New to forum

[slwebb]

Hello fellow Expats,

I'm new to this forum and thought I'd intorduce myself. My name is Shelley and I use to live in Toronto and now live in SE London. I moved here about 3 1/2 years ago now as my husband is British.

I found this site while looking up places to buy Canadian food items here in the UK.

I thought I'd join up as I don't have any Canadian contact here in the UK.
Hope to get to know so of you guys more.....

Your Fellow Expat,

[oohmercyme]

Welcome Shelley!

You are from TO too eh? How would you compare living in Toronto to living in London? I dont care for the big city much. I work downtown, but I live in HighPark/Roncesvalles Village and its so quiet and peaceful there. I am hoping a can find a similiar community in Bexley when I move.

Lori

[slwebb]

Lori,

Living in London is certainly differnt than living in Toronto. The first thing is the space. Houses are much closer together here and not nearly as big as back home. Also not nearly as much storage spaces in the houses as well.

However, because it is such a big city there are lots of different areas to London. Where I live in the SE it's mostly residencal area and we live on a nice quiet street. The further out of the city you get the less hectic it is. I think Bexley will be more of the type of thing your looking for. Bromley is also very nice, but very expensive.

London has lots of green spaces - comunity parks and commons. Greenwich park is very nice. Espically if you don't mind hills. Oh yeah, that's another thing London is much more hilly than Toronto. Toronto is very flat compared with London.

Another problem I had at first is getting around. Unlike Toronto, the streets are not on a grid pattern. The streets bend and curve all over the place and are constanly changing name. Makes it very easy to get lost. My best advice to you is to buy an A-Z map. I don't go anywhere without consulting mine first. Even the Londoners carry them with them. The transport system over here is much more comprensive than Toronto. There undergound system makes the Toronto subway look like a toy.

A couple of good sites to help you get around once you get here are:

Transport for London journey planner
http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/index.htm

Nation Rail Enquiries
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/planmyjou ... 0047117034

Streetmap UK
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/

Also I found a website that listed a few guest houses in Bexley
http://www.bexley.gov.uk/visiting/hotelintro.html

Hope all this information helps.