I am being interviewed........

by Janet and here is what she asked me:

1. Can you tell us where you are from, and a little about your early life in England?

I lived in both Cumberland and Westmoreland, which was then combined to make up Cumbria, which if you live in Canada is the province, if in the States the State. I have two younger brothers and although we were not rich, we never felt poor. We were just your average working class family. I am sure my mam and dad struggled, but we were never exposed to it.

I was close to my Nana and Pop (my mam's parents) and spent a lot of time at their house in the holidays. They lived on London Road, in Carlisle. I have many fond memories of being there. I also used to go on holidays with them to Scarborough. My Nana and Pop also ran a bed and breakfast from their house, and it was there I had my first taste of canned grapefruit, it was so sweet I loved it. My Nana also always had TUC Crackers and butter, again loved those. They were the first in our family to have a colour tv, and my Nana used to love watching the wrestling on tv on a Saturday.

Me and my younger brother fought like cat and dog when we were growing up, as we both had the same temperament. Now we are the best of friends. My other brother and I, although not as close, I would do anything to help him if needed. They both live in England. My parents divorced just before I married dh, and my mother and step-father live in England, and my dad and step-mother live in Canada. So I also now have two step-sisters and two step-brothers.


2. Why did you move to Canada?

Dh worked for a company called British Gypsum in Britain. The plant where he worked was forecast to have enough "gypsum" in the mine until dh was around 40. At that point they reckoned it was going to close. My dad had moved to Canada, and we decided, why not. We were young enough to start over, the kids were only 3 1/2 and 5 years old, so missing there friends wasn't as big a deal as if they were teenagers. We also knew there would be more opportunities for both them and us.

Me and dh came over for a week in the fall of 1988 to see if dh could find a job which he did. We went back home and applied to come over and in May of 1989 we finally landed here. It took that long for the paperwork to come, despite the fact dh had a job, my dad sponsored us, and we had enough "points" to sink a ship to qualify us. They don't work with a speed of knots the immigration department!!!


3. What do you like best, and least, about living in Canada?


I'll do the worst first, the weather, it's getting worse the longer we live here. It's the extremes. In the summer its boiling hot, in the winter it's freezing cold, there never seems to be a happy medium. Also the fact that most of our family live in the UK, it would be nice if they were closer.

The best, well that has to be the opportunities. I know deep down we wouldn't have what we have if we had stayed in Britain, also the kids maybe wouldn't have done as well as they have done.

4. What is your best money saving tip?

The weekly boxes, where I put money away each week for birthdays and for Christmas. Think about it, how great is it to go to the birthday box, when there is a birthday and just take out the money, no scrambling to find the money. It's the same with Christmas, the money is there come Christmas time, no worrying about how we can afford to pay for Christmas, and no putting it on the credit cards!!!


5. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, we love the area, we love the people. The weather isn't as extreme and it's calming and more laid back down there. Will we ever live there, probably not, as the kids will be staying put in Canada, and its too far away from them.


These are the rules for this meme:Want to be interviewed by me? Here are the instructions:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me." Then send me another separate comment with your email address as to where I can send your questions.
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions and let me know when you have posted it, so I can link to it.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.