Re: Had enough of the UK

We emigrated to Canada in the early 80's Donkeyman. Husband had a very lucrative job there at the time but it didn't last. Almost the moment we arrived the country went into a steep decline which lasted a good few years. Contracts in coal, gas and oil were mothballed and Calgary suffered very badly, as it depended on them in a big way (apart from the cattle industry that is). People were losing their jobs on a catastrophic scale and many folks lost everything (it really was a boom or bust town in those days). House prices nosedived and you used to see adverts saying "buy my house for a dollar" which meant buy the debt so I can get out. Mortgages are not organised as they are in UK and you sell the mortgage remaining with the house. Because of the situation fortunately we did not buy a house, but remained in rented accommodation, saving as much as we could. Jobs in OH's industry were almost impossible to get for established folks let alone immigrants. A couple of years passed limping along and eventually the company my OH went to went bust. If we hadn't had the children we would have tried somewhere else in Canada, but the children were 10 and 6(going on seven) then and my youngest had never been to school (they start them a lot older over there). So they were not compromised too much, we decided we would come back for a while. My husband stayed until the bitter end when the company was wound up and I came back a few months before him to get the children into school. We intended to go back when things had settled down and, although my husband went back to work there, it was with his UK employer. Husband then went to work in South Africa for quite a while - children were settled back in school so we didn't get back to Canada on a permanent basis. We have visited folks there and have an abiding love the country and its people. Once you have the commitment of children it is difficult to wander about the country like it is when there are just two of you. They needed to be settled. I often wonder what it would have been like for us if we had managed to stay, but we couldn't afford the gamble and possibility of losing all our capital trying.

Re: Had enough of the UK

Australia is a good place to live but guess what?
You get lied to and ripped off by politicians,banks,power companies and internet providers ,here too.

Re: Had enough of the UK

When I last worked in London I made a friend in a similar situation to me - saving to go back to our 'home', mine OZ, his Canada. we often discussed both places. He told me that during the winter he was actually rarely cold because you went from a heated house to heated transport to heated shops etc.

I also have nephews and nieces in Sweden where the 'dry' cold is probably the same as Canada, it is almost impossible to make a snowball or snow man because the snow is too cold. though when I recently heard from my sister in law she said that the winters were much milder so this might not be still true.

My abiding memory of childhood English winters is slush, wet feet/socks and frozen pipes interspersed with a bit of tobogganing.

Re: Had enough of the UK

Too true.

Re: Had enough of the UK

I had similar experiences to you Aerelor,but things played out the
opposite way round,
Jobs were plenty, houses cheap to rent& buy,due to people leaving
the country because of civil unrest& uncertainty
Initially l got a job, then moved to.CT
Started a business fixing machinetools
Ran business for 18 yrs,in which time we able to buy 2 houses
fully paid for, despite the very high interest rate.
Got old and tired, wanted different life style.
Sold up everything&bought a run down farm on the southern
coast, situated on edge of forest, 3kms from coast and overlooked
by a nice range of mountains, just the ticket
best thing being,very few people.
This place was being run as a guest farm & had 3. Job cabins
but very few guests
Anyway we improved the place, collected a few animals, there was
quite a lot to do, but it was the best time of my life
17 yrs of that, we were quite getting quite old, so we sold at
quite a good price,due to i.mprovements& internet increasing our
turn over.
Moved to nearest city,P E to a house we already owned.
Better half was missing kids in UK so sold up again
and here we are.
I find UK has gone backwards in the intervening years, but
missus is happy so l am reconciled.
I think yourself& Bruce etc, should be happy that you did what you
did, at least you did it.

Hope l haven't bored you
Best Regards. Donkeyman.

Re: Had enough of the UK

Great video Brucy, should stop 50% of Brits from even thinking
of going to Aussie.

Regards,. Donkeyman.

Re: Had enough of the UK

I'm not bored at all Donkeyman. I enjoy hearing of other people's experiences. Your farm sounds ideal - just the sort of thing we would have wanted to do had we stayed in Canada. Kananaskis country, Okanagan valley or Canmore; any of those areas were financially accessible in the 80's - unlike now - they have become a rich man's playground and the property prices are unbelievable, let alone an acreage. I don't think we would have stayed in Calgary, it was far too busy even in those days and I am a country girl. Spectacular city though.

Re: Had enough of the UK

Glad you enjoyed my post about my life Aerolor, l enjoyed living it.
I also had a freind,. Who went to Vancouver which he said was
brilliant he was actually buried there, said it was warmer there
Which is true l believe.l also considered Canada before making
the jump, but chose a warmer but more volatile place.
So you make the choice. but you take the chance.
I have had no regrets,and wish l was still there, in spite of the
problems. there,but look at the UK now?
By the way l am intrigued by your user name?
Best. Regards. Donkeyman.

Re: Had enough of the UK

Bit of a silly name is Aerolor Donkeyman. I made it up when I joined OFF because I thought folks had to be anonymous. My son's nickname is Aero and the lor bit is the first three letters of my first name. How come you chose Donkeyman?


Vancouver is warmer, but it still snows and it gets very wet. Some years they have quite serious mud slides in some areas. My daughter was married in Tofino, West Vancouver Island. They got married on the beach and it rained all the time. It's a beautiful place though and to the north there are temperate rainforests. Very isolated and wild.


Took us a while to re-settle once we came back to England, but we were OK. My husband had serious regrets and wanderlust for a while. Surprisingly we were homesick for Canada and we were definitely going back. However, time moves on, my parents needed us (particularly my mum when dad died) so we stayed here. He satisfied his wanderlust somewhat by going to work in Montreal for a while, but I didn't go - I had a decent job here by then and I wasn't going to disrupt the children again. He then went off to South Africa to work and when he came back he was a lot more settled.


Anyway, nice chatting to you Donkeyman. Bye for now.

Re: Had enough of the UK

Great! Here's another that should stop the other 50%.