CANADA....Roy

[Kiya]

After a long journey Friday past Roy arrived safe & well although very tired.

He had a couple of days to himself before starting work on Monday & caught up with some much needed sleep.

First day went well making it a little easier he already new a couple of the guys.

His lodgings doesn't look so bad either, nice house which looks in a nice area & only 10 mins from the work place.

He did send me a photo of the house a while back but I got these from Google maps , Roy said it doesn't look so nice just now being under snow.

I'm sure I could fit in that house some where

[Mad Dilys]

I'm glad to hear he arrived safely and is settling in - I'm sure you could settle in to that very nice house too

[Horus]

Looks great and look at that BIG sky, you should fit in a treat there Kiya, but all that housework may be a bit tiring for you

[Grandad]

Good news Koya

When you talk to Roy ask him what a house like that would cost in Canadian dollars. You will be surprised at his reply. If LLL looks in she will probably be able to give us some idea.

[Kiya]

Thanks folks

Yes it would be interesting to know prices for houses like that................Roy already mentioned some from here have set up home there & he would maybe do the same if he liked the place

I'm pretty sure he'll be looking into prices.

Housework.........if I'm lucky to get a holiday there that would be the last thing on my mind, instead I'd be looking for icebergs , whales, bears maybe oh & if there is any castles etc etc

[Mad Dilys]

Funnily enough Grandad, re your last post - I wasn't sure where the house was, but saw the name of the road which is xxxx street. That fascinated me and wondering just how many streets of that name were in Canada. On an impulse I entered the name of the street followed by Canada.............. clicked on the first entry .......... and there was the street, the prices of rental and purchase of the houses.

I was both amazed and dismayed.

Amazed at the ease and speed that I found what I consider to be if not private information, certainly one that I think should be used with discretion. Then dismayed at the intrusion that Google has in our lives.

I have been house hunting abroad albeit a while ago, Google knows this and assumes that if I'm interested in a street, I must be interested in values. I thought twice about posting this, but I wondered how the rest of you feel about your privacy and the internet?
I put xxxx for the name of the street on this post as I wonder if the tenacious Google will link me with the estate agent as I will have made more than one reference to it and I get yet more banner advertising which is edited by Google and invades my web surfing, but now linking my interest to the above area.

Am I over reacting? I certainly wasn't meaning to pry into another poster's private life and I apologise for so doing.

[Grandad]

MD, what you mention is the activity of pesky 'cookies'
I am sure that we all get fed up with those pop up banner ads, the result of the cookie following you and reminding you of things you browsed. Very little is private anymore.

[Horus]

Property prices are easily obtained, just search through any suitable website and it will tell you the last selling price for any property you request. I suppose they base the privacy on the fact that properties are usually advertised, so that information is in the public domain.

[Grandad]

The reason I mentioned property prices is that I do have some idea of comparisons with UK prices.
I would guess that the house Roy has shown would be around C$350,000 which at current exchange rate would equate to around £220,000.
This small semi-detached house down the road from me is listed at £325,000 to £350,000. (C$520,000 - C$560,000) It is probably only about half the size of Roys accommodation and I just post this for comparison. (Canadian houses are largely timber built)


I know there are big regional variations but Roys house looks very nice to me.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I did look in to E4U but I have no idea where Roy is (other than generally somewhere in Canada that has snow).

There are great regional differences in housing prices here from coast to coast and almost all houses in Canada just got a 10% BUMP UP in their assessed value (for property tax purposes).

Generally housing on the west coast is way higher than housing on the prairies and in the extreme eastern provinces. West coast housing is being driven up by buyers from Asia so much to the Gov't has instituted a 15% tax surcharge on Foreign buyers if you're trying to purchase a house in Vancouver (City of). This has pushed the Asian market to my area (the island) pushing prices even higher here.

Historically Alberta is boom or bust and housing prices are known to fluctuate widely there.

