LizaJane

Enough to make you paranoid...however, for some of us, the need to return home does out weigh the crap going on. Thanks for claryifing.

Where are you off to?

Londonuck

[QUOTE=PLANTS;6482038] Whos being attacked? Just as you have the right to speak your mind i have the right to answer points made i feel are just stereotypes and prejudice. Im a son of Irish immigrants and ive had to listen to all this rubbish for years.

Londonuck

I know, ive been there... and that was surrounded by some of the most beautiful countyside in the world in British Columbia. I once sat outside a pub in Darling Harbour, Sydney and listened as my fellow backpackers lamenting British rain and beer. We had a right chuckle about how mental homesickness makes you.

Outside Dublin for some rural life.

Hope you settle back in England and get happy. (Before you start missing you old life )

DD. Lets agree to disagree.

Dee_dee

Of course!!

Bevm

FWIW, I remember that from 30 years ago. It was striking how the "news" was all about what was going to happen, expected to happen, and mostly bad. "Today the Prime Minister is going to xxxx to do xxxx. Meanwhile, people in xxxchester are bracing for a possible epidemic if...."

Perhaps it's a national quirk.

Bev

backagen

All I can say about all this, is that having visited UK every year whilst living here, I am VERY well aware of the changes that have taken place.

I also read the international express here every so often, and it's always full of very depressing news. However I try to just glean whatever useful information I can from it and take it in the context of what it is, a very negative paper! I realise that doesn't mean that things are really as bad as the Express makes out!

Anyway I am going back to the UK with very realistic expectations. I will try to be careful where I move to and try to find a nice house in a nice area. From recent experiences in the UK I do know such places still exist, and there are lots of them!

There are also some horrible places I would certainly NOT want to live in, so I'll simply avoid them, and avoid the negative press as much as possible too.

At the end of the day, home is home is home, regardless if it's not perfect, and family is the most important thing in the world, regardless of how difficult it might be to live near them!

marina

My personal experience tells me that you have to follow your gut feeling as well. I am an immigrant for the second time. Lived in UK for 13 years and was overall happy. The rising cost of living, negative press made me think there was a better place to raise kids in. And probably there are. However, after 7 months of depression in Beautiful British Columbia you analyse a lot of things and think again. I certainly now think it is a good experience but am considering going back as soon as time will allow. I am still young and it feels like I have already retired here. There are so many things that despite the spectacular views of the environment do not agree with me. Big dilemma for my family: hope we are able to sort it out with minimal emotional losses.

johull

Here here!!!!! I came back to West Yorkshire and we have alot of problems here with migrants - alot cannot obtain work and it can be quite intimidating in teh city centres sometimes, groups of women asking for money when your walking alone. My son who is 13 comes to ice skating on an evening and it fills me with terror - silly things like him having a bit of change or a phone worth taking. It def wasnt like this in 2004 when we left!!!

There are lots of great things - dont get me wrong, summer nights, english pubs are the best, supermarkets are fab but we are going back to Oz.

I arent racist but I understand where you are coming from, it is difficult. My sister in law worked in a large hotel in the Midlands and alot of the ladies there work shifts around their families. Now almost full of Eastern European workers and no one speaks english - she said its quite lonely being at a job you have done for a while and not to be able to communicate with anyone - she said they make no effort to speak to her and she feels like leaving but cant afford to as it works around her families needs. It doesnt seem to be relevant to people entering to speak English.

Where we live seems to be a hotbed of all these nationalities who have no intention of integrating with others - asian families at war with other asian families and shootings and stabbings in the street - its terrifying - then there are the variuos EE communities - who the asians also hate.

Saying that, we have just taken on a Polish girl at work who is fantastic, studying to obtain her certificates in english language and written - she came as a temp and was so good we didnt want to lose her - the young english girls we got were mostly unenthusiastic and kept turning up late or ringing in sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think its each to their own, but I know where your coming from.

Good luck everyone in your decisions

R2D2

Totally understand. When you think of Canada, its wide open spaces, more outdoorsey lifestyle, bigger houses and defined seasons.

