Honest_H

Thanks

Merseygirl

I would definitely be a cheerleader for Britain after 13 years of living away, enough to silence all those whinging Brits who say "Britain is crap/gone to the dogs etc". Yes,I can feel a job application to the English Tourist Board coming on...

Honest_H

Yip Britain is truely "Great"

TruBrit

and i'll sign up with you

yesterday i was talking to a friend in the UK and explaining that my son couldn't come visit the UK for Xmas due to not much annual leave and she was gob smacked when I told her the crap annual leave allowance here to which she replied, "oh, I though the USA got much more than we do" I asked, "why" <knowing she'd never lived abroad> and back came the reply, "well we hear that from the news" omg so there I go off on my orange box again

yes English Tourist Board here i come

neill

Canada is a bit like this, too, with respect to the USA....and it is equally as nauseus at times. We have all these cultural quangos like the CRTC. Ironically, the way some canadians like to differentiate themselves is by their ties to the Queen!

livermanl

I have enjoyed reading all of these posts but the one thing that i am concerned with is the talk of those countries that we have all moved to. Whether it be Australia, Canada or the US. What are these countries doing that is making you guys so frustrated?

I must admit if it was all a level playing field financially i would be back in England sipping on my tea going for a nice country walk on the south downs or something along those lines. But i actually don't dislike Canada for it. I believe i am now understanding and agreeing with a lot of things in the Canadian 'culture'. Such as the no sick pay, the low annual leave allowance. Sure these things bug me at the same time as all i need to do is go back a couple of years where i had at least 5 weeks a year and probably 10 sick days lol...But that what actually gets on British peoples nerves more than anything else. Who here has heard the line 'so and so is sick AGAIN today' or 'How much leave do you have?'

I believe that when you look at Canada and England together on a level playing field england really takes the biscuit but i am still enjoying Canada and i don't believe i have any rights to say how horrible it is here in comparison as there are so many who love their country and i have no right calling the people or the culture lackluster for them believing that they do live in a great country.

camponotus

Errr, mmmm, err, I'm not entirely aware anyone has been slagging off Canada, or Australia or indeed anywhere. Not really.

If anything people have been discussing (as was my intention in posting) the fact that THE UNITED KINGDOM comes in for a lot of criticism which it doesn't, in all truthful reality, deserve.

camponotus

A few people have commented, in a fairly balanced and moderate way, that some countries in this world are a little bit more used to giving themselves a big pat on the back than we Brits are used to. It can be a little irritating and seem slightly misinformed if you come from Britain where we tend to like to think things through quite carefully before deciding we're great; the result of a guilty imperialistic past.

That's about as 'bad' as it's got.

Honest_H

Livermanl,

Oz, US and Canada are very different from where I am. For me, its a small minded country that won't think outside the box.

Its a very frustrating country. Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, but I haven't seen any changes for the better. They adopt the laws they want to, but forget about the rest.

What country's president would pardon a lawyer who was convicted of drunk driving with no license, insurance or tax? Cyprus

What country with a water shortage wouldn't put a hose pipe ban in place? Cyprus

What country knowingly allows the sale of properties that are illegally built? Cyprus

I could fill about 10 pages, but I won't bore you!!

Honest_H

So true, we need more "feel good about the UK" threads

livermanl

I guess the question i want to know is...Is there anything that Canada, Aus or The US can do to make you happier with your life in their countries.

Whether it be from the people, the politicians or the media?

Patrick2007

In 40 plus years of trying to get would be emigrants to their shores look at the population figures for all these Commonwealth countries. Remember they used to pay you to go to Aus. In any local British paper now they are holding expos to lure people to a new life. They have been doing this for years now. I personally think they do not release the true figures of people who leave their shores. Last some past posters have said people in Britain dont know how good they have got it.

Bsidebaby

Hi Elaine B noticed you were back from Toronto -we are cuurrently down in the Niagara region and thinking of coming back to the UK.

Been here 2 years and miss so much about England its unreal and yet we do remember why we came and what we hated in the first place that fuelled our emigration.

Wanted to find out why you returned to the UK, what you did here in canada, how long were you here etc

We just think the UK has much more to offer us and more importantly we miss our families plain and simple.

Life here is pretty lonely being just us and we have struggled with jobs.

I know there is a lot wrong with the UK but at least we know what those things are and we can go back with new eyes or appreciation of all the good things there are that dont get publicised.

Thanks

Elaine B.

I'll send you a PM after I get the little monsters to bed

neill

As far as Canada goes, they could do with turning the bloody heating on in the winter

I think Brits are spoiled in general with the west-coast oceanic climate and don't really appreciate how benign the "winter" season is in England.

The winters are bothersome anywhere east of BC. December, January, are fine. Februrary starts to rub. March you start scratching like a cat to go out and sit outside. April, it seems like spring never comes, then May arrives and all the pollen is released at once, nice smell shame about the allergies. But the summers are great.

In the UK you have spring festivals in FEBRUARY, right? The rule in Canada is, you are safe to plant on or after Victoria Day weekend...

Really -- to make the most out of central/eastern canada, you have to be able to enjoy some winter sports.