Saskatchewan is primarily agrarian (wheat fields) and it is so cold and barren (as in like 40 below requiring survival suits) there isn't much interest in living there so housing prices are relatively low compared to here.

Manitoba/Ontario/Quebec have old historic areas plus newer houses so greater selection but the markets are moving fast so housing prices are high.

Atlantic Canada - Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick (I have 2 acres waterfront there on a paved road with all utilities in place and approval for sewage and I think the assessed value is something like $14,000 now and that price has gone up considerably from when I purchased it years ago. You could not touch 2 acres here on the west coast unless you were talking minimum $300,000 to $500,000+ for raw land), Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Not sure if anybody really lives in Labrador (too barren and cold) and Newfoundland isn't far behind although in the past few years since Newfoundland acquired oil there has been an influx of people from Newfoundland returning there, re-establishing homes. Am not too sure how this has affected the price of housing there but IMO it is way less than in the rest of Canada. I also know related to Newfoundland that there have been times when Newfoundland was so poor that insurance companies would not insure houses there (as people were burning them down for the insurance $$). Not sure if that is still happening there now or not.

Does Roys coming to Canada have anything to do with the Kinder Morgan Pipeline? That is the big news here in British Columbia on the west coast as the Province has just met the 5 conditions the federal gov't imposed in order to construct the pipeline.

[Mad Dilys]

I am always interested in your posts LLL especially when you write about Canada. I was set to emigrate to Canada as a youngster, but my boss surprised me by proposing.(Marriage)

As far as I can tell as an outsider, Canada and Canadians are my kind of people.

[Kiya]

LLL....Roy is at St John's Newfoundland & has nothing to do with the pipeline as far as I know.

Looking at the house/street (Pluto Street) he is living at looks to me like new builds as you will see using Google maps/streets there at the time works going on in the street.

I'm pretty sure he'll be looking into prices of houses there & comparing to here.

[Grandad]

Good news Kiya
When you talk to Roy ask him what a house like that would cost in Canadian dollars. You will be surprised at his reply. If LLL looks in she will probably be able to give us some idea.

Thanks for your response LLL That puts things in perspective. We have similar wide variations in property values around the country.

[LovelyLadyLux]

If Roy is in Newfoundland he wouldn't have anything to do with the Kinder Morgan Pipeline as that is very specific to here where I am. The Company is actively recruiting workers now as this project is emergent. Granted it is being battled by all Environmentalists and their justified concerns. The Company, as per this mornings News, has just agreed to a double the normal size of a safety zone to help allay fears (but I doubt that is going to work). Personally I'd rather see a pipeline than huge tanker ships floating up and down the coast. IF, God forbid, a "spill" happens I think we'd have a better chance to get at it and contain it on land than us trying to get to a spill happening on the water off the shores of a totally complete remote inaccessible area (reference Exxon Valdez)

Now - back to Roy - So he is in Newfie land and with the Newfies. The land where huge glaciers break off and float past (magnificent), where snow mobiles are exclusively used to cross the terrain, survival suits a must, moose meat common and extremely delicious but a head of cabbage + carrots + ham bone boiled for hours on a stove isn't. Most Newfies are genuinely warm welcoming people who have retained the ability to pass the evening hours telling story after story of incidents that happened to them in their lives or of the past. The ability to see the minutia of the human experience and expand it verbally into an entire saga IS the people of Newfoundland.

You'll know if Roy is fitting in IF he starts referring to you as "Me Mudder", IF to make a point he starts to mutter "Bejeasus" whilst thumping the table, IF he starts referring to all his friends as "Buddy", IF the phrase "Yes my Son" comes out constantly in a very condescending fashion when he is agreeing with the speaker and IF he starts an affirmative with "Yes Bae" or "Yes Boi" (depends on local dialect).

You'll know Roy is fitting in IF he starts to prefer jumping on a snow mobile and taking off for an entire weekend to a small log cabin with no amenities so he can snow shoe the area and set traps, hunt moose or ice fish all while wearing a one piece survival suit.

