dave_lol66

Didn't have to wear glasses you posted it in your blog from day one

garvs11

Day one yes but as you well know that didnt continue,why so offensive when other oppinions are raised.I always said from the start i had an extremely good life here and if i couldnt better it there i would return, call me a failure or what you like im not really bothered.

dave_lol66

Offensive you were the one who came on here and attacked those who are more than happy with life here and dare to slag off good old blighty
I would certainly not call almost 10% unemployment "healthy" or try to explain that to the 2.1 million (as of Dec 2010) families living below the breadline.

garvs11

(Quote)More opportunity for others to go and make a real go of it. Who are you working for now Parcel farce. Drive two hours, park up wait 4 hours and drive back, big deal. Glad to see you are making a contribution to the world. Good luck in UK.

thanks but no good luck needed.

kb33

Where does the UK government get the money tp pay for your "free" health service ?

Maybe it comes from the 20% VAT Or the 75% levy on fuel , Or the billions collected in road tax , HI contributions or dozens of other taxes you have in the UK .

Try getting on the waiting list for a heart bypass or some other major surgery and come back and tell us "its a bloody good one "

You see nothing in life is "Free "

flat to the mat

Garvs,you can beak off all you want about Canada,it's not Utopia,but the difference between Britain and here is ,are you ready for this? If you are prepared to get off your arse and graft, the benefits far out way the effort involved.
You made the "effort"to get here,why not be bothered to change jobs ? It ain't going to come to you,may be you think it is

CurtNIR

whatever you say

Alfresco

Just popped in here.

How do all you truckers survive driving in snow and ice?

Take my hat off to you guys.

garvs11

At last someone with a common sense and a valid quote,i didnt return home due to the employer i worked for on the contuary,i have family the length of Canada from Peterborough ON,to Quesnel BC and many inbetween i had job offers and free accommodation for my Family in quesnel as soon as i got PR which i was extremely close in getting,but we decided Canada wasnt for us this was nothing to with the Haulage except for the fact driving in Canada bored me but i loved the long Haul in the US.I said from the start we had a great life here in England so unless we could better that i would return,we felt as a family Canada fell short in many ways.Im defianately not anti Canada it just wasnt for us.
Since i have returned in which gained employment without any problems very good pay by the hour alot more than any long haul per mile driver,our company build sports fields so for me to slot in as a low loader driver/machine Driver,i have now passed my hiab,40 ton Excavator Ticket,9Ton Dumper Ticket and D4 Bulldozer Ticket making me available to work on any construction site not just in the Uk but overseas as well now tell me im not prepared to work for anything.

flat to the mat

Don't say you bailed out with P.R.around the corner ?

garvs11

Hope you didnt spit your coffee all over the computer when you wrote this lol,
Your first Statement nailed it for me Canada is no utopia but with a hell of alot of hard work then the benefits outway the effort,i dont dissagree with this at all,but why do i want myself and my wife who has an excellent job with the NHS to start to work like dogs to end up with what we already have here (our mortgage is nearly paid up and we have no debt),except we take 3/4 holidays a year not including weekends away in our motorhome this wouldnt be possible in Canada well not in the first few years.

Flat without boring you to death with facts of my life let me just underline some facts.
1 Canada was never a dream for me it was something that materialised after been made redundundant,(after 15 years long haul uk/Europe i got a start at tesco's for 5 years on fantastic money/benefits short hours and home every night)with Family in Canada the seed was planted.

2,After visiting i Secured a job in Quesnel BC then the recession hit no more lmos for BC,but like most thought maybe the grass is greener so i continued to seek employment hence i ended up on PEI with one thing on my mind get PR and get the hell over to BC and get on short haul home every weekend.Yes at first i loved being over there everything was rosy, (like Dave said its all there on my Blog) why would it be it was a new adventure this continued for a while, ask Alandoug how enthusiastic i was, even convincing him how pr could open so many doors etc.
But things started to Change we decided against BC we felt it was to far and remote for us and started to look at other areas but i started to loathe being in Canada and wanted to spend all my time in America,it hit all our buttons and still does if i could get a green card i would be there in a flash i loved the long haul there. So after months of discussions we felt Canada fell short in everyway and we would be alot worse off so why would i want to continue with PR, i dont ever want to reside in Canada so why flog a dead horse.
This leads me to the intitial WHY IN Canada Thread and my response to the UK, we all look for better things in life the thought of emigrating is an exciting one we all think the grass is greener for alot it isnt,yes there are alot of opportunties in Canada if you have nothing here with alot of very hard work you can do well i have always said that but isn't that also the case here to.
The worlds economy is very unstable at the moment with the likes of Greece,Spain and Italys ecomonies on there knees if these go tits up it wont just be eurpoe/UK that suffer this will send a tidal wave across the world and all countries except maybe China will suffer.
What im trying to say is off course its been hard here yes everyone has to tighten there purse strings but again isnt that everywhere else, i do get a little pissed off when people continue to Slate of my home country but then thats because thats what it is MY Home Country.

