General Chat

We have just had a "chat" on skype to our family who live several miles from us and it is our way of keeping in touch.

Granddaughter is always texting OXO....... which K says means hug, kiss, hug.

I think perhaps you could do with OXO right now.

It must be hard for you to accept that your sister is moving to another country, but the world is becoming a much smaller place and there are very many ways to keep in touch.... take care.. xx

Thanks all, I am sure we will be in touch as it is so easy with the Internet, strangely probably making it more painful is the thought of not visiting my home town as there is nobody left there for me now.

John, yes a web cam is a good idea with Skype and I will probably get that organised. I hope your daughter doesn't decide to go. Our daughter and son in law are moving to the Lake District from Hampshire making them four hours away instead of one and a half but at least they are in the same country.

Thanks Nolls for that info :-D

Edit. AnninGlos. I hope so too. Nolls has given me some hope they won't go:-)

OH uses Skype to talk to his son and (rapidly growing) twin grand-daughters. The dog has cottoned on to it, and sits there, hogging the screen and looking pleased with himself. The twins are much more impressed with him than with Grandad :-D. It's a good way to keep in touch.

It is sad when a loved one moves away, but I hope your sister enjoys her new life. :-)

Sorry to hear of your sadness Ann.
I would find it hard if my sister moved so far away even though we don't meet up very often.
I hope you both find a way of keeping in regular contact.

Gwyn

Ah sorry your feeling sad AnninGlos <3


My sister lives in Canada ......................... and I'm pleased she does :-D

I'll go and visit her for you Ann :-D

Dear Ann in Glos

Hello

I know you must feel upset but remember you can keep in touch with telephone calls, e-mails, etc.

I even use old fashioned letters and photos to send to my lot abroad.

Turkey is not so far away.

I have some relations who live in England and complain about the flipping time the journey takes! Huh!

In the meantime, take very gentle care of yourself
Very best wishes to you
Elizabeth, EOS
xx

I don't have a single blood relative within 1000 kilometres

:-D

I'm talking about people I know, not distant cousins.

I keep in touch with the relatives I like <3

You should all think yourselves very lucky to still have family alive, and reasonably close geographically


I am quite literally an orphan, with no really close relatives

My mother died in 1961, my father in 1970, and my only brother in 1990.

That's all rather final!

My brother's widow is becoming senile, still lives in England

Two of their 3 daughters are still alive, and live in England.

I became very close to their eldest child after she emigrated to Canada, but she died of cancer in 2009, and her daughter has made the decision to ignore all family


My only child, a daughter, is married and lives almost 5,000 km away ............... yet is still in the same country.

It takes as long to fly to see her as it does to fly to the UK .............. 7 to 8 hours.


I am NOT in the slightest bit sorry for myself.

We chose to leave the UK, and our families. We are extremely glad that we did make the move ..........

............... and do not blame our daughter for making the same sort of decision.

What it does mean is that we get the chance to travel ........... though not that often to England. There are many other places in this world to visit :-D


But we travel very elegantly by train to see our daughter ................ it takes 6 days, 5 nights each way, and the dining car serves meals that are of 4 star restaurant level.


OH is luckier ................ his only sister also emigrated to Canada .......... she lives almost 1200 km away, although still in the same province.

We talk regularly, and get to see her once or twice a year when she comes down here.

Ann, it's brave of your sister to give the move a go and she is sensible to try out rented property before completely burning her boats (bridges?) Maybe she thought you had your o.h. so wouldn't feel so cut off from her but I am sure you will both make a big effort to stay in contact and maybe more so than when you were living in the same country. If she does decide to make the move permanent, I wouldn't discount the idea of visiting her on your own if needs be, it would be totally different to going on holiday to Turkey, to visit her and meet her circle of friends.

Mind you, Turkey is a place I wouldn't visit for a holiday as I don't like the way the men treat women, they have no respect for them and I know from friends that have been that they didn't like the attitude of the waiters and such. I am sure there are lots of lovely folk there too tho so hope your sister enjoys her adventure and it works out for her.

O.h. has one son in America that he hasn't seen for over a year and another one 45 miles away with the grandchildren who we only see a few times a year as he works in London and doesn't have much time to spare (he sometimes works away too) They keep asking him to get skype but o.h. keeps putting them off, not sure why.

I never had a sister, I used to beg my parents for a sister when I was young, I had two younger brothers but after they got married they became more distant as their wives weren't the sort you could be comfy with, even my parents found them difficult to be with. I had hoped when they married they would find women who would be more friendly with the family but sadly, it didn't happen and I barely see them at all now, in fact one has cut himself off from me and my youngest brother.