Then you come here, and .................
the wide open spaces = reliance on locality as everything is so damn far away

More outdoorsey = dodging the mozzies, who slaughter our English bodies
= wrapping up like the Michelin man in winter.

Bigger houses = OK, yes, that is nice

Defined seasons = yup, winter and summer. Autumn and Spring barely occur here in Alberta.

It is all about how you feel and aspects of day to day lifestyle here will not sustain us long term. After 3 yrs we know that for sure, and we are going home with a new appreciation of all that the UK has to offer, warts and all

luvwelly

OOh that glass box image struck a raw nerve with me!

Don't you mean 1950s timewarp (school uniforms)? 1920s on the architecture and heating systems!

Maybe you mean all the chocolate brown interiors in cafes as 1970s...I suppose we should be grateful the accompanying orange is usually missing!

I'm enjoying it here but only meant to be here for x years, but have to say the 'isolation' is beginning to get to me a bit after 12 months...imagine being in the same country for a whole 12 months...never happened to me in the UK! Holiday to Oz soon though.

Pugsy

Everyone who has experienced life elsewhere and still yearns for the UK, can at least go back with a full appreciation of the UK's good and bad points. As opposed to some people, ie. friends and family who've never moved anywhere, who say, ooohh it must be such an adventure, like a permanent holiday, the weather, blah, blah, blah! UK's so crap, etc. When actually it's not, the right areas have so much to offer. And I have a newfound appreication of our lovely area and it's great UK schooling and great accessible healthcare (especially as I have kids) for example.

The worst thing about the UK is the Media. The indoctrination of the tabloids. We're not allowed to be happy, prosperous, ambitious, hopeful, proud of our country. I for one am giving up on the UK news industry as I am all of those things and raise my kids the same way. I am even avoiding the UK news websites as I do not need to be fed the doom and gloom. I make my choices and are very happy with them. My advice, STAY AWAY FROM BRITISH MEDIA!

luvwelly

. My advice, STAY AWAY FROM BRITISH MEDIA![/QUOTE]


Couldn't agree more but this applies to any country's media.
And ladies give up those women's magazines which try to make you dissatisfied with every aspect of your life at each turn of the page (you haven't bleached your teeth, pierced anything, bought a new handbag for ages, lost weight, worked out, changed your hairstyle, and your kids watch too much tv and will die of obesity before they reach adulthood).

jonfrank123

Yeah and all these people in the UK who moan about energy costs, have never had to have the heating on 24/7 for 6 months like we do in Canada, then running the air conditioner for 3 months.

Everyone who has come to visit me from the UK has gone on about how much cheaper petrol is in Canada, how great it is blah blah. They don't seem to take in the bit when I tell them you have to drive twice the distance to get anywhere.

jonfrank123

The question that I'd like to ask is how much of this is based on what you have seen and how much is on what you have heard in the news?

How can you generalise like that, and say that asian families hate Eastern Europeans? Ok I don't live in your area but no one that I know personally in the UK and thats all my family and most of my friends, ever mentions these issues. I've been in the UK every 8 weeks and everyone seems to be getting along just fine.

That said the local newspaper in my part of North London is absolutely hysterical. There was a picture of some kid with a hood and a gun on the front page last week when I was there, it looked terrifying, until you read the headline still banging on about some shooting 3 years ago. I can understand why people feel more scared than they should, the media is very much to blame

johull

This is based on the fact that I work in the centre of Bradford and a wide proportion of our staff are asian - they talk about the fights and the tension in their communites due to the influx of EE migrant workers moving into their close proximities. Alot of families here live in their own areas and like it or not s- some are no go areas to different nationalities. My asain friend went jogging in a local park with some other colleauges and was abused verbally by some young asian lads till they saw her face and asked what she was doing with these whites - she told them to sod off - she isnt the shy and retiring type - but this is an example of how it is up here.

I am certainly not a racist by any stretch of the imagination - I am just very scared of what a future here holds for my children. I dont see the point in moving down south or to another part of the UK where I dont know anyone. All my family are in West Yorkshire and the areas that are lovely are way out of my price range unfortunately. I have family in Oz which is why we went in the first place.

I agree the media create alot of problems here with the headlines - but I see the problems in Bradford every day with my own eyes.