I've been thinking of this for a while - a way for us to get a picture of where other members live. Just indicate how far you live from the various items - best guess is fine. If anyone can think of any other items to add to the list, feel free.

Professional ballet company
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger...
Working farm
Seat of a national government
Factory employing more than fifty people
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?)
Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide
Salt water
Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map)
Major penitentiary

I'll start:

Ballet company - 200 kms
Predator habitat - black bear, about 150 kms
Working farm - 2 or 3 km
Seat of gov't - Ottawa, around 3000 kms
Factory - probably about 200 kms
Prehistoric ruin - Cree medicine wheel, 300 kms
Oil rig - 2 or 3 kms
Restaurant - Probably Chicago, about 2000 kms
Salt water - Pacific Ocean, about 1000 kms
Mountain range - Rockies, about 500 kms
Jail - about 200 kms

I'll put mine in terms of time if that's ok - it makes more sense to me

Ballet company - I am assuming there is one in the city I love, so probably 20 mins
Predator habitat - we mainly have small predators in Australia so I probably live about 30 seconds from the next redback spider bite!
Working farm - probably about 20-30 mins
Seat of gov't - Canberra - about 4 hours by plane
Factory - about 5 mins
Prehistoric ruin - I don't think there are any in Australia?
Oil rig - about 3 hours by small plane ride (plus a helicopter ride)
Restaurant - No Michelin guide for Australia as far as I am aware so probably a loooong way away!
Salt water - about 30 mins from Indian Ocean
Mountain range - the Snowy Mountains are on the east coast about 4 hour plane trip
Jail - about 20-30 mins
Heart of the nearest major city - about 20 mins (depending on traffic!)

I will do mine in kilometres, so stand by for some big numbers.


Professional ballet company - At a guess, about 20 kms
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger...- As Lones said, there are spiders and snakes all over. Probably dozens within a km of me. Bears, tigers, etc in the zoo- 30kms, sharks, in the Pacific Ocean, 35 kms
Working farm- 10kms
Seat of a national government- Canberra, 320 kms
Factory employing more than fifty people- less than 1 km
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?)- Not sure. Perhaps Papua New Guinea, about 3,000 kms
Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power- Wind farms, near Goulburn, 150kms. Power stations- several within 100 kms
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide- None in Australia, so Hong Kong- 7,000 kms
Salt water- Parramatta River, only a few metres away- my work site backs onto the river
Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map)- Blue Mountains, part of the Great Dividing Range, are 30kms west of me.
Major penitentiary- 10 kms

Professional ballet company - if there is one in Perth, around 300 km
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger...snakes.. a couple of hundred metres, I hope !
Working farm - it's where I live
Seat of a national government -Canberra - 3 hours drive, then 5 hours by plane.
Factory employing more than fifty people - about 100km
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?) - there are two spots on my farm that predate European settlement, a fish trap & an ochre pit
Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power - windfarm @ Mt Barker 60 km away
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide - heaven knows - I don't !
Salt water - 100km
Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map) - Stirling Ranges about an hour away - they are not listed as "--- Mountains", but as Stirling Ranges.
Major penitentiary - Albany, 120km

Interesting thread!

Professional ballet company: Adelaide 950kms
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger...: I'll go with snakes which are right here probably uner my house
Working farm: am on one
Seat of a national government: 900kms Canberra
Factory employing more than fifty people: 600kms Dubbo
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?): I hope Aboriginal history would fit in here, I'm not sure what 'age' they fit into :p - there are some cave paintings within a hundred ks of here.
Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power: ummm, am not entirely sure. There are windfarms on the way to Adelaide - maybe 400kms from here.
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide: I'll steal Ozzz's answer!
Salt water: Actually have salt lakes on our property - 8kms. Ocean salt water is about 900kms
Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map): 822kms Blue Mountains
Major penitentiary: There's a little one in Broken Hill, 250kms otherwise Bathurst has a big one and is 750kms

