You might ask me "Why did you leave Canada?"  

There were a few reasons.  I was in the process of divorcing my wife, I had retired from a stressful law practice and was bored, my kids were already established and on their own, an opportunity for a whole new adventure arose to go to China to teach English (an aged Bilbo Baggins said "There's always time for a new adventure.") so I took the leap. 

Then you might ask me "Now that you're no longer teaching, why don't you return to Canada?"

As a foreigner I was treated royally by all levels of Chinese people, from government officials, police, students and their parents, the school staff, store staff, to ordinary people on the street.  People would ask to take photos with me, I've even been asked for my autograph.  Amazing how things like that can bolster your ego.

I found and married a beautiful wonderful Chinese woman who does not want to leave family and friends, and her extended family have made me feel that I belong here with them.

Now that I am retired from teaching, at my age and present condition I want to be more relaxed, and my Canada pension supports me and my wife here with a level of comfort I could not possibly afford back in Canada.

All my life I loved Chinese food, and in Canada I ate it at least once or twice a week from the time I was a toddler, and here I eat Chinese food every day, and a few times a week I eat western food. 

Although I did live in Canada for most of my life, this is where I'll remain for the rest of my life.  

Although I did live in Canada for most of my life, this is where I'll remain for the rest of my life.  

It sounds like you have a really good life!

It sounds like you have a really good life!

That seems especially true in today's world, where so many people seem to be constantly complaining about their lives in the U.S....

(If anyone reading this doesn't believe-- spend some time online...)

"...so many people seem to be constantly complaining about their lives in the U.S...."

I feel sorry for those who regret that they voted ignorantly, and I'm concerned about the safety of my son and his family.

"It sounds like you have a really good life!"

When the weather is good, we play ping pong at the exercise/recreational area behind our building or go for walks.  Most mornings I'm on the internet, and afternoons watch movies, and evenings, whatever.  No more travelling but lots of relaxing and rest.  When I say life is beautiful, it's very different from that movie.

Yes a lot of people sook and complain about how bad things are here..

My response go overseas and see some of the other countries that don't have any/or only some of the above and then complain...

Canada, Australia, New Zealand are very similar, but for me the Great Southern Land will always be home...

And best of all..Vegemite...that keeps the ferals and bogans out..😊

"Canada, Australia, New Zealand are very similar..."

You may have vegemite, but Canada has poutine.  LOL

Chips, cheese and gravy...yep think I could live with that..

.that keeps the ferals and bogans out.

Ah yes-- those pesky ferals and bogans!

More countries should put forth better efforts towards that end result!

I'm no doubt a bit biased, But my present home country is definately No. 1.   That said, if I had to leave, Canada would be my next choice !

and like Shona, I would definately miss my Vegemite !!

I'm surprised you would not have chosen NZ as being your alternative.  There was a time that I thought that if I had to move elsewhere it would have been NZ.

I have been there and it is also a great country, but there are a couple of minor points which drops then down a couple of rungs on the ladder. But, yes, they would otherwise have been my next choice.

I also worked in Papua New Guinea for 4 years and married my beautiful "Fuzzy Wuzzy" wife.  Returned to Australia because  the PNG govt. no longer wanted white expats there, we have two wonderful adult sons and now two most beautiful grandaughters.   I could well have stayed in PNG had circumstances allowed.

No NZ has quite a few problems social and economic and is not the utopia many people think...

I would go to Canada before NZ as well...

Morning... that's sad you had to leave Way but better to be safe than sorry...

I use to have a pen friend in Lae years ago but lost contact.. often wondered what happened to her...

Lot of unrest and trouble in PNG and certainly would not like to live there now...

My daughter lives in Toronto, but she travels a lot for her work, and my son  who married an American, and their three kids were born in the US, now has dual citizenship and since he has a very superior position there will most likely remain in the US.

I will always have a soft spot for PNG, Dad was in the North African campaign during the war,but was returned to Northern Australia when the Japanese were on the  Kokoda Track & invasion seemed imminent.

Australians Did This One Thing Before Any Other Nation In WW2, Twice!

My thoughts about NZ go back more than half a century.  Maybe things were different then.

There is a section  MILNE BAY  where I was stationed !

Please explain what you posted, as per the RED BOX RULES:

"By now it should be well known that I am unable to open certain sources, videos and pictures.  If I cannot, I will ask that they be described and explained.  If the poster refuses to comply, their comment will be deleted."

It is a documentary on the war in PNG/Pacific, based on Australian achievements ,sorry you cannot access it, but others can. My apologies

Yes same here..we owe a lot to the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels and no.. hardly anyone knows it was us that was the first to turn the Japanese back and to retreat...

No other country had done that before...

Our secret which we keep and let others claim the victory...

That was one thing Churchill got wrong in my eyes he refused to let out troops come home to defend our country...good on Curtin telling him basically get stuffed and home they came..

Lest we forget..

