We were determined before but after this week-end it is now set in stone.

OH went to meet friends after work on Sat for a few pints(was installing heating in a friends house). At approx 11pm a little no-mark to-rag decided to cause trouble.OH decided to leave as he could not be bothered arguing with a 17/18 year old KID! and as his back was turned the little ***** smashed a bottle and threw it at him. As he turned to face the lad he threw another bottle which hit him on the head and smashed(Hope the police get hold of the lad before OH does!!) -Was in hospital from 1am Sat morning till 8pm last night...X-Rays/CT scans and a specialist later he has a fractured skull and possible damage in his right ear due to the blow. I don't understand why in this day and age somebody would do that...It has confirmed what we originally wanted, a nicer area to live and work and where we can bring (future) children up. I know there's trouble in all areas but we don't want to be scared to go out with friends for a drink incase some mindeless yob takes it upon himself to cause trouble!

Sorry rant over!!!!!

P.S We're not packing up because of this-Been looking seriously into things for 1.5 years!!!

That's awful! Hope your husband is OK. We already had kids when we moved over and that was one of the many reasons we decided to make the move.

Our kids go off on their own here to play and meet up with friends which I wouldn't have let them do in the UK although the concept took a bit of getting used to!

Whereabouts are you hoping to move to? Best of luck with it all and fingers crossed that your husband is OK and that all your plans work out for you.

*reads Vancouver shooting thread, puts head back in sand*

Vancouver is consistently rated one of the best cities to live. I'm sure the people shot this weekend would disagree. Wherever you are sounds like a craphole and is probably a world apart from omagh(ireland),Richmond, norwich, Cambridge princes risborough, gerrards cross, st albans, oxford, berkhamsted in fact any of the five counties.

I have a friend who lives in peterborough, Ontario who I talk to on a daily basis and the picture she has painted in finding a guy that isn't popping percoset/cocaine is unsettling for a town that is spacious(UK standards) and has a population less than the average English town.

Emigrate by all means but expect chavs saying innit and wearing jogging bottoms off to deal an eighth of weed to be replaced by a gun toting 50 cent inspired drug dealers. It'll be a lot more frustrating if you get robbed at gun point and your family are 3000 miles away and a different time zone.

Hiya

Thank you , Yeah he should be ok, Thought he may have to have surgery but thankfully the specialst advised that it should heal naturally (after removing a shard of bone from the gash above his eye-I seriously went a bit grey even stuff like that doesn't usually bother me!!)

Something of similar ilk happened a year or so ago whereby we were abused for not giving a 14 or so year old a cigarette (even though we don't smoke) something that that lad as a 14/15 year old said shocked me and to this day i haven't forgot it which has added onto this incident...We moved from a not so fantastic area where nothing in the time i had lived there (practically all my life!) to the area we live in now which is considered a "good" area and stuff like this occurrs!!!

We have been looking into the Calgary area, I spoke to you a while ago i think (OH is heating engineer...was asking about areas, recce and what not???) although I know those type of question get asked alot!!!!

Hiya

I know i know, however we were emigrating anyway so as i said this just confirmed what we already were looking into doing. Hmmm so may some it's a craphole but some may say it's a booming city full of opportunity depends on that person! I'm not going to say which area it is just that it was capital of culture 2008 (that is seriously not a boast just a hint ha ha!!!)

Actually, unless you intend to make a living by importing and exporting class A/B drugs Vancouver is a very peaceful and safe city. I imagine Calgary to be the same.

Glad your husband seems to be doing OK then. It's true that you can experience similar problems just about anywhere it's just that some areas seem to be more prone to such problems than others. My husband is a police officer in Calgary and works in what is considered to be the "iffy" part of the city but even he says it's not really that bad; certainly not compared to some of the places he worked in the UK! We live outside of the city and you don't really hear of any major problems here. Things like a rare case of vandalism to garden ornaments can make headline news here!

We may well have spoken before - sorry, head like a sieve sometimes! Anyway, always happy to help if I can so feel free to fire away if you do have any questions that I may be able to help with.

All the best

We came from a small village in Northamptonshire to Okotoks a smallish town just outside Calgary. We have children and I can honestly say that we live a very peaceful and trouble free life. It is very comforting for the kids to be able to go out and play and not feel trepidation everytime they go out the door like we did in the UK. There were always youths hanging outside Co-op which at times could feel threatening. Most of the times they were just hanging out but in a crowd and drinking. I can say I haven`t really seen much of that here and it is so nice going out for an evening feeling carefree and not worried about what could be round the corner. I think it is absolutely terrible what happened to your OH and that alone would make me want to emigrate. My sis-in-law has had to return temporarily back to the UK and the things she has observed really quell my doubts of whether we have done the right thing. Especially, having a son who would be embarking on the social scene and would he come home from a night out in the town unscathed. Whereas here I have no worries at all as there is so much more they can get involved in and do. I think you have to weigh up the options and do what you feel is right and especially the experience you have had would definitely make an impact. We used to live in Calgary and I also found it a nice and peaceful place to live as well if you have any questions please feel free to PM me. Good luck

Of course, that's also achievable in the UK. Certainly my children play out on the street and I have no worries about it at all.

The only violence/crime I've ever experienced was when I lived in Canada! Both countries have their good and bad places, and it just depends on where you are I guess.

I agree. My kids will go out on their own. I don't worry about them when they go out, I know others that do.
There isn't really any violence near us, but the chav culture of hanging around street corners, spitting, chucking fag ends down etc is what I don't like! But you get that everywhere really don't you? My 2 older boys were approached when we were in Nova Scotia and were asked where you could buy weed!!

That's life!

I was asked the same when I was in NS earlier this year - thought I must have just looked dodgy, but perhaps they ask all tourists!

Agreed.

Just look at this. It makes the odd glassing seem quaint.

Ten Shot

I also agree that nowhere is safe from violence and crime and again like you said it depends on where you live but our experience so far is a positive one and we do feel more relaxed and not so anxious as we did in the UK as our village underwent a few changes from very little crime to slowly increasing crime and when there were reported child abduction attempts in our village and near the local school it came a little too close for comfort. Also it was a crying shame as it was so nice that we lived quite near the school and the children were able to walk and enjoy having responsibilities and freedom.

I am not saying that the whole of UK is a no go zone but if you live in an area that is increasing in crime which wasn`t before can make you feel apprenhensive and a little more overprotective.

We just feel that our move to Canada has been very beneficial to us but we do still miss our little village as it was steeped in history and looking forward to our visit back next year as it will have been 3 years since being back.

Hi All

It's very interesting getting people's views, Myself and OH are a young(ish) couple who work hard for what we've got and where we are now which is why i find it hard to believe that mindless yobs are basically taking over...taking over to the point which makes you not want to walk your dog in the park or go for a drink with friends.

I know incidents like what has happened to us can happen anywhere but from looking into the area and from peoples own experiences then it is far less likely that a 17/18 year old kid will think it is "the norm" to pick up and throw not 1 but 2 bottles at a person and seriously injure them.I don't want to bring children up in that environment which is why we are holding off now until we make the move, I hate to think that I am actually not surprised by this and have come to consider that this is normal and happens to people every week-end which in it's own right is quite disturbing! Our city personally i think it is great and particulary now with Christmas is full of things to do and see however these kids that have been dragged up rather than brought up are putting the older generation on edge to the point where you don't want to venture anywhere and get nervous if you see a gang of youths together!

Don't get me wrong we're not a shy retiring couple wereby we would let kids like that walk all over us but it has literally got to the point where even we are questioning everything...OH is now not going on his works Christmas night out and I'm just having the meal then going home-It's just not worth the possible bother!