Been there. Done that. Hope to do it again.

That said, the Beach is not without its problems as a place to live. Firstly, it's a bit of an anglo-Irish ghetto, one tends to be waiting on by Arsenal supporters and so has to suppress the urge to tip. This ethnicity makes for ready availability of proper chocolate, fish and chips and other items lamented on this forum but it does sometimes feel as if one has moved to a dirtier, a dirtier where? West Hampstead perhaps, somewhere up itself, somewhere one thinks of as really being Kilburn.

Then there are the day visitors, a house with parking is essential, getting to or from the parking can be a challenge, especially if blocked in, or out. There are many restaurants and bars but one does well to stick to a few so as to have a chance of getting served on sunny or festival days. Yesterday was mildly sunny, Woodbine to Lee along Queen took me half an hour in a car, it would be five minutes on foot if only one could leave the car somewhere. Note that public transit is by tram, along the same jammed roads. It's not fast.

There are all manner of facilities for children, alternative schools, Mont-wossit schools, pottery and dance classes. This, alas, tends to people bringing children and all their attendant gubbins into the neighbourhood. Competitive parenting is a local activity, as is competitive dog ownership, one simply must have a stroller costing thousands of dollars offering a pretence of being somehow sporty. One should tie a malti-goldie-Aussie-poo to it.

Then there's the housing stock. The area was original a resort for residents of Toronto and many of the house were built by the owners as cabins for summer use. Ill fitting windows and doors are usual. Water pressure such that it's quicker to go to the store for bottled water than to fill a kettle is common. Taking a shower in the beach is, for the English, a drip down memory lane. There's a hill behind the Beach. The better properties are those at the bottom, near the water, but these are prone to flooding (also subsidence but this much is obvious to even a drunken eye). Given Toronto's failing sewer system, the poorer of us living up the hill can take childish delight in literally pissing into the basements of the rich at the bottom. And then there are the termites. I note that this week there's a house on mls at approximately one third of the expected price. It's gnawed.

Still, it beats life on the 400 series highways.

We visited the beaches on a trip here in 2003, and I really liked it. We were planning our move over here, and I tried to convince my wife that we should live there. I agree with the comparison of Kilburn. I thought it reminded me of Camden a little.

Instead I capitulated and we moved to Oakville instead. My wife is Canadian and grew up in Oakville. As they say, happy wife, easy life.

I trust that your wife is not the lovely, 'local' beauty found in your avatar?

No. That is a picture of me though. I can't reveal the identity of the lovely lady. It would be inappropriate of me. Are you local by the way?

Your waxing lyrical about the beauty of Ongar reminds me of my happy year and a bit living and working in Walthamstow ("the longest single-street market in Europe, dontchaknow"). I was frequently amused by the fact that when they made it big, the members of E17 (except that Brian Harvey, he stayed near his Nan's flat) all moved from the delights of an East London postcode to find a better life in..... Chigwell. A lad from the estate they grew up in, who worked with me, got far too upset about this. "Band should change its f***in' name to f***in' IG4, really, innit. Ponces."

Never did get to visit Ongar station, though - a bit too far out of town for me. I was definitively a Victoria Line user, only chancing the uncharted territories of the Central Line if the Victoria was closed and I could get a bus up from Leyton or back from Snaresbrook. The Hainault branch might as well have had a "here be Dragons" sign.

I did once get the Piccadilly line to Aldwych before it closed, though. If I'd known how short a walk it was from Holborn I'd never have bothered, but I was a country bumpkin and didn't know any better.

I once had to go to Theydon Bois, and made a fool of myself by using the French pronunciation. Well, it's just part of La Forete d'Epping, innit?

"Faydon boize" innit?

Tsk! Bloody savages.

What exactly is the french pronunciation of Theydon?

<Which I've never heard of. I feel very provincial. And grateful>.

Should we start a separate thread in honour of the eastern portion of the central line. I'd no idea how dear it is to so many of us.

Just say it with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders and a Gauloises cough.

I'm quite fond of the Met Line.

I can do that. Pas de <hack> probleme.

Quite phlegmatic

Not local to Oakville...but was relatively local to Hadfield where League of Gentlemen was filmed.