Originally Posted by sas-lou

I've stopped biting to the bait .. Some people just see things in black and white *sigh*

Actually i don't want him to be like a typical 14 year old (although i'd be grateful if he dealt with his hormones in a more constructive manner, lol). He is different (some said weird) but i hope he embraces his individuality.

Originally Posted by Alberta_Rose

Maybe a small to midsize town would be a better option, but that I agree may be harder for teenagers to fit in.

Originally Posted by el_richo

This house is round the corner from my old house. I'm pretty sure they'll take 10% off the asking price - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-22824538.html

Originally Posted by el_richo

This house is round the corner from my old house. I'm pretty sure they'll take 10% off the asking price -

Originally Posted by BristolUK

So just under half a million then. Bargain.

Originally Posted by el_richo

This house is round the corner from my old house. I'm pretty sure they'll take 10% off the asking price - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-22824538.html

Originally Posted by Alberta_Rose

Coming late to the thread, I should also be cautious about being able to live and support a family on 15 to 16 dollars per hour in any of the major cities.

My son recently informed me that Calgary actually has the highest cost of living of any Canadian city right now. Housing is second only to Vancouver in price, but food etc are highest. I don't know her he got that from so cannot quote a source, but I wouldn't be surprised anyway.

Maybe a small to midsize town would be a better option, but that I agree may be harder for teenagers to fit in.

Whatever is said on here, and whatever you decide to do, I wish you well anyway!

Originally Posted by BristolUK

So just under half a million then. Bargain.

Originally Posted by Oink

A swimming pool in Yorkshire how flash is that? The place is a bit too Reggie Perrin for my tastes.

Originally Posted by Alan2005

That's a nice looking house.

Originally Posted by sas-lou

(Apologies if i've submitted this in the wrong place, please feel free to move to its correct location)

Hi Guys.

Seriously i must have some hedonistic tendencies going on at present.

Well some of you will of known my story. Married a canuck, moved to Ottawa, moved back to the UK when marriage broke down, picked myself and kids up, started saving again and present day .. I'm in Toronto ..
Only for the week, i return to the UK on Sunday evening.

For the last year i've been telling myself i can do this. I've done it once so whats a second time, lol. Granted i have no husband this time just me and 2 teenagers and some savings but i'm sitting in this room listening to the trams going by my window, not paying attention to the humidity, trying to make up my mind what i'm going to do when i get back as i need to let the children know one way or another what the next step is.

So .. I decided i am not going back to Ottawa. I do not have any contact with the ex husband and he has shown he's not supportive With the kids on half term in the UK they are staying with family so i could come out to Toronto to experience this city alone and make some enquires as to if i/we could at some point call this home.

Some woman at Gatwick on Sunday told me that without a degree, you'd be referred to as a Macky/Mc'y (unsure how to spell it) when i asked her to go into more detail she said that without a degree you will work in McDonalds only. Great start, utterly deflated and i hadn't even boarded the plane. Yeah, i don't have a degree, just work experience in Retail, Banking and my current role is working in the community by assisting people to gain the skills necessary to get back into employment. To mention, i do have a lot of qualifications but not the holy grail.

So i've been here 2 full days and my observations so far .. Well i went to Randstad with my resume and although i don't speak french nor have a degree, she said i do have many transferrable skills so would be looking at $15-$16hr. I think that is positive news. I only want canadian work experience so would consider anything to start with.

I have a bank a/c set up. Another positive.

And lastly, eveyone has told me that Toronto is expensive. Now maybe it's because i am a cheap bastard but i haven't found that to be the case (yet).

The kids here are so darn innocent. i was walking behind a group of young (12-14 yrs) school children in China Town this afternoon and well They didn't have the latest look, label wise. They spoke politely and they didn't seem in a rush to grow up. How sweet.

This city although is rather large does not faze me in the slightest. I've been walking everywhere. Thank gosh i took the advice and didn't get a hire car.

Now the not so positives ..

