haggis88

this is probably the truest statement in the thread so far!

life is what you make of it!

Oink

What about events beyond your control, like accidents, illness, environmental events, economic cycles, crime, the list is quite long to suggest that human life is subject to many arbitrary variables.

iaink

It is, and its much easier to deal with those in familiar surroundings with the support of family and friends. Being isolated only magnifies the negative effects of such things.

Oink

Yes very true. Apparently city dwelling retirees in the UK are facing a similar issue. Their romantic dream of moving to the countryside may be fraught with untold dangers. To quote some old lady. "Very few of the myths are true. All you need is one thing to go wrong, and you're vulnerable to anything from immediate danger to a long life of isolation and poverty."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...off-rural-life

bigals

Yes this is the position i find myself in,most of my problems were beyond my control

iaink

Probably true of rural retirees deciding to up sticks to a city life too.

I mean, why spend your working years building a life, finding hobbies, making friends in one place, only to decide when you retire and have more time to smell the roses to toss all that away and decide to start from scratch elsewhere! I just doesnt make a lot of sense to me. Friends it seems are the easiest thing to forget about when choosing to move, and the hardest thing to replace!

Oink

If they like getting out into the country wouldn't a few day trips or holidays suffice? I see a lot of similarities with moving abroad, especially somewhere so far away like Canada or Australia.

JonboyE

That's the trouble with myths.

ctraveler

It won't get you anything more than a studio flat or an 1-bed x-council flat in Ealing....I live there now and I will tell you property prices are not suffering. Try getting a house in any decent borough of London for that price...

dbd33

Quite. My point is that Canadian property still looks cheap if you're from London and so the Canadian dream, essentially a trade of the intangible, culture, beauty, friends and family, for the tangible, four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, two SUVs, is still attainable.

HGerchikov

Same argument applies to where you are in Canada - the $400,000 benchmark we are using here would get you very little in the GTA, and I suspect even less in Vancouver.

dbd33

Well, yes, if you now live in Letterkenny you are not going to able to trade your flat for a McMansion in Mississauga, you'll have to go out to Burlington. However, relatively cheap property, most of Canada is cheaper than most of the UK, is the root of the ability to afford consumer durables. It's still what people come for.

Boy d

While some humour does go over my canadian chum's heads (and the trouble and strife's) i do find that it's a disgenerous sterotype that they have no sense of humour. I work with an impressive cross-section of Canadians: a Nufi, a Cape Breton, a couple of lads from the GTA, one from Timmings and another from Calgary. They give as good as they get.

dbd33

strife, ffs.

Boy d

that's a good point, never looked at it that way. Same could said for some that are emmigrating. If you have an established life, why leave?

I guess it's human nature to believe that there must be more just over the hill beyond the rainbows. Utopia is elusive.