OUR CAPITAL CITY

I’m at home at the moment and as such it strikes me that I should spend a few minutes talking about home base and what it has in store for visitors and locals alike.  It’s a weird time in Victoria.  We no longer recognize the first prime-minister of our country as anything other than embarrassing.  This comes as a surprise as I was always taught in school that he masterminded confederation and he was the visionary behind a railway from coast to coast.  Well, time has clearly marched on since I attended Ft. Gary Elementary in Winnipeg so many years ago.

Our civic politicians & historians (all post graduates from Wikipedia U) believe that John A. Macdonald’s statue needed removing from its pride of place outside of City Hall.  We have a global reputation as apologists in Canada and this reputation must sadly be upheld at all costs.

Just as a side note I recently travelled to Reykjavik where I was captivated by an extremely large statue of explorer Leif Erikson.  We all know what Vikings got up to on their travels but I don’t envision Icelandic city workers being told to make that one disappear under the cloak of darkness.

We have a beautiful new Bridge (made in China) that spans the Gorge waterway but it was ridiculously over budget and completed so far behind schedule that it was almost worthy of historical status at its grand opening.  We have bike lanes on all the major city streets that confuse both cyclist and driver to the point of near death accidents on the daily.

The prices of homes here are astronomical and can only be rivalled by Vancouver and it is occasionally voted in the world’s top ten.   This is a guess, but I would hazard that we have the second highest per capita Hipster population on the West coast after Portland.  If you can’t sport a beard that the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh would be proud of and a $150.00 haircut, you can’t join their fixie riding, growler carrying, plaid shirt wearing club.

It astounds me that a food truck prep cook can afford rent and a $150.00 haircut and a growler full of a cannabis sativa infused pale ale, but what do I know.  I desperately want to be a millennial but Dr. Oz hasn’t invented a potion or elixir that can turn back the clock far enough for this cynical bast**d.

We are a busy port city that hosts over a hundred cruise ships a year.  Our sidewalks swell with tourists from Thursday to Sunday as Princess, Norwegian, and Celebrity bring us their huddled masses.  The souvenir shops love to sell these recently freed press gangs all the smoked salmon, maple syrup and Mountie adorned t-shirts they can carry (all made in China) before they wander back to the buffet on board.

With all that said, there isn’t a “City” in Canada that I would rather live in.  There are hundreds of smaller towns and villages on Vancouver Island or the Gulf Islands that take my fancy but only one city.  We are blessed with incredible weather and the local scenery is very special in deed.  To be on an island used to be a blessing but as time marches on so does globalization.  We are easy to get to by sea or by air.  Our services are first rate and our infrastructure is complimentary to our lifestyles.

Its reliable, dependable and beautiful and for the moment its where I choose to hang my hat.  Maybe not a forever home but a good one until life takes us in another direction.

Cheers!

M.