Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

I have to agree with Gazruss here. Ive been in Canada for 3 years now and been a member of various forums to both gain info before I left and pass on my exp to others and am new to this actual site but reading some posts on this and many other sites peoples opinions just downright astound me! What Canada are these people living in and also did any of them actually do any reaserch on it before moving or just go like the sheep that most people are? I even read one comment saying its not utopia here it snows in the winter - really sherlock??? Canada snows in the winter I never would have guessed. Me and lots of other Brits I met here all love it and know ite better here cus we did research before moving and many trips rather than just coming here we did it properly!!

And as for any idea that UK is better and cheaper to live than here are you people on drugs? When I left gas was 95p, now its 1 pound 15 I hear, when I came here it was 70 cents alitre even now its only 1.25 in the GTA, I live in Oakville which is supposidly one of the most affluent areas in Canada, I own a nice home of 1800sq ft for $350,000 that in the UK would cost double that near my home town of bham and if u compare Oakville to Toronto and live say in Hampshire or Woking near London where I have friends you could easily triple it!!! As for roads yes the GTA especially 401, DVP and gardiner at times has rush hour and even non rush hour traffic but again this is nothing compared to Bham and from my experience of London this also.

Let me say Canada is not Utopia anyone thinking it is will be mistaken but unless you are a moron your quaality of life will drastically improve, both the car u drive (I have a 5L F150 truck here and can afford it on an average salary for my proffession (65k), me and the gf (she is a cop again with a mediocre 70k salary) owned a cottage in the muskoka and a boat, how can mr joe average afford this in the UK? Food is way cheaper when u compare quantities, restaurants here are 7 bucks for burger and fries UK its 7 quid, grocery shopping is about the same but u do get more and bigger portions a lot of the time for ur money. My car insurance is 150 bucks a month same as the UK. Both My GF and a close friend I made over here have been to the UK of late including he lives there and both of them said beautiful place but cud never live there too crowded cramped and expensive and all there is to do is drink in a pub cus mr joe average cant afford anything else.

Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to get out of their armchair and experience the real canada, oh and if u actually are interested in commuting like I am now you can get even cheaper houses 1-2 hrs north of toronto with decent job prospects, oh and before everyone starts slating me for saying yeah thats ur pocket of Toronto how about the rest of canada, my gf is canadian was raised in BC lived in Victoria, Vancouver and Cape Breton before settling in Ontario and says its all the same except for Alberta where obv cus of the pipeline ghouse and in turn wages are inflated.

Thank you and goog night

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

You know what, everyone has a different experience, I don't consider myself a moron, and I'm certainly not on drugs. I'm also back in the UK every 8 weeks and run a UK based business so I have a very good idea of what costs are.

In my experience, (thats the key phrase), if I was living in the UK I would be way better off than I am here. It may well be because I'm in Quebec and the economy is pretty bad, but salaries in Montreal can only be described in one word, that is pathetic. I'm totally amazed how people survive , taking into account food shopping and petrol.

I think Canada is great if you sell up in the UK , come over with a lot of cash and can afford 5 litre trucks or whatever. For myself this place is tough to make money in. Yes petrol is half price than the UK but fuel economy on your average car is way lower, not to mention how much longer distances are.

Air travel is diabolically expensive in Canada, there isn't very much competition,most people don't seem to step out of their own province very often. But I could see how Canada does it for a lot of people, i guess its just not my cup of tea.

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

Wow...you sound so wound up! Take a Chill Pill and calm down!

Firstly, no amount of research can give you all the information you need. I researched for a couple of years before returning to Canada nearly four years ago. Mr Oldbag and I lived in a different part of Ontario for 8 years during the 1980's.......in the small (it was back then) friendly town of Port Perry. We chose what we thought would be a similar sort of town........how wrong we were! No amount of research can prepare you for rude and hostile people....this is the sort of thing that just isn't recorded, and even though OH spent time here before we moved, he didn't actually live here, and that can make a world of difference. Likewise, the research did not highlight the particularly brutal winters in this part of Ontario; or the "lake effect" snow from lake Huron......I doubt you'd get this in your Oakville suburb.

Reading your post it seems that material possessions figure large in your life; they don't in mine.......I wanted the peace and quiet, which go to make a good quality of life, which is what I experienced before. I didn't think I was going to ostracized for four years because I chose to settle in this crap-awful town.

I think referring to people as morons simply because there opinions don't match yours and they haven't found the obvious happiness you have is rude, but maybe one day you'll have the maturity to realise that we are all different, and seek different things in life.

I'm just happy you're in Oakville and I'm not. :)

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

Im as calm as can be mate I live in Canada (in my opinion of the 30 or so countries Ive been to the best in the world) and yes I know all about lake effect snow we do get it in Oakville (have you ever been?) and the plentiful time I spent at the gf's house in Creemore that gets more than its fair share of escarpment and lake effect snow was class (ever been there?) - perfect for snowmobiling, snow shoing and even skiing (yes I admit hills are crap here) just as the cottage we have in huntsville (ever been there?) gets loads, apparently from the other half its worse than port perry as she has been to your humble town and to lake scugog many times so Im well aware of lake effect snow, I guess the difference is I have the maturity to actually embrace the country I chose to live in rather than expect it to be a version of the UK but better and I can say Ive hardly met any unfriendly canadians but then maybe Ive been lucky or maybe thats just down to the fact I dont harp on about my home country like its the best thing since sliced bread like a lot of immigrants do here and many more do in the UK, if its so good there and so bad in ur new country go home and yes life is that simple - u only get once chance at it, dont expect ur new native citizens to embrace u if u keep on about the home country.

