jasper123

I returned to my home town (Birthplace) Portsmouth, Hampshire, well as I said I was living in America for 36 years, I was still working, and suddenly one day I turned 65, and in the 6 months that followed I would be thinking about my life, a little more as each day passed, and all of a sudden I realised that I didn't want to live in America as an old retired person, just the thought of having to live with the health care system and medicare gave me fear and sent a shiver up my spine, and I knew I would never be able to retire in the U.S. as my state pension would not even cover the rent for my one bedroom apartment after medicare was deducted, how would I eat? pay my utility bills? and how on earth would I be able to pay any co-pays for any medical treatment that I may need as I get older,
So the (ONLY) choice had I stayed in the U.S. would be to work work work until I died, or at least until I got too old and frail that I could no longer work, then what? ---- so that was one reason that I decided to come home, the other reason was that my Mum was still alive and getting quite old and frail herself so I wanted to come home and look after her, she will be 96 in June, she has certain health problems, but I feel that with good care at home from me she may live way past 100 and get her telegram from the queen

I consider myself very lucky that I was born British so I had a choice of coming home to retire,
my transition was not hard at all, quite easy really, but I mainly put that down to that I had somewhere to live and did not have the expense of paying rent, and as I was retired and receiving a pension obviously the pressure of survival for me was not an issue, ----- Mum and I just go halves on everything, council tax, food, utility bills, everything!!! so it makes it easy for both of us.
Take care.
Rodney.
PS just wondered maddie what made you decide to come home? are you just
tired of living in Canada, or are there more specific reasons, you don't need to answer ---- I'm just a nosy parker and I like to know a little about new people on this thread.

maddie1959

I completely understand about the retirement concerns and having your mum there .
for me some of my reasons are the same , or at least knowing those same concerns are not to far away .other then that I realize I dont have a sense of belonging here any more ,plus hate the winter and politics of quebec , which have over the years become more and more difficult for an Anglophone, jobs cuts are getting worse in my field resulting in less contracts ,thus having a few months a year living off saving.
I want out while I'm still young enough to reinvent myself !!
Hope I am doing the right thing and coming home as opportunities I need to start again .
I hear such conflicting points of view, some say there nothing to come ack to and think Im mad , time will tell I guess.
take care .

jasper123

Maddie I may be wrong but Im thinking the people who are telling you to not come home and that there is nothing to come home to are people you know in the U.K. ---- the reason I say this is cause unfortunately a lot of people here in UK just dont have a single clue how good they have it here, they really dont, and lots do tend to take all the great things and benefits of living in the UK for granted, and I don't at all blame them, its just that they are not like us, they have not left there home country and lived in another country for decades like we have, so of course they don't have our wisdom, they havent seen what our eyes have seen, if only they had then they would cherish every second of living in a country like this that really and truly cares for its people without the corporate system getting in the way too much, they keep it at a fine balance here, and I really like that, I'm sold on this country completely, but before I left home many many years ago I remember I was just the same as every one of these people that complain about everything, I just could not get away fast enough!!!! strange how different I feel now, and Ive ended up in exactly the place where I started, and this is where I will stay, now I know I'm really home, that's the very best feeling in the world you know

Tirytory

Ah I love this post...

Jerseygirl

In fact it deserves

maddie1959

What you say is so true , wonderful words of wisdom also, Thank you for that, it helps keep my dream of moving home and finding my soft place to fall alive .

curleytops

Rodney's bang on the money here Maddie.

I didn't so much get the negative vibes treatment from close friends and family; it was more acquaintances I met on my recce trip here who questioned my wisdom when I mentioned wanting to come back to live. Even my then husband-to-be got a dose of it. He was living here in UK and I was living in Canada and people were telling him he was mad and he should get himself away off to Canada. As Rodney mentioned, most of these people had lived in UK all their lives and based their "grass is greener" ideas on the odd holiday they'd had abroad. Holidays are not the same as real every day life.

I've been back here just over four years after living in Canada for 45 years since childhood. Without getting into a long story, things have not been easy for us here but I don't (and never have) regret my decision for one minute. I'm like many on here; I appreciate my home country more now after having been away from it. It's not perfect by any means but it's home. I'm fond of Canada and it will always be dear to me but I don't miss living there.

Rosie Lee

Being British means being predisposed to seeing the negative side and complaining about everything. It's not till you live in another society that you realize and appreciate the things you take so easily for granted on a day to day basis in the UK. People who go on holiday for a couple of weeks and say "I'd love to live here" simply won't ever understand that.

Fish n Chips 56

Thanks Roise, Ive been wanting to say that for years.

maddie1959

Its nice to hear these comments . some people I spoke with there while home for a visit, and some ex pats from here are saying dont come back theres nothing in England unless you have money its a poor standard of living compered to Canada , high taxes etc etc .

Im so worried about spending thousands of my saving to come home not knowing whats there for me , so hearing all these positive comments takes some of the stress out of it .

Thanks again
Maddie

maddie1959

I have another question ,I know its difficult to answer depends were you live and what you do for a living .

what is the average cost of living for a two bedroomed house / flat
what is considered a decent wage .
for example I earn $52 thousand,( if I get a contract ) as a child, youth behaviour education technician .
I live in a nice area and pay $1000 rent .That is considered a little above average salary.
I cant really find the equivalent to what I do ,but look at some similar jobs , that are paying a lot less .maybe its because I am converting dollars to pounds , that seems so fare off.

jasper123

Well all I can say is my Nephew makes around £350 to £400 a week as a general labourer on a building/construction company, and his wife makes around £30k per year as an R.N. in a hospital,
RENT ---- well the rent for a two bedroom apartment in Portsmouth would be around £600 to £700 per month, and a 3 bedroom house in a nice area would run around £900 to £1,000 per month, but this is a city in the South east,
in London you can easily double and even 3 or 4 times these amounts, to live in London you would either have to be a wealthy person or someone who earns a very large salary, ---- or a family on benefits
Up north of England I would say rents in general are much less, the west country like Devon & Cornwall higher,

Novocastrian

Not much I'd say. e.g. Newcastle rents are pretty much the same as you quote for Portsmouth.

But to Maddie: trawling around various towns & cities on rightmove will give you a good idea of the going rates

maddie1959

Thank you guys it gives me a better idea of what to expect

sallysimmons

Agree with this - rents in Leeds, York and Manchester are high, because these cities are both doing well financially. It's not all poverty and ferrets up here ;-)

Rodney I loved your post. In the run-up to the election, I was trying to explain about the importance of the NHS to people here. They kind of get it, but having never lived under a private system, some have ideas that it might be a better way to go. Makes me want to tear my hair out! But then I remember that they couldn't know what we know, because they haven't had our experiences.