and growing problem of affordable and available housing and rentals here now. Back in the UK, we were told that to be offered a house quicker, we would have to leave my parents house and declare ourselves homeless and move into a shelter/hostel.....sorry, no can do! Even the housing officers themselves told us there was a huge risk of our own safety taking that option. It's worked for us coming back and we have no regrets at all.

Yep Know what you mean my friend had to get her parents to evict her and her kids from their house in order to get a council place.

We are in a difficult situation, we are due to move back to uk in July. We made this decision months again mainly based on the fact that we live in avery expensive part of France and that we could never see ourselves on the property ladder based on current earnings. After we also added that it would be nicer to be around family etc, especially has we have a 4 year old. If im honest our move back was origninally due to finances, we have lived here 13 years, speak the language have great friends. Hubbie has now had an excellent job offer here, we really dont know what to do.

So we will go back as planned give it a month and if not will come back. Its been a very hard 10 months since we made our decision and now we are torn between the two. We arent unhappy here and never have been we just thought it would be better in Uk with family etc.

Sorry am waffling with very little point. Just lost and really would love to have a gut feeling about what to do.