Re: Life in Alberta?
 

You do have to be careful with bear spray though don't you, a friend of mine managed to bear spray herself whilst testing a as she didn't check the wind direction!

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

Stinky did that with Chipmunks, marmots and Californian quails- cats wise he would see off the neighbours pet moggy. Same response, just a smaller scale :lol:

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

:rofl:

That's why I keep hold of it rather than having Snoop in charge of it ;)

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

Some things are universal aren't they :lol:.

I did laugh a lot, I suspect that makes me a bad friend :o

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

And instead of bathing her eyes you probably posted the video :lol:

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

Depends how gun toting! :) Are we talking sensible, just in cases bear creeps in while you're sat on the toilet gun toting? :) Or American style "I'm going to blow anyone away who looks at me funny" gun toting? :)

The spider thing though...I just don't think I could handle that. Have you seen what they have their? I'd rather hug a bear than get in the shower with a huntsman spider :-/

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

I know...I thought they were just in the US though ;) I had read recently that some schools in London and Manchester had now started doing drills. It is sad that it's had to come to that. Alberta certainly seems to be winning for us at the moment. Perhaps I could find a little school that seems a bit more secure just for my own peace of mind.
I have to say I was quite surprised by the amount of gun violence in Calgary. I just didn't expect it for some reason. And gangs and drugs. Just thought Calgary would be a little more low key on that front. :-/

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

What can I say Stinky? I'm a bad, bad person :D

The thing is, drugs are everywhere. I live (for the next few weeks anyway) in PEI which has a massive, almost institutionalised drugs problem. Whenever I talk to friends here about the drug problem they are always surprised, as they don't see it as a problem if that make sense, its just what people here do. At least if a place is open about their drugs problem they can tackle it more easily. Whether they do, or not is a different matter.

There was a thread about a chap wanting to live in rural NS recently, and the advice there was to live in town or the suburbs first, and then move rurally if you want to once you know more about what life, especially in winter, is like.
A long driveway is lovely in warmer climates but a complete bind here. This winter we had to snowblow our drive before my husband left for work. Then by the time I needed to go out a couple of hours later more snow would have fallen, or the plough would have passed again so I'd have to blow the stupid thing again. Then blow it yet again so that I could get back into my drive when coming home. Then again before my husband got home. Rinse and repeat the next day. It was very tedious, and our drive isn't very long.

Our house hunting in our new province is now focussed on houses with short drives!

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

I know there's no getting away from drugs...it's hard when you have three little ones and you just want to protect them from everything:) And I grew up in a time and place (well, when I say "in a time" i'm talking the 80s/90s so not completely the dark ages) :) where I just didn't ever see or hear anything about drugs. Anywhere. Well, just on television. When I read or see on television of parents who've lost their children to drugs to the point that they wait for that phone call or knock on the door to give them the news they've been afraid of it just fills me with fear :-/ I know we're in a different time from when I was little and it's just about everywhere now...but I think I'm still under the illusion I can shield them:)
Do you happen to know the murder rate of Calgary and if many of those are innocent people? (As opposed to drugs or gangs or domestic violence...not that victims of that aren't innocent but hopefully you know what I meant). I've been trying to find the murder rate of where I live but there doesn't seem to be a "rate." I could only find 3 domestic murder suicides but there must be more murders as we're in a city of nearly 300,000. I just wanted to compare you see :)

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

I think you need to go to an anxiety and relaxation group- maybe stay in Hampshire, if only for your nerves and sanity..you seem to be a bit of a worrier (understatement of the century)

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

No, not really...we'd like to relocate but it's just a case of thinking about the children. If we were to make the decision to relocate and anything happened to them that would have been unlikely here then I'd never forgive myself. So it's more just trying to really find out as much information as I can in order to make an informed decision. And it's great to be able to ask people who actually live in a place all about it...and the more you ask, well, other questions arise. I just look at it like chatting to someone I know, just asking questions and establishing all the information to make a sensible decision. That's all:)

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

I have three children - only one of them is alive however, so I do fully appreciate the urge to wrap your kids in cotton wool. I would happily go full out Lysa Arran on my toddler but I know that would do him no favours at all, so I reign in it. Being over protective of your kids does not help them, teaching them how to cope, react and avoid danger will serve them a lot better in life. You do sound very anxious, would some CBT or coping counselling help?

Ive lived in some dangerous parts of the world, including Joburg when it was having troubles. I also narrowly avoided a public flogging for being naughty whilst working in the middle east in my early twenties - ahhh the joys of youth!. I think its a pretty safe bet that nowhere in Alberta is going to be dangerous to the degree that you need to worry too much.

Rather than the murder rate I would actually be looking more at the sex offenders rate, including paedophilia. Far more of a risk in most societies. Also, from what I gather of Alberta fashion crimes are a real and genuine risk.

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

Well I can probably add to the fashion crime statistics then:)
I don't think I visibly wrap them up in cotton wool. They're still very young...all under 6 (well, one just turned 6), so they don't go off out on their own yet or anything. I think my fear is more that we feel very safe here, with a lovely school that we walk to each day, just 5 minutes away, and it's a lovely place where we live. But the other side of that is, what an adventure it would be to relocate...and the things they could experience that they wouldn't here. Which would be wonderful. I just want to make sure though that I'm not unduly increasing certain risks for them. Just want to make sure we're really doing the right thing. It would be a fantastic thing to do - just don't want it to be for selfish reasons and want the children to be at the forefront of any decision we make. I am sorry about the loss of your children. I think some of my wanting to make sure everything is safe for them in a relocation is that I lost my sister when I was 10 and saw the impact it had on our family and of course me. I'm sure that's where some of my wanting to be assured and re-assured comes from. I'm loving chatting to people in this forum though and finding out information. And also learning how and why people are over there from the uk. It's really great!:)

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

I am at the forefront of East Coast fashion crimes, I even have plaid hotpants now, which I wear with cowboy boots. I love it.

Thank you, and I'm sorry to hear about your sister, Our experiences shape us, something I'm very aware of when I'm parenting our toddler. Parenting I think is like a pendulum, easy to go one way or the other, hard to get it to balance in the middle.

For what its worth I think we have a better quality of life here than anywhere else i've ever lived (I am a serial expat), the UK included, and I feel infinitely safer here than I ever did in the UK. Life seems a lot gentler here, if that makes sense.

Now cooking dinner but will reply in a bit more detail in a little while.

Re: Life in Alberta?
 

I just checked with my kid what a lockdown practice involves - she said they just practice being quiet and lock the classrooms up - she is not fazed by it at all (she is 7) and treats it just like any other normal practice e.g. fire drill. I don't think the teachers blatantly tell the kids this is what we do if a gun toting madman enters the school - they tell them its just if there is an unknown/bad person has entered the building. Please don't let it put you off - it just reflects the times we all live in these days I'm afraid.