Observations

• Vancouverites sure do complain a lot. The housing prices, the rampant poverty, the winters (more on that in a bit), the transit system, the architecture, the (admittedly annoying) civic strike, the new Canucks jerseys, the Canada Line, the Olympics, the gun crime…it’s one gripe after another with these people. I even heard people bitching about The Economist naming Vancouver the world's best place to live. Now, that’s not so say there aren’t perfectly legitimate grievances out there, but really.

• The one thing worse than the incessant complaining is the following formula: ‘Vancouver’s great, where else can you ________ in the morning and _________ in the afternoon?” (for example: “ski” and “kayak”). This was a running joke between my brothers and I before I moved out here, but I’ve actually heard it said.

• Vancouver people seem to take perverse pride in their winters, to the point where virtually every time I’ve met someone and mentioned that I’m from Edmonton, they’ve been compelled to warn me about the fact that it rains a lot during winter here. Now, I’m sure that probably sucks, but I’m from Edmonton, people! Do you know what winters are like in that place? Incidentally, the only people I’ve met who don’t complain about the winters in their city are horrible douchebags from Calgary who act as though the chinook is borne over the Rockies by the very breath of the Holy Christ Child.

• The gigs don’t stop coming. Since my last post on the subject, I’ve tagged three more must-see gigs: Bella at the Railway Club on October 4, the Long Blondes at Richard’s on November 2, Small Sins at the Media Club on Remembrance Day and Les Savy Fav at Richard's on December 1.