[QUOTE=ralph124c]
What’s Medicine Hat like? Not being canadian, I always pictured the city as a big hat!
[/QUOTE]
It IS a big hat!
Well, no, not really.
It’s kind of Meh. It doesn’t suck as bad as Winnipeg, but there are other prarie towns that are much nicer.
As a matter of interest, I saw the biggest ant hills (like 4 feet high) of my life in Medicine Hat.
It’s also really hot, apparently. But probably not as full of rednecks as Red Deer. Lethbridge, on the other hand, makes people commit suicide because of the never-ending wind.
[QUOTE=alice_in_wonderland]
Calgary is not so bad. It’s just much, much worse than it used to be, and it got much, much worse really, really quickly so it’s rather noticeable. It’s like we went from being Saskatoon, SK with it’s sort of issues, to Toronto, ON (that’s an exageration) with it’s issues, but none of it’s infrastructure, in about two years.
[/QUOTE]
Exactly! Calgary is still my home town, but in a span of 8 years it has changed, and not all for the better, but I think things will get better.
I don’t know how old everyone else from Calgary is, but I am sure some people remember the last boom, and our old Mayor Ralph complaining about “Eastern Bums and Scums”. Being an adult during this boom, and living downtown, I think understand what Ralphy Boy was trying to say, albeit in his own redneck way.
The people who come for the boom do not see themselves as part of the city. They are here to try to make money, and go back home. They aren’t part of the community and the culture of the city, and they don’t care about it either.
We’ve had booms before, and likely we’ll have them again. We’ve also had busts, and when (not if) it happens again, most of these fair-weather residents will move on to the next place.
During the next bust, for the locals and those few who fall in love with Calgary, our economy and unemployment levels will not be as bad as many other parts of the country as long as what ever premier we have doesn’t go insane with either cuts or spending.
Many other things will be better. With the boom workers gone, those who stay will be those who are not just interested in making a quick buck.
The people who stay will be those who want to be a part of this city and its community and culture.
[QUOTE=featherlou]
Lethbridge, on the other hand, makes people commit suicide because of the never-ending wind.
[/QUOTE]
Oh, great. Something to look forward to. 
Actually, I was down there today, and all it was, was hot. Not much of a breeze, actually. Maybe it was an unusual day?
Did you check the trees? Are they all growing sideways? 
[QUOTE=lexi]
Exactly! Calgary is still my home town, but in a span of 8 years it has changed, and not all for the better, but I think things will get better.
[/QUOTE]
It has changed, a lot. It sometimes seems more noticeable to me who moved to Edmonton for 3 years, then back to Calgary when I hit my early twenties. So many places I no longer feel comfortable in at certain times, when I wouldn’t blink an eye about going out alone downtown or to The Cave at 16-17. The bar/club scene skeeves me out more that’s for sure.. okay, some of it is getting older and stodgy as I start the slide to 30 ( ), as well as more aware of what could happen.. but not all of it. I lived within two blocks of the Transit in Edmonton, downtown shouldn’t make me so paranoid (though only a couple of specific areas).
I always get razzed for being an Edmontonian, but I like Calgary. I just wish I was slightly better off than I am. That way I could move out of the outskirts of the core..
[QUOTE=Spoons]
Maybe it was an unusual day?
[/QUOTE]
Must have been - the wind in Lethbridge is crazy.
I grew up in Lethbridge. The wind just about drove me batty. The first thing I noticed about Edmonton when I moved here was that A) it was calm, and B) it wasn’t dirty. In Lethbridge, dirt and grit get into everything.
[QUOTE=alice_in_wonderland]
Must have been - the wind in Lethbridge is crazy.
[/QUOTE]
Is it worse now, due to climate change ? 
[QUOTE=featherlou]
Did you check the trees? Are they all growing sideways? 
[/QUOTE]
(Spoons looks around at the tiny twigs that pass for trees in his Calgary neighbourhood.) Well, at least Lethbridge had trees!