BearGlas

What an image that conjures up!

To go back to the original question:- This is a question that has been perplexing me and the missus of late. I am an immigrant here (into the UK) myself, been here since the early eighties, but am horrified with what Zanu Labour have done to this once great country and now think it is time to move on. Logically it should be Canada: English speaking, great healthcare and education, great mineral wealth - very important as resources diminish - any amount of space for agriculture - ideal as food prices increase, great civic pride and safe environment. But at the end of the day it is too logical, and the Canadians are too logical. I have good friends in Toronto and frankly I just find it soooooo boring. So for me and my family it is looking like France. I know it's not perfect but all these things are a balance. A word of warning to all would-by emigrants. Have done it once myself I can say that once you make the move there is a danger you won't be happy anywhere because in your new country you will constantly compare it to your old country. Likewise if you subsequently return home you will then compare home with the country you've just left. Having experienced life in two, or more, different countries just adds detail to the endless 'grass is greener' discussions.

Two neighbours of mine - who were both estate agents at the time - had jointly bought the property. Several years on and one of them wanted to sell out of the joint purchase. They faced the same valuation question. Being estate agents they knew that you can get all the valuations in the world but the real value of anything is only what someone will pay for it. Also being estate agents they didn't mind wasting the public's time so they put the place on the open market, with no intention of selling, and as soon as they received their first serious offer they withdrew it from the market and used that offer figure. Another story:- When our mum died my brother wanted to buy my share of the family home from me. We faced the same valuation predicament. He called in a local estate agent and had the place valued. At the time I felt it was a low value but didn't want to fall out with my brother - especially after us both just burying our mother. So I kept my mouth shut and went along with it. Valuations are very nebulous, they can so easily be under-valued, or over-valued. The result will be that one party will always think they've been done. If you want to know the real value you have to put it on the market. Whether you go through with the sale or not is another question.

Good luck to you. If you've always wanted to then you are right to do it. Just one small word of warning from someone who has moved countries before and who's partner is from another country too with the same experience: once you make this move you will find things you love and things you hate in your new country. Conversely you will be pleased to leave behind some of the bad aspects of the UK but you will also miss some of its many great points. The danger is this comparing one with the other can lead to madness. Just take it as it comes and enjoy it. I wish you well.

I grew up in the suburbs and couldn't wait to get out of them. Keep the aspidistra flying and all that. At the first chance I moved to central London and have lived here since over the last 25 years. Of course it has it problems but violent crime is not unique to the city centres; one of my friends was violently mugged in the happy tourist town of Chamonix (France) last week. I've seen more pub brawls in out-of-the-way places than I've ever seen in London. There has not been a single burglary from any flat in my block in the fifteen years I've lived in this building whereas we were staying at the parents-in-law's place in a sleepy seaside town last week and there were two break-ins and a car broken in to on their street in the short while we were there. Living here I have parks left right and centre, shops and restaurants go without saying, Eurostar is minutes away, walk to the Westend, walk to work. Save a fortune on commuting costs - more importantly save a large chunk of my life not commuting. The irony is cycling is much nicer in a city. I love cycling and do so daily but whenever I try it in the countryside I'm scared out of my wits by fast moving traffic on narrow country roads. I read an amusing article recently written by a green activist who persuaded his wife to move with him to the country so they could live the "better" life. He cycled the five miles in to his new job the first morning and he was so terrified by the traffic on his country lanes he rang his wife to collect him in the car that evening. He drove thereafter. Nah, give me London's traffic - and specifically Regent's Park - any day.

Yellow Bear, I was thinking exactly the same thing myself. Fascinating programme. I too was struck by Lawson's straight speaking - none of the current automata can talk like that now. I would also add what I found remarkable was:- 5) No safety-sick nonsense on building sites. Ministers actually allowed on site without vests, goggles and helmets. Presumably none of them died. 6) What a pleasure to watch a mature documentary that didn't repeat itself every ten minutes, had no silly re-enactments, no shaky trendy camera work, no patronising explanations, and moved at an intelligent pace. Television once had intelligent programmes, it wasn't just in my imagination and it was only 13 years ago. Panorama is unwatchable now. 7) There was much less "property porn" involved. The sums of money lost were discussed simply as percentages, there was none of that Property Ladder ogling over the figures involved. Peoples' money was their affair not something to be discussed in public.