When I was fourteen, or thereabouts, I used to watch Northern Exposure late at night.  I remember lying on my belly on the living room floor, right in front of the gas fire with its large glass pebbles and the brown splodge burnt onto the glass (from where I once decided that the lit fireplace was a great place for a My Little Pony to stand), staring up at the screen as the moose walked past.  I think it was a moose, anyway.  It wasn't a My Little Pony; I could tell by the way it wasn't partially burnt on the fireplace.

Now, although the show was set in Alaska, it sparked a fierce desire in me to move to Canada.  Not sure why.  The show didn't exactly make Alaska look fun, what with the snow and one tiny bar seeming to be the only place in town anyone could go, so quite why I thought that sort of landscape one country over would be awesome, I am not sure.  Nevertheless, the idea had wriggled its way into my head.  I suppose even all that snow was bright and cheerful next to the unrelenting browns and oranges of late 80s decor, which is when the fireplace was from.  (You could life the glass pebbles off and move them around.  I still don't see why.)

A bit later, Due South came on TV.  That was a show.  Humour, friends who would do anything for one another, a half-wolf who would chase a car right across Chicago.  It didn't matter that it was set in the Windy City, or that the protagonist was clearly not an accurate representation of all Canadians (or any, probably, unless they really do learn to taste mud in Mountie school), but it still reignited my interest in Canada.

I had a similar interest in pre-Soviet Russia, but even my SciFi obsessed brain was fairly sure I wouldn't be able to get my hands on a time machine.

My interest never came to anything, partly because I have always loved Britain, and I am already here.  Plus, I hear it is really hard to get a decent cup of tea anywhere else, and the one week I went without tea is a week I am told no-one in my house wants to live through again.  Partly because they're not sure they could - live through it, that is.

Just recently, though, I have been hearing about the Canadian standards of living.  It seems, from what I am told, that the place has excellent healthcare, is very much into equal rights and has some epic scenery.  I mean, not the Lakes, but you can't have everything.  More than one kid from my school has been moved out to Canada over the last few years.  It seems to be a thing.

I am not saying I am about to spring aboard a ship and sail off to a new life in Canada, but it has crossed my mind.  I would much rather try Canada than Australia, though an ex-neighbour tells me her daughter, who has been in Oz for just over a year, loves it out there.  New Zealand sounds good, too, though I may be basing that mainly on The Almighty Johnsons.

Of course, it would mean leaving behind tea, the Lakes, British teashops (spotting a theme?), some people (though some of you live abroad a lot of the time, anyway, and the internet is how I communicate most.  Hell, some of my good friends these days are people I have only met online.), that butchers which makes the really good sausages, and my orangery.  There could be some other things, too, but I am having trouble thinking what they are.

The Earth is just so big, and the Doncaster part of it is not exactly thrilling.  Trying somewhere else out for a bit does hold a certain appeal.  We shall see.