hot wasabi peas

Have you ever read the Australia forums?!

RobinHood

Sadly few could exchange small town stories worse than this. Some towns have more shit than others:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5080910.stm

Oh yeah - who could forget this unfortunate claim for fame:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4588920.stm

Give me New Brunswick any day of the month.

iaink

What the hell does that have to do with emmigrating? There are 17 people on trial here now charged with plotting to blow things up. Its an international thing, you cant get away from it.

Even sleepy NB has its problems. They were celebrating acheiving single digit unemployment in the provincial budget...hardly a sign of a booming economy.

RobinHood

With the far-right recently elected locally on top of that - would you want to live there? You don't have to tell me about international incidents. The fellas arrested last week in the town were arrested in relation to the Toronto plot.

I was simply comparing the disproportionate crimes* of a city with a population of 4+ million against a town with 60,000 people - neither of which am I planning to live in (in the future).

*This is why "the decent" people want to leave the UK

New Brunswick has its problems but it is 20+ years behind the UK in terms of the long term breakdown of law and order/society. Twenty+ years is extra time for my kids to experience a better life. I work in education and have visited schools in NB as part of my application - and I can tell you in my opinion the long term future of where I live is bleaker than NB. I can't afford to move to the more affluent parts of the UK - so moving 3,000 miles is a worthwhile solution.

As for sleepy New Brunswick? Can't wait to semi-retire mortgage free in a place people regard as sleepy. Unemployment problems in NB? We in the north of England know all about that. I am emigrating to improve the quality of life for me and my family - which moving to NB will undoubtedly do.

iaink

Except that was just one shooting of about 70 last year so, so its not that disproportionate.

Nothing wrong with emigrating for a better life, thats why most of us did it, but that wasnt what this thread was about.

I wouldnt want to live there anyway...lived in Leeds long enough for one lifetime thanks and done enough snow shovelling in Ontario to pass on NB...plus I need to work to make ends meet, and so will my kids.

dbd33

The concerns with children and rural Canada, NB or elsewhere, must be education and drugs; they'll have to move away for university and perhaps even for high school and the lack of entertainments leads to a high level of drug abuse, meth in the west oxycontin in the east. I'd be scared about raising children in the middle of nowhere, not least because, when they move to the city, they'll know nothing.

RobinHood

If I moved to Ontario I'd be in the same situation as you. That's why I'm moving to NB - I want to take it easy - working in schools has shot my nerves Incidentally there were 4 shooting incidents in my town over Xmas - fortunately only one fatal. I think 70 for a metropolis where guns are legal - so close to the States, is quite low. The figures for the northern mill towns (where guns are illegal) are grossly disproportionate to the populations. Add Manchester, Leeds and Bradford to that - and the statistics are quite frightening.

Enough said about Leeds - I'm with you all the way. My cousin got stabbed at a Leeds match in the 1980s (he was a Leeds fan as well). Looks like I missed the point of the thread - I thought we were discussing UK anti-social behaviour and crime etc... I'll get my coat

neill

One thing i'll never forget (or understand) from living in the UK was a debate on a similar intranet forum regarding break and entry. I took the side of "if they enter, they deserve whatever they get". I think one other person agreed with me. However, the majority of people replying thought that any kind of retaliation against the criminal was uncalled for, and two people actually thought hurting the criminal was deserving of punishment in itself!!

I'll never understand that.

iaink

What rubbish. I was a country boy who survived just fine moving to the city. You raise them right and dont drop them on their head too often they will be fine.

There is more of a sense of community and place in my rural area than in any city Ive lived in, and a reasonable amount for kids to do. In a small community if your kids are up to no good, people will notice and care enough to tell you, neighbours look out for neighbours here.

iaink

Eh? My house was $100k. I had no down payment when I came here and can afford $800 a month mortgage / property tax.

Ontario is not necessarily just the GTA, theres a lot more to it than that, but even in the boonies there is crime...lots of pot growing in the woods and fields around here, and crime associated wit that. Crime and conflict I am afraid are universal issues. Only some guns are legal, but regardless of that shooting people isnt.

For the record that was 70 fatal shootings...i dont think they even bother counting the plain old gunfire now.

dbd33

What sorts of things can a teenager do independently in a place where they can't get around without driving ?

dingbat

Oh dear. It undoubtedly won't improve anything apart from your bank balance if you live mortgage free..but I guess you'll have to experience the joys of NB to understand why I and many others will say that. You may wish to consider that NB being twenty years behind (which is accurate in some ways) puts your kids at a huge disadvantage in the future job market. You are thinking in terms of them experiencing a long gone type of childhood, where kids are living hassle free, playing in the sunny corn fields and all in relative safety. It's a dream. What you have in reality are bored and poorly educated kids, who have been nowhere and done very little, as anyone who tries travelling from NB to the rest of the world will tell you. Kids in certain cheap-to-live Canadian provinces experience limited outside cultural influences, and statistically are more likely to end up into drugs because there is b-all else to do. Those who graduate Grade 12 have to move away if they want a decent University education...and when you have lived here a while you will note with concern that very few ever move back to NB. There is a reason.

iaink

So parental involvement is a BAD thing??? Id rather have to drive my kids too activities and know where they are if thats OK with you. Thats what I had to do as a kid. Besides its like a 10 minute bike ride into the small town nearby for music, hockey and other sports, and other "yoof oriented" activities...not to mention the ever popular "hanging round the Mack store".

Granted public transport is non existent, but taxis are available, and cell phones do work out here if they need to call moms taxi. Given the lower cost of living I think I can spring for a few taxi rides as and when needed if thats not convenient for whatever reason.

Personally I'm rather keen for them to move away for University, I dont rally want them living under my roof heading into their 20s, and once educated they can decide for themselves what they want to do and where they want to live.

dingbat

Pay the local lush to boot for them...

RobinHood

I agree with what you say - but I'm headed to Greater Saint John - which has a population of 125,000+ (twice the population of my home town) and a decent University. According to Tourism New Brunswick - it is also half a day from Boston and a full days drive from New York city or Montreal. I think the kids should end up city savvy.

I don't think my family will be watching out for hyperdermic needles whilst out walking in the woods as much as they are now (fortunately).