Re: Moving back to UK
 

you are right, the cost of food or accommodation in the case of both Canada and UK is irrelevant to the standard of living. It is nothing like comparing developing and western countries, as UK and Canada offer similar standards of living, wages, etc. But safety matters a lot, living in fear is not a nice feeling at all.
I am currently thinking of buying my own place - either in Canada or UK. unfortunately South West of London is too expensive and although as carpenter I earn decent wages I can not afford a very expensive property in UK. Therefore, Canada in my situation seems to be a good alternative.

Re: Moving back to UK
 

Have you looked at many areas outside of London?

Re: Moving back to UK
 

I am thinking about it but the point is that in the smaller locations you get smaller wages, in the big cities you will be faced with big problems...
I guess it is all more or less in the balance... any other big city in UK is now overcrowded and has similar problems to London. Considering that the job market is still very low, especially construction sector in winter, It feels a bit more stable in terms of employment in London
If any of you know the place that is nice and there are job prospects please let me know but I really think that if someone knows such place then millions others already know it too and moved there - its a viscious circle

Re: Moving back to UK
 

I would recommend Ontario- near Guelph or Waterloo. Good job opportunities-Good amenities and very well priced housing. The only downside is they have a "Big Freeze" for around 3 months of the year although they are much better at coping with it. It is an area I am considering longer term although I will be kicking off in Toronto I suspect.

Re: Moving back to UK
 

Thank you - I am also planning to go to Toronto to start with and then once we are there we will explore other locations, will talk to locals, basically, I think we will be able to make a proper decision only once we are there and once he have done a bit more research ourselves.

Re: Moving back to UK
 

[QUOTE=pgtips;8244217]A Man sitting on the bus, the passenger next to him starts stabbing him to death, cuts his head off, then calmly walks off the bus holding his victims severed head in his hand[/B]:eek: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4SQ5Ifobss

well I was not talking about this sort of crimes really, the person from the video is insane, mentally ill. Things like this can happen even in the quietest of locations. I meant crime rates on the more general scale. I can not make any arguments as I have not been to Canada myself, but every single person I asked and spoke to told me they feel safer themselves and they dont need to worry about their kids safety over there too - that what is a major deciding factor for me.

Re: Moving back to UK
 

[QUOTE=Powermantic;8244372]To be honest Powermac, It really depends where you live, I live in the outskirts of London, have done so for the last decade and touch wood have never had any problems. I walk around my area day and night and have never once felt threatened. I used to live more inner london, and I must say crime was more prevalent, but it is not a major concern for me now. Property prices are quite expensive now though.

Re: Moving back to UK
 

that' not how I remember manchester. At the end of the day its down to perception. If some does not feel safe somewhere, then they should leave. Vancouver feels much. much more safer to me than Manchester ever did.

Re: Moving back to UK
 

Well admittedly I live in the centre area so it is obviously quite posh so to speak, you don't get many unemployed single parent families living where we do and before we moved in together my girlfriend lived in a shared house in Salford which was, for a better expression, as rough as a bear's arse.

Like you say, it is all down to perception and particular areas and I don't think that in the West one country can be declared ultimately all that much safer than the other, although I maintain the opinion that the major cities in Britain are probably safer to live in than their equivalents in the USA, Italy or France. Philidelphia is by far the scariest city that I have ever been to.

Re: Moving back to UK
 

I've never once experienced that "oh shit, it's going to kick off" feeling that I was accustomed to in the UK - you could almost taste it. It maybe partly due to my age, but I feel, overall that Vancouver is more laid back with less issues. I suspect its due to far less binge drinking and less overcrowding in the bars.

Re: Moving back to UK
 

I was originally from Dukinfield, but lived in Ardwick and Cheetam Hill. I agree major cities are generally much the same. North America has easier access to firearms which does'nt help, but I find way, way less aggression and no one has ever said " what are you ****ing looking at" and I've been in North America for 21 years.

Re: Moving back to UK
 

The 'Saturday night outside the pub' issue is definitely one of the most negative factors of British cities and particularly the poorer ones such as Newcastle and Glasgow.

My girlfriend visited a friend in Toronto a couple of years ago who has since settled there and she just said that she found it to be far more polite and friendly than Britain in her opinion.

Re: Moving back to UK
 

Yeah I can see that, I have been witness to a couple of disputes in the US but I don't think that I ever saw anybody 'fighting for the sake of fighting' over there.

I'm not sure if you've been back in a while but I think Ardwick at least may have changed quite a bit since then. From what I've seen It's quite a cosmpolitan area being so close to the centre area now and is full of new-build apartment blocks for wealthy students and professionals. Admittedly when I go in that direction it's usually only for a gig at the Apollo or something though.

So would you recommend Vancouver? I'm going through a Bunac application at the moment and that's the city I have my eye on really although I get the feeling that my girlfriend really wants to go to Toronto.

Re: Moving back to UK
 

Clearly the response of the desperate. I might as well bring up the yorkshire ripper to demonstrate how unsafe the UK is:rolleyes:

Stats are meaningless by the way, as everyone has different reporting rates and different definitions. I know I gave up reporting petty crime in the UK as its pointless, nothing happens, so that skews any statistical analysis too. Plus context is important...a lot of murders you see reported in the media here are gang on gang, not relevant to my life.

All I can say from personal experience is that the bit of canada I live in is largely free of the kind of antisocial behavoir (break ins, vandalism, random violence, littering even!) that is always in the back of your mind in the UK (whether that be rural Bedfordshire, sleepy Norwich, inner city Leeds, small town Scotland, million pound stockbroker belt Surrey... wherever) Does anyone in the UK leave cars and doors unlocked I wonder?

Re: Moving back to UK
 

If you like snow sports and waking up to beautiful mountains Vancouver is a great place. The nightlife is a little limited. Based on my 4 weeks there. I would compare the nightlife of Vancouver with the nightlife of Didsbury.

In terms of crime Vancouver had a badly publicized year in 2009 being referred to as Gangcouver although this was very similar to the Gangchester era of the late 90's where the shootings were predominantly gang on gang and drug related.

Toronto is better for nightlife but not as good for the great canadian outdoors. The nightlife of Toronto is slightly less than Manchester City Centre.

I would say there is more work opportunities in Toronto although this is not true if you are happy with seasonal work with the Winter Olympics and Whistler always needing seasonal workers.

This all my own opinion though based on 4 weeks spent in Vancouver, a year in Toronto and feed back from people I know in Canada.