Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

i think it would be australia or canada for me. depends, maybe get rich and buy a house in both, so when the annoying language of one country got to me too much i could go to the other one. couldnt put up with all that *insert stereotypical comment about canadian or aussie language here* :)

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

Let us know before you move away mate (and when you are back visiting). I hope your future years are more enjoyable than this last one, and my very best wishes for the future. If you get chance out there then please post.

I quite fancy moving to Canada, but so far I've got as far as Belgium!!

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

Australia, from what I've heard has a more leisure orientated out look when it comes to work.
US could be interesting, but as I've yet to meet a sane woman from canada, I think I'll give that a miss :D

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

My family have actually made the jump. They come back every now and again, but it just highlights to them how badly downhill this country is going. They come back, are happy to see family for a few days, then it just wears them down. My mum is back now atm for a couple of months to sort some things out and apart from seeing me which she misses the most obviously, this country just hammers it home how nice she has things back out there. My older brother has completely immersed himself, and my younger brother, although he moans and threatens to come back home, he never does. I mean, over there he is 19, and has a 2003 Ford Mustang Cobra. How the hell would he have that here? And me? Well, i'm the most patriotic and would miss this country the most out of the family, but as I spend extended amounts of time over there visiting the family, coming back aftre 2.5 months, it does make me think, is life really so good here? I dislike Florida because it is so rural, but i'm sure if I moved to Boston or Seattle, i'd be as happy, or maybe even more happier. My family get frustrated at the US, but it is normally just Floridians. They are far more laid back than Brits and it shows when you want to get things done. Nothing that couldn't be solved by moving north, but they like the weather down there. My mum has never had arthitis pain since she moved.

About "being ruled by the US". Ideally, I don't want to be ruled by anyone except the UK. That includes the US as well as Europe. But that said, we have far, far more in common with the US than Europe. If the whole EU constitution involved the US instead of the EU, I think it would be less of an adjustment.

Xaccers: I've been to Ontario twice. It really isn't that bad. Actually it is a nice in-between to the US and the UK. Both the influences are there (you have a crown on the road signs) but obviously the American influence is heavier. And I pulled a girl there, and judging by her and her friends, I can recommend the ladies :naughty: :)

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

I'm sure it's a lovely place, my parents have been there on a long mobile home tour that they loved, a workmate's parents have a property over there, and I have a 2nd cousin there (one of the insane women I mentioned)

I think you're right about joining the US, as long as we'd still be able to control our own nation, then I think people would be more up for it than joining europe

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

I lived in Ontario for a couple of years, polluted lakes, stinking towns (Hamilton, Oshawa), two different taxes to pay at the checkout, +35 degree's in the summer and as low as -45 in the winter, knackered freeways (I think the horrifically cold weather shags the roads beyond belief) ... never again.

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

God no wonder you hate it, I wouldn't live in those places for anything. Take the (I can't rememeber, 400?, 404?) North-west out of Toronto there are some nice places. Aurora (Has famous people there, lie Kurt Russell), Newmarket (some really affluent places there. I think Jim Carrey still has a home there. They have a Ferrari dealership too), Richmond Hill. There are some nice towns out there. Toronto isn't bad either. You are right though about the freeways and things generally look worn out. Still, there are worse places to be.

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

I lived out near(ish) the Kawartha lakes too, up near Peterborough .. pleasant enough place, no decent amenities though (not even a local rate ISP), no shops, no pubs/bars nothing. Toronto didn't have much in the way of character for me, nor did Mississauga, but yes, Hamilton and Oshawa do have to be the two worst cities in Canada, one's a steel town one's a car manufacturing town. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something I hate about both the USA and Canada, perhaps I was hanging out with the wrong people.

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

God, you've been about there a lot judging by how much you hate it, I should cross it off my list! I dunno, like most places, it has its nice areas and its poor one. One good point about just visiting is you get your GST back (Or the other one, I can't remember now.) That's starting to worry me now, what I can't remember. The list is getting a bit big now :erm:

The one thing about the US and Canada, is i'd miss the British TV. (Watching Fantasy Football atm). You just don't get TV this good over there (Except Royal Canadian Air Farce. That was hilarious.)

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

Ah but see, in N. Ireland I get UK TV and Irish TV, the ONLY bad thing I can say about living in Ireland is the whole job situation, if you can find one, you're sorted, if not, you'll at least be somewhere pleasant claiming the dole. I was very lucky to end up doing what I do now for a reasonable salary.

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

400 ;)

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

You picked the two industrial towns to live in. Bad choice. How about Waterloo or Kitchener where I'm in right now? About 100,000 people, plus 30,000 or so students. Clean air, clean water, nice folks.

As for the climate, I can deal with the cold, but the +35 tends to annoy me.

And for the PST and GST, what about it?

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

My family and I are actively planning a move to NZ in the next 12 months !

I used to love UK but now we hate it with a vengeance...it stinks ! Can't wait to get on that plane for the last trip out of here !!! :(

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

I couldn't possibly comment on where you live as I've never been there and will never end up back in Canada.

April and May were fantastic weather wise, then the heat hit me around June, the first winter I was there it started snowing at the end of December .. and i don't think it stopped until February.

It's annoying, I like to walk into a shop and know exactly by looking at an item how much it costs without having to add various percentages.

Re: Leave UK for good.....
 

It is the same mostly anywhere. That happens in the US too, although it is only one tax. What makes it annoying is that the tax (Sales Tax) varies per county as well with what you buy. I.E In a restaurant, "Eat In Tax" (sales tax, but that is how it appears on your bill) is different to if you took the meal away and ate it off the premises. Basically, even if you live there, you never truely how much something is going to cost you, although you have a rough idea. For my family, it is either going to be 6.5% or 7.0%. What is really, really annoying though is how the calculate the tax. In England they work backwards, and say: Let's put it up for 99p, so that is 84p for the goods and 15p tax, But the yanks do it the other way around. They say: "Let us put it up for 99c, and then they add the tax at the register (they extremely rarely add the tax to the price when they advertise, I only know of like two places, and one is Disney (Because of the tourists)), so it becomes 99c + 5c = $1.05, which means having to break two bills. You just end up with so many ones and so much change because the tax just pushes it over the nearest whole number.