Hi,

I'm in the final stages of relocating to Waterloo Ontario, and whilst I have visited the town before and have had the half day tour around the town by the relocation agent, who made out that waterloo was like some sort of hybrid cross breed between a high tech city coupled with the rural charm of the darling buds of may, I'd like to get the low down from someone who's actually lived there, does anyone out there in the ether have any pearls of wisdom about Waterloo that they'd like to share?

Regards

Mark

It's more than "all that" it's also Kitchener!

How much more British one get!

Er, renaming it from "Berlin" didn't make the German language any less common there.

London, ON?

<shudders>

I know - that's the irony!

Especially when they still have Oktoberfest!

OK - my sister lived there for a few years. She seemed to enjoy it. Her hubby commuted to Toronto everyday. I don't think he enjoyed that.

I suppose it's high tech because RIM are based there. Not sure about the darling buds of may. Waterloo does have some nice countryside, but I doubt you'll find anything in Canada that can really be compared to the Kent countryside.

Hi Mark,

I lived in Kitchener Waterloo for almost 20 years before emigrating to Australia. I love my home town.... it is big enough without the big feel of Toronto. I previously lived in Cambridge for almost 10 years prior to that.

The farmers market in Waterloo is fantastic... used to go every Saturday morning, for fresh veg and fruit. Lots of big box stores in the area as well.

Also a nice 5 min drive out of the city and you are in mennonite country (St Jacobs, St. Clements, Elmira Etc)... there are some fanstatic country restaurants which serve authentic german style meals.

Also Octoberfest... 2nd largest outside of Munich... you have to experience it ast least once.

I loved living in Kitchener/Waterloo... one hour to Toronto, one hour to London and one and bit hours to Niagara. Nice and Central to everything.

If you need more info on the area please feel free to PM me.

Cheers

Karen

I miss the Kent country side.

We made our Faustian pact with the devil. In exchange for a country rich in culture and history, we got a walk in closet and an on-suite bathroom. How many people in Kent have those I wonder?

How many people in Canada have them, I wonder?

These days? Probably quite a few

Quite a few I would hope! My present house in England has got a couple of en-suite bedrooms and you certainly could walk into the wardrobes if you wanted although to be fair it would provide no extra utility as they are only 2' 6" deep.

I appreciate that houses are bigger, cheaper and nicer in Canada (Although they are made out of wood and they only supply electricity in half rations.) but you make it sound like we're all still flinging the chamber pots out the window whilst shouting gaurd-a-loo

I suspect the point is more that moving to Canada usually involves exchanging the delights of the english countryside and for most of us, smaller houses, for the different delights of the Canadian countryside* and larger houses. The larger house thing has to be the number one benefit for most immigrants IMHO.

* F'r example, Newfoundland is ruggedly beautiful in a very differnet way to the Suffolk or Norfolk countryside I grew up in. During my recent visit back I was amazed at the height of trees. Anything over 20ft here is a rarity due to poor soil, lots of wind and ice storms in the winter.

Houses in Kent are very expensive (at least the decent parts anyway), so you're unlikely to get en-suite etc, unless you are paying quite a bit for the house.

Actually I think the bathrooms in UK are far better than those in Canada. England has 4'' waste where Canada only has 3". In England you have to fit a shut off valve on every tap. And shower traps here are just rubbish compared to the ones used in the UK.