Hi

My wife and I have just got back from a weeks trip to Calgary and Edmonton. I had three job interviews whilst I was over there and I've had two job offers already and a third on the way. Wow things move fast! For those of you in Water Engineering and Construction/Project Management there are plenty of opportunities...as well as many other disciplines.....

For those of you in a similar position to me, wondering which city could be the one for you, I thought I'd chip in some observations of my own.

Calgary was a nice city, although I had the distinct feeling that the existing infrastructure is creaking at the seams and is struggling to keep up with the massive growth. We found the C-Train pretty good to get into the city centre from our hotel near the airport, but I bet it's absolutely stacked in rush hour. We didn't get enough time to view housing, but I understand that it's a bit more expensive than Edmonton. If you are visiting Calgary, I'd strongly suggest a visit to the Calgary Economic Development people. Whilst they'll give you the spin on why Calgary is the best place ever - they do provide you with some very useful information.

http://www.calgaryeconomicdevelopment.com

On our final day, we had a Chinook come in, whilst this warmed up the sub-zero temperatures nicely it also made the atmosphere even dryer and it gave me a headache - I suppose you'd get used to it.


Edmonton was different, slightly colder. The infrastructure seems to be coping better than Calgary, We managed to view 6 houses in St. Albert and were blown away by the value for money you get compared to the UK. As a general rule I'd swap the $ for a £ sign. We viewed a new home in NW St. Albert, up for $419k. If you transplanted this house into my home town in Dorset it would easily go for £500k. The city centre itself was nicely spaced out, very close to a wonderful looking river valley.

http://www.edmonton.com

I'd have to say that Edmonton probably edged it for us despite Calgarys closer proximity to the Rockies. Undoubtedly we'd also be happy in Calgary, both were a refreshing change from the UK. I think it will come down to which company offers the best T&C's at the end of the day.

I appreciate this was brief, but hopefully it may help some of you.

Wait until you see it in the summer ! Its a truly lovely river valley !

The people who get Chinook headaches are in the minority. Happily I am a member of the majority that sails through Chinooks without headaches. However, I know several people who have suffered from Chinook headaches for years. From my observations, the people who have that predisposition do not just get used to Chinooks.

You seem to be leaning towards Edmonton anyway. If you got a headache when a Chinook came in, I think there is a distinct possibility that that vulnerability would be permanent. If you're keeping score between the two cities, I think you should add that factor to your ledger.

I don't always get a headache with a chinook (thankfully) but I did get a humdinger on Monday! I think dehydration was a factor too......... I've been fine today though ...... (+14 degrees)

Do you guys in Calgary ever get used to that dry atmosphere? I've only done two week stints - but that permanent de-hydrated feel, bottle of water wherever I go, drink by the bedside (luckily no headaches) - filled me with a slight lethargy - but the sunshine always made up for it. Does one acclimatise or is it always like that?! I'm guessing you adjust/adapt and just get on with it !!!

And electric shocks ! Presume that is a permanent fixture ? Got to where I didn't want to kiss my girls goodnight !!!

In the meantime, sorry to divert thread slightly - all the very best to ARH and your family wherever you choose.

Where in dorset do you live ? we are in weymouth and moving to Edmonton on 5th feb, and what do you do

My nose had a rough time of it for about two months, no matter how much water I drank. I actually found out that there is such a thing called "nasal moisturizers" and they helped a lot when my nose felt on fire. I guess I've acclimatized as I hadn't thought about my nose or nasal moisturisers until I read your post.

Shocks you can lessen by trying to keep your home more humid - don't use the fan when showering to allow the humidty to waft through your home instead sort of thing. They're a b&tch though, eh?

Thanks for your info - we are going out at the end of march to do the job trawling and location searches. We haven't visited for 5 years so really looking forward to seeing everything (and friends). Not lookign forward to the electirc shocks again though! It was terrible