trottytrue

Rodney... I wish you all the happiness when you return home... your Mum will be over the moon, just knowing you are going home will keep her going. I remember the heartache of leaving my Mum on the doorstep when I left to come back to the US when she was 90 just 3 years later she was gone, alot of it was to do with her being on her own and not having anyone to take care of her. You will sleep easy at night many of us waited too long to make the move. Can't wait to see your postings once you get home.

Boodles

Hi Jasper123.. Rodney, yes, it is very interesting to wonder if all the decisions we made in the past had been otherwise...where we would be now. Did you ever find out what happened to Marg? How her life turned out, where she is now?

Beedubya

Oh Betws-y-Coed, one of my fave shopping places, that's where I bought my brass reproduction mining lamp many years ago, I will definitely be going there this year

Beedubya

Wow Anna!!!! What a blimmin' small world eh? Do you still have any aunties and uncles or any other family there? Maybe we could meet in your home town!! My ex-husband and my kids are all Runcornians too!!

Relocateme

Latest Update from Manitoba ...Waaaaah...its all happening here now!

Got an offer from Buyer #1 with July 1 possession a week ago and now another offer this last weekend from Buyer #2 for ...get this
March 13th!

(Plus throw in the 42" TV, Home theatre, DVD player et al.)

Good job I got the 48hr clause.. I have decided I have waited long enough for the sale of the house. I have had the place on the market since October. So I am going to go with the March 13th offer. Dont want to be here til July. It will turn into another year 3 months after that.

As soon as I get the nod from the lawyer I am handing in notice at work..I will find out in a day or two whether buyer #1 will go for it.

I have posted all the small stuff for sale on Kijiji Winnipeg (a free buy and sell site) and I am suprised to find that many buyers want the stuff delivered to their homes otherwise not interested in it.

Found digs in the city till I can get taxes and other errands done before the off. I have much to do once I get there but right now all attention is on selling and getting rid of furniture and small stuff.

travel:

I was looking for a backpak for travel.
Now I see some airlines posting only a "carry on" bag allowed 22 x 18 x 8 and laptop in bag with accessories only...

I have a feeling this may be for entry into US though, must check into that.

My memories of Wales:

Eight years in a row my parents (with my mom's family) all went together to Saundersfoot/Wisemans Bridge/Tenby area in Pembrokeshire, Wales and what wonderful times we had. We liked it so much we didn't want anywhere else.
It suited the family needs for distance and accomm for our large extended family
We stayed in caravans in the same field and we kids spent the majority of our time running our legs off in the grass and down to the beach.

Plenty of cousins with our bucket & spades, fishing nets etc,. jumping over the rocks looking for shrimp in shallow, sandy pools for supper. Boy we were so excited with our new equipment!..Our Dad was all for it!...he and Mom ended up with a great meal.

The best part of staying in the caravan was when Dad would get up in the morning to make us all a cup of tea.. He would light the calor-gas stove and I just loved the smell of it..then I would doze off back to sleep till Mom came round with the tea..Oh what joy!!!!


It was an affordable holiday for our respective parents as there were lots of kids in those days. This was before TV came out. Our families got together, sang songs and told stories for entertainment. There was always a place on a grown-ups knee. We used to go on walks in the evenings til it got dark.

We used to stop en-route in the Brecon Hills for breakfast at a place called The Anchor cafe. They served up wonderful flavourful bacon, golden eggs and thick toast...I returned to the Brecon on one of my trips home and visited the South Wales Borderers Museum to see the Zulu artifacts. I must say the drive and the surrounding countryside is breathtaking. I look forward to going to Wales when I get home and doing it all again. Thanks for mentioning Wales for it brought back so many happy memories

Bevm

Glad to hear you've got offers to buy, Relocateme. As you say, it's all happening!

Bev

Bevm

It really depends on whether you need the money, doesn't it? I doubt you can get better investment return here than in Canada (or worse) so if you can, leave it there. If you need it later, you can take it out later.

Bev

Taffy Duck

Hello Rodney yes fate works in strange ways any road we take changes life. It's great to hear you are finally moving back you must be so excited. My mum is also still living she'll be 90 this June and as I'm the baby of five I imagine that'll we will all be with her this June to celebrate her birthday.....cheers...Taffy

Luckyone

You could do a lot worse at the moment than taking the 25% witholding tax route and change the surplus into pounds at the present exchange rates. Compared to rates of the recent past the difference may well just about 'pay' for the tax, then when the money comes to the UK it's just regular savings that you'll only get taxed on interest/dividends earned. As bad as the savings rates are in the UK at the moment, they're still better than what you'd get in Canada, though maybe not the case if your funds are invested in stocks/mutual funds?

I guess it all depends on when you plan to return, what the exchange rates are then, and what you're invested in at the time, ie can you get out ahead of the game?

