So should we move to Halifax Canada?

Interesting question.

It was in a comment I got the other day.

I don't know. I don't even live in Halifax anymore, I live thirty kilometres from the bridge across the harbour to the city. And I commute in and out every day. Twenty minute drive, then thirty minute bus journey. Longer in the winter.

But I did live there for over three years.

I suppose it depends on where you're starting from.

I mean, if you live in Victoria, BC, then I would imagine you are swapping one city for another similar city, minus the balmy climate.

Why do people move anywhere anyways?

I moved because I was bored and despairing with a 463 square foot apartment in a complex that had a sign stating that children should not play on the grass. It was looking like that was the pinnacle of my existence and there was a little voice inside me that said somewhere there's a house with a nice guy and a dog and a garden just waiting for me to find it.

Which reminds me... why is the dog guy not emailing me back?? We want the puppy NOW!!

But Halifax was a sort of random end point. It could have been somewhere else. It just happened that the job turned up, and then the little yellow house found me, and then the guy moved in, and then his job turned up, and then the credit union got on board, and finally the house that we bought emerged out of the mess of For Sale signs we were sifting through.

Still waiting on the D-O-O-O-O-G!!

At the same time, there isn't anything I particularly dislike about Halifax.

Apart from the mayor.

Someday in about six years I will get my citizenship and then he'd better watch the hell out if he's still mayor.

Well, there are a few things I dislike:

- the wind tunnel downtown caused by the high-rise development on the waterfront
- the tumbleweed zone that is Barrington St. which is mostly owned by one guy who papers over shop fronts with Starfish Properties logos while he waits for ... what? A mayor who will let him knock it all down and build more high-rises?

If you can't get this one to do it... you'll be waiting Mr. Resnick, or whatever your name is.

All the great stores I hung out in when I moved here are gone - Sam the Record Man, Ginger's Bar, Dooley's pool hall are closed, the craft gallery is off down the waterfront somewhere I can't find. The pawn shop is gone, the little clothes place beside it. I knew the staff in all those stores; before I had any friends here, I talked to them most days.

Before you know it, John Doull will cave to Starfish, the bookshop will be gone, and that will be the end of a beautiful little street.

I will be forced to shop at the Mic Mac Mall like everyone else. I may consider another province when that happens.

SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED, MR. MAYOR!!

Other things:
- floatables, obviously
- the crappy bus system, which means I have to drive anytime I want to go slightly off-track
- the half hour lunch break. I mean, why can't we have an hour, like a normal city? We have fantastic restaurants here, we should have French eating hours, so they can make money and I can digest.

The fact that lunchtime is announced with a cannon roar every day rocks though.

The city itself is beautiful, a ramshackle pile of old and new all huddled up against the hills sheltering from the wind and the rain. Nice parks. Nice residential areas. Lots of room.

NO TRAFFIC.

Like I said, it depends on where you're coming from... if you're coming from Kennetcook well yes the traffic is terrible. But I came from Dublin, where the traffic IS terrible.

Quirky shops and did I mention the great restaurants?

Anyhoo, have to go watch Breaking Bad episode 4 with Himself and eat strawberry and rhubarb pie. More about this anon....