Nicola still thinks of Lincolnshire as home even though she now lives thousands of miles away.

In the first entry of her ex-pat diary, she tells us a bit about her new life abroad...

Well I'm no Bridget Jones but I'll give it my best shot to entertain you all with my diary of life away from Lincolnshire which I still refer to as home...

My name is Nicola, although I am affectionately referred to by friends as Limey which is a term used for British people both here in Canada and, I believe, in the U.S.A.

I currently live in British Columbia, 1 of 10 provinces of Canada, on a small island called Vancouver Island - it is about the size of England though far less populated. There are approximately 600,000 people.

I live in the capital city, Victoria, named of course after a very famous Queen! Although I've lived here for almost 10 years there is some great unseen force that keeps my heart in Lincolnshire and every so often pulls me in that direction.

My favourite place to shop used to be Marks & Sparks here in the city, until they pulled out of Canada a couple of years ago, (personally I think that should've been made a national British day of mourning) and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

You see Victoria has a massive British community, one of the largest in Canada so it is no coincidence that I'm here.

more from Nicola