Morning Buzz..an excellent documentary on us and the Japanese in WW2..

It is inline with Way talking about PNG and our very close association with that country and his wife's home land...

I guess it is similar to you in China and your lovely wife and Way speaking about his wife from PNG..

Nothing political etc and just unfortunate you can't open it...but for us extremely important history...

They were alot different then.. Auckland at times is on par with  LA..that coming from my Kiwi friends..they have never seen anything like it..

Gun fights, drive by shootings, Bikie gang warfare and Maori fighting for their rights over land and the Waitangi treaty...

Economics wise they are in deep do doo..$12 for eggs, $20 for cheese, $3.15 for a litre of petrol etc..

We have half a million of them running around here, as things are not to flash over there..

Throw in Earth Quakes as well..no thanks...

"My apologies"

No need, you've explained it.

"They were a lot different then."

I never heard about the bad things like that, even now.

One of New Zealand's finest..you don't mess with them..lot of Bikie warfare and shootings etc and Tangis held nearly every week... hundreds of bikies descend on towns etc for the funerals....not exactly comforting...

Have strong links to Nazi ideology including salutes, symbols etc and cause heaps of trouble in towns and cities...

Certainly not my photo would rather run into a snake..😬

At Fort Benning, Georgia is the only monument dedicated to soldiers other than American, it is dedicated to Aussie soldiers that were under our command and fought side by side with us, the 173rd Airborne at “The Woods” and other battles in Vietnam. 
It is a well deserved honor to fellow paratroopers.

i’m currently in Orange, NSW Australia spending the next couple of months with my native America, Chinese, Polynesian, Métis French, Dutch family.

I didn't know about this, but it is nice to know our fellow comrades in arms do appreciate us !

Good evening Kavika and for once we are in the same time zone..and as we are always ahead in time, the rest bring up the rear..just the way we like it..

Hope you have a ripper time with the rellies and eat plenty of Vegemite...not that wussy peanut butter stuff...

Welcome again to the Great Southern Land..

Thanks, Shona it’s been great to date with another 6 or 7 weeks to go.

They left off the list a military that you can drown in a bathtub.

Which is how Canada affords everything else.

The USA needs to defend Canada in order to defend itself.  Besides, Canada is happy to permit the USA to be the policeman of the world.  Why not? 

I think your going to see Canada have to defend its own airspace  up to a certain point , lets call that the glow line .

 Im sure the USA will be taking care of its own airspace defenses .

Canada's been in that situation ever since the USA forced Canada to cancel the far superior Avro Arrow.

Buzz i dont think either of us wish a farting and pissing contest .

 IF Canada was to be under attack , and not by the USA as some are scare mongering as of late .

The attack would come from Russia China , or NK and likely over the pole, and would likely be aircraft or missiles  AND Canada isnt likely to be anything except a secondary target and overflight route , The USA will likely have a lot more other areas they are watching and taking care of .

 But that is the purpose of those dew line early warning posts both countries man right ?

As for the Avro Arrow? it was and looks sweet , but unfortunately i think its cancellation came about because of an oversaturated market for interceptors where everyone was building not only just one of their own (french ,british , swede, and so on )but sometime multiple different models . it just so happened there were no needed buyers for a Canadian interceptor in the 1950s-60s, except in Canada to keep it in production .

 And if we are being honest , every country thinks their equipment is superior to other countries equipment , even if its not . need i list a few examples ?

To this day Canadians do not forget and will continue to resent the cancellation of that groundbreaking superior interceptor jet on a day always to be remembered as Black Friday.

Buzz , im not too worried about something that happened before i was even born , hell before i was even a gleam in my dads eye .

What i do understand looking at the timeline was that other planes were already either in service , on the drawing board or in production for testing that was the direction that the military industrial complex was already moving towards . and were going to become the then frontline defense that filled more multiple roles . . 

Canadas entry just came both too late and didnt have what was being looked for by other nations( meaning in this case the USA) to buy to become standardized . and since it didnt sell we really have no way of saying how flexible the platform would have been going into the future .

 And nothing prevented the Canadians from using it themselves , the problem would have been the supply chain for themselves to maintain  over the lifetime of the platform , which today would be considered obsolete.

will continue to resent the cancellation of that groundbreaking superior interceptor jet

While it was neat it was also a money pit with no chance of becoming profitable, I so not resent it's cancellation because whether it happened when it did or after throwing a few hundred more million down the pit it still would have been cancelled

Although I do wish one had been saved as a museum piece

My internet search indicates that the Arrow was way superior to what others were developing, but you're an American, you're not a Canadian, so I understand your opinion.

I was the lawyer for one of the chief engineers brought over from England to work on the Arrow after he had been let go along with everyone and took care of the sale of his Toronto home since he was returning to England.  There are lots of stories and opinions "why" it happened but I learned it from one who was involved in it.

I did enjoy researching it , as for why it was cancelled , i found out a few interesting facts about it .

