dbd33

I suggest the Beach. At this point Novo tends to suggest Roncesvalles. The case for either of them is that they're interesting neighbourhoods in themselves, walking distance to, say, 100, restaurants and they're within 40 minutes of downtown. Both of them are "inner burbs" in the manner of Ealing. Do you want to keep a, or several, dogs?

You might define Toronto and 'burbs equivalent to London including Ealing as being Lake, DVP, 401, 427. Once you get beyond those highways you're pretty far out, more "beyond the M25" than "beyond the North Circular".

Maria_747

dbd33

Many thanks
Will google map the Beach and Roncesvalles
What's Etobicoke like to live ? My ex boss lives there
sorry whats DVP ?

dbd33

Don Valley Parkway. Etobicoke runs north-south for a long way, south is edgy, moving into gentrification, north is dull; middle falls between but I don't think there's much in the way of transit in the middle.

You know you have to rent something downtown for a month and work it out from there, don't you?

Maria_747

Mikey B
he's a prof of biochemistry. He's a bit potty

Novocastrian

I'm glad it's biochemistry and not spelling.

Roncesvalles has gone down a bit since I lived there in the 80's. Many restaurants have closed but several massage parlours have taken their place, if that sounds attractive.

JamesM

Hi Maria_747

dbd33 makes an excellent point when he says look into the Beaches. Personally I have never spent much time there but several freinds who've lived there quite liked it.

I would hate living anywhere where I had to rely on "GO" transit. It is just not regular enough and you end up spending your life waiting for it. It's a shame the double decker trains they have are much more comfortable than trains in the UK.

Maria_747

I wish i travelled on the GO train just to get some expereince.
The problem is te relative drive you everrywhere
I drive in London occasionally as I have always used the tube or the bus to get to work. I am very much a commuter
I am not a great fan of driving. I heard its easier to drive in canada becuse of the roads are wider straighter and no roundabouts
what is the speed limit on the motorway ?

Cheers

dbd33

The speed limit is 62mph but it's not really relevant in and around Toronto. I average 11mph on the highway and that's avoiding the 401 (the world's busiest highway, three times the traffic of the M25). I wouldn't say that driving in and around Toronto is much different from driving in and around London. If you do commute by car allow $15 a day for parking but, really, what are you looking for that you don't think you can find within the bounds of the TTC (Toronto's transit)?

Settlers_Unlimited

If you don't have kids you can rent anywhere for a year and explore both cities. I thought that I will be looking for jobs in mississauga and we decided to settle there but with jobs you never know. I think sometimes that Toronto would be better.

I took GO Train several times to go to Toronto and I find it to be excellent. Lakeshore line has all day service and trains are very comfortable. It's also fun to hear their warnings about "danger from high speed trains" that actually go no faster than slow regional trains in Europe.

Driving for me was much worse than in Europe. People never keep the distance and change lanes just for fun without any warning. However I remember that fatal accidents statistics are the same as in Europe - so it's just a pressure on your nerves.

craig_hoxton

All my job applications were through job sites like Monster, Eluta, Globe & Mail's career section.

In the last two months, only got one response to the dozens of applications I sent out. One place I tried calling to follow up my application, the bloke asked; "Am I calling from Australia?"

Maria_747

Very interesting observation, do you mean that there is not much road curtesy in Toronto ? Despite all these road rage stories, I still think Britain has good road curtesy.

dbd33

There is certainly no courtesy on the GTA highways in rush hour. I see fisticuffs most days.

Maria_747

OMG !!

You see I am quite a cautious driver !

I was thinking if I do move to Toronto to have refresher driving lessons to get used to the the way they drive there.

when is rush hour ? When I was supposed to go to Copps coliseum at 7:30 pm for that concert in October, the lady said to me if I was coming from Toronto, I would have to leave at 3 pm !
Even London traffic is not that bad !!

Settlers_Unlimited

I would give this as a definition of multiculturalism: buy a heavy American car (rarely with real *snow* tires, it seems), go to 401 at peak hours so that it's as busy as European highways, and apply your driving habits from Eastern Europe or Asia. Guess the result.

Roads are surely wider here, but trucks are yet wider, so it doesn't matter.

Having spent two hours in the gigantic traffic jam yesterday on 401, I am thinking how is that that no one noticed this tremendous business opportunity to provide timely and detailed traffic information as you get from most of FM stations in Europe. Here, they don't know all that stuff like RDS-TA and TMC that exist for more than a decade in Europe.

dbd33

That sounds about right. Downtown to Port Credit in the dead of night takes 20 minutes. Leaving between 3 and 6:30 it takes an hour or more. The rush hour in the morning is more compressed, if I leave Port Credit to be downtown at 7:00am I can do the trip in 45 minutes, if I leave between 7 and 8:30 it's over an hour. (All figures on average in good weather. Drizzle or accidents make it much longer). The stretch of highway from Port Credit through Oakville is as bad or worse.