pamplemousse

Hey Harry...

If it makes you feel any better, I am from Victoria, BC and would hate to live in Sydney as well.... my whole life I've imagined it to be a place where the movie 'Night of the Living Dead' could be filmed. I find the town quite dead feeling... not in a sleepy small town way... but dead, in a creepy bad dream, sort of way. Maybe you're picking up on that same vibe as well.

When I live in the UK (I'm Canadian), I experienced what you're feeling as well - homesickness/culture shock and it's a terrible feeling... one strategy is to find various ways of coping until the feeling passes or until further options are available to you.

Have you heard of http://www.vime.ca/ ? Perhaps that could be one way of upping the positive side of the scale, at least for now.... ?

Or you could start filming that horror film while you're on location!

Seriously, best of luck to you.

Hertford

Jerseygirl, unfortunately I have been out of the UK for four years now, and it's still adding up as each minute goes by. I would love to go to university/college in England somewhere, but I don't know what to study yet.

Pamplemousse, I sort of have that feeling, but it's not really a frightening feeling, it's an empty, uncharacteristic feeling about Sidney. Sidney is nice in terms of politeness and there are no street fights anywhere around, but at the same time I think I may be able to film Night of the Living Dead around here. I do have a camcorder after all.

Crocodileseamus, I unfortunately have no taste for Canadian Railways unless I do something about them. I have had a few shrewd ideas to double-track the whole E&N Railway, electrify it, and have british rolling stock on the entire length of it. That was way back four years ago now though.

In England, our house had a good-sized loft which was tall enough for you to stand up in. So my model railway (and my sister's doll's house) was up there. Unfortunately here, the loft is a tiny bit smaller, and nowhere near as tall as the one we had in Fakenham. You'll be lucky if my bedroom is 10' by 8'. The bed takes up most of the room as it is. Also with a large bookshelf, and a chest-of-drawers right by the window, theres hardly any room in my bedroom to walk around in!
Ok. I'm a little more flexible right now. I think the main reason for this is, I have just come back from a wonderful holiday, and I don't know when I'll be going back again. Hopefully next summer.

Hertford

Maybe an exchange trip will work? If I am going to do an exchange trip, it will have to be this year, as this will be my last year in school if I were in England, but I still have another year ahead of that here. I'll discuss it with my councilor too, she may have something to say about it.
My parents have said about an exchange trip in the past, but I've normally got back into full swing by then. But not this time, Upon my lightsaber, I will not rest until either I'm back in England, or we all are.

lof

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when do we start? living in courtenay, i can begin at the northern terminus and we meet in nanaimo, ok?
we have to compromise on the question of rolling stock though... i originally come from a different country with a similar good rail system and want to import some of those trains.


on a more serious note: sorry to hear that vancouver island doesn't feel like home to you (because my part of it does to me ). i hope that you will find your way to deal with this difficult situation and make the best out of it.
i'm sure that sooner or later you find your own way home. you know, like the cats which turn up on the doorsteps of their former house after having been moved for hundreds of miles - and making their long long way back home despite all hurdles.

unfortunately i'm not able to offer you more than just these few words (i even feel like an intruder, writing in this part of the forum, but you caught me with that e&n comment... ).
take care of yourself, yes?

all the best from up island.

Hertford

Ok. I've just remembered something that my Dad told me about way back two years ago when I came home in this depressed state before. He said he'd allow me to go on an exchange trip to England and he'd pay for it. Now I'm thinking of going back on an exchange trip for next semester (Feb-Jul 2009)
Would you recommend this, or would you recommend I wait until July 2009 for a proper holiday. (Which may have to wait until July 2010 upon previous years)

Viva Hertfordshire!

Hertford

I don't care about anything anymore. All I care about is returning to England. I can't think of anything else, and if Dad can't pay for me, then I'll pay for myself! Even if it means working at Safeway's for four months! I will earn $4,000 by February and I'm then going to England! I'm coming home! Even if my family doesn't want to come, I'm still going! Even if it means living with one of my Uncles and Aunts. I cannot live in a land 5,000 miles away from where I love the most. I must return home, and soon! I'm starting to get all fired up here!
I absolutely must return home. I can't help it. I'm thinking, and hard! I must return home, and I'm going to stay this time! I'm going to bed now to think about this properley, but that's going to be hard. I cannot stand it here much longer!!!

Hertford

I'm going into an outburst very like Cluny the Scourge!!! I need solutions! I absolutely HAVE to return to England, otherwise I am going to explode. I need something to help me. I'm going to write a long list of pros and cons of the UK, and the same for Canada. Then (hopefully!) I can persuade or otherwise convince my parents to move us back where we all belong. All the time now, somebody comes up to me during class or after school and says: "Hey, wanna go smoke some weed/crack/pot/marijuana/heroine after school?" It's driving me batty! If I were headmaster of my school, I would have all of these students EXPELLED! I cannot stand being around people who promote such illegal substances and make jokes about it! I hate it! I need to find a weakness somewhere along the line. I need to find solutions, I need something from you. I need things to put on my long list of pros and cons about Canada and the UK, and them compare them. I hate failure! I cannot stand it here any longer!

