Newcomers is a regular series featuring the impressions and experiences of residents who are new to Newmarket. To share your story, send an email to debora@newmarkettoday.ca
When she left Newmarket as a teen, Lora Osborne vowed to never see winter again. Oliver Osborne had never experienced a real, Canadian winter.
After spending more than a decade abroad, Newmarket-raised Lora, along with husband Oliver, a native of Bath, England, settled in Newmarket and both are experiencing the town for the first time — Lora as an adult and Oliver as a newcomer.
The couple, owners of Newmarket-based event marketing company Main Street Arts Club, met in Singapore 10 years ago. They had planned on settling in Canada eventually but the pandemic fast-tracked their plans.
With such amazing friends and family in Newmarket, choosing her hometown was "a no-brainer," Lora said of their 2020 move.
"We talked about what we wanted our future to look like; I had such a great time growing up in Newmarket that I kind of pictured that for us for when we wanted to start a family. Living in Asia was quite nice, but it's not the same as being home and what was important to us was family. . . You realize how important they are when you're abroad, so that brought us back. Well, I wanted to go back to Canada and Oliver to come with me."
For her, it's not Newmarket that's changed since she left it all those years ago, but the perspective with which she views it.
The things she was looking to escape from as a teen she now takes comfort in as an adult, she said.
"The stability of family and friends and the comforts of Canadian foods and kindness and the community vibe of Newmarket. Not a lot of places have that instant community feel to it, especially coming back and seeing how everybody treats Oliver is quite humbling. Everyone seems so kind and welcoming to Ollie."
Something she wasn't expecting to miss, she said, was winter and the change of seasons. Not only does winter hold childhood memories but it helps log the passage of time — memory clocking — in a way that can't be done when it's hot all year.
"You don't really know what you're missing until you're been gone for a long period of time. When I first left Canada I was like 'goodbye winter, I'm never doing that again'. . . After a period of time all your years blend together when there's no seasons. . . growing up here, that's such a common way to log your memories, was through the seasons."
Newmarket has been "very welcoming and pleasant," said Oliver, and while it hasn't deterred him from experiencing it like a native, winter is "a bit of a shock to the system."
He is very proud of his willingness to learn to snowboard and skate and all the quintessentially Canadian sports "at the ripe age of 40," Lora said.
Oliver's first Canadian Christmas was starting to look like it would be a disappointment, he said, because by lunchtime on Christmas Eve there wasn't a fleck of snow to be found, but it began to snow in the late afternoon and didn't stop until the evening of Christmas Day.
"Growing up in the U.K., the kids lived with the hope that you might get a white Christmas. . . my first Christmas here I felt a child-like wonder," said Oliver.
With Newmarket's many heritage homes, Oliver said Christmas looked like "a picture postcard moment the likes of which I'd only really seen in movies."
Oliver is learning to adjust to what he calls "the quirks" of Canadian living.
In Asia, the difference in their culture was minor, since the couple were both foreigners, but in Canada, the differences are more pronounced, Oliver said.
"You don't for a moment forget that the Brits and Canadians are, in fact, quite different when these differences do pop up."
When it comes to Canadian food, Oliver said he had eaten the "components" of poutine but never tried the dish until he arrived here. What "astounded" him most about it was the massive calorie-count.
"This is going to sound like the lamest thing ever," Lora said, but hands down, the one food she missed most from home was "simple Kraft dinner," which her mother shipped.
Lora said she's looking forward to having a summer with fewer COVID-19 restrictions so she and Oliver can go out and socialize. So far, that means enjoying their morning coffee on the porch year-round while watching the people go by, or, as Oliver calls it, engaging in "porch-life" -— not a common pastime in the U.K. due to the constant rain.
Having tasted authentic Asian foods firsthand, the couple approached Newmarket restaurants with "trepidation," Oliver said, but they were pleasantly surprised at how incredible Sushi Jun on Main Street is (the Thai food, not so much).
The couple's other favourites include Made in Mexico, which Oliver calls brilliant and very authentic, and Old Flame Brewing Co.
The cinnamon buns at Metropolis Mercantile Café are the best she's ever had, said Lora, and a perfect accompaniment to porch-life coffee.
Oliver calls Newmarket residents engaging and said the town is very cosmopolitan and has an incredibly bright future.
Lora said her experiences as an adult were gained through travelling so and at the age of 33 coming home feels like starting a new chapter.
In a way, they are both newcomers.
