Geordielass

thanks Almost Canadian, I dont take it too seriously what people say, infact my Emigrate magazine arrived today and there is a section on Calgary and how good it is, so there must be something about the place. I like City, but I like small town too and a sense of belonging to a community...its the people that make it ,not picture postcard stuff, sometimes thats too quiet!!!

Geordielass

Almost Canadian, I forgot to ask whats the time difference between us?

ann m

We're 7 hours behind you - so good morning !

Sam-in-Okotoks

Hi Lynne
I do know of a couple who have just arrived here with this company and are renting so you might be O.K.
To be honest my advice would be rent as the exchange rate is so against you at the moment. I also think it is good that this company like to see the whole family. That way there are no surprises and everybody including the kids get to ask questions. Sam

Geordielass

thanks Sam, I dont see what the problem is about renting our house out in the UK as we have funds to support ourselves. Like I just said to kb33 we could sell our house and payback the mortgage and still have the same amount hyperthetically speaking....if thats the right word haha!!! we still have ties to the UK as long as we have family here so why do we need to sell up?

Geordielass

WAKEY WAKEY TO YOU TOO!!!!

ann m

(I can't see how an employer would 'require' you to buy a house at this end - and it's none of their business if your rent here, or if you have a property overseas anyway. Sorry, not stirring . They are probably just putting the suggestion out there, so as to ensure you know they want you to be serious)

Geordielass

Hi Ann M, they like you to cut all ties with the UK by selling your house but I agree with you they have no right, we could want to keep the house as an investment for our daughter, and its not as we are coming to freeload, we have spondoolicks (money)!!! How would they know anyway if we sold or not, if we were still coming to Canada with money

Getting There

I'm with Ann M. We appreciate that the company wants to see that you are committed but even suggesting/hinting at selling a property when it may not be your wish to do so is inappropriate.

Eamonn & Janet.

Geordielass

and.....whats to say they dont lay OH off with the recession, its happening to a friend of mine in OZ and it means their visa is no good so there are coming back. I know that there are still jobs in Canada...but you see where im going....our life in their hands!!

Getting There

Absolutely. Cast your net wider in terms of an employment search. You should do that anyway but especially so if this company maintains that line. Even if they say "OK, we don't mind if you rent for now", you don't really want that hanging over you if the downtown ends up in them making nonsense judgements about who is most committed to their cause and who they can let go. Coming here on a "might be OK" basis, is no basis to come here at all, in our view.

Eamonn & Janet.

Geordielass

WOW!!! Ive just been on your blogspot and what fantastic photos you have, they are amazing and bring back happy memories of our time in BC, with the colour of the trees and the magnificent scenery. I think if we do come over Molly would love all the halloween stuff and those pumpkins..well lets just say mine is rubbish in comparison, they go for it bigtime dont they? I think there might only be 2 companies in Calgary that do OH type of work (fuel tanker driver) we dont want to go for long haul trucking....but I will keep digging.

I would love to spend Christmas like you did with the sleigh ride etc...ammmaaazzing

Lychee

It's not that Calgary is ugly, it's that it doesn't have any of the natural scenery to make it beautiful. If you think about it, Vancouver, Whistler, and the towns and cities on Vancouver Island are nothing to write home about - it's the scenery that makes them beautiful. Calgary is simply not a scenic city.

Like all western Canadian cities, Calgary is a very new city, so all of its architecture is modern and practical - there is certainly less emphasis on aesthetic infrastructure! If historic architecture was important to you of course, you probably wouldn't move to Canada in the first place (or you'd settle somewhere in Quebec!)

Saying that, I've always found that you can find realistic photo portrayals of any city in Canada on the Skyscraperpage website, if you really want to have a look before doing a recci.

For what it's worth, here are some recent photo submissions of Calgary that I've found on that site. So you can see for yourself whether it's ugly, decent, or downright beautiful!

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=163183
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=122093
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=163793
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=163725

Getting There

Hi lynneflinn,

Thank you for the kind words re the blog. It's fun to do. The scenery here is indeed incredible and even photographic neanderthals like us seem to be able to do a decent job of capturing it. When you've got good material to work with, it's easy!

Halloween is fabulous here, at least down our way in Okotoks. At a guess, we would say we had 150-200 children come to the door last Halloween, all dressed in fantastic costume and accompanied by parents or guardians, also (often) dressed for the festivities. The degree of community participation is great and the behaviour of the children was impeccable, which was nice to see.

The sleigh ride at Lake Louise...cold...but magical.

Best wishes with moving things along with either of the potential employers. Let us know if we can help in any way.

Eamonn & Janet.

ann m

Hi - I agree with other posters. How you position yourself in Canada is no-one else's business really. I can understand their thinking behind you cutting your ties - but what guarantees do they offer you in return ? A 5 year contract? I think not !