The people are quirky, bordering on slightly crazy, not all of them of course. The snobbery is evidently clear which i don't quite understand as the people here are/seem very diverse.

I've been told it is hard to find a place to rent. I put an ad on Kijiji as soon as i got here asking about apt's/basements in mid Sept. No replies yet and within several hours my ad's being bumped to page 15. I keep posting in the hope ...

I am so worried about screwing up my kids lives by moving them here and failing thus returning to the UK. However i know i will regret this if i don't do it. All that time/sweat/money acquiring those visa's in the first place must not of been in vain. Or is this narrow thinking??

When i see the kids on Monday they are going to want to know what Toronto was like and my decision .. I don't have a clue what i'm going to tell them.

oh, and to top it off. I'm staying in a pack packers hostel (told you i'm cheap, lol) and last night a lovely chap from Ireland shared the room and we got talking for 6 hours (as you do). He lived in Vancouver for a year (carpenter by trade) and told me to head over that way as it's a lovely place to live or to consider Calgary. When i was looking at flights to come over here it was either Calgary or Toronto and i picked the latter (obviously, lol).

I now feel that with more options being thrown at me, i'm lost as to which step is the appropriate one to take forward.

Just a snippet of my life in the UK - I'm in a private rented house for which i could get a mortgage and pay the same amount (not that i could get a mortgage). On Friday i was told my job is at risk and 16 of us will have to reapply for the 9 jobs going which will require extra responsibilities. My eldest is finishing his GCSE's next week and applied to go to College (although he'd rather go out and work) but was not successful in the course he wanted so they've decided to put him on another course. My 14 year old is going off the rails and doesn't want to move to Canada but in 2 years wants to move to Australia with his girlfriend (sigh). The job front is crap (to put it mildly) so if made redundant, lol, i'm screwed.

I know ultimately i have to make this decision but i am looking for advice/suggestion etc as maybe i am missing something as i am too focused.

I've gone from living day to day to becoming so focused on the future yet i am aware things may not turn out as planned but maybe for the better.
I'm sitting on the fence here but a decison needs to be made by Feb 2012 the latest as i need the 2 years in canada to meet PR criteria.

Please ask any questions.

Thank you in advance.

Originally Posted by BristolUK

If you were to take a chance on Canada a smaller city with cheaper housing costs might be better. You could move later if you made a go of things and still wanted to.

Originally Posted by Eilowny

Anyways, if you are looking for places around the Toronto area, is an hour too long for travel time? Reason I ask is I live with my husband in the Kitchener Waterloo area, usually shortened to KW & it's part of the Tri Cities area of KW, Guelph & Cambridge, all pretty near each other, good places to live & an hour's drive from Toronto, lots of places around here advertise for basements or shared apartments, especially on Kajiji, my husband actually bought a house here for us to live in though in the end.

Originally Posted by Alphawolf

We are surviving on $16 an hour along with our savings, it pays the rent and puts food on the table but we did our research and live in a mid size town/city not a major one, the taxes and house prices are much less than say Calgary, Vancouver or Toronto. For you this would be an important thing I would imagine. For a teenage kid living in a smaller town however I don't know, it depends on their makeup, the nightlife is not great compared to the UK although less fights for sure. If you are coming on your own with your 2 sons you will need some friends that is certain, you already know how things work here so that is an advantage you have, if you want to stay in Ontario you may want to look at Barrie, from people I know who live there they speak highly of the area, there are many Brits, its an hour from Toronto and it has many outdoorsy things to do there.
I suppose the main thing you have to decide is can I really do this again and do you have the savings to survive at first or get back to the UK if you need to. We spent $5000 in the first 10 days of being here however it has slowed now as alot of that was a SUV, some furniture (as our container is very late), and deposits which we will get back I'm assured
As for renting, my wife arranged several viewings and came out early to secure a rental which she managed even with us having dogs. We could have easily stopped in the UK but we knew we would regret not giving it a go, if you can afford it do it!
Best of luck in whatever you decide