Hello

Am new to this forum, have been reading many different posts on Calgary and trying to absorb the vast and varying posts people have taken time to post and answer. My eyes are ready to fall out! ;-)

I've only ever been to Vancouver for a long weekend, I've not been to Calgary. I'm slowly building up a picture of what life could be like (good/bad points depending what people's opinions are).

I am interested to know what the Calgarians are like as people, generally considerate, polite, easy going? Do they show respect of other people and their property ( like parking on your lawns, dropping rubbish, car chasing (hoon behaviour here in OZ)? Good community spirit? Do they have community get together s........help one another out?

Do people take pride in where they live, are they neighbourly? etc.......

I know there is an element of the not so nice in every place/culture, but not really knowing too much about the people of Calgary it would be nice to get your feedback.

Many thanks :-)

Most people who live here, are from somewhere else. It's rare to meet a native Calgarian, or especially one who is from a family who have lived here several generations.

Friendly, polite on the surface, sometimes cool, sometimes lovely. Neighbours are friendly to your face, hard to get past the front door. Don't just "drop in". Keep plugging away. Good humoured for the most part.

You'll pick up on an almost silent racism from a tiny minority of people - it's not the right wing, red neck outback that others would have you believe, but there's something there. No different from anywhere else, I would say.

Outrageous riches in parts, heart-breaking poverty in pockets, a very charitable city. People here exercise and "do stuff", a lot. Plenty of alcohol consumption by many.

There can be noisy neighbours and messy neighbour and beligerent neighbours. We've been lucky so far, though maybe our dogs who bark might annoy some! I guess choose where you live, if you can, with some care.

Thank you Ann for replying.

I think they tend to be on the surface more friendly, but inwardly the same as any other person or group of people in the world - some good, some not so.

Superficially pleasant is a word I would use for Canadians

Superficially pleasant

Cant wait till i arrive in Calgary so

Somewhat two faced old fashioned and boring

Becoming almost annoying as people from Toronto.

Like beef. Can't drive. Nice teeth. Shallow. Friendly.

I think Ann summed it up best

We have been here almost 7 years - for the most part it has been easy to settle in. We live in the suburbs with good neighbours, many of whom had lived in the neighbourhood for the past 20 years. We have various of them round for dinner fairly regularly; we always get invited to join Christmas and holiday celebrations if we are going to be on our own. They don't intrude into our lives and we don't intrude into theirs. I would say that two of our neighbours have become close friends.

We have never been bothered with anti-social behaviour in our area although I know there are areas that are. I've only once been harrassed on the C Train and occasionally I'll get asked for money when I'm waiting for a bus downtown but at no time have I felt unsafe. The malls are safe and clean, kids do not seem to run amok at weekends (although to be fair I don't spend a lot of time there).

Workwise - I found it easy to settle into my job with a small private company downtown. I've been here 6 plus years. I don't run into any issues around my accent or sense of humour (!). I may be lucky but the people I work with are pleasant, laugh a fair bit and generally make the workplace very enjoyable.

There is truly not much that irritates me ..... biggest bugbear is pedestrians who have not a care when crossing the street without looking - I still can't get used to that but I'm told it's an Alberta thing ..... Driving is generally atrocious but that is due to a mix of cultures that have very differing views of road safety. I don't even mind the lacklustre selection of cheeses.

Life is what you make it. We moved here because we did not want to get old in England. We believe we have made the right choice - will we stay in Calgary after retirement? Don't know, jury is still out but we are 90% certain we will be staying in Canada.

Good luck with your adventure! J