Oh Gosh, you people live in such huge places!
Professional ballet company Hong Kong Ballet maybe 20 miles
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger...100 miles I guess as we dont have any and the nearest likely spot is China.
Working farm 100 yards (chickens and ducks)
Seat of a national government 20 miles to Central HK
Factory employing more than fifty people 5 miles, Shum Zhen, just over the Chinese border.
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?)China again, maybe 100 miles.
Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power. About 5 miles offshore to the southeast of HK is a new windfarm.
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide Lots in the Centre of Hk maybe 20 miles

Salt water. Tai Po Estuary, about 10 miles
Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map).Behind my house, The Pak Sin Range
Major penitentiary Stanley Prison about 25 miles.

Professional ballet company: Madrid 450kms
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger... We could say that in the Mediterranean there are some sharks so less than a 1 km, otherwise no wild animals in this part of Spain, closest bear population 800kms
Working farm 5kms
Seat of a national government: Madrid 450 kms
Factory employing more than fifty people 60kms
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?)Altamira Caves, in Northern Spain 800kms away.
Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power. About 30kms we can find the first windfarm.
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide: Marbella 10kms away with 2 stars
Salt water. Mediterranean sea, less than 1km
Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map).Sierra Nevada range in Granada 130kms
Major penitentiary: Alhaurin Prison about 75kms.

Professional ballet company - Royal Ballet (Birmingham): 49 miles Royal Ballet (London), English National Ballet (London), Sadlers Wells (London), Rambert Dance (London): 59 miles
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger... Er... only one poisonous snake in UK: the adder. They're about 2-3ft long - not very big but bigger than a spider! Nearest to me, based on a map of their distribution, about two miles. But this is a part of England where there are very, very few of them.
Working farm: 3-400 yards.
Seat of a national government: Houses of Parliament, London 59 miles
Factory employing more than fifty people: half a mile. This is a very rural county, picture postcard England - with a much higher proportion of manufacturing industries than the rest of England. Go figure.
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?) There's remarkably little evidence of the Bronze age in this area let alone earlier but there was an ancient hillfort about two miles from here. I grew up eight miles from Stonehenge, does that count?
Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power - erm... Power station near Nottingham, about 50 miles.
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide: Birmingham has three of them (49 miles), but Le Manoir de Quatres Saisons is one mile closer (I checked!).
Salt water: 70-75 miles. No place in England is more than 75 miles from the sea but I live about as far from it as we can get.
Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map): Snowdonia isn't called "---Mountains" but if you don't think it counts as mountains, go fight a Welsh Dragon! (It's about 130 miles)
Major penitentiary: No idea, in London probably - the nearest prison is 20 miles but it's not exactly hardcore.

Nice choice of items! In order of distance:

Factory employing more than fifty people: Cable Factory 1 km as the crow flies
Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power: 1 km to gas turbines (only used at peak demand)
Working farm: 3 km
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide: Zwethheul 5 km
Professional ballet company: Nederlands Dans Theater 11,5 km (though they are at The Arts Centre Melbourne this week)
Seat of a national government: 11,5 km (it's right next to the ballet company)
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site: Vlaardingen 12 km
Salt water: 13 km to the beach!
Major penitentiary: Scheveningen 15 km (that's where all the war criminals are)
Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map): Rothaargebirge 375 km
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger...: The closest wolf at ca 400 km died earlier in the year, so now it's the Fläming pack at 600 km

Szabs, there are loads of bears and wolves in Spain! Be careful walking in the woods at night
Ozzz, Australia has prehistoric sites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_prehistoric_sites

Professional ballet company - Nearest is London so about 180 miles
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger... - Have no idea, a very long way
Working farm - About a few hundred yards
Seat of a national government - We have our own government so about 8 miles y road
Factory employing more than fifty people - 10 miles by road, if we have any.
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?) - Many neolithic sites within 12 miles by road
Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power - power station about 9 miles away but it is rarely used as we have most of our power brought in by cable from France. They have a massive nuclear power station very close to us, too close if there is an accident.
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide - Five minute drive, Michelin star
Salt water - half a mile, closer as crow flies
Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map) - hundreds of miles, probably Wales
Major penitentiary - the only one we have, as the crow flies a few hundred yards, by road less than a mile

When you live on an island which is 9 miles by 5 miles nowhere is far locally.