You'll know Roy has really fit in IF as soon as music starts - NEWFIE MUSIC (fiddle and jigs) - he jumps to his feet wearing heavy work boots and dances the night way with his feet flying fast in rhythm to the fiddle in the middle of the living room or kitchen or anywhere he can hear the music.

Hopefully Roy will realize that Newfoundland is NOT the rest of Canada.

Historically it is thought the Vikings were the first visitors to Newfoundland (there is a bona fide site) followed by various other groups - Portugese, Spanish, French, British (not necessarily in that order) and the British actually laid claim to Newfoundland and hold it as the oldest colony the Empire owns (not sure if Queen E considers she 'owns' a colony nowadays but Newfoundland was Britains oldest colony).

Mostly Irish people settled there and developed Nfld but being as Miquelon and Saint Pierre are close and French there is a strong Francais influence in the language and naming of places. A tidbit of interest re: Newfoundland is that there are no First Nations cultures there. There are archeological indications that ancient Artic group(s) might have inhabited the area but unlike the rest of Canada where native peoples are common there were none in Newfoundland.

Newfoundland was an intensely poor area and when it joined Canada as a province the paltry benefits handed out back in the 1950ies was a major financial influx to the people there. Over the decades many many many from Newfoundland left and travelled across Canada looking for work sending pennies home as they were literally starving in place.

I'd personally hire the guys who would knock on my door having spotted a load of logs dumped in the yard or a garden in need of digging and they'd volunteer to buck, split and stack it the wood or turn your garden. It was hard manual labour but they'd gladly volunteer to do it "fer a few dollars Missus for me pocket."

The jokes concerning the "Goofy Newfies" abounded and always centered on new conveniences (ie flush toilets) that Newfies had no knowledge of or experience with.

Now Newfoundland has 'Repatriation' days and calls for "All our Sons" to return. There was a time when Newfoundland was a country of old women and young women only as all the men left in search of work.

Anyway - I can go on and on and on but I think Roy will have definite experiences there particularly if he gets himself out of the City (St Johns IS a large very MODERN city) and visits some of the smaller villages particularly 'up da great nordern peninsula' to places like "Port aux Choice" ........ He WILL have tales to tell.

[Mad Dilys]

Thank you, LLL I really enjoyed that.

[Grandad]

Thank you, LLL I really enjoyed that.

Me too LLL, you painted a vivid picture of Nfdld.

[Kiya]

A big Thank you LLL for all the info & taking the time to write up.

I'm sure Roy will be fitting in really well, he is such a laid back person & goes with the flow .

I had to laugh at "Me Mudder" I'm sure he'll be using that referring to me as soon as he hears it it will make a change from "Marge" but, that's another story

I did read on TripAdvisor the other day some in St.Johns don't to take kindly to be known as "Newfie" but, Hey some you lose some you win

As far as I know he is off work on Sat & Sun's so I do hope he gets out & about & seeing icebergs/glaciers etc etc etc & send many photos my way.

Already he has found some of the takeaways & he is using them on the way home from work, I'll have to tell him to try the Moose meat etc etc .

Fiddle & jigs not far from the like in smaller islands around Scotland.

Thanks again LLL..............I will post photos as & when I get any from Roy

[Grandad]

It really does sound as if the influence of Irish immigrants has left its mark on Newfoundland. When you mention 'fiddles and jigs' and words like "Bejeasus" they are straight from the Emerald Isle.
And in our recent history, canals, railways, industrial revolution; Irish labourers have been a mainstay of the manpower to complete these projects. So it is understandable where much of what you tell comes from.
Always interesting how long these influences last, many generations after the first immigrants arrived in a New Found Land.

So it is!

[Horus]

So it is, so it is, begorra

[Kiya]

Spoke to Roy for a couple of minutes earlier, ha! he's started already saying he stopped by the " liquor store " on the way home from work

And tomorrow he might go to watch the hockey after shopping.............he's never watched hockey in his life before