Back from Toronto
 

Well we've got back from a holiday in Toronto and well... loved it there! I was really suprised after reading posts on here about it that weren't always the most complimentary! We only went there as a holiday really as we got really cheap flights on Air Transat (who I cannot big up enough) but thought we'd also check it out in case the Vancouver thing didn't work out as we're hoping it will with jobs.

Whilst there we even managed to make it on to CBC as we got collared in the street to do a snippet to camera about the upcoming election so now have a claim to fame before moving out there! (do you think it will help my application?! :rofl:) OH found it on the website too so has had family/friends laughing at the randomness of it!

The only thing now is, I liked it so much that side I'm starting to wonder whether Van is the right place to go! Oh well as long as it's Canada I'm not too fussed!

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Funny how we are in the same boat. I love Toronto. I feel at home there. I came back from a 6 month stay, just two weeks ago and am more than ever convinced that it is the place for me. However, Vancouver seems to have the jobs in the field I'm in (despite the fact that I know people in Toronto in my field).

I've come to the conclusion that it is better to be in the wrong city in Canada working and waiting for PR than it is to be in the wrong country waiting indefinitely.

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come to Toronto oh please.... :)

Honestly Toronto is way more fun than London ever was. Bars and Restaurants have proper service! We just had the Roncesvalles Festival - it was chucking it down but people still outside enjoying themselves!

I'm high on Toronto life in high park! wooo!!

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Yup, Toronto is a fabulous place..... Honestly, we've been here since 18 August and wished we had done it years earlier....

There is so much to do, so much to see, the people are great....and I could go on and on :-) Never been to Vancouver though, so I can't really compare it :-) we just know we have fallen truly, madly, deeply in love with Toronto (and we hate, loathe and despise Rogers......but that's an aside..)

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Good grief! Is that some sort of joke? Toronto is a hole.

Let's see how much you like it come February.

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Why - will you have left it by then?? :D

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You'll get used to it the rest of Canada hates Toronto. You should really never admit to liking Toronto in public it's just not the done thing.

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Well, the first five posters (including myself) love Toronto. My daughter and her partner love Toronto; I think that's enough. :thumbsup:

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I don't mind Toronto but Burnt Oak is much more my type of place.

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When were you last there?

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March of this year.

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The first five posters have either only visited Toronto or just moved there.

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hating Toronto is a bit of a national pastime

http://www.letsallhateto.com/

Just for the record I don't hate Toronto, Montreal however......

(kidding)

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OK. We're each entitled to our opinion.

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Of course. My point is that the shine of Toronto wears off eventually. It weats off bloody quickly on the corner of Yonge and Bloor in mid-winter.

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I'm not leaving Britain because I hate it (although some of the changes over the last fifty years are not to my liking.....) but I'm getting old and I think I would appreciate spending my twilight years with my only daughter.

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Absolutely right. Hating Toronto is definitely a national pasttime. Half the people who hate it have never even been there, and 95% of the people who hate it have never lived there.

It's often the little-brother syndrome. Just like you'll meet certain Canadians who have a hate on for Americans, for no apparent reason.

I'm on the love side. Lived in Toronto for 7 years, and the only thing that drew me away was this job in Barbados (how could I decline?). When the job is up, I would be surprised if I don't end up back in Toronto. So what if it is snowy and cold in February? That's winter. It's not half as harsh a winter as other places. Doesn't mean I love it, but it's not enough to keep me away.

Good luck to you.

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I think that's understandable. As I see it, the merit of Toronto is that no one's from here (>50% of the population born outside Canada). That provides great diversity in language, culture and food along with some problems such as the garbage day flyer having to be in 70 languages. People who like "Canada" and "Canadians" won't find those things here. Many people who consider themselves to be Canadians don't care for a place that's physically in Canada but which has little connection to the country.

Also, it's a difficult place to drive through en route from Canada to Canada and bloody ugly to look at while you're trying to do so.

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I can understand that. Fortunately my child hasn't offered me a home with her, in Alaska.