Ur right no amount of research can give u all u need but my comment was aimed at the many I have come across who move here without even vacationing here! That my friend is a defenition of a moron! At least if u come here several times talk to people be prepared to miss certain things and with the open mind to embrace what is canadian (i.e not downtown TO or Vancouver) then u come here with a very good chance of succeeding and a real (as best u can) knowledge of what its gonna be like.

Also my point regarding material wealth here (Im by no means wealthy) was just explaining to the newbies how mr average (like me) can afford to buy (cottages, boats, pools) and do (boat, waterski, snowmobile etc) a lot more than the average joe can in the UK whether u enjoy material possesions or just doing things, but maybe my comments and logic was a bit too immature for you ;)

And for the record I didnt refer to them because they didnt agree with my opinions I refered to them because I dont understand (neither does any normal person I know) how someone can move to another country without at least visiting it and pefereably doing so several times but I guess me and all my associates are all immature.

Have fun in Port Perry, Im glad your there.

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

Hi Mikbak

just a thought, maybe you should post on the main Canadian forum and give some advice to people who are planning to move to Canada.

Take care.

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

We came to Canada without a visit, but then, we were young and it was an experiment, so it didn't matter. Now we're thinking of going back, again as an experiment. Obviously we've been back to England many times and have a pretty good idea of how things are there, but still, we won't know if it suits us until we've done the real everyday life there for at least a month or two.

As for Canada's good and bad points, I'm not much affected by owning stuff. Also -- and this is our loss, I admit -- we're not into outdoor/wilderness sports other than walking. If we wanted lots of skiing and winter sports, or a boat, or wilderness camping and canoeing, then Canada has it all over the UK for ordinary people.

Another one that might be strange, but we spent quite a while in Ontario and we realized we literally couldn't bear to be that far from the sea. Lakes didn't do it. We needed the sea. I think it's in the earth and the air. Clearly most people don't feel that way, but we did. Then there was winter.

Sorry, but we hated it. Pretty for a few days, but 4+ months of the year with freezing rain, snow piling up and turning to dirty ice mountains, and traps along the sidewalks and crossings, and temperatures sometimes down in the -30s C.

But we're in BC now, where we have a better climate than most of England,and which is one of the world's beauty spots, and we're still going to give returning a try.

Why? Sorry, but we find Canadian politics frustrating -- a choice between Harper and Dion! the constant Anglo-French bickering, and the squabbles between the provinces, with no one really in charge. Kowtowing to the US these days. We find the overall Canadian culture a bit thin. Some people want boats, we want big, thick Sunday papers with all sorts of stuff including contrasting analyses, and a rich range of home-made TV. We want to explore more of what we still consider our history and culture. (Again, our problem. Not a universal thing.)

It'd be nice to read a magazine or go to a web site, see an ad, and be able to buy that thing without dealing with cross border taxes and such. (A lot of the stuff comes from the States. We pay GST -- fair enough -- but Canada Post dings $5 for handling the tax.)

It's mostly little things, but I'm really beginning to think that when it comes to whether a place suits us, it's the little things that matter most.

And the great thing is -- if we don't like living in England, we can come back, but we'll probably try France or Spain first.

All just my take on it. We know people who think Canada is heaven and would never dream of moving back to their birth home, wherever that was.

Bev

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

MIKBAK....what u on? Why are you so bothered by people airing their opinions.

I'm not living in Canada or have ever lived in Canada so have no say either way on the subject, but hang on...your attitude...a little condescending and a tad offensive don't you think, absolutely no need for!

Glad you have found what you where/are looking for, but don't knock others for continuing to try and find what they are looking for. Count yourself lucky and be a bit more understanding.

Different eyes see different things!

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

Mmm, not sure the "advice" would go down well there either ;) :lol:

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

Quite an impressive blurt of comments for a 'newbie', don't you think LizaJane?

Mikbak - your tone and your F150 are unnecessary - especially in this part of the forum :frown:

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

I'd be interested to see the responses ;)

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

Just curious but what does that mean?

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

MIKBAK, joining a forum as a new member and then in your first two posts calling people "morons" is not going to endear you to anyone and is not the BE way. We are here to share our experiences, not name call. Suggest you take the time to read our site rules before you next post, particularly rule 1.

Thanks

Sue

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

I'd be interested to know what his "profession" is, and what his motives are for wandering into this section of the BE forum. :confused:

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

I was just backing up LizaJane's comments that Mikbak had made - I thought she said her bit very well - bearing in mind he had only made two posts (the newbie referred to).

I now see he has disappeared from the forum already ;)

Re: Anyone Moved Back to the UK and regretted it?
 

oh gawwwwd not another one...and he's gone already?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz :zzz: