Been here in Canada since 81, but just found this site. Hi everyone.

I've lived in BC, Edmonton and Calgary, and know Toronto and Montreal well, if anyone has questions about them.

I've lived in Calgary since 1990, and love it.

Wife and kids are Canadian. I bet I'd feel like a stranger in the UK now.

Hello, triumphguy, and welcome to the forum.

Hi and welcome to BE you have moved around a lot, wheres your fav place so far ?

cheers sue

BC is beautiful, expensive in Vancouver and Victoria, but not too many jobs in the cheaper and just as beautiful interior.

Toronto is just a big city (sorry T.O.), but it does have nice lake access, and pretty canyons running through the city, that feel like the real outdoors. It's very crowded, so if you're trying to get away from that what's the point in coming to TO. The lake is as big as a sea! It can be very hot and humid in summer - AC is a must.

Montreal and Quebec have some fab. vacation spots, but to live there is ... umm... like a bad holiday in France?

Calgary is my favourite. Access to mountains, outdoors, clean, lots of blue skies, people are friendly, there's great communities to live in. I live in Midnapore (yes there's a good curry place there!) just opposite a large park, and next to the lake which people skate and play hockey on in winter, and fish for trout in summer. It even has resident ospreys - I remember travelling on holiday to the Cairngorms to see an osprey's nest - the birds weren't even there at the time!.

There's loads of jobs in Calgary. House prices have gone up, but not like the UK.


Hope all this info is OK in this thread.

Thanks for the info, hope to see you on other threads, sounds like you have lots of info for us newbies that aren't there yet,
cheers sue

Hi triumphguy

hi and welcome
interesting info !
vee

Hi, as I am just starting out, any info you can give me will be useful -particularly on Edmonton and Calgary, as those are places I am researching. Are they more temperate - i.e less humid in summer that TO?, is Edmonton really that rainy? are mossies a big problem in BC? oh and does minus 20 actually feel as cold as it sounds?

Lynne

Hello HxLynne, and welcome to the BE forum.

I recommend that you read the Wiki articles on Calgary.

Edmonton is somewhat similar to Calgary. Its population size is about the same. Edmonton very rarely is affected by warm Chinook winds, as Calgary is. The Edmonton area is more wooded than the Calgary area is, and Edmonton's river valley is much wider and more natural than Calgary's is. Edmonton, on the other hand, is further from the mountains than Calgary is (3.5 to 4 hours versus 1.5 to 2 hours).

Yes, Edmonton and Calgary are a lot less humid than Toronto is.

No. I don't know where on earth you got that idea.

There are mossies in lots of places, even in Calgary. BC is a vast province, the size of France and Germany combined. It has many climatic zones, from temperate rainforests, to alpine forests, to desert. Which place are you thinking about specifically?

It certainly does not. At least when the air is dry, as it usually is during Calgary's winter, -20 deg C does not feel as cold as I expected it to feel.

Now it's true that you have to be sensible. If you have to stand at a bus stop during cold weather, for example, you do need to dress properly.

But I can honestly say that I have felt as cold when the weather has been around 0 deg C in Vancouver's humid atmosphere as I've felt when it's been -20 deg C but sunny and dry in Calgary.

With that having been said, I do want to move to the BE coast. After nearly thirty years in Calgary, the relative lack of greenery is getting to me, and I long for more verdant vegetation. But it took decades for that feeling to kick in. I used to think Calgary was a cool place.

It would be useful if you would read the Wiki entitled Newcomers to the forum.

Hope that helps.

Montreal and Quebec have some fab. vacation spots, but to live there is ... umm... like a bad holiday in France?

Hi Triumphguy and welcome
But to the above - why, what makes you say that.

This too shall pass.

"Hi Triumphguy and welcome
But to the above - why, what makes you say that."

The abyss yawns beneath me, should I step in - err - no

I've only just got here I don't want to be banned

As to HXLYNN's questions about Calgary and Edmonton - what Judy said.

Welcome to the board, both of you. One with lots to learn maybe, and one with lots to give

As to -20C

I've worked on a building site in Yeadon (between Sheffield and Leeds) in minus 3. That was a bloody sight colder!