Hulver's site || Comments || Single-handedly Saving the World

Can you explain... by ShadowNode (2.00 / 0) #1 Sat Oct 06, 2007 at 02:42:18 PM EST

The Ontarian compulsion to live as far away as possible from their city of choice? If it where just over there, I'd just chalk it up to a natural dislike of Toronto, but they seem to do it when they move out west too.

dislike of Toronto? by R343L (3.00 / 2) #2 Sat Oct 06, 2007 at 02:55:55 PM EST

I liked Toronto. But then I was visiting and imagine it would be a little difficult if you wanted a big house / some land (which I wouldn't care about).

But it's not really Ontarian. It's North American. A 75 km (46 mile) commute is ... perfectly common in the US at least. I drove a 60 mile one for several months, then a 35 mile one for the rest of that year. Thank gord I'm not doing that anymore.

Rachael

"There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." -- Eliot
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Friends in Toronto... by CheeseburgerBrown (4.00 / 1) #5 Sat Oct 06, 2007 at 03:07:53 PM EST

...have the same sized mortgage as me, and a house that could fit in my livingroom -- basically a ground-floor apartment.

Myself, I like to have a little room (especially outside room) into which to launch the children so they can work off their higglety-piggleties.

Also, I like trees.

I am from a small, unknown country in the north called Ca-na-da.
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: I perfectly understand that by R343L (2.00 / 0) #11 Sat Oct 06, 2007 at 03:52:56 PM EST

And exactly why I expected you'ld live out in the boonies. :)

"There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." -- Eliot
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It's not so rare in UKia either. by ambrosen (4.00 / 3) #9 Sat Oct 06, 2007 at 03:24:31 PM EST

I was doing pretty much the same for the last 2 years and it attracted some comment where I worked, in an ex-mining town, but if I was talking about it, I had to bear in mind whether my audience worked in well off cities, where that was commonplace and should be mentioned with an attitude of mutual recognition, or rural/ex-industrial places where you needed to justify why you'd do such a pointless thing.

Actually, it's pretty much the same as mentioning that you went to university.

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More American than North American by ShadowNode (4.00 / 1) #12 Sat Oct 06, 2007 at 04:08:37 PM EST

Canadians, other than Ontarians, live much closer to their cities than their American counterparts. The Ontario behaviour is especially perplexing to Vancouverites because of our odd geography. We're hemmed in on the north by mountains, west by ocean and south by a river. We end up with a city (and a couple of suburbs) with a comet like trail of yokels and transplanted Ontarians. We understand why the yokels are there, they were born and will die there, but the Ontarians actually choose to be there.

Also, all Canadians hate Toronto. It's the law.

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Geographic Bisexuality by CheeseburgerBrown (4.00 / 2) #3 Sat Oct 06, 2007 at 03:05:47 PM EST

I've lived all my life up until very recently in Toronto, so I don't think I have much valuable perspective to lend on this apparent issue.

My own equation is simple: I want to suckle at the teat of Toronto's throbbing financial gush, but I don't want to pay my fair share of the tax burden to maintain the infrastructure and programmes that make that gush possible. So, I move further away to a smaller community with lower taxes and more breatheable air and a little more elbow room, and trade away 1.5 hours of each day for the privilege of sitting on the fence and reaping the best of both worlds.

I am from a small, unknown country in the north called Ca-na-da.
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Interesting... by ShadowNode (2.00 / 0) #14 Sat Oct 06, 2007 at 04:22:03 PM EST

Vancouver is probably not as high maintenance as Toronto. We'll tick along just fine indefinitely without City Hall, as we have been for the past few months they've been on strike. The only impact I've felt is in more frequent visits to the bookstore rather than the library.

There's also not really much price difference between the city and the boonies (with some exceptions in pricey parts of the city, of course). You'll get a bigger house for the same price in the boonies, but you won't get more breathable air or green space. In fact, local geography tends to push pollution out of the city and into the boonies,and there are more and better parks in the city.

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You'd make a great NeoCon Republican... by wiredog (2.00 / 0) #19 Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 02:22:30 PM EST

Earth First!
_{(We can strip mine the rest later.)}
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Isn't That A Bit Like Saying... by CheeseburgerBrown (2.00 / 0) #23 Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 04:40:45 PM EST

"You'd make a great baby-eater?"

I am from a small, unknown country in the north called Ca-na-da.
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Don't knock those skills man. by ambrosen (4.00 / 1) #24 Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 05:45:15 PM EST

I for one don't have anything like the appetite, the callousness, the ability to do the pointless, the confidence to deal with opprobrium, well, frankly none of the requisite qualities of the successful candidate.

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Don't knock those skills man. by ambrosen (4.00 / 1) #25 Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 05:46:04 PM EST

Your double posting skillz by Metatone (2.00 / 0) #26 Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 06:58:15 AM EST

are in fine fettle however...

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Bah! by ambrosen (2.00 / 0) #27 Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 07:03:04 AM EST

Opera Mini.

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Apart from that glitch... by Metatone (2.00 / 0) #28 Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 07:44:28 AM EST

how do you find Opera Mini? Anything in particular you wish it handled better?

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: It's good. by ambrosen (4.00 / 1) #29 Mon Oct 08, 2007 at 08:59:48 AM EST

Works great on a 128×128 screen, and pretty much everything works. The phone's only a knackered old 2G one though, so it's laggy.

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