I think that’s a fair comparison. I was certainly surprised to discover the beautiful parts of Hamilton while doing a school tour. The area around Hamilton Place is just not very pleasant at all, but when you go north to the lake, or east, or south and up the mountain, there are some lovely green spaces.
Both cities have an active arts scene, though I find Hamilton’s arts groups are a lot closer to the edge of going under. Hamilton suffers from its proximity to Toronto - why would I go to hear Hamilton Philharmonic when the TSO is 67 km away? Why go to Opera Hamilton when I could go to the Canadian Opera Company? (Both those Hamilton companies have had to be saved from bankruptcy in the last 10 years.) Winnipeg’s artists are a lot more stable. Both cities have a remarkable retro charm that comes from having had their heydays in the 50s and 60s, but the nicest areas are not necessarily in the first places that a visitor would go to.
And the first places a visitor sees are not very inspiring…
One of the things I loved about Hamilton was how you could drive across town on one-way roads with perfectly timed green lights so you never have to stop (on Main and King streets). On the other hand, that luxury probably doesn’t help the downtown core… there’s no real place to stop, no reason to stop, and no idle sitting at lights to notice what kind of shops and restaurants are available. In terms of night life, Hess Village was really more of a short street, and there wasn’t a lot of reason to stray away from there. And I agree that Hamilton suffers from it’s proximity to Toronto. I couldn’t wait to move away, but I admit I do miss it a little; it’s not a bad town, it’s just that I wanted to come “home”!
So, what’s everyone doing for Turkey Day? We have turkey dinner at the in-laws tomorrow, then turkey dinner at my parent’s place on Sunday and turkey+football (Go Als Go!) on Monday. The weather is supposed to be sunny and warm. Can’t wait! Happy Thanksgiving!
We’re dashing off to my in-laws for today, big supper tomorrow night, and then Monday, a traditional visit to African Lion Safari and the Rockton World’s Fair. I need a weekend away from working like I need a hole in the head, but it must be done…
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
I just got back from my local Safeway. The deli counter is selling a complete Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, stuffing, potatoes, veg, dessert. Even cranberry sauce, I think. I didn’t see the price, but if I was hosting anybody for Thanksgiving, the convenience would make me seriously consider it.
As it is, there’s only going to be me for Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe I’ll have a steak.
I finally get to have Turkey at my mom’s for the first time in two years! I am very excited.
There are three ‘turkey holidays’ in our familiy; Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have either hosted or been at my in-laws for them all in the last few years.
I mean, my turkey dinners are good but after all the work, you just don’t want to eat. I love my mom! (Makes note to bring flowers.)
Off to turkey dinner at my Mum’s Sunday along with my daughter and son-in-law. My wife can’t come with us and has been grumping all week about missing Thanksgiving dinner. Unbeknownst to her, I bought a turkey and all the makings this afternoon, and will be cooking up dinner for the two of us on Monday.
We were having a fairly nice long weekend, but we got a call this morning from Jim’s dad - his grandpa isn’t expected to live through the weekend. He’s having heart failure, and it sounds like all of his organs are failing, too. Well, crap. We knew he wasn’t doing great, but he took a sudden turn for the worse. The weather’s nice and I’m sure we’ll have a nice dinner on Monday, but this just sucks.
I suppose you can be thankful for this opportunity to be with him! I’m sure he appreciated the visit.
I had turkey for 4 consecutive meals (I skipped breakfast in there) and we have a ton of leftovers (and some pumpkin pie and an apple pie!). It was a gloriously sunny and warm weekend, and we got to spend part of it with my in-laws (my nephew is so freaking cute!) and part with my family. It was also our 6th wedding anniversary. The Habs and Alouettes both won, which always makes me happy, too. I really can’t complain about this weekend!
By my rough calculations, last night’s Thanksgiving dinner all by itself was almost 500 calories over my daily calorie budget. Good thing we took an hour-long walk earlier in the day in anticipation of the feast.
Dread Pirate Grandpa is still with us, although the word is he’s looking weaker and weaker every day. I guess that goes hand-in-hand with having two heart valves not working. He did seem to be in pretty good spirits when we visited, though, which I guess is a blessing.
The perception I continue to get is that a significant portion of the Quebec population is still strongly in favour of separation, but this poll (and the last federal election) would suggest otherwise. Interesting to see that the pendulum may have swung in the other direction.
A significant portion, yes, but far from a majority, which is the perspective that rarely gets shown in the media (in both languages, really). I think separatist numbers hover in the 25-30% range most of the time. The results of the two referenda should be enough to show that it was never a majority opinion. I can honestly say that it isn’t even a factor in day-to-day life.
The comments on the early edition of that same news article are disgusting, though. I understand that sovereignty is a hurtful topic to those who are against it, but the hate and bigotry that trolls on the internet feel free to spew are just so awful. I can’t seem to find it to link to, though.
I hate political labels. Can one be both a federalist and a Québec nationalist without being separatist? Can one not be federalist without being separatist? These words carry so much weight and people make assumptions based upon them… the fact that 37% of people rejected them all speaks volumes. Enough with labels. Enough with choosing sides. Enough with attaching old ideas to new people.
Some interesting things in the news this past week - new nominees for the Supreme Court. I just think it’s so cool that her name is Andromache. (Her mother’s name is Xanthippe.)
And I’m very interested in the new Canadian Index of Well Being, an attempt to move beyond the GDP as a measure of how well we are doing as a society. Globe article to be found here.
And while all this is going on, we have the Occupy movement starting out in Canada. Here in Toronto, I haven’t noticed them much, and I’ve been way too busy to join them or observe them. How about the rest of you? Any impact, one way or another?
That’s an interesting article, Le Minstre. I agree that tracking things other than simply GDP should give a better picture of how Canadians are living and feeling about things. The three year lag in the data being used is a bit problematic right now, but that should become less of an issue as we get a sense of trends (and hopefully, as data becomes available faster).
We have an Occupy Calgary movement going on, and have for a couple of weeks now. So far so good - there has been no trouble, and the city hasn’t taken any steps to remove them or anything. I think the city is treating them as the potential powder keg they could be - they’ve been given the go-ahead to squat until the end of October, and we’ll see what happens after that. I think they’ll probably go on their own - camping out in Calgary past the end of October is getting into cold, snowy season.
