dbd33

What a great idea! Last week we drove across the US using as many dirt roads as we could make time for, going by tractor would allow us to avoid using any roads at all.

edinburgh

its been done though , we need a new angle ... with film and book potential

what about head to alaska to shovel ice back ?

its the first of many ideas i just need some esspresso , back in a mo

dbd33

Do you need an espresso machine? That's the question. The restaurant next door is going bust, the machine cost $5500 less than a year ago and, I can attest that it works great. They'd like to get $1500.

edinburgh

would love one , but sadly the flights from edinburgh could make the deal harder,

anyway this could be bolted onto the tractor ?

dbd33

The yuppie tractor came with a pto driven coffee grinder (as well as a massager attachment about which we made dodgy jokes) but I don't think there's an option for an actual coffee machine.

moonraker

Sorry was getting confused. Thought you were on a gay march.

acer rose

The Straight Story


I think he drove from Iowa to Wisconsin but I can't vouch for the model of tractor.

dbd33

That's not a tractor! That's just one of those lawn mower things.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166896/

dbd33

The New Yorker (at that time it must have been Pauline Kael and therefore right) said:

'By way of a comic coda to the violent "Lost Highway," David Lynch has confounded all expectations and come up with a movie about a lawnmower. The model in question, a gas-guzzling 1966 John Deere, is ridden by the elderly Alvin Straight (who was a real person, but it's a perfect Lynch name) all the way from Laurens, Iowa, to Mt. Zion, Wisconsin, on a mission of mercy to his brother, Lyle.'

If it was, in fact, a 1966 model, I expect it was the 110. That's the usual choice for long distance trips on a lawn tractor:

http://www.childrenswish.ca/index_20...6/chap/0/cat/3

dbd33

OMG!

Here it is:

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_36490-J...d0d25cdfd381a1

acer rose

I sense your outrage and bow to your superior knowledge.

The film was very good though.

dbd33

Have added it to the ziplist. I bet that'll be a night ending in some action, phwoar!

Suzey

Interesting thread...

Push

• All good jobs in my line of work are in London, but I can't afford to move there and have a good quality of life. Want to live and work in a big city.
• Sick of long commute (linked to above).
• London Underground (ditto).
• Nothing seems to be very accessible here. Everything seems to be so oversubscribed - but maybe that's just a London thing.

Pull

• I'll be nearer more extended family. Plenty of cousins there my age - hopefully having a ready-made network will help me get settled. I've hardly any family in the UK.
• More affordable housing, better quality of life without the need for a huge salary.
• A need for adventure.
• Want a change, but would rather spend the money relocating to Canada than another part of the UK.

Suze

Purley

I was really interested to read the reasons for moving to Canada. Of course, I moved here nearly 40 years ago. So did my sister, she moved to Vancouver about a year after we moved to Regina. I think houses were a reasonable price in Vancouver back then.

I just thought I would give you my perspective as someone who has been here for yonks.

The older I get the more I sort of wish I had never moved here. My sister feels the same. Maybe she feels it more than I do because she refuses to become a Canadian citizen! My husband and I have been citizens for about 30 years but we still retain our UK citizenship too, so that was not important to me. I might have felt differently if I had to give up my UK citizenship.

People talk about Canadians being friendly, but whenever I am back home I find strangers just as friendly. Maybe its me. I guess I don't aways feel comfortable chatting to strangers.

Of course, I can only go by how my sister lives. They have plenty of money, but they still have old stuff. I have friends who when they redecorate their bathroom they get rid of the old towels and buy new ones to coordinate with their new bathroom decor! I don't get that. Maybe that happens in England now too - probably!

Regina is bad for pulling down old buildings. Good lord, we don't have that many or that old! Just recently I wrote to my alderman about the plans to allow a developer to demolish an old downtown building that used to house a restaurant. It has lovely brick walls and wood plank floors and they are going to turn it into a parking lot - seriously! We used to have an old City Hall - I forget how old the building was. They pulled it down and built a highrise that used to have shops on the main floor. One by one the shops closed and now the feds have spent millions - maybe billions of our money turning it into government offices that nobody will want to visit because it's downtown and there is nowhere to park - except maybe the parking lot where they pulled the restaurant down.

I miss the old buildings. I miss the sea. I miss walking in the woods. I miss doing things with my relatives. My Mom is now 92 years old and rather frail and my sister is the only one left in England and she has the responsibility of looking after my Mom. Not that my sister and I came to Canada to avoid looking after my Mom when she got old!! It's just that helping out in this respect is impossible from this far away.

My sister and I both feel the same way. When our kids when younger and we were both busy with them and working full time and we didn't have much money, we didn't miss things. Neither of us went home for a visit for about 20 years. Since our kids are older and independent, I guess we have more time to reflect on things. I suppose we could always move back to England, but I doubt we would have enough money to buy a home there. My sister lives in a small village south of Maidstone and property is too expensive there for my budget. Also, we both have family here now.

If I won the lottery - BIG! Then I would talk my son and his wife and my other son and his daughter to live part time in Regina, where their friends are - and part time in England. However, that is not likely to happen - mostly because I don't buy lottery tickets!!!!

startwin

What an excellent posting, and my goodness, I could have written this myself. My life and feelings seem to mirror yours, though I've been here slightly less time than you, 33 years. We have much in common, including family stuff. I'd give anything to go back to England to live if only I could persuade my kids to do the same, but maybe I'll start buying the lottery tickets!! I am planning on going back for a few months when I retire (if I can afford it), which may be anytime, as right now I am pretty much day to day with my job until I get totally fed up and pack it in. And maybe living there for awhile will cure me of this, but somehow I don't think so.

I don't want to put anyone off of coming here because it's a fantastic country, and we've had a good life. But as you get older, you really do feel the pull to go back. If I had my time over, I wouldn't have made such a big commitment to staying here. I think I'd have said OK for maybe five years, but not going to put down roots. Oh, and we have never become citizens, either! I actually feel bad about that, not sure why.

I know there are a couple of other posters on this forum who have been here a long time and feel the pull to go back. There are others who have no desire to do so. And I had no regrets for almost 30 years, but my god when it hits, it hits big!! In my circle of ex-pat friends, there are a couple of us who feel like I do, and others who think we are nuts. Maybe. Anyway, those are just my thoughts to add to the mix.