I believe it was the contrast between the two that resulted in the funny looks.

I guess the Sun and the Economist being read one after the other would be a good comparable

I know.........it was my poor attempt at humour

a Dandy comment!

I prefer to think more of a Beezer comment........

in context (oops) agree

I'll put in my habitual plug for Oakville here, but preface it by saying dbd makes some vaild points against suburbia. It all depends on what you're after and why.

We're in College Park, south of Upper Middle between Trafalgar and Sixth Line. It's a lovely neighbourhood, old enough that the houses are on decent sized lots but not "sought-after" enough to have become ludicrously overpriced (well, when we bought, having sold up in west London, it seemed that way). For us, with requirements for an easy commute to downtown TO, for good school and community stuff for young kids, and for a bit of space to call our own, it is ideal.

A couple of our neighbours have kids in their mid to late teens. For them, the mom-taxi thing is a bore. Phoning round for a ride, or latterly drawing straws for designated-driver duties, is a fact of life. One went off last year to uni in Montreal, and has barely been home from her city-centre apartment this summer. Others have stayed nearer home (UofT and McMaster respectively for two neighbours starting this fall) but mum & dad have sprung for a clunker to get them there & back.

I think if I had kids beyond the age where a quiet neighbourhood with space to play out is more important than easy access to public transit, we'd have gone for something downtown. As it is, we're likely to stay here now despite the potential increasing inconvenience as the kids grow older: we like the neibourhood, the neighbours and the house, so there's no real reason to contemplate changing any of it.

I have some great feedback here.

Oakville is certainly looking strong, I spent a lot of time scouring the net last night on the area and it looks lovely.

I guess as we come from a non city background (Out in Hertfordshire) with me communting in to Town, we have sorta of grown up needing and expected to one day become Moms Taxi, so although it might prove tedeous I guess you cant have it all.

Is there any parts of Oakville I should look to maybe avoid?

I have had a little trouble finding any crime figures for the area also, can anyone point me in the right direction? When we do our scouting trip,
I am going to try and get some time with the local police at the recomendation of some over people in other forums.


Also I have always always wanted to have a small boat,Looks like oakville certainly caters for that.....

Thanks all!

They don't have crime in Oakville. That's the point of living there.

You're going to get yourself arrested? Each to their own but please don't do it by getting drunk and punching someone who seems to have a different lifestyle to yourself, we need to live that reputation down, not boost it.

Oh yes, apply to the OYS right away.

HaHaHa, very amusing, I was thinking more of a quick chat!! I certainly do not want to get arrested, (not in my 5 year plan) and my missus would kill me!!!

A small boat you say? Interesting! We've got a 24ft Shark, and it's presently at Toronto Sailing and Canoe Club (more like Toronto Dragonboat, Canoe and we don't really care about the sailors club - but I digress )

We're considering moving it down to Bronte Yacht club, or Bronte Outer Marina (It'd be nice if they responded to email!) OYS (Oakville Yacht Squadron) is also another possibility too.

I'm someone new to sailing, but my OH has been sailing/racing for many many years, hence why she wanted a boat of her own, plus her father used to race on shark's too.

I presume one is having a wee jest. Oakville, like anywhere, isn't completely crime free.

However, compared to downtown toronto we don't seem to have gangs of wannabe gansta's running round shooting each other because someone "looked at me hard" or "bumped me on the dance floor", or just because they are on the wrong side of the street < shakes head > Thus you are unlikely to end up the innocent victim of crossfire because of two groups of people thinking it's big, hard, and clever to run around with guns. It's not, you look stupid and you're perpetuating a negative stereotype. Anyway, another digression.

The GTA is a good place for sailing. I don't currently have a boat but am still a member of the ABYC, inconvenient from Oakville but a sociable non-snob kind of place. When we lived in the beach I raced there once a week or better.

One of my daughters has her first mate's ticket and sails professionally most summers, she got started here:

http://www.tallshipadventures.on.ca/

that's a good way to keep teens out of the pub for the summer.

What, like me:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rHmRYyinWn...cture+1437.jpg

Thats fantatsic!!! thanks very much..

I have always had a thing for water and water based activities!!!!

Cant wait to get my hands on a boat!!!!!!!

If you just want to walk up and sail this place is right downtown and offers various craft for the afternoon:

http://www.qqy.ca/

I used to sneak off work and go once around the island. Just watch out for the ferries and, especially, the island airport exclusion zone. Rather stiff fines for being careless with the latter.