What a kerfuffle............

 

Hubby, I and our two children were all born in the UK and despite us being Canadian citizens, we are also British citizens so we hold dual nationality.  Imagine our surprise when we found out over the weekend that as of today, February 25th, 2026 we were no longer eligible to travel to the UK on our Canadian passports, that we had to have a UK Passport 😕😠

These past few days have been interesting to say the least trying to sort all this out.  We have family in the UK and my mother is getting up there in years, so the ability to travel to the UK is paramount.  We have no intention of going this year, but I will be probably going next year to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday.  Our daughter and family were there last year and we were all over in 2024 for a funeral.

We have ran into numerous issues sorting all this out but are slowly getting through the issues.  Our last UK passports ran out in 2000, and the kids were on my passport at the time.  Both kids are applying for their own passports, so they need my birth certificate to include with their paperwork.  I need my birth certificate for my passport.  No photocopies are allowed.  Luckily the UK government were very prompt to our son's email enquiry about this and we are all sending our applications in together as a family group.

Because our UK passports had expired, we all need our parents dates of birth and places of birth, plus the info on whether they were married or not.  Hubby is in his late 60's, his dad died 43 years ago, so he has no idea of their dates of birth etc.  So when we put unknown he had to supply names, dates of birth etc of his grandparents, didn't know that either 😕All to prove he was born in the UK.

All these changes have been in the works for a while now, but were done very quietly.  I hadn't heard of this happening.  To my mind it's a total waste of time and a money grab, but what do I know???  It cost us just under 130 British Pounds which included 20 British pounds for courier costs from them to mail them back to us.  I am praying and hoping it's for a 10 year passport, as that wasn't made clear?

Overall no one is impressed with this, especially as we have never ever had an issue entering or leaving the UK.

So if you hold a dual citizenship with the UK, don't even think of traveling to the UK without have a UK passport.

21 Foods British Families Ate to SURVIVE 1970s Winters

Fray Bentos pies, loved those

Canned corn beef hash, have a can of that in the cupboard....

Spam fritters, haven't had that in years.........

Findus pancakes, I had forgotten about them..........

Instant potatoes, I remember them, and the advert........

Vesta curries.......don't remember those, but remember the name.

Liver and onions, still a firm favourite for me, with plenty of mashed potatoes.....

Cauliflower with cheese sauce, we often have this for supper by itself, and yes I add mustard to my cheese sauce.

Toad in the hole, haven't had this in a while.

Lancashire hotpot, haven't had that in years........

Mince and tatties, yum!

Bread and dripping, never remember having it.

Fish finger sandwiches.............my mother always tells me if she had to pick her last meal on earth it would be a fish finger sandwich.........

Bubble and squeak, loved it........

Semolina with jam always loved it.  Loved rose hip syrup also with it.  I now have a craving for that......

Angel Delight..........it was a treat...

Artic Roll..........I think you can still get those, always enjoyed that........

Tinned pears with evaporated milk, we also had tinned peaches........don't have them now because of the sugar in the juices

Beef stew and dumplings, I remember those as well

Margarine on toast.........had that........

Tripe and onions, don't remember having that at all........

From that list, the way I cook is very influenced from the 1970's.  I also remember when the electric/hydro went out as well.   

This time last year......

we were in the UK for a funeral.  Our two children popped over as well for a few days to attend said funeral, as it was their Pop who had passed.

However one of the funnier stories of our time over there involved the kids.  They flew into and out of Manchester airport.  As no one (including us!!) wanted to be in Manchester for 7am to pick them up; as we were staying two hours away, so they decided to take the train up to Carlisle and we would pick them up from there.  It was relatively cheap and they got to see some of the countryside while traveling up.

They had only been on the train half an hour or so, when they pulled into Preston; which turns out to be a main hub.  There was an announcement on the train that they driver was taking his break ??????? (we were all stunned with this!!)  Okay, so the kids sit there, and a few minutes later there was another announcement that the train was now cancelled as they didn't have a driver....WTF????? (again this also shocked us)

Luckily the kids will talk to anyone and they got talking to a fellow passenger who was heading to Penrith, which is the stop before Carlisle.  Our daughter recognized the town's name, so knew we would come and pick them up from there.  They go with this guy to another train and get on board the train. (This guy also told them how to get a refund)  They are sitting there waiting for it to leave.  Then there was another announcement, that the original train was now running!!!!  

So back they go to the original train and they travel up to Carlisle.  Shockingly they were only an hour late.

So a few days later they have to travel back down to Manchester again by train.  The day they left they had booked seats for around 7pm, as they were staying overnight at the airport and flying out the next morning.  That day it was pouring down, torrential rain.  So by around 3pm we saying to them you'd best check the trains and see if they're still running.  At that point there were numerous cancellations, so they rebooked for the 4pm train that was still running and headed out to the station, as it was around half an hour away.  My brother and hubby drove them down.  As they were driving down to the station daughter received a cancellation notice for all trains running down to Manchester.  So brother and hubby drove them all the way down to Manchester.