Familes eh? You can choose your friends and I am sure you have many friends around to support you at this time Ann

Lizx

Ann....did you mention getting a webcam?..you don't need one with newer computers as they are built in..also in tablets.
I seem to remember you getting an iPad or similar?
If you and your sister have tablets you can go on Skype or if Apple..FaceTime which I find better than Skype.

I can walk around with my iPad,for instance ,showing my new d.i.l in Oz around my house and looking at the garden as you can change the view from them looking at you to using like a camera....it's wonderful and does make them seem a lot nearer.

Hope this helps,Im no expert,but do experiment and I find my iPad such a big help in me coping with no family around and living alone.
<3 :-)

Thanks Brenda, I use my desk top when at home and already have a disconnected web cam. (disconnected because my family here - daughter daughter in law etc refuse to go on camera so it was of no use to me. However, I did forget that my Ipad has a built in camera so that may come in useful.

I don't want anyone to think I begrudge her going, I don't I hope she has a good life there and it all works out.

I am a little sad because her youngest Granddaughter lives with her father as sister's daughter is not fit enough to bring her up. She is 12 and lives near my sister's home in England. My sister has been supporting her, being the female support as her Dad is separated. I think she will miss her.

But it is her life and she must follow her own dreams. I have to add that, even if I were on my own she would still have gone. She is a very determined and slightly self centred lady my sister.

Waiters! Now that is a whole new story and probably the main reason she has gone. She has made a very close friend among one of the waiters in a hotel she always used, he is 30 years younger than her and married but they are close friends (her words). She is into spiritualism, meditation and all things connected and says they definitely have a connection from apast life. (you should hear my very down to earth OH and daughter on this!) So Liz, she has had no problem with waiters. As I say, hope things work out for her.

Liz I don't have many friends in this area but I do have friends scattered around the country plus family of course. I am not lonely I have hobbies and I am lucky to have my lovely OH. :-D

Know the feeling my daughter lives 5987 miles from me, and I can't fly, so only see her about once a year, although we speak a lot. It gets harder the older I get but try and put it to the back of my mind as I know she is happy.

Carol :-(

Dear Ann, I understand your feelings about your sister moving to Turkey. My younger sister moved to Bali with her OH,supposedly for 12 months.That was 18 months ago,and now I recognise that they always intended to go there permanently, and were just letting me and our other sister down gently.They have built a villa over there,and made a nice life for themselves.We come from a very close family ,so for a while I felt that she had betrayed me,knowing that at best they would only come back here to Oz to settle any business affairs and when our aged Mum passes away.Sure we can communicate by Skype,email or Facebook but we don't do that very much. We find out more about what's going on in her life through Facebook and her comments to her Facebook friends than through her emails to us. Our relationship is definitely not the same as before,and that hurts.I hope that you and your sister fare better than we have. :-( :-(

Margot

Margaret, Yes I mostly find out what is going on in my sister's life through her Facebook. Good job we have that then isn't it? I have to say though that it has always been the same, even while she was in this country.

Just heard (via facebook) that she arrived at 1am after a three and a half hour delay because of the French air traffic control strike.

Ann I am glad your sister arrived safely even tho there were delays. I am glad she has friends there for her altho a young waiter is worrying, married or not, these men know how to play on the heartstrings of older ladies so hope she is not silly enough to give or lend money. You hear such tales about this.

I didn't mean to infer you were lonely, I know you are not and I know your o.h. is very supportive of you and you do lots together. I hope you can soon form a new kind of relationship with your sister where you maybe make contact regularly and have a chance to chat but try not to let it upset you if she seems a bit too busy at the start of her adventure, she will be on a high for a while no doubt and busybusy settling in.

Good luck to her and to you

Lizx

Only just seen your thread Ann and I know that you and I have already talked about this but maybe your daughter would go with you for just one week. Who knows you may even like Turkey. As you know my sister in law is there and she and her partner love it. Has your sister got an iPad? If so you could Face Time each other which is similar to Skype but easier to do.

Wendy xx

Lol, she spent five weeks out there in April/May looking for an apartment, she was on facebook so much that I knew every time she went to the shops, met a friend, went for a walk and read a book..

Yes, we've had the 'be careful of waiters bit' but she has known him now for about 3 - 4 years, he seems ok and they seem to be good friends but to me it is a weird relationship. Oh and she has not got any money so he wouldn't get far there. I think she just wants somebody to pay attention to her after her second husband sadly left her for a younbger woman (he was 9 years younger than her).