What's wrong with Brussels?

OK. Just a joke.

I'm rather hoping that I'll have moved back to the UK for my retirement or at least somewhere with milder winters. I can't think of anything worse than going through a bitterly cold Canadian winter with fragile bones.

As noted elsewhere, I'm with you on this one...

PS. How do you like my new avatar?

The winters here seem pretty mild to me.

They are in Vancouver. Apparently.

It's super Al isn't it?

Couldn't say really, you can't see for all the rain.

[QUOTE=Novocastrian;5469166]What's wrong with Brussels?

QUOTE]

Now that you asked ;
well , besides the weather ( often grey and wet ) , actually : I can think of not very much "wrong" with Bruxelles !
We have the world's best beer and frites and choccies , excellent grub everywhere , top medical services with ample doctors , staff and clean hospitals + Nil waiting lists , a stone-throw from La Belle France , Luxembourg and VaderLand , 320 km/h TGV trains which North America can only dream about , fab toll-free motorways where the 120km/h and 130 km/h speed limits are hardly ever enforced , open inter-countries border-crossings , chic francophone and expat-females , affordable quality accomodation , terrific television , fine shopping , history-art-culture-music-press : in abundance ,
2 hours by car to the Channel Tunnel and U.K. , also : friendly cooperative cops and public servants , low crime , great public transport , lovely parks and lakes , high living standards ...I could go on and on and on...see?
Just that the OH thinks "the grass might yet be greener" and all that jazz...

Your words echo my thoughts, including the ones about the winters. I am married to a Canadian. He has been living here for five years but wants to retire to Canada. It's a second marriage for both of us and we can't afford to buy a house here; we live in rented accommodation which we can only afford while we both work. He is looking at Nova Scotia for retirement and thinks we can afford to buy a place of our own there, plus it's not quite such a long flight back to the UK. I've lived in Canada for a year and liked it, but I know that's not the same as living there permanently. The alternative to being in Canada would probably be looking at a one-bedroomed council flat which would drive us up the wall. (I'd be okay on my own, but for two it would be far too small. My husband's a big man!) We are coming to Nova Scotia next year with the view to looking at properties. I have been there before and liked it. We are thinking of moving there in about four years' time. Some days I feel really positive about it and think how good it would be to have our own place, make new friends, start a new life etc, and other days I think of all the positive things about the UK, (and I do believe there are quite a few!) that I would be leaving.The bottom line is that if I hadn't married a Canadian I'd have no intention of going the Canada, or anywhere else for that matter, but I feel I have to give it a go. My husband has worked hard here but I know he misses Canada and the open spaces. I think he'd be happier there. When I read posts like yours, and I know you've been in Canada for a while, I begin to get concerned about the move. I sometimes feel as if I'm between a rock and a hard place. Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

[QUOTE=Ray51;5470032] It ain't.

a) Search out the numerous cost of living threads (although maybe not the current one...apart from judys links on page one there is not much info on cost of living. Heating and hydro, maintainence on wood/siding/pitch shingle properties, property taxes, car insurance, basic groceries like milk, bread, chicken....its a lot.

b) You could try some of the provincial nomination investor classes, they seem the most accomodating for people with nothing but money to offer. Dont get too excited though as they might well have age restrictions...I dont know.

Even if the grass is slightly greener (and it might not be) its just not worth the upheaval and having to make a whole new bunch of friends and acquantainces, find new interest groups and separating yourself from family, grandkids etc etc. And also never having a state pension increase again, even is you live another 30 or 40 years.

[QUOTE=Ray51;] Don't forget the Atomium and paedophilia, not to mention separatism. (Not that we don't have the latter here of course).

Yup. Mr. Creosote himself.

Thanks again !
as for "b)" above : indeed , proof of sufficient money , handing out a few hundred KCan$ to a provincial administration and foregoing all interest on it , for 62 months , until/IF it gets returned ...sure still does get one "in"
( provided one is sufficiently motivated , for just such goings on ) ;

Re : greener grass ? As I am in late 50's , and have lived and worked in Europe , Africa , Middle East , Far East and N.America , I can't help but to be astonished with quite what apparent ease other people still seem to re-locate , at a drop of the hat , to the Antipodes / East. Europe / anywhere considered fashionable and "in" , at the mo...Maybe ambitious gung-ho youngsters can quite happily put up with a major inconvenience , or dozens of them - yet , the whole theme of seeking that "greener grass" , on reflection , just suddenly appears so complex nowadays , a maze of huge , ever-changing databases to research first , with regard to both substance and costs e.g. all various aspects of healthcare , taxation , quality of life ( as opposed to percieved materialistic "standard" of living ) , personal safety , future trends , ease of geting about and around , the old-age arrangements and so on ...
But , I am thankful to all the good people for their bona fidae comments , to my original question , so :
cheers , from our La Capitale of burEaUcracy , where everybody and their secretary promptly went to lunch at 12.30 and are thus not expected to be seen again at work before , Monday , say : 10-ish???

That sounds incredibly civilised. I'll put it on my list for future destinations.