TriviaPaul: There are plenty of bears and wolves where I live too, but I'm not worried about them at night. I'm more worried about the human kind of "varmit" LOL.

I'd post "distances", but then you'd have no difficulty in locating my house via GPS. Minutes/hours driving time (since everyone drives at different speeds depending on lights/road conditions) is probably a better way of describing stuff. In any case, my details wouldn't be far from Agony's (so, whew! I don't have to figure them out LOL).

It's a VERY interesting question though, demographics-wise. I'd also like to add the question:
Why did you choose to live where you are (is it because of how close you are to "civilisation"/comforts/social aesthetics of life? Or because you are NOwhere near it? Or simply because that's where your "job" is?

Cool idea Agony, thank you for starting the thread : )

The island itself, because I was moved her in 1972 with my job and then I stayed on. In this part of the island, because when I wanted to leave my (now ex) husband there was still price control on properties here and there were rumours that it was shortly to be removed, this meant that people were not moving, they wanted to wait, so few properties came onto the market and those which did were snapped up immediately, I was the first to view this house. I didn't like this side of the island, I still don't but cannot afford to move.

In case you are wondering what I mean by price control I will explain it. People could put their properties on the market for whatever price they wanted but once they had an offer it had to go through our Housing Department and they used to give a ruling on what price the property could be sold for. So if you paid £25,000 for a house, then did £2,000 worth of improvements and stayed in the house for so many years they would work out how much the price ought to be to take into consideration inflation. So you might ask for £35,000 and I might be willing to pay £35,000 but you could be told that you could only charge £31,000. Unfortunately you didn't know what the eventual selling price would be, they wouldn't tell you what they would permit before the house went on the market, only once the offer had been accepted.

One way around this was that people sold their carpets and curtains with the house and they could charge what they wanted for those within some sort of reason, for instance £31,000 plus £2.000 curtains and carpets even if they were rags and needed to be ripped out immediately. When we bought this house there was an amount for carpets, curtains, dishwasher, washing machine, tumble drier and kitchen furniture, plus we had to pay their legal fees.

When my ex bought his first house it was very much in his favour as a first time buyer, he offered the asking price and the price was then reduced so much by the Housing Department that he could completely furnish it with quality furniture and had change. Price control was inded removed soon after I moved into this house so now one can ask whatever you want, and the market will bear, and you no longer see an automatic charge for the carpets and curtains.

That's interesting, Sue - we have had various price controls here in the past and possibly some now, but not so stringent at the consumer level.

I live where I do mostly because it's where I've found myself. I grew up in the city Jakeroo lives, about 200 km from my small town. Moved here for my husband's job. Now I'm waiting for my kids to be well out of the house, established enough in life that they don't need my place to come home for summers, or to store things, (I'm estimating another three or four years - if they need more than that they may or may not get it) and then I'll see what I feel like doing.

Yikes Sue, that sounds very complicated re: the housing thing! Ours is pretty much based on market value (and renovations/improvements don't add to the actual value of your house, but it probably wouldn't sell at all without some of them being done).

We built our own house (yes, with our own little hands) 31 years ago. It is not a large house by any standard, but according to the current market value, we could potentially sell it for about $310,000 CDN (we're being TAXED on $330,000 however). I realise that sounds like a lot of money, but the simple fact is that if we wanted to buy the exact same house square-footage-wise (but newer), it would cost us at least $400K. And we're not willing to take out a mortgage for $90K (at OUR age).

