Originally Posted by julius smith (Post 9457806)

it seems all those people who posted on that link that started this thread off, are in the minority....i dont vancouver is THAT bad, is it?!

as people here have said, all cities have something that isnt right...aint no place on earth that is so good that everything is ok...there's gotta be some downsides.

rain? well, who cares if it rains...spent all my life virtually in london where we all know what the weather does!
yuppies? been thru the days of the yuppies in london...filofaxes, porsches, blah, blah...they kept to themselves so why get nasty about them?
jobs? london isnt exactly the hotbed of industry nowadays, is it? every job, and i mean min wage jobs, have 100s of people applying...and its become like the states...if you dont fit, you dont hear anything...gone are the days when you got a rejection letter!
hongcouver? well, the worlds become smaller in that sense...more and more people are moving, so if one race of people finds vancouver nice, then fine, what wrong with that? 'twas the same when my people came over on the "banana boats" from jamaica to england....they congregated in places they liked...brixton, tooting, etc....
job searching? in my books, if youve got reasonable qualifications, whthere transferable or not, youre half way there....going back when i was in ontario, i landed not 1 but 2 jobs within 8 weeks, paying around $45 to $60k...cant say that was bad...!

its horses for courses...to some, vancouver is heaven...to others, its hell!
you could conceivably say that about any city on earth really...:)

Originally Posted by Canuck74 (Post 9458401)

Vancouver isnt exactly the hotbed of industry nowadays. Canada has about the same unemployment rate as the UK.

Originally Posted by el_richo (Post 9459980)

One of the most notable things for me in Vancouver is the lack of black people. I've often wondered why that is :confused:

Vancouver has some nice places and people and some right shitholes and arseholes.

Originally Posted by The4BellsLondon (Post 9460034)

This is very true - the absence of black people- although there are small pockets starting to appear :) The Drive and Burnaby Coquitlam borders... In fact yesterday I was out with hubby heading towards the Drive and we went past one of the little parks that always has weekend football, as we drove past we looked across and both commented that something seemed odd . . All the team members of one team were black - it really "stood out". Anyway thats my morning drivel for you .

Originally Posted by Kiwilass (Post 9460040)

Ok, bear with me here..but someone explain to me why this matters? It keeps coming up about van (could say the same thing about NZ or Oz too) and I really want to understand why.

Originally Posted by The4BellsLondon (Post 9460058)

It doesnt matter, its just an observation . . think cos in London etc there is a mix of all colours and ethnicities (well maybe not as many Asian - ie Korea, Japan, China) , the same goes, I noticed in most of Europe and in Tdot - BUT having come here there are distictnly fewer black people - its not something that bothers me either way and its not something I would run around fanfaring - in fact it took a few months top notice .. but then it was like oh yes .

Originally Posted by julius smith (Post 9456640)

yikes! i hope theyre wrong, cos im wanting to head out there soon..:eek:

Originally Posted by Kiwilass (Post 9460040)

Ok, bear with me here..but someone explain to me why this matters? It keeps coming up about van (could say the same thing about NZ or Oz too) and I really want to understand why.

Originally Posted by el_richo (Post 9460115)

^^^
This with me too. Living and socialising in South London then moving to Vancouver, it's something i noticed. Just an observation, nothing more, which is why i wondered why this was the case.

I did see a couple black bears in Manning Park yesterday though. A biker had stopped (in the middle of the outside lane) about 20 feet from it to take a picture. Silly bugger :eek:

Originally Posted by Steve_ (Post 9460117)

But I'd rather live in Vancouver than anywhere I can think of in the UK.

Originally Posted by Steve_ (Post 9460117)

Personally I think the weather is better in Calgary, I think cold is better than rain. We don't get much snow because it's so dry in the winter.

Vancouver proper strikes me as a cross between an English city and Hong Kong. Cost of living is quite high, that's what puts most people off.

But I'd rather live in Vancouver than anywhere I can think of in the UK. The one thing I never understand is why they don't do more about the homeless/druggie problem around the police HQ/eastside. Really off putting to visitors.

The five stages of Canadian life:

1. Grow up in the middle of nowhere;
2. Get tired of living in the middle of nowhere, decide you want to move somewhere more interesting;
3. Move to Toronto and figure out how to make a living;
4. Get tired of living in Toronto and decide Vancouver would be better;
5. Finally make enough money to move to Vancouver and find that the homeless people have beaten you to it.

Originally Posted by Steve_ (Post 9460243)

Why?