flat to the mat

Garvs I hear what you say,the grass isn't always greener,horses for courses and all that.
We first came here in 1988,made friends who subsequently visited us in Britain,and so it went on for a while until one day when a mate from Ottawa phoned and mentioned the driver shortage and PNP system.Until that call came we'd never thought about emigrating,however the company I worked for had just be sold out,my wife who also worked in the NHS was fed up with the B/S that was involved with day to day patient care,the kids were at the right age,so it all fell into place for us.
We made a couple of trips over in the intervening 18mths/2yrs to really make sure we were doing the right thing,may be the property prices back then persuaded us,but made the commitment and have never looked back.
The life here doesn't suit some,but the opportunities are boundless.We do what we have to workwise,but enjoy the lifestyle/benefits/family time more than we ever could have done "back home".Still have bills to pay,but we can now plan trips abroad,buy new vehicles,throw money into a useless pension fund,all the aspects of life we didn't enjoy whilst living on the housing estate in England.
Difference being,we can choose how much we have to do to achieve the correct balance which suits our needs or wishes,up the anti or cut ourselves some slack,WE have the choice and that makes a huge difference at the end of the day.

BTW,How far of PR were you ?

garvs11

Flat great story your life seems to be on par with mine hear,my wife works 25 hrs a week in which earns alot more than all our outgoings,making what i earn savings, pretty similar to yourself,now the question i would pose to you is if you were in the situation you are now (i take it from the length of time your slightly over 30 lol) back here in the UK would you be prepared to give it all up and start afresh knowing your going to have to put a great deal of hard work to even get to where you already are? this was my dilema.
I have worked extremely hard all my life and now reaping the rewards, the reason i looked at Canada was after been made redundant i to thought the Uk was sinking, i to thought we were on our knees,i didnt want to go back to Long Haul here and seeing the endless amount of comapanies closing gave me a little fright.
If i was 20 years younger and starting again i do feel Canada could be very appealing i do see the likes of yourself,Dave Cauldwell, Bob the Dog, lyndon and many others i worked with make a very nice life for themselves and i applaud you, but i have also seen many think the same as myself it isnt for everyone were all different.
Going Back to my original post and maybe clear up a couple of things,
1,i didnt change employers because again the grass isnt always greener i saw many leave Bulk Carriers for Midland then return,they were the only pretty reputable company around,but i didnt want to get stuck on the consant east coast triangle,maybe im not as dymanic as i used to be thats because i dont have to be,Bulk Carriers are a crap company but it wouldnt take much to make them into an excellent one unfortunately they dont seen to see it.
There seems to be to many people on here to jump down peoples throat than actually hear there side of the story,its all to easy to be brave slating people off sitting behind a computer screen,i wrote a blog and although i left out alot im sure those who read it and followed it saw what emotions i went through so i resent it when people i have never met slate me off and incinuate i ran home like a little boy just because my oppinion differs to there's,if there is anything i have wanted to do in my life ive done it,i dont see the point in looking back and say i wished i done that etc,and if some way down the line i feel that shucks i made a mistake actually Canada is for me then i shall return.
We estimate we were 3 months away from getting a request for our passports for PR but as said before why continue i cant see myself or my family wanting to live over there in the next 5 years and as you have to reside there 2 years in the next 5 we thought it was pointless,now if it didnt stipulate these conditions i would off completed and then returned.Now if things change and we do want to in the near future then thats one discission we have to live with.At the moment we feel there is a lot we want to do here a lot of places on the to do list etc etc then who knows.but there is one thing i will say never say never, OMG have a just quoted the great Canadian JB lol.
Thanks