I used to dream that after we retired, we'd move somewhere else (like BC for instance, where the weather is more condusive to growing things), but it appears it is unlikely to happen. Both of us grew up here, our mothers (and some siblings) are still alive here (and hubby will NOT move until everyone is dead but him LOL) and our jobs are here. It's not so much "by choice" as "by fate/necessity".

Professional ballet company: Less than 20 minutes drive from my house.

Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger...: About 40 minutes drive.

Working farm: Around the corner from my street, about 15 minutes walking.

Seat of a national government: I believe that's Washington D.C. 1,692 miles

Factory employing more than fifty people: about 25 minutes driving time.

Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?): The Lindenmeier site has turned up many tools and fossils from the Folsom time. It's less than an hour drive.

Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power: About 30 minute drive.

Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide: Roughly 1,600 miles. I can't find Michelin star restaurants that aren't in Chicago or New York.

Salt water: 4,000 miles

Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map): Less than a half hour to the Rockies.

Major penitentiary : Sterling correctional, about 120 miles away.

Jakeroo, that doesn't sound much to me, here that might buy a one bedroom flat. The average house price is about $707,000 CAN and that is after a drop in prices.

Sue: I'll agree that those amounts look REALLY high to me lol. Just think - you could be a millionaire here and not even have to win a game show! (giggles).

Your (market) prices also may have something to do with you being on an island (and not a very big one at that), so real estate is probably in more of a demand than many mainland locations. Vancouver Island is quite huge, but with "nice places" starting at 5 mill, I can't afford to live there either (I'm not feeling hard-done-by or anything, it's just a dream), unless I trade in my house for a trailer in the bush (and trust me, my hippie/camping days are LONG over lol).

Further, I'm sure Jersey is also a lovely place to live. Other than our fabulous river valley trail system, there is very little that one could describe as "lovely" in my city lol. Quite frankly, I'd be surprised if ANYone would be clamouring to live where I do, given the climate. And even if they are, being smack-dab in the middle of prairie and aspen parkland, we're in no imminent danger of running out of empty places to build things (we ARE in danger of running out of arable farmland however).

I guess it's all a relative thing. When we built the house, our original mortgage was 56K (but at 18% interest rate). We thought we'd never pay it off, especially since I was making less than $10/hr at the time. I remember having around 70 houseplants in the first years to stop the "echo" in the virtually empty rooms since we couldn't afford proper furniture lol. A couple of years ago (when the speculators were quite active), we could have sold our house for about $580K, but again, where would we move to, when one bedroom apartment monthly rents started at $1,200? You'd be out of money AND equity inside of 4 years. I guess we're just not very good gamblers lol.

Torontonians probably remember when their market was booming out of control and absolute "hovels" were going for over a million.

Rayven: was the Salt Water mileage a typo? We drove from Denver to San Diego once and I thought the distance was around 1,000 miles (if it was 4 times more than that, I'd have run out of Gravol lol - or maybe I just slept through the whole thing). In any case, if I had to pick a state to live in (besides perpetual bliss ~), it would probably be either Colorado or Oregon. I think you are quite blessed to live there : )

Professional ballet company = London about 40 miles
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger... = This is Sussex, we do have feral wild boar about 30 miles away, but no big wild predators left.
Working farm = my son's school has a working farm attached to it, so about 1/4 mile
Seat of a national government = London, as above
Factory employing more than fifty people = Haven't got a clue, Crawley? London?
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?) = You want dinosaurs? The first iguanadon remains were discovered about 3 miles away in 1825. Other than that, we have hillforts and neolithic hedges 4 miles away, and thousands of other bits within a 5 mile radius.Our local archaeological society was founded in 1846, we still find lost Roman villas and neolithic flint mines and such on an annual basis.
Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power =Gas-fired power station 15 miles
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide = 2 miles
Salt water =English channel 13 miles
Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map) Black Mountains in Wales, around 200 miles
Major penitentiary = London, from the Scrubs to Holloway

Professional ballet company - San Francisco -- 50 miles

Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger... -- The hills surrounding the Napa Valley are home to mountain lions, bears and coyotes -- 5 miles. Sharks in San Francisco Bay - 15 miles

Working farm -- Vineyards - 300 feet . Dairy Farm -- 3 miles

Seat of a national government - Washington D.C. -- 2800 miles

Factory employing more than fifty people -- Winery (production and bottling) 2 miles

Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?) -- La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles (6 blocks from my original home!) -- 400 miles

Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power -- The Geysers geothermal field -- 40 miles, Altamont Windmill Farm -- 50 miles.

Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide -- The French Laundry, Yountville -- 8 miles

Salt water -- The Napa River is a tidal river containing salt water -- it flows into the upper reaches of S.F. Bay -- 15 miles. Pacific Ocean -- 45 miles

Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map)-- Mayacamas Mountains (Pacific Coast Range) -- 5 miles Sierra Nevada Mountain Range -- 90 miles. Those are the closest and the most well-known, but there are mountains all over the place here.

Major penitentiary -- San Quentin - 40 miles

Professional ballet company - Pittsburgh 30 miles.
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger... - A bear once came out of a small wooded area across the street from my house, but their normal habitat is probably at least 50 miles away.
Working farm - 5 miles.
Seat of a national government - Washington D.C. 250 miles.
Factory employing more than fifty people - 1 mile.
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?) - Meadowcroft Rockshelter 20 miles.
Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power - Within 50 miles.
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide - Probably Pittsburgh 30 miles.
Salt water - Atlantic ocean 400 miles.
Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map) - Appalachian Mountains 50 miles.
Major penitentiary - 30 miles.

Jakeroo you're right, It's 850 miles to the nearest salt water. I don't know how the 4,000 came up.

Professional ballet company - Hong Kong Island 20 miles.
Normal habitat of a large wild predator - wild hog in my back yard and chased me up a mountain path on an early morning run--tusks blazing in the early morning dew.....
Working farm - 100 yards away.
Seat of a national government - Tricky -- I'll Say Hong Kong-- 20 miles.
Factory employing more than fifty people - 2 miles.
Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?) - Walled City -- 3 Miles Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power - Within 10 miles.
Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide - Do they list Hong Kong restaurants?
Salt water - South China Sea 10 miles.
Mountain range -- In my back yard on China-Hong Kong border.
Major penitentiary - 6 miles.

Fun game.......

Professional ballet company- here in Edmonton (shared with Calgary)

Normal habitat of a large wild predator - bear, wolf, shark, tiger...- one block (ravine has coyote howling concerts regularly; wolves, cougars, and bears pass by once in a while)

Working farm- used to be 3 blocks, but the city expands. University research farm is still 1.5 kilometres away

Seat of a national government- Ottawa's Parliament Buildings are 3570 kilometres
away (give or take a few metres)

Factory employing more than fifty people- 20 blocks (2 km)

Prehistoric ruin or archeological site (the dates for "prehistory" will of course vary around the world - aim for bronze age or earlier?)- sites as old as 5000 years before present along North Saskatchewan River and local hills are 1-15 km away

Working oil rig or wind farm or other commercial source of power- oil rigs are for drilling, wells are for production. Numerous abandoned (due to depletion and urbanisation) oil and gas wells are within a kilometre or two, but a producing oil well is still 6 km away. Landmark Leduc #1 oil rig (not in production) is 5 km away.

Restaurant listed in the Michelin guide- sadly, no restaurants in Canada at all are rated by the Michelin Guide (as near as I can tell), so the closest seem to be near San Francisco, California (Yountville, as mentioned above), some 2350 km away (Chicago is about 2600 km away).

Salt water- not counting nearby saline sloughs (due to evaporation and lack of natural flushing), the Pacific Ocean is 1000 km away

Mountain range (listed as "----Mountains" on a map)- Rocky Mountains about 300 km to west

Major penitentiary- Edmonton Maximum Security Institution is 40 km away