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London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

Old Sep 16th 2010, 3:17 pm
  #46  
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

hi jericho.

Edmonton's definitely not crossed off, have no fear. I just wanted to get a better grip of the place from an outsiders point of view, since Edmonton and London were the ONLY places my partner was originally considering. I think this has just opened up the search grounds some more. Vancouver (is it necessary to live down town do you reckon?), Montreal and Toronto now being possibilities too.

I've had loads of fantastically thoughtful feedback and whilst I continue to appreciate any new views, I reckon as a couple of people have said, it's basically time for a reccy and doing a bit more of the beaurocratic stuff and see how we get on working our way through the system. wish us luck!

dbd33- lol. What can I say? In the UK we've done the same thing. My OH's work has so far taken us to Liverpool, a shack in the middle of NOWHERE in Wales, and Surrey... I've made them all work so far (although Surrey's certainly been preferable!)
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Old Sep 16th 2010, 3:24 pm
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

Originally Posted by darkin
dbd33- lol. What can I say? In the UK we've done the same thing. My OH's work has so far taken us to Liverpool, a shack in the middle of NOWHERE in Wales, and Surrey... I've made them all work so far (although Surrey's certainly been preferable!)
As I see it, you're looking at equivalents to moving to

Tunbridge Wells. A fine place, for other people.

Stavanger. OK, if that's the only place with work.

Zurich. Pretty, expensive, bit sterile.

Barcelona. Wow! How long will my heart and liver survive.
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Old Sep 16th 2010, 3:31 pm
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

hahaha! You're likening 4 places I've never been to to 4 places I've never been to! I'm now wondering if I should just get out more!
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Old Sep 16th 2010, 3:33 pm
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

Originally Posted by darkin
hahaha! You're likening 4 places I've never been to to 4 places I've never been to! I'm now wondering if I should just get out more!
To Barcelona and Montreal, certainly. To Vancouver, why not? The others, meh.
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Old Sep 16th 2010, 3:37 pm
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

lol. Well, like I said, my mind's way open to options. I'll let you know how we get on.
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Old Sep 18th 2010, 3:43 pm
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

Originally Posted by darkin
appologies for late reply. work snowballed. appreciate response though, thanks very much.

our mortgage limit UK would be £210,000, if that helps? Although I'd very much like to be looking at £180,000/190,000

Decent areas would be green for walks, within easy drive (walk would be lovely) of food shops and some sort of meeting place e.g. cafe, restaurant etc, good schools.

We're now looking into Montreal too. Partner's very keen!
btw just a warning, children in the Quebec public school system are taught french as a first language.
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Old Sep 18th 2010, 8:39 pm
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

I just wanted to chime in with my views too as I spent some time in London, Ontario this year. I went to Toronto for 10 days in 2008 and fell in love with Canada. In February this year I was there again and on Valentines night, met a girl at the airport, fell in love and stayed for 2 months splitting my time between Toronto and London. I walked in deep snow, on frozen lakes and found giant icicles. It was all new and magical to me and I decided very early on that I'd move to Canada. But what I learned is you really have to give it time before the novelty of being the foreigner in a new land wears off and you see what places are really like.

I'd still like to move there but really the only reason lately is to be with my partner, and even then I'm not sure if it will be the right decision. For me there are more cons to moving than pros. My initial perception of everyone being SUPER friendly and SUPER respectful compared to back home and the weather being so much fun have faded somewhat to more realistic ones, now that I know the country a bit better. It's still a wonderful place but what I'm saying is spend some time possibly renting in either city before choosing to be there more permanently. I know you're moving for your husband's work, but having not even been on holiday to Canada you really won't know if you can survive there happily or not until you are out there for a while.

Coming from a part of Ireland that has some of the most beautiful scenery in the country, and all so close to the city luxuries, I know life in London will not be the same. The big flat landscape is hard to get used to when I am used to hilly bendy roads with so much water around. The extreme weather is hard to get used to also. But I must say the milk tastes amazing!! And some of the cereals are brill too! Like Mini toast crunch (oh wow) and Golden Grahams (which we haven't had here for years). And having a white christmas most years is nice too!

