Do you fancy being old and shovelling snow? Not for me. Thankfully Canada should give us the chance to save up and escape to warmer climes when winter really hurts... Do you want to be here forever?

The old guy down the street seems to have no trouble shoveling. He seems to have more stamina for it than I do.

But maybe he's younger and shoveling makes him appear older.

Or on the west coast, sledding, snowboarding, skiing, hiking, sailing, wind surfing, swimming on new years day, biking or maybe a visit to wreck beach!

If you're going to go to Wreck Beach in the middle of winter, you're a big man than I.

I'd say your comments are very much dependent on where you live though. I'm in city limits, yet have 100's of thousands of acres of Crown Land directly off my property to roam on. In the UK I'd have to trailer a dirt bike for hours to find anything close to compare it with, and local bridal/pathways were far more restricted.

Bugs seem almost non-existent here, perhaps due to the very dry climate. The only things I see in great number are crickets and occasionally wasps.

The whole winter weather thing restricts very little here too - I quad bike, ski, skate and trail ride right through the winter, and work outdoors year round. Sure, it's sometimes not so warm, but not unbearable. My tractor's not got an enclosed cab on it, but 3 or 4 hrs ploughing snow is easily done with the right clothing on.

YES!!!!!

My grandchildren are here and it doesn't look like they will be going anywhere any time soon.

I won't comment on the snow clearing.

If he does it's likely he won't be.

Ditto. Though fortunately in my part of Canada there's not too much snow clearing! You may mock our rain, but you don't have to shovel it

Now how would you know that?

Just wondering where this topic is going.....

I certainly don't which is why I'm very carefully thinking about just how long to stay for. I reckon being elderly here must be terrible and I really can't imagine dealing with the wintery conditions when I'm in my twilight years and breaking bones or having a heart attack while clearing more snow. Oh and the layers. Never, ever being able to just step out the house for a minute without applying layers of clothing and snow boots. Never mind being old I hate that now.

I find winters here long and oppressive and is out of everything would be my number one reason for moving back. It's great right now for the kids to enjoy the garden and run of all that excess energy but because of their young age they become prisoners of the indoors once the winter sets in and it goes on for so long here. I have no interest in winter sports and yes, I know that makes me a miserable git but neither does my Canadian wife.

From my personal perspective the winter here, at least in my neck of the woods is the biggest downside of Canada and my mindset is already dreading the onset of next winter.

Sure.

As Stepnek says, having to put the "right clothing on" gets to be a pain in the arse when you have to do it only because you forgot to put out the dustbin when fetching the post. Putting the right clothing on children is invariably a pain in the arse but it's not even the cold so much as the months of darkness, salt and slush that are wearing.

Yes I defo do want to be here forever, Ive been to over 300 cities in over 30 countries and the only place that compares for me is Japan but its too populated and cramped and also Spain - only speak a bit of the lingo and cant be bothered to learn the rest. Admittedly never been to Oz or NZ yet.

I wont be in ON forever but thats the beauty of Canada once OH kids have fled the nest we intend to move back to her native BC which is completely different to ON and the East coast, If we can afford it of course California would be nice but living in a 3rd world country where its hot all year is not my cup of tea.

God Bless Canada.

Yep, there's lots of fun games you can play on highways in a whiteout, like:

"Find the highway exit",
"Follow the leader",
"Stop and scrape"..to name a few...

My personal favourite is "Create a new lane". Bit dangerous, but very rewarding.

You forgot the local favorite....

spin the car and see how many others go in the ditch before you