Taffy Duck

Thanks Bev, I think no matter where your money is you don't seem to get hardly any interest however HSBC in the UK does offer a higher amount you can place into a tax free savings account. Here in Canada you can put up to 5000 dollars per year, the HSBC in the UK if you were born before 1960 you can place up to 5100 pounds which is almost double. I guess it's all part of due diligence, mounds of info on the internet...what would we have done before computers, for one thing we would not have this wonderful thread...cheers...Taffy

Taffy Duck

Thank you for the insite you are exactly correct in what you saying, the exchange rate from C$ to pounds is very favourable at the moment the best it's been in years. At the moment I think the savings rate is better in the UK than Canada and the e-isa accounts are much better. I don't think it's possible to move your savings prior to leaving Canada as you have to become a non-resident, we plan to move back by the end of 2011 so we shall keep are fingers crossed. Let's hope the exchange rate is still good and that inflation hasn't gone crazy. The other thing is the price of housing a few years ago I would have found it impossible to move back and in fact thought we were going to be trapped here forever, even though the housing in Canada has taken a dive the exchange rate if it stays the way it is I can see a light at the end of the tunnel...cheers...Taffy

Easterndawn

Well Done, Relocateme, I am very happy for you, back in the UK for summer, what could be better.

Our house will be back in the market in March, so wish us luck. If it does not sell by the end of July and hopefully I will have been working for a few months by then, he will still move over. Of course we are hoping that the house does sell, but what will happen will happen.

Tomorrow is the big day so just making sure that I have everything that I need. Heard today that we are expecting snow tonight and tomorrow, just my luck, oh well!!

My goodness what it seems I have missed out on, never having vacationed in Wales, sounds like where I really need to spend some time. Unfortunately my familly always seemed to travel out of the UK to somewhere in Europe, which wasn't so great for a pre-teenager, I would of enjoyed camping on the beach in a caravan much more, as I do today. We did go to Windsor for a holiday one summer to visit family, I remember tree lined streets, the trees were almond trees and that really seemed to impress me for some reason. I was my dads girl, and the best times were spent fly fishing with him or collecting "welks" and cooking them on the beach.

Luckyone

You're correct about having to wait 'til you're in the UK, ie a non-resident.
For what it's worth, I expect there's a whole lot of bad news to come out of the UK economy over the next while and we may end up with an even lower exchange rate for you in 2011 who knows eh?

You could end up in the situation where your Canadian funds are worth more pounds than they've been in years, while at the same time homes in the UK have taken a sizeable drop in price, while at the same time your funds are able to earn a lot more interest than they do today

And why not eh? What's great for some will be awful for others no doubt. I wouldn't want to be coming to Canada to live right now compared to previous times that's for sure.

....but a great time for those thinking of returning to the UK

Elvira

It works out much cheaper if you use a currency broker like XE Trade or Forex to transfer money. No fees and a better exchange rate.

Fish n Chips 56

Hello Everyone.

I've been lurking here for a while, I found this thread back in mid December, since then I have read every posting, every page, I'm hooked, I have to say I have such a lot of respect for every single one of you, those moving and those with advice, its amazing how so many of you older folks have the guts to go back home, and it does take guts, never have I felt so normal, Wow this is wonderful, I cant believe other people think like me. I want to return to the old country too, but more on that in a later post.

Id love to name all of you but I'm sure Id miss someone and don't want to offend, I will thank trottytrue for the first post on this wonderful thread and what a thread it is, will it ever end?.

I have to say EDs postings have blown me away, from the preperation in Canada, to the flight back, renting a room, banks, jobs, phone calls, bus rides and shopping, all your ups and downs, Lady you've got passion, I know you will be happy, I think it took so many guts to leave your husband and pets behind, I'm not sure I could have done that, I was hoping you'd have that call centre job by now, I certainly have lots of hope for your interview on Wednesday, Good Luck on the Job and Good Luck on the sale of your home.

Id like to also remember Annie188, she hasn't posted in a while, she lost her son aged 24 to leukemia, I have to say her story brought tears to my eyes, I wish you well Annie.

I'm sure that most people that emigrate never can forsee difficult times where the family will be tore apart for one reason or another, if we only knew what would happen, In reality I suppose its inevitable that it will happen to some of us.

Right now Id like to address the Citizenship Issue, I know some have had difficulty with that, and believe me it was difficult for me too, I wasn't thrilled about renouncing my British citizenship, I felt like a traitor, I just figured it was some thing I had to do, I'm sure many of you know what I mean.

OK the issue is this, my experience may be rare and I'm not trying to scare anyone, My wife and I took our citizenship test on the same day about 14 years ago, she was told to swear in weeks later, I had to wait 18 months, My problem was finger prints, there was something different about my fingerprints that caused a problem.

I had my original fingerprints taken when I went for my Interview at the INS office, months later I hadn't been called to get sworn in and couldn't get an answer over the phone why, people were not very helpfuI, later I received blank fingerprint cards and was told to go to the police dept and get them done again, I sent them to Lincoln Nebraska as instructed and waited, months later still no contact for a swearing in, I called the INS only to find out they had been destroyed, this happened numerous times about once every four months.

Finally I was told to go back to the INS office where they took numerous amounts of prints, individual finger prints were checked and sets were pieced together by a finger print expert, I'm not saying this is normal by any means, it was just a big hassle and very frustrating at the time, I made many phone calls trying to find out what had happened to my fingerprints and why they were being destroyed, I was kept in the dark all along, all they would say is my fingerprints had been destroyed and would have to be redone.

My point is, DONT WAIT, you might get held up like I was, you can never foresee what problems might come your way.

Follow your gut feeling.

Enjoy Every Day.