Try Granville Island market - the butchers there have fresh lamb.

With you on the bacon though. We have tried all sorts of weird varieties masquerading as 'back bacon', 'British bacon' etc and none of comes close to something you'd get in Farmfoods nevermind Tesco Finest or heaven forbid an actual butchers.

Oh well small price to pay for life here

likes your new avater

is that what coming back to B.C has done to you ( Avater of course )

Warning about fatty bacon, don't put it on the BBQ! - My wife tried bacon rolls on the BBQ like we used to with the old Danish bacon. Bad idea, all that fat, it took me over 5 minutes to put it out with the fire extinguisher, soon as I stopped it flared up again and we nearly lost the garage to boot. Never seen anything like it, talk about great balls of fire.

We do BBQ our thanksgiving turkey and Christmas turkey though with greater success. Only takes 2-3 hours half the time of an oven and it tastes way better.

It's the humidity. It makes me mouldy.

Oh give me a break!

hey thanx for the outlook - I am moving out to Canada next week to Ontario - and would like to visit Vancouver sometime - maybe we can do swops one day! I can keep you post on what goes on here and visa v. I have been in and out of Ontario with my family now for about 5 years home to Uk then back again geese!! But its nice to hear your positive news!! One day I will get to ski there maybe!! J.x

Nope, nothing pre-arranged! Turned up, checked Craigslist (which lets you filter for dogs and cats) and called a few up!! Two dogs is the limit you are allowed to own(!) with dog licensing in Burnaby - not sure about the rest of Canada... I think you're allowed an unlimited number of cats though

Many of the landlords are pet owners themselves and so they don't have any issue with you having pets. Those without are less keen, although we were frequently told it's something they would "budge" on. If you're looking for Vancouver check out Sunstar Realty (the agents we used) on Kingsway and Rupert St. They were extremely helpful and their contracts are prepared inline with BC rental law. We've been warned by several Canadians that there are some unscrupulous landlords with some very tenuous contracts!

On the whole most people seem pet friendly although dog parks were a real shock for us. Unlike the UK where you can virtually let your dog wander off leash anywhere (except fenced playgrounds - kynda fair enough!) they don't allow dogs "off leash" in many of the parks! Some parks have off leash areas though these are typically small (and I do mean small!) fenced enclosures with no grass - either very very dusty when dry or muddy when wet. The area is shared with LOTS of dogs all running and causing chaos. Just as in the UK you get the odd few Canadians who haven't bothered to train their dog and who leave it to run and cause chaos or jump up at others and generally cause a nuisance. I was personally involved in helping to separate two dogs who were fighting and got caught in one another's collars! Both dogs (neither of them Mylo - fortunately!) sustained minor injuries which could easily have been avoided if the owners had control in the first place! Anyway - dog parks were a real let down - they are only located in the poorer quality parks and whilst water and poop bags are provided free of charge, it really isn't sufficient to let a big dog run around and excerise properly. Plus you'll probably need to bath him/her when you get them home.

We've since found a strictly "on leash" field in Coquitlam just off Lougheed on King Edward where owners all admit to letting their dogs off leash to run. It seems to be tollerated since the field isn't heavily utilised. Obviously it's important that owner's clear up their dogs waste (as they should!) to maintain this privilege...

Oh - one more thing. Dog licences (remember maximum of two!) are cheaper (roughly half price $25 instead of $50 per annum) if the dog is neutered. Mylo is, but you need a certificate from the vet which I don't think they issue as standard in the UK. Many UK owners who have flown dogs out have had to request supporting letters from their vets in order to obtain the license. It is an offence to have a dog on or off leash in public without a licence - fine I think is $200. You can get your dog licence from City Hall or from any registered vet in the area.

Wow - that was longer than expected. Hope some of the information is helpful.

Take care
Jase, Heth and Mylo
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Thanks so much for all the info. Its all really usefull stuff.
Out of interest, if you had nothing pre arranged then where did you stay while you were organising your let. Did you find a hotel that would let you stay with Mylo?

I think we'll struggle to find anyone who would let our tribe stay there!!!!

Their are lots of pet friendly hotels in BC, sorry dont have any links, if you type in pet friendly hotels .ca and search should bring plenty up
Try searching the area you are going to ca brings up California

That will do for me next time i get asked

hello
we`ve been here since nov 07 and live near safeway on north road, we have a few friends in the area, feel free to email us
sim`n lisa

When you say the banking system is archaic compared to the UK - what kinds of things do you have over there that we don't have here? I am just interested - it will probably tick me off when I find out, but still!!

And as to dogs off leash. I tend to disagree with you. I have my dog in agility but the trainer who has a Doberman also trains obedience and its his opinion that although a person may THINK they have 100 percent control of a dog, if something odd happens - no dog can be trusted 100 percent if a rabbit runs across his path or if, as happened to a couple in my agility class, a little dog gets stroppy with a big dog.

This couple have papillons and they are rather yappy. A couple of years ago the husband was walking his dogs in a park near their home. The little dogs were on the leash; they rushed and yapped towards two German Shepherds that were off leash - obviously the owner thought he had control, but the Shepherds attacked the two little dogs. My friends had a big vet bill - both dogs got bitten and of course by the time they had attended to the dogs - the owner of the Shepherds was long gone.

Anyway Rick (the trainer) lives in the country but although he mostly runs his Dobe off leash out there, he says he still wouldn't trust him 100 percent if something untoward happened - and his dog is very well trained.

So, I am in total agreement with dogs being walked on leash.

And as to bacon. My husband has a butcher shop and he has back bacon, but the rest of us don't like it! We like that streaky stuff cooked up to a crisp!! Yumm!

And if you like a manual shift car, why don't you buy one. I am the only one in my family with an automatic. My husband and both sons have standards. I can drive one, but I am lazy - I like an automatic.

I miss:

- phone authorisations of amounts over my Switch (Interac equiv.) limit
- freeform transfers online to any person who banks with any UK bank
- being trusted to fill in my own bank details for deposits/direct debits instead of having to give a voided cheque
- free banking
- free cheques (not that I ever used them in the UK since the early 1990s but I seem to whizz through them here!)
- ability to use debit card online
- can't seem to deposit cheques for other people in their accounts


What I prefer about Canada:

- 6 dollar instant bankers drafts, no fuss
- named banker, personal tel. no. given
- no name on my Interac/ATM card meaning I could get a new one instantly if it was lost or stolen
- freephone number for Canadian customers from the UK

The Canadian/peameal/back bacon they do sell in Safeways. To me it's more like gammon than the back bacon we had in UK. I don't care for it. The streaky stuff is supposed to be cooked until it's brittle, and is OK if you eat it with your fingers or put it in a sandwich. You can't stick a fork into it without it disintegrating.

My hubby's a bacon lover and he gets his from a "Scottish butcher" in Calgary. If you Google "Scottish Butchers" in your area you can probably find one near you if you are desperate for "real bacon". I still don't think it's as nice as I remember from the UK, but it's not something I worry about too much!

We drink more fruit juices here than we used to, and I use the frozen concentrates a lot ... make em up in a 2 litre jug in the fridge.