Utopian world.

[Jock Scot]

Well there I was sat by the river,it was not raining, not too hot, no midgies, the river is full of fresh run salmon(thank goodness!), plenty of water in the river, and I was watching my three sons casting a fair line and with every chance of them catching a fish or two in very pleasant surroundings. What could be better? For me? Not much really, I would like to have a go at fishing again, one day.

Any way the thought came to me," where else in the world would I want to be?" For me the fishing, shooting, scenery and company are a must, so where? New Zealand, parts of Canada----not too keen on the winters though, parts of the USA----the heat----the cold, Chile---- great trout fishing, I know nothing about their weather though, Norway---winters again! Where, oh where would it be?

So where would you live, on this planet, in your utopia?

[Mael Coluim]

You've convinced me, Jock the perfect place I would want to be is right next to you!

[Bugbear]

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam...

I've always thought of Utopia as a state of mind, Jock, and unfortunatly it comes in short moments like you described. Or perhaps that's the only way you can know utopias: as a break of niceness from the ongoing irritations.

[beloitpiper]

Wisconsin is great, but the Pacific Northwest of the US is my kind of climate. Oh, and the Canadian Maritimes would be great, too.

[tyger]

Jock, I have wrestled with 'the question' for many years. I have come to the conclusion that there is no one best place.

Spend 2 months in Alaska fishing cold fresh water, and one gets the crave for a tarpon in warm shallow salt. Shoot perdiz in Uruguay, then yearn for harder shots on bobwhites (and hot fresh biscuits, grits, and fried quail) in Georgia.

The yearn for travel, wandering, and visiting lets one sample these delights. There is no substitute.

[Redshank]

When God created Eden, he called it Argyll.

Nuff said

[BEEDEE]

Jock - that is a most difficult question for me to answer. I've lived in New Zealand, the UK (2x), South Africa, France and the USA. In the US I've lived in California, Illinois and North Carolina. And my job took me all over the world.

Everywhere I have lived I have always found something that is special to that place whether it's trout fishing in NZ, history and heritage in the UK, the scenery and weather in the Cape, the wines and cheeses of France. Utopia for me would be that one place that combines all of these but reality is that this probably does not exist (although NZ comes close).

So my utopia is where I am, and what I make of the place that makes it unique to me.

Brian

[cessna152towser]

I love Scotland, I have been born and brought up in Scotland and I enjoy showing our overseas visitors around my homeland.
BUT
I am lonely.
My dear wife of 25 years has been left paralysed from the waist down from her most recent stroke and is now in full time residential nursing care, her long term prognosis is not good.
We have no children and my only child (a daughter from my previous marriage) has dropped out of my life since she developed bipolar disorder and now lives as a recluse.
I do not like living alone.
My mother's four uncles emigrated to Canada early in the twentieth century where they had lots of children who in turn had lots of children, so I have lots of second cousins in various provinces of Canada and a few moved on to live in warmer climates in the USA (California and Hawaii), yet my mother's and father's families died out here in Scotland, is it something in the water?
I've also made lots of new friends in Canada and the USA through xmarksthescot and my clan society.
For me, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria BC, Santa Barbera CA and Hawaii all have a lot going for them as places where I would like to live. However at my age 58 neither Canada nor USA would be likely to admit me as an immigrant unless I married one of their citizens and before that could ever be considered I'd need to have gone through the very substantial anguish of losing dear Ann, so for now I am staying put in
SCOTLAND.

[Gunnar]

I think my Utopia would be where I am now, Iceland. I think that I'm really lucky that I was born here. The climate here is great. We got cool winters but warm summers, the landscape is mind blowing and it isn't a crowded place, we are kindof isolated but not too isolated.

So, I love it! A small place, with not too many people, fantastic scenery, mild but good weather, and not too far away from the US or the continental EU.

[Jock Scot]

I think my Utopia would be where I am now, Iceland. I think that I'm really lucky that I was born here. The climate here is great. We got cool winters but warm summers, the landscape is mind blowing and it isn't a crowded place, we are kindof isolated but not too isolated.

So, I love it! A small place, with not too many people, fantastic scenery, mild but good weather, and not too far away from the US or the continental EU.

--------and the salmon fishing is exceptional, if only it was not so expensive-----.