Lychee

I think in the UK, rural locations are still very much entrenched in urban culture of convenience, because even though you may be physically rural in your immediate surroundings, you're still only a very short distance away from 65 million other people, and all the infrastructure that can only exist with such a population density (sophisticated networks of public transit, diversity of retail/food products, a diversity of lifestyles, economies, arts, big cosmopolitan cities, etc).

By comparison Canada, you have 35 million people spread across a vast geographical location - continental in size. What's available to you immediately nearby is much more limited. You don't have 65 million people immediately nearby. You're lucky if you have 2 million people nearby. Halifax, for example, is the big city of Nova Scotia with 375,000 people... the entire province has less than 1 million people. We're talking a type of low population density that people in the UK are completely unaccustomed to.

There are only a handful of places in Canada with high population densities - the Lower Mainland of BC, Montreal Island, and Southern Ontario come to mind. Outside of these pockets of population density, if you choose to live a rural life, the culture of the community is more pioneering and self-sufficient. Canada's population is too small and it's spread out too much to offer the same otherwise.

Many British Expats take this population density for granted, I think. Take somebody used to living entrenched in the UK's urban convenience and throw them in a rural location where self-sufficiency, function over form, and pioneer lifestyles are the norm, and you get culture shock... and if they don't learn to accept this way of life, they ultimately resent it.

Southern Ontario is very much one of the most urban regions in Canada, and the infrastructure and high population density there is probably what makes it more similar to the UK.

Shard

Excellent post. As you say, two very different versions of "rural".

DandNHill

Agree 100%. In the UK you get the "prettiness" of rural but the convenience of urban all within an easy commute.
While living in NS we wouldn't think twice about driving all the way to Halifax from Yarmouth which was a 700km round trip... In the UK we wouldn't even consider that unless it was for a long weekend or even a weeks holiday!!

Novocastrian

Alternatively, two very different versions of a first world country.

But +1 on a good post by Lychee.

Rosie Lee

Completly agree with Lychees comments. In UK you have "rural", in Canada you have "Back country," and the two have no comparison to the other.
Everywhere changes over the years. When I first visited Vancouver over 20 years ago, it was a very different prospect than it is now IMHO. The UK too has changed, (not for the better). I think it matters where you are though. Some places fluctuate far more than others. 2 years ago we were still in England, in a Rural community that hadn't changed in the 10 years that I knew it, a strong feeling of belonging, tradition and permanence.
And before Novo or Oink says something witty, yes it's Middle England, but I love it!

Rosie Lee

Welcome Oilengineer. Interesting post, but I would beware of building somewhere up as your Shangri la, as you may be up for a fall. I believe you may feel the lack of a nationally recognized religion, which the UK still has.
Last Christmas was our first here, and when my daughter realized that there wasn't going to be a school nativity or alike, she ( a 9 year old) asked the head why. The answer was because they didn't want to upset anyone!!
This year again there was nothing.

Shard

Silly, isn't it. If the celebration is Christmas, there's no harm in doing a nativity play. Everyone enjoys it and people will in fact get upset by it's absence.

oliverjude

Funny you said that. I developed anxiety after a year of being here. 4 1/2 years later and it's still there. Worse so now as I really want to go back home and be English again. Even if it means moving back into our tiny 3 up 2 down in the south east and traffic.

rivingtonpike

That's a real shame. Do you think the anxiety is a result of Canada or would it have happened anyway? Where are you? What do you think has caused it?

Shard

+1

Are you awaiting citizenship and the planning a return OJ?

Sally Redux

The way it was explained to me is that if you have a predisposition to depression/anxiety, a stressful event can trigger it.

Sally Redux

Space is overrated. I think the large empty spaces in the US actually added to my own anxiety.

Novocastrian

Oh, I know. When I lived near LA I was terrified to drive further east than Riverside because I was quite sure the Yetis would get me.

Sally? Are you OK?

Sally Redux

I'm good - in Brum but with American kids.

Where are you?

Novocastrian

Still where it says I am. The house here is going on the market on Tuesday and I give the last lecture of my last semester on Wednesday.

Interesting times. We'll be buggering off back to the EU in July (whether or not the house here has sold by then). F**k it.