This time it was a landslide that had closed the line at Lancaster.  Luckily with both these problems daughter got her train fares refunded.

Fast forward to this summer and again daughter and her family were in London and went to visit my mother and took the train up to see her.  We were all on pins and needles as to whether the trains would run.  They did with no issues I'm pleased to say.

The sad thing about this story and I am sure the readers in the UK will confirm none of this is unusual with the UK rail system.

I can't comment on the rail system here in Canada, as I have never used it.  If you have in Canada, please let us know how you got on.  Or if you're from another country, do you use your train system to travel around?

Weather for ducks..........

We have been having a spell of wet weather this past week or so.  You know the sort of weather that only ducks love?  Which made me remember something I saw in the UK last time round.  In the garden centres we visited they all have lovely gift shops and super cafes.  We were particularly fond of the Dobie's garden centres.

One of the many things I fell in love with there were these ducks from the DCUK Company UK.

Each one was so different and all had lovely names.  I should have picked up a couple, but the price put me off.  This one is a little one so is 21.99 GBP, the larger ones are closer to 40 GBP.  

I have suggested to our local garden centre to put a cafe in as it would make a great addition.  It never came to fruition which is a shame, something to do with the septic systems.  I love to wander around the garden centre, and having a cup of coffee after would make a great finish to a trip there.

Meanwhile I will be putting my wellies/rainboots on when I pop out today.  The good news is the weekend has a decent forecast.  Our grass desperately needs cutting and as yet I have not been in the garden this year.  So fingers crossed this weekend will be the start of gardening season for me!!

Do you have a good garden centre close to where you live?  If you have a blog write about it, as I would love to read about it?

My suede bag

First a short story.  When I was 18 I had an 18th birthday party and my aunt flew over from Canada to surprise me at the party.  It was also our engagement party as well.  Anyway she brought a friend with her, and it was either her, or her friend who bought me a burgundy suede shoulder bag.  I LOVED that bag.  Can't remember what happened to it, but I used it all the time.

Fast forward to September of 2022 and we went to the UK.  We stayed with my brother, and his house is a ten minute walk from Gretna Outlet Mall.  Mark's and Spencer was there, I was in there nearly every day!!  They also had a Kate Spade location.  Now I will say I complained miserably about the prices of things over there.  3 pounds for a coffee was just flipping crazy!!

Anyhow, I called into the Kate Spade store, just to see what's what, not planning on buying anything.  However, as soon as I spied this bag I fell in love with it.  I have the exact same bag in burgundy leather. I visited that store nearly every day we were there.  I swear they knew me by sight.

I went back and forward with wanting it and then not wanting it.  It helped when ds arrived and he decided to buy his wife a bag as a gift, so I got an extra discount.  Then I could justify buying it....LOL😁

Now you are going to laugh at this, but this bag has pride of place in my closet!!  I haven't used it yet.  I figured I would wait until the nicer weather, as I don't want to ruin the suede. 

I love this bag and will treasure it!

Do you have something that you love but have never used?

British or Canadian?

(image credit)

When people ask me where I am from my standard answer is: "I am a British born Canadian."  We hold dual citizenship and there was no doubt in our minds that we would become Canadian citizens as soon as we could.  We are lucky that we didn't have to give up our British citizenship; if we had to though I think we would have.  We carry Canadian passports; and have no desire to carry a British one even though we could/can.

Canada is home; the UK is where most of our family live and it's where we go on vacation to.  A lot of expats still say they are going "home" when they go back to their country of birth, I do not.  We have strong roots in Canada.  Our children have married fellow Canadians, have super careers here and have Canadian born children; our grandchildren.  Canada has been good to us and we are thankful for that.

Do I miss the UK; very much so.  As I said most of our family are in the UK.  They are getting older, and along with that comes the problems of aging.  If we lived there I would be able to help out more with various members of family.  As it is, all I can offer is support from the sidelines; it's not the same.  Add into the mix the pandemic and things become increasingly more difficult.  We were due to go to the UK in 2020, that obviously was cancelled.  We knew this year would be a no go; so we have our fingers crossed that we can go in 2022.

As our children were 5 & 3 1/2 when we came to live over here, they have little to no memories of living in the UK.  Dh and I were 25 & 30 and we still speak with a British accent, the kids sound as Canadian as people who were born here.  As we age our memories are viewed through rose tinted glasses.  However in real life things are totally different.  In our last couple of visits I for one have found that how I remembered things and what things are actually like are night and day.  I feel more and more like a "foreigner" every time we visit the UK.

The UK has a huge part of my heart and always will have.  We prefer to watch tv programmes from the UK.  Our sense of humour is very British.  The way I speak and the way I spell and write things are very British.  That's part of me and it will never change, but Canada is home.

Are you living in a country that you weren't born in?

Couple of funny things..

I posted this on my Facebook page last week:

It seems I may be a bad influence???

