Bunnydog

The charity cards are already being sold in the cathedral, not a huge selection but ok. Cant find many charity cards in the regular shops.... partic WHSmith.

Wok this Way at Walkley/Commonside is fantastic. Been to alot of chinese take aways in my time, but this one has really fresh ingredients, all cooked in front of you. No stodge or frozen/limp veggies in sight. The range of sauces - schezuan, black bean, satay, kung po etc are all good.

I did exactly what you are thinking of doing but I did it 7 years ago at age 30 and I came back to Sheffield last year. We moved to Toronto, did not know anyone - sold our house here, quit jobs and went! It was a fantastic experience and we settled well, it took a long time to find a window to come back as the longer you stay the more roots you put down eg selling house, giving up job, friends, lifestyle.... The cost of living is less in Canada, most things just cost less and the salaries are comparable to here. ONe thing I would say about finding a job is that Canadians are quite narrow minded when it comes to experience, and they want you to have the specific experience they want & are not easily open to changes in career etc. Despite having a lot of immigration it is often difficult for immigrants to find rewarding work in their chosen fields just because they dont have Canadian experience. They do not recognise alot of international qualifications. You need to become an expert job seeker, get lots of professional advice and do lots of research, and I will be completely honest here - your age may not help. I worked through agencies when I first got there, it helped me suss out how the working environment works over there. There are many subtle differences. I loved the diversity of life there which taught me alot- people from all over the world, so many cultures, we dont get that in Sheffield. but there were reasons we came back; poor vacation time from work, Toronto was very cold in winter and scorching in summer (u wont have that in Vancouver), lack of history/culture, terrible music/tv/film (sorry Canadians), limited travel options - we did alot of travelling thru US & Canada but with poor vacation allowances (10 days per yr is common), long distances & expensive flight prices we could not do any more travelling for long weekends, we had been everywhere! Here Europe is on your doorstep and we dont appreciate it enough. also Canadians are very polite on the surface but once you get past that they are like everyone else - sometime it can be seen as quite a 'bland' culture with everyone being polite and afraid to say what they really mean, particularly in a work environment. Of course I am generalising, I love and miss the place! Sometimes when I have a bad day I wonder why I ever came back, but there are some things that you will only discover about a culture by living there for several years and putting roots down. You do not find out these things on holiday. Banking and finance can be difficult for immigrants but thats another story..... I would be happy to offer any other advice, you are welcome to pm me.

La Mancha is tapas, its not Mexican. K Pasa on West St has some mexican style food, but its not a trad mexican. I am looking for a good mexican too! The one in West One is expensive & bit of a rip off I thought. There used to be one at bottom of moor which was good (Gringos?), dont know if its there anymore. Chiquitos at Centretainment does reasonable Tex-mex food, its part of a big chain though.

The Council provide poo bins in Crookes Valley Park already. They are well used and emptied very regularly which suggests to me that the Council are aware that some parks have more dogs than others. Which other parks have poo bins? I think those parks are the ones that we have a better chance of getting a dog park in. It would help both the dog poo problem & dogs off lead issue on the regular paths in the park wouldnt it? I think its a good point that people would be willing to pay in some way for the upkeep, but dont know how that could be managed. Although it seems this issue has been raised in the past, I will write to the Council to put a full case forward with suggestions, and see what happens. If anyone has any other good ideas, let me know and I will include them in the letter.

Wondered if anyone knew of an enclosed dog park in Sheffield - where it is gated off specially for dogs? I have spoken to quite a few dog owners whilst on dog walks, and it seems there is quite a bit of interest in this. It would be great to have a place where the dogs could run around safely, play with each other, socialise etc. I never let my dog off the lead in the park as she can get distracted & there is so much traffic in the city, I dont feel it is safe. Other people have told me the same thing. It would be a great way of meeting other dog owners too. There are many parks in Sheffield that could accomodate this & it would not take much set up/maintenance costs - just a fenced area with a gate (30'x30' would probably be ok?), maybe some sand, a few seats and a poo bin. Does anyone know if this has been raised with the Council/Parks Dept before? I feel a letter to the Council coming on.... Is this a mad idea or does anyone have interest in something like this?

Why does anyone need to spend £1000 or more on Christmas? things are getting out of hand, people put alot of pressure on themselves instead of keeping things a bit simpler. That is ALOT of money even if you have 2 children. I feel for those people who lost the money of course, it is yet another example of people on a low income having to pay over the odds for savings/goods/services.

In 1987 I was a Saturday girl in a well known bookstore. It was Christmas eve, big guy comes in wearing black shades and buys a load of art/photography/fashion hardback coffee table type books. I thought he looked strange but only realised who he was when I was processing his Access card (remember them?) - Phil Oakey. He wished me Merry Christmas. He stood about 3 foot taller than everyone else in the queue.

Collins has definitely closed due to retirement, nothing to do with business going down hill. Please just no more charity shops or fast (grubby) food outlets. A nice deli would be good, an Italian bakery or even a greengrocers - that one near Oxfam is not that great. But what do I know, I will be crying next week when that nail salon/tanning centre goes in..... I think the shops in Broomhill are of a good variety, eclectic. But the fast food outlets have taken over and things look a bit scruffy. And why has KFC been empty for so long?

Butlers Balti every time. Once you have been there, you will compare every other Indian meal you have with Butlers, you just cant help it. There are some decent curries to be had in a few of the restaurants mentioned, but they are on a different scale to Butlers. Everything is freshly prepared, fantastic attention to the perfect ingredients and flavours, fantastic and consistent quality. Been going there for 10 years. I lived abroad for 5 years and would always go there on my visits back to here to see family. If you havent been, GO NOW!

Cobden View pub at Crookes does a music quiz on a Sunday, tuesday its general knowledge.

I am constantly surprised by the amount of cars that students have these days. It has increased 10x over the last 15 years. There are many houses of 6+ student in Broomhill with at least 4 cars between them. Its a hard idea to chew.... but the bottom line is that cities these days cannot cope with this. Broomhill roads were just not designed for this, and these parking schemes as painful as they are, are a step in re-educating people in to thinking that they CANNOT continue to bring cars in to a city centre or no-one will be going anywhere, there is not a finite amount of space in Broomhill/Crookesmoor. Its just unfortunate that all the major hospitals and the major university buildings are all in the same area. I wont moan about the buses/trams because in this area they are fairly frequent, but if we can please reduce the prices, £1.30 each to go from fulwood to Broomhill??????.... taxis are often cheaper.

If you have not got a solution to your parking problem yet, there is a drive available in Broomhill you could park on for the 3 days per week (paying the going rate), but I will need to confirm it. I wanted to pm you but I have only just joined and dont have the 5 posts yet, can you pm me instead?

Does anyone know anything about this vets practice? I just moved back to Sheffield and went to take a look at their new place on Ecclesall Rd. It is all shiny and new and the lady seemed real helpful. But my old vet seems to think it sounds dodgy because its a chain of vets... just wanting to get registered with a good vet asap. Anyone have any advice on this or other vets central/west located? Thanks.