 One was the UK didnt want it because it would cost twice what they were already paying for what they had that was already in service .

 Most countries of that time period were rather adverse to taking on platforms they didnt develop and have control of the costs . 

 It was one of the first to make use of titanium in its engine design .

 it came into being as the threat was shifting from long range bombers to missiles, as a matter for fact , the day the Arrow rolled out to taxi for the first time , was the same day that the soviets sputnik went beeping across the sky , showing the soviets had a missile cap[able of intercontinental abilities . , even Canadas own intelligence agencies pointed this fact out and that also led to its cancellation .

 between that and its cost the project was bound to be scrapped as redundant even if it was the fastest interceptor out there . So the Canadian government , not the USA decided to cancel. it became a rather expensive toy that no one wanted nor thought they needed with what was already available . About the only contribution the USA made to the cancellation i can find mentioned in the history , was they wouldnt buy it because they had already developed their own versions of interceptors , and like the Canadians , saw the soviets shifting to missiles instead of bombers .

 Now it didnt help matters that there was a possibility of a soviet mole , in Arvo Canadas  make up , and i think it is entirely plausible since if one looks at the cockpit and air intakes of the arrow, they seem suspiciously similar to an air frame that came out 5 years later known as the Mig 25 Foxbat , they are near dead on identical .

 The cancellation of the project did lead to Avros parent company to sell off the company assets and basically get out of the military aviation part of the market, it cost Avro i think i read 14k jobs and a total of 25k jobs with associated support and supply connections , Thats a pretty big employment hit , even by 1950s standards .

 some of Avro's engineers did find work in the USA with NASA working on the mercury , Gemini , and Apollo projects , and those that worked on the Arrows engine found work with Lockheed at the Skunkworks , knowledge of titanium and how to work it was valuable at that time even if it was rather rare . 

They only produced 5 full sized platforms , there are bits and pieces scattered around in different museums , but the closest one might come to a complete one is some of the scaled down test platforms they launched into the great lakes , they pulled one up i think in 2017 .

 somehow , a set of blueprints and spec sheets survived being destroyed and is also on display in some Canadian aviation museum .Ottowa i think i read .

The other thing i found surprising about the Arrow , was they were not built by hand like most first platforms are , they created the line and tooling before they built the aircraft  so all 5 examples were line built , not hand built and fitted .

I agree that there were more than one reason for the cancellation, but I think that America's preference for its own developing interceptors was the main reason, and the fact that the need for a different defence strategy for missiles was the next good reason.

but I think that America's preference for its own developing interceptors was the main reason,

In other words Arvo , and Canada , gambled that if they built the fastest slickest interceptor on the planet , that the Americans and the US government couldn't resist regardless of the cost, because they HAD to have the fastest thing around ?

 and they expected a payday with golden eggs but the goose  simply laid a rotten egg  because the USA already HAD the fastest thing around in service and in development . 

Look up when the YF -12 and the SR -71 was started in service and in development. there is a bit of overlap there between Canada and the USA on those projects . hell the world didnt even KNOW about the SR-71 until Johnson let it slip in 66, the same year the Mig -25 went operational, the russians knew ... something moved really fast , and got the 25 up and running but to catch the blackbird they had to be shit hot , and danger close and burn up their plane doing it . the 25 wasnt developed to catch  the Arrow , likely FROM the arrow it looks like with a different wing configuration . and it STILL didnt catch the blackbird .

Makes me wonder what the SR-72 will be able to do .

 to the USA the arrow project would have been a ginormous waste of tax payer money and defense spending for the USA.  So the USA spent it domestically as their rights dictate rather than with a friendly competitor. It appears from my research Canada thought the same thing, the project cost too much  , even if it was the next best thing to sliced bread ..

I know it's hard for an American to do, but try, Mark just try to look at the situation like a Canadian might have.  Canada was creating the best, fastest, most incredible interceptor in the world and Canadians were feeling the pride that they feel now with their 4 Nation Hockey team.  And then suddenly the whole thing got dumped, a door slammed in their face.  Get the picture?. 

now your just trying to be insulting , i have looked at it with a rather open mind , yeah canadian feelings got hurt 65 years ago over a plane no one wanted  because of their own .... whatever   Its not like in a Field of Dreams, where if you build it they will come .

 I think i have looked at it also with hindsight of being able to put some pieces together that canadians of that time and day had no clue about was happening  or at least to what extent . they placed a bet on one thing , the Arrow , and lost .

as for thinking like a canadian , i still have distant cousins who live in newfoundland and nova scotia  where parts of my family moved to the states from , and some moved from here to there . i would rather like to think i think like a logical human being  that is able to come to their own conclusions on matters . 

You saw that as an insult?  I never meant it to be.

a military that you can drown in a bathtub.

I know hyperbole and exaggeration are a common tactic here, but c'mon try to at least touch the realm of reality