Liam was talking to his dad and they must have started talking about the pond by our house.

Liam (who is 3): "and there was a bloody great big snapping turtle in the pond, dad."

Dad: "who told you that?"

Liam: "Nana."

Liam: "and snapping turtles bite people, dad."

Dad: "and who told you that?"

Liam: "Nana."

Funny thing is, I remember saying that to Liam, as I got the shock of my life to see a "bloody great big snapping turtle" in the pond...LOL

It also seems I am not the only one in the family that uses the word "daft."

Paige called her mother daft the other day.....oops!

Also we pronounce the word GARAGE - GARIDGE. Nora now pronounces it garidge and Liam is forever correcting me and telling me it's GARAGE not garidge.

Oh the joys of having a British accent. We have lived in Canada now over 32 years now. Dh, I and both kids have all now lived longer in Canada than the UK.

Photos from the UK

Now none of these photos are anything special but all held some meaning for me and I'll explain why.

We travelled through the Yorkshire Dales one day and were reminded constantly how narrow the roads were.  This was one of many tight squeezes on the roads!!  

This is so British I had to take a photo.  The iconic red post/mail box.  This was in Skipton in the market.

 Oh those traffic cones.........miles and miles of them with never a workman in sight.........so familiar; nothing has changed in all these years!!

 This the street our last house in the UK was on.  We are about a third of the way up the hill.  It's as steep as it looks and I made dh park at the bottom of the street.  I was out of puff by the time I walked up to our next door neighbours house.  Yes even after nearly 31 years they are still our next door neighbours.  And you know it was as though we had never been away, we were that comfortable with one another.  We have had many wonderful and some not so wonderful neighbours over the years but I have to say J was the best one ever and we do still write to one another even after all these years.....

No regrets moving to Canada though.  Canada is home and the UK is where we were born.

Catch up...........

It's been a while sorry.  Things have taken off with the Appleby Lane store, and honestly it has caught me by surprise.  So something had to give and it was my blog, which is a crying shame as I enjoy doing it.  Also reading has taken a back seat as well, which is another thing I love to do, but again, I can't do it all.

So here is an abbreviated version of what I have been up too.  I was back at the doctors at the beginning of September.  13 lbs lighter and I had brought one set of numbers down from 10.3 to 7, and the other set of numbers (the important one) down from 7.1 to 7.  Straight after that we went to the UK for a 10 day trip and I came home 3 lbs heavier and full of cold...........

Dh then had his blood work done and went to the doctors and was told his numbers are too high.  He got a blood glucose machine as well and we both started to monitor our numbers, which resulted in me nearly having a meltdown because my numbers are all over the place.  Called the nurse and she says everything is good.  Which in turn made me even more confused and has resulted in me now not using the blasted machine and I will have blood work done at the beginning of December as planned and we will see where I stand then...................and before I get lectures from everyone, yes I am in denial and no I haven't fallen off the wagon, but this taking the blood is making me more stressed and I can't/won't deal with it.

Good news, 3 lbs lighter again, so back to where I was at the beginning of September.  Bad news though, had the grands over the weekend, so good eating went down the tube!!  Good news, good eating back on again!! Also still not on any meds for the diabetes.

Went to the UK for a 10 day trip and it only rained once............who knew that the words UK and good weather could be said in the same sentence!!  Especially when you are staying in the North of England and Southern Scotland!!

Did my first craft show with Appleby Lane and it was good, sold a few things and have got three shows more booked between now and the end of November.  I have lost my mojo since I have been away, so need a kick in the butt to get my creative juices flowing again.

Meanwhile I feel like this at the moment:

I will try and make an effort to do a blog post every other day to see how that goes and go from there.  Too everyone who follows me thank you for your patience, I do appreciate you, one and all!  Now off too pee😁

30 Years Ago Today..........

we arrived in Canada.

(four Canada keyfobs, to represent the four of us)

Two adults, two small children (5 & 3 1/2) straight off the boat airplane.  We landed in Toronto and made our home in Brampton, Ontario.  30 years later, although not in Brampton, we all live close by.  

Both children attended school; went to university, and have since gone on to get married, have great jobs and have presented us with the best grandchildren, grandparents could ever wish for.  Basically, they have achieved everything and more that we hoped they would achieve by moving here.

We have moved several times, I had several jobs, dh just the one............his second job in his working life, he will have been there 30 years on June 6th.........he doesn't like change...LOL Made many friends and have lost some special friends for various reasons.....mainly due to death.

Canada is home, I have lived here more of my life than Britain.  Dh will achieve that status at the end of January 2020.  We became Canadian citizens as soon as we could and are privileged/fortunate that we can still retain our British citizenship.

Both dh and I sound British when we talk, but when people ask us where we come from (especially when we're in the States), my standard response now is we are British born but Canada is our home.

Canada has been very good to us and we have no regrets about moving here.  Our only regret I guess is that I wish we had the rest of our family in the same country; but that will never happen.

A Happy Anniversary to us.......