Originally Posted by nina874

1. I hate living in the city, we have 4.5 acres at the moment and a few neighbours, but we are 10 miles from the nearest supermarket which drives me insane when I forget the milk. I am not particularly sociable ( very low tolerance for the terminally stupid) but then I can in all honesty say that I would hate to have me as a neighbour, who would want to live next door to 6 kids- who all ride quad bikes, yes I am that annoying - 3 Newfoundlands and 2 Labradors?

2. The kids moan ( a lot.....) about the lack of public transport and facilities, so we would need to be on some kind of a transport network and near a town

3. I am used to very very low crime - we dont lock our doors and can leave the keys in the car overnight if we forget.

4. Opportunities for work for the kids - not so much of a problem for me and HD as we will be in the enviable position of being 'retired' - but the job situation in Cornwall is beyond dire. Do not believe what you read about the SW having low unemployment, the only jobs available here across the board are minimum wage, seasonal, tourist related crap. A job at Tescos is like the holy grail of employment opportunities and they are handed on between families - I kid you not.

5. Proximity to a city (within 2 hours drive) with preferably an international airport. At the moment we have to drive for 6/7 hours to get to an airport and add 2 days onto the holiday which is very annoying.

6. An area that is friendly towards immigrants, I know that people are people and all that, but having compared Manchester to Cornwall in the UK I am also aware that some areas are more closed minded than others.

7. Somewhere that kids can still be kids and they aren't caught up on labels and materialistic nonsense ( Cornwall is very good for this)

8. Somewhere with beautiful scenery and near to water, we can walk to the cove at the moment and the kids swim with the dogs etc in summer and I would hate to lose that.

9. I veered away from Vancouver area because everything I read said that their weather is very similar to the UK and the idea of yet more grey fills me with horror. Yes I know the winters elsewhere can be brutal, but I am sure that if the kids get to trade quads for snowmobiles they will get over it.

My biggest fear is that I will once again talk myself/ get talked out of the decision and in 2 years time will still be sat like piffy on a rock bun moaning about wanting to emigrate. I have a once in a lifetime opportunity and I really don't want to waste it. I really really dont want to ping before I have ponged again..... or is it pong before I have pinged?

Has anyone got any ideas or pointers (other than suggestions regarding therapy/positive visualisation etc) that may help?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Originally Posted by dbd33

The answer to that is to use an external furnace. That will allow burning any old toxic crap.

Originally Posted by el_richo

Nah we just got rid completely in order to drag him into the 1990's.

Originally Posted by MikeUK

I will be converting our old wood stove, with a flat panel monitor, small speaker set (for the crackle) and a old thin client..
all the visual appeal (from glowing embers to roaring inferno) and non of the risk..

Originally Posted by MikeUK

We looked at it when we bought our house as it had quite a nice fancy wood stove installed, but after looking at the health and safety aspect and also compared real costs/efficiency…
I took it out last year, bought a fancy thermostat to control my gas furnace/heat pump system..
Its sitting in the basement in bits now

Originally Posted by Howefamily

Is your woodstove sitting in bits? Thats such a shame. Ours is a pacific energy one, very efficient

Originally Posted by Howefamily

we used to have an Audi A3 1.9 Tdi with a road tax of GBP35 per year and I loved that car. Here everything has a much larger engine than that i(it seems). I am looking forward to getting another TDi at some point as I miss it. There seems to be no incentive to get a more efficient car apart from your own view.
Love heating with wood, it saves us so much money and looks nice, our one wood insert heats our whole house

Originally Posted by dbd33

Depends what you mean by your desire to be near water. If that means ocean then I think you can only get something you'd recognise as urban, for the children, with transit, around Vancouver.

Originally Posted by nina874

We are caught by the fact that we have to have an 8 seater and we live down some of Cornwall's more *ehem* rural roads so we need a 4x4 as well, thus catapulting us into the 'bend over and take it like a man' car tax bracket. The thing guzzles gas and the nearest bus stop is 4 miles away but the kids insist that they need friends and a social life (selfish little buggers) so there isn't a lot we can do about it.

Originally Posted by MikeUK

We looked at it when we bought our house as it had quite a nice fancy wood stove installed, but after looking at the health and safety aspect and also compared real costs/efficiency…
I took it out last year, bought a fancy thermostat to control my gas furnace/heat pump system..
Its sitting in the basement in bits now

Originally Posted by el_richo

Vancouver has more sunshine on average per year than Cornwall, and more than Halifax NS, for example.

It has the Ocean, lots of beaches with easy access, decent public transport-ish, beautiful scenery, and many options for homes with acreage depending on budget.

It would have work options for your kids as well as the potential for a social life and winter sports very close by.

Materialistically, Canada is no different to the UK so there would be no way of getting away from it.

Check out areas such as Deep Cove, Steveston, White Rock, North Vancouver, and Port Moody for starters.

Originally Posted by dbd33

The blow up doll of woodstoves.

Originally Posted by Atlantic Xpat

A transit mini-bus would seem to be the answer then.

Originally Posted by nina874

I thought that Vancouver had the same weather as the Uk though? I was looking forwards to the thought of winters and summers without the rain.

My mums cousin was the mayor of Port Moody, I wish we had kept in touch, that would be very handy right now.

Originally Posted by nina874

Health and safety on a wood stove?