Sorry for this outburst, but I'm beginning to feel desperate, and I feel as though I just want to explode it out. I'm so stressed out!
Hertford

Viva Hertfordshire!!!

Cheetah7

I realise and understand your longing and need to go back to the UK but when you say you want to 'move us all back', you need to understand that as much as you want to move back, your family may well be happy and settled and that forcing them to go back could result in them being as unhappy as you.

It will be easier for you to start again than it will be for your parents who appear to be happy and established.

It might be worth putting your energies into planning a way back for YOU - in order for you to achieve your dream.

And it will take a real man to accept that your family have their lives somewhere else and a move back to Hertford/UK is not part of the dream that they want.

You may well be happy back in the UK and I have no doubts that you will be, but your family might not be - no matter how much you try and convince them.

You are intelligent, good things have to be worked for and you will get there.

But just understand that your parents/family might remain where they are and should be allowed to do so without a guilt trip.

I know its hard but you will find a way

lobby lou

when we moved 4 years ago our 2 teenage boys did not want to come as they were in college...4 years later they are both coming here to work as they have both found jobs here....our then 1 4yr old dd did not want to come and was a nightmare for 2 years ..then happy....was 18 last week and wanted to go back to uk ....she has been there less than 2 weeks and has changed her ticket date to come back to us in uae...uk was not as gr8 and soo exspensive ...a real shock to her...she will be back next week ......

backagen

With that level of determination nothing will stop you and you will succeed. It's sad that it means you'll have to be away from your parents I suppose but I did the same thing when I was 18 because I felt exactly as you do.

Good luck, although as I said you won't need luck because with your sheer determination you will succeed anyway!

andyvilla

You need to tell me your age first. If you are near 16 then you can enlist in some branches of the armed forces at 16 and enter as a cadet - the Royal Marines. Whatever the case just get back there as soon as you can stay with relatives etc. I was the same way as you when I came here and did not act upon it and regretted it. I never liked it either and never followed through with going back as I should have. I regret tht decision. Just get back whatever way you have too - if you stay where your heart is not at it will me miserable for you -
on the other hand there is the possibility that you make like it a bit later. I was the same way as you and did nothing and just complained etc which is not productive - now I have an education here borrowed money here for it and so have committed myself and have more to cut off should I leave whereas you are with no dept or committments just you age maybe and you will miss your family a bit. Let me know how things are going I have been through such a similar experience it is uncanny. Andy

Bevm

I know you want to get back to the UK, but in the meantime, these might help

There are model railway enthusiasts around. This is a list of all BC clubs.
http://www.caorm.org/Pages/clubs.html

This is the website of the Victoria one. They say they meet every 2nd Friday. That's tomorrow! http://members.shaw.ca/s.a.clark/

You might enjoy this video about a big model train show in Victoria a few years ago. I don't know if they do it every year. It starts with kiddy trains, but gets up to the real stuff later.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0TXp8-xlbM

They Canadian train system is nothing like the UK one, but before leaving the country try to take the train through the Rockies.

Bev

Hertford

I am getting extremely frustrated now. Whenever I think of the new trains I bought in England this summer, the subject that I cannot run them comes to mind. Firstly I have nowhere to put it, I do not have the default controllers, and all but one of my power connecting clips are broken.
I know British Columbia is meant to mean British Paradise, but that unfortunately is not the case for me. I have extremely strong ties with Trains and Buses in the UK, and rather weak ties with buses and ferries here. The only reason I decided to come back on my flight from Gatwick is because my computer and valuables are in Canada, and I have one friend here who's younger than me.

I'll type more at Lunch in an hour's time.

Hertford

As said, I'm getting frustrated.
I had a vision last night that we all moved back to Hertfordshire. We lived in a nice big house, Dad had a job which he enjoyed (Don't ask what, I tried to ask but he wouldn't tell me), and Mum had a job which she enjoyed doing. I hope it could be the future, it seemed so real. But this does not convince me that it might happen. I'm still going to aim for it though.
I do not hate Canada, I just like England a whole lot better. Yes, Income Tax is a pain, Property Tax, Council Tax, TV Licence, and other such things are expensive, but all I can say is, if that were either lower or gone, England would be a wonderful place! The only things that are really stopping us from moving back is high taxes there, more taxes there, higher fuel prices.
The problem is, it's harder to earn 20 pounds than 20 dollars, and fuel here is about $1.09/litre, England is approximately 1.18 pounds/litre. If 20 pounds was as easy to earn as $20, England would be booming.
I know Canada is a wonderful place, but it's just not me. England is where my heart is located and nothing will ever move it.

Hertford

Ok, I've decided there's only one thing for it. I will talk to Mum, Dad and Kimberley, and ask them "What would persuade 'you' to move back to England?" Then I'll take the results, compare and contrast them with mine, and then we can take a course of action as a family. It's amazing what the brain can think of when you're desperate isn't it. Still, I hope this works.

Gotta go study some Earth Science now, I'll talk at lunch time in 1.5 hours.