I just don't think I'm going to fit in there so well after all, but that's just my story,


Good luck and all the best!
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Old Sep 19th 2010, 3:56 am
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

my 2peneth.
Edmonton Vs London? Edmonton
Vancouver Vs Montreal? Montreal
Nelson? Nah Stettler is better
Edmonton Vs Montreal? Montreal

But at the end of the day if you can telecommute (at all) and want a city Calgary is variously over and under rated and MUCH maligned. In an ideal world (and assuming you hate the rain as much as I do) I would have to suggest you look north of Calgary, south of Red Deer east of Rocky Mountain House west of Coronation and get your artsy fix online.
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Old Sep 19th 2010, 5:04 am
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

I love Edmonton, I particularly love that the Edmontonians get outdoors whatever the weather. BBQ's and picnics, boating, camping, etc in the summer, skiing, ice skating, etc in the winter, they really know how to make the most of the weather whatever it's like.

We do have lots of amazing off leash parks here for your dog, and my children love the schools. We've just bought a new house, love the area we're in, it's a great part of town. (SW)

In terms of the arts and entertainment, it really depends on what you like in particular. This last year we've been to see lots of bands and comedians, (Muse, Silversun Pickups, The Killers, Crowded House, and Eddie Izzard, and Billy Connolly is coming here in Nov) There are festivals galore here in the summer, and all kinds of shows to see during the winter, it really depends on how much you want to get out and about, and how willing you are to try something new, as I don't think you'll see famous actors taking parts in the plays at the local theatre here.

Being a long term games industry spouse however, my experience has been that often your choice of where you are going to live will be narrowed down by who has the best reputation, is hiring, and more specifically, is prepared to jump through all the immigration hoops for a new hire.

Having lived in the States too, my experience is that it is certainly easier for a games artist to get in to Canada than it is the US. Hubby (whose an artist) got an H1B in the states, which is apparently harder for an artist to get, but he had an honours degree which was counted as directly relevant. (Film and Media)

We recently had the opportunity to move to Montreal, and declined it, because we didn't want our children to have to go to French schools, and that is something that we were told they would have to do now that we are permanent residents.

Montreal and Vancouver have lots of studios which is something that Edmonton doesn't currently offer. Bioware is the only really serious player here, so if your partner wanted to move companies once you got here, it would be easier to do that in Montreal or Vancouver without having to uproot the family again. Bioware has a studio in Montreal as well

Last edited by snorkmaiden; Sep 19th 2010 at 5:07 am.
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Old Sep 19th 2010, 11:26 am
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

Bleepedy bloops. I didn't know that. Thanks for pointing that out. I don't think I mind from my *future!* kids point of view. I love the idea of learning french myself, but would want my kids to PROPERLY learn a language anywhere we lived. It's one of my regrets I don't know another language very well (yet!). That said, does anyone know what concessions they make for the kids' parents, knowing that we won't be bilingual and obviously wanting to be hugely involved in their education? That's probably worth a whole new thread. Also, I think there's different tax and stuff too, so I'd have to look into that.

Being a long term games industry spouse however, my experience has been that often your choice of where you are going to live will be narrowed down by who has the best reputation, is hiring, and more specifically, is prepared to jump through all the immigration hoops for a new hire.
EXACTLY!!! I think this is what I'm having a hard time explaining on here. I'm honestly not being airy-fairy being so positive about moving to Canada, despite not having been there. I don't want to liken it to being an army wife, as it's obviously nowhere near as hard a position and at the end of the day we do have choice, but from the practicality side of things, and in order to explain to others, it's like a HUGELY watered down version of that. We go where he needs to go.

Each time we've moved so far there's been maybe 2-3 options of where we can go next in the entire UK- and then (as you've said) we have to rely on them hiring at the right time. We've run out of first rate options in the UK. It's as simple as that. It IS just a question of where we go in Canada, I think (as long as we can get in). The States seems really hard to get into.

I hope we get to stay with a company for a long while. Otherwise, whilst we're in Canada, I'll probably be learning Korean and Japanese... just incase!!!

Bioware is the only really serious player here
And a damned good one it seems too!
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Old Sep 19th 2010, 1:24 pm
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

Originally Posted by darkin
whilst we're in Canada, I'll probably be learning Korean and Japanese... just incase!!!
Mandarin would be the one
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Old Sep 20th 2010, 7:05 am
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

Originally Posted by el_richo
Dont make me put up a pic of Croydon
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Old Sep 21st 2010, 8:14 pm
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Default Re: London, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta from London and Surrey, UK

Hi Darkin,

Have replied to your other thread, Montreal defo sounds like the place for you, there are plenty of art museams, festivals galour in the summer down town, resturants and bars on every corner. Its a very cosmopolitan place to live.
Great green spaces, people are mad abouts their dogs here, most are allowed into shops !!
Travel is very cheap too, we dont have a car here as its so easy to get about.

If you were to come here the goverment will give you free french lessons as well. all new immagrants are intittled to it
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