Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)
#46
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 704
Re: Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)
I've lived in a couple of the "anywhere else on earth" places beyond the UK and Canada, and have visited about 25 others, some for extended work-related reasons. That's probably about par for the course for many on this forum, given the nature of the forum.
And I'm challenging you a bit, but I'm also genuinely curious:
Are you comparing with excitement in...
...some cultural sense?
...some political sense?
...some sense of economic opportunity?
...some ability to pursue individual goals?
...some ability to raise a family in some particular way?
Whatever criteria you're using, which countries rank high within them?
(I do note in sympathy with your post that Ottawa was once voted the most boring capital city on earth, by a collection of European diplomats.)
#47
Re: Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)
Such as? I'm sure either is less exciting than Syria at the moment, but not necessarily in the sense that you meant...
I've lived in a couple of the "anywhere else on earth" places beyond the UK and Canada, and have visited about 25 others, some for extended work-related reasons. That's probably about par for the course for many on this forum, given the nature of the forum.
And I'm challenging you a bit, but I'm also genuinely curious:
Are you comparing with excitement in...
...some cultural sense?
...some political sense?
...some sense of economic opportunity?
...some ability to pursue individual goals?
...some ability to raise a family in some particular way?
Whatever criteria you're using, which countries rank high within them?
(I do note in sympathy with your post that Ottawa was once voted the most boring capital city on earth, by a collection of European diplomats.)
I've lived in a couple of the "anywhere else on earth" places beyond the UK and Canada, and have visited about 25 others, some for extended work-related reasons. That's probably about par for the course for many on this forum, given the nature of the forum.
And I'm challenging you a bit, but I'm also genuinely curious:
Are you comparing with excitement in...
...some cultural sense?
...some political sense?
...some sense of economic opportunity?
...some ability to pursue individual goals?
...some ability to raise a family in some particular way?
Whatever criteria you're using, which countries rank high within them?
(I do note in sympathy with your post that Ottawa was once voted the most boring capital city on earth, by a collection of European diplomats.)
#48
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 704
Re: Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)
Apart from the opening sentence about Syria, actually no.
What would allow for any country (as a whole) to be described as "exciting", in any remotely objective way?
MillieF complained of Canada as "very boring and not at all exciting if you have lived anywhere else on earth". Which is a broad statement, and fundamentally a subjective one. And one suggesting wider experience of the world on MillieF's part.
So I asked a few followup questions. And I'm genuinely curious about what reply MillieF might have.
What would allow for any country (as a whole) to be described as "exciting", in any remotely objective way?
MillieF complained of Canada as "very boring and not at all exciting if you have lived anywhere else on earth". Which is a broad statement, and fundamentally a subjective one. And one suggesting wider experience of the world on MillieF's part.
So I asked a few followup questions. And I'm genuinely curious about what reply MillieF might have.
#49
BE user by choice
Joined: Oct 2010
Location: A Briton, married to a Canadian, now in Fredericton.
Posts: 4,854
Re: Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)
I might have been better to write "my life in Canada is stultifying boring". I would think life in Syria, the West Bank, Libya plus many countries touched be the Arab Spring to be beyond dreadful and certainly not something I would trivialize. There are hosts of other hellholes that come to mind, but the fact that they are in the mire doesn't make Canada a more interesting place from my point of view.
It's more a lack of a sense of anything 'thriving' that I miss, there doesn't seem to be much of a counter culture in 'normal' society, everyone 'appears' to agree with everyone else and the only voices of dissention are muttered ones. It's homogenized, and that might be good for lots of people, but dosen't really float my boat.
It's more a lack of a sense of anything 'thriving' that I miss, there doesn't seem to be much of a counter culture in 'normal' society, everyone 'appears' to agree with everyone else and the only voices of dissention are muttered ones. It's homogenized, and that might be good for lots of people, but dosen't really float my boat.
#51
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Nov 2011
Location: Somewhere between Vancouver & St Johns
Posts: 19,851
Re: Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)
Or Winterpeg.
#52
Re: Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)
Every cloud has a silver lining... I remember seeing a sign outside White River, Ont proclaiming it to be the coldest town in Canada (don't bother correcting me, I don't care).. but that's also where Don McKinnon found the Hemlo Gold Mine (I knew his nephew, also don't bother correcting me, still don't care). Any fool can find gold, but to find it right beside the highway takes talent.
#53
Banned
Joined: Apr 2009
Location: SW Ontario
Posts: 19,879
Re: Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)
I might have been better to write "my life in Canada is stultifying boring". I would think life in Syria, the West Bank, Libya plus many countries touched be the Arab Spring to be beyond dreadful and certainly not something I would trivialize. There are hosts of other hellholes that come to mind, but the fact that they are in the mire doesn't make Canada a more interesting place from my point of view.
It's more a lack of a sense of anything 'thriving' that I miss, there doesn't seem to be much of a counter culture in 'normal' society, everyone 'appears' to agree with everyone else and the only voices of dissention are muttered ones. It's homogenized, and that might be good for lots of people, but dosen't really float my boat.
It's more a lack of a sense of anything 'thriving' that I miss, there doesn't seem to be much of a counter culture in 'normal' society, everyone 'appears' to agree with everyone else and the only voices of dissention are muttered ones. It's homogenized, and that might be good for lots of people, but dosen't really float my boat.
#54
Re: Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)
There certainly seemed to be some strong political debate during all the recent protests. Canada even has its own contingent of anti-mask folk. If you draft in the indigenous debates, there is enough controversy under the calm Canadian surface.
#55
BE user by choice
Joined: Oct 2010
Location: A Briton, married to a Canadian, now in Fredericton.
Posts: 4,854
Re: Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)
This is I fear, quite possibly true, but we are a very small, and somewhat 'fixed' society, so I think I may have found my level...heigh ho, tant pis, for me !
#56
Re: Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)
I wonder where you would go in swinging Fredricton to tap into that counterculture and thriving arts scene? When we get bands from the far east they always seem to be based in St John's or Halifax.
#57
Banned
Joined: Apr 2009
Location: SW Ontario
Posts: 19,879
#58
Re: Moving to Canada is like.......(insert here)