With my husband’s surgery coming up in just over a week, my mind is simply not on writing every day… yet I am not quite ready to give up my daily blog posting habit… so I’ve found a solution that will, I hope, do double duty.
I’m planning to intersperse throughout my new blog entries a series of posts from another of my blogs… partly to help me keep up with daily blogging even when my mind (and self) may be occupied elsewhere, and partly to help my current Alphabet Salad readers get to know me a little better. Specifically, since it’s coming up on our one-year anniversary of living in Windsor, I thought I’d go back in time and share a bit of what brought us here.
Hope you enjoy my trip down memory lane!
Backgrounder: Ready for a change (Part 1)
Originally posted November 11 and 13, 2010
Whenever my husband or I tell people that we’re planning to leave Victoria, BC next Spring and move across the country to Windsor, Ontario, one of the first questions we’re asked, not unreasonably, is, “Why Windsor?” Depending on who’s asking and the context of our conversation, the tone ranges from surprise to disbelief to genuine curiosity to a hint of distaste… but in nearly every case, the question comes up almost immediately. (Followup questions usually run along the lines of, “Where’s Windsor, exactly?” “Isn’t the job market there really bad?” and, “Ontario? You DO know that it snows there, right?!”)
To my way of thinking, answering the question, “Why Windsor?” begins with addressing the issue, “Why not Victoria?”
I’m a BC girl, born and raised. Apart from a four-month summer job in Banff, Alberta, I’ve lived all of my 44 years in various areas throughout the province of British Columbia, and have been in Victoria for nearly 30 of those years.
There are a multitude of things I love about living in Victoria. I love that my immediate family and some of my friends live here too. I love the beauty of our little emerald green corner of the earth. I love that it’s such a lovely place that people actually spend their vacation time and money to visit it. I love the temperate climate – blossoms on the trees in January and generally non-extreme temperatures throughout the year. And I love, love, love the easy, immediate access to the ocean and the fresh, salty seaweed scent in the air. Victoria is definitely a special place.
But there is a growing catalogue of issues about the reality of day-to-day living in Victoria that I most definitely do not love.
I am horrified by the fact that the average price for a single-family home in Greater Victoria is currently $641,780, making Victoria one of the most expensive places in Canada in which to live.
It frustrates me that in order for my husband and I to simply take our car off the Island… and return home after being on the Mainland… we have to shell out nearly $150 in ferry fares and several hours of precious time. (Car trips up-Island are always another travel option, but… been there, done that.)
Though Vancouverites might scoff, I’ve grown weary of the months and months of grey, rainy, soggy weather our city experiences every winter. We have little to no snow, certainly, but regularly go weeks with no sight of sunshine or blue skies.
So, in summary: Victoria is a beautiful, vibrant city full of character and charm and familiarity. Spring and summer months are generally very pleasant, but winters feel long and dark. And it costs a whole stinking lot of money to live here.
And I am ready for a change.