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Toronto is the London of Canada. I lived in London for 3 years and although I think I had a pretty good gig there it never felt like home - just felt like a visitor like so many of London's resident's. Yes I have only lived in Toronto for 1 month and it may be the honeymoon but it feels like home in a way that London never had. People are friendly, neighbors talk to you - we've been invited to gatherings, have joined community groups. I just don't think I would have ever got that sort of experience in London. The feeling of togetherness and 'in the same boat' is more prevalent in Toronto and it can only get better.

Bring on Feb and the snow storms! :D

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You need professional help.

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It's hardly likely that there will be serious snow in High Park, February storms will be a pretty dusting there. April slush though, that'll be a pain.

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I have to admit that I find some of the architecture a little ugly but that's no big deal.
All the literature I get from Barnet council is in about ten different languages, so a few more won't phase me.
It may well be that the girls will move to a different city in the future and, obviously, I will go with them. I will like wherever we go because they'll be there! :cool:

Alaska would probably be a little chilly but I'm quite looking forward to the longer winter in Canada. I have a skin problem which means that I need to slap on Factor 50 at the merest sign of the sun, so the winter weather suits me fine!

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Whereabouts are they now?

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Dovercourt and Queen Street W

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Ah. Wrong end of the city for me, I mostly know bars in the east end. I'm currently sitting close to the gay cowboys mural on Church St. and wondered if it might have been around here.

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I reckon I've been dragged (pun not intended!) to every bar in Queen Street - everyone is very kind but they do give me a funny look when all I drink is Cola! I may have been in your neck of the woods, but everything starts to look the same AND I have no sense of direction. :confused: So when I'm told to go East/West/North - I haven't a clue. Daughter's girlfriend (Australian) thinks I'm retarded.

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Oh Church Street, how I miss you... dbd33, you've made me nostalgic for the village. There is nothing like that here in Barbados :blink:

Enjoy!

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It's a bit wasted on me, me being rigidly straight and all, but my kids went to high school on this block and we often had lunch around here. We still go to Zelda's now and then.

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We too arrived back from Toronto, (Sat am). It was sooo exciting there! I didn't realise we'd be there for the Film Festival - which was fantastic. Toronto is absolutely a place where you could never be bored and its easy to get around using public transport too. Saying all that though, we did prefer the two weeks in Nova Scotia and still plan to live there!

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haha, well I'm straight too, but the village is just so much fun, and so accepting. :)

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I first visited Church St in 2002 and went to Wilde Oscars (no longer there) and had a great time. I hadn't visit again until we moved here. I dunno didn't really like it - back in 2002 it seemed to be something to me but now it's as bad as Soho in London - full of ego's 'lookin at me lookin at you'... maybe I got all p***** off by the bad service... we accidently went into a lesbian tapas bar... what I wanted Tapas!! (should have figured by the very booch korean lady on security id all the straight girls)... oh well hehehehe. I shall try once more but really I am comfortable being with my partner in any bar so don't really feel we have to go to church just to relax.
Queen St West is not to far from Roncesvalles - been through it a few times on the Streetcar heading into downtown but will stop off next time for a beer.

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There's always been an element of hostility in the neighbourhood, I saw someone shot in what's now Zippers in, I guess, the late eighties. I think it's become less diverse since the gardens closed, the people on the street now either live around here (many of them on the street) or come specifically for the scene, whereas before there was much more of mixture; and many more people. I may be alone in regretting the passing of the cruising and dealing coffee shop patios, passing those enlivened my trudge to the bank.

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So much for the gay community wanting acceptance from the straight community...here we have an example (unless I'm reading this wrong) of a security person checking to see if the females are straight or gay....wtf is that all about.

Do they wave a magic gaydar beam over the girls to see if they are friends of Dorothy?

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Oh! I took it that the security person was 'eyeing up' the girls (to see if she was in for a chance with them).... I'm sad...:confused:

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females are straight or gay....wtf is that all about.


... no checking their legal age! I figured they only went there cos they were in with a chance of getting their Id's overlooked. Flirt with the nice lesbian or summit!

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Thanks for the clarification...that makes sense.

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It still implies highly efficient gaydar in order to be able to id the straight ones. I'm not good at that.

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You might want to think again about Canada in that case. Particularly this bit. When it's not snowing, the sun can be very powerful.