Hello Vancouver!

It’s nice to be back in moose territory. Although the Canadians don’t really like moose references made by others (think back to the Montreal comedy festival when one of the performers made a reference to Canadians doing with moose what we say Kiwis do with sheep), they do like to use it as a symbol of their Canadian-ness. Along with the beaver (lots of damn good puns there), the bear, the wolf and the husky. Otters and whales get thrown in from time to time as well. And ravens, some butterflies and some water fowl I have no interest in.

Vancouver is a stunning city. Australians who live here tell me it is as boring as all get-out because it is full of Canadians but I think this might be a bit unfair and I am launching myself in defense of this fair city.

Firstly, I think it is less boring and more wholesome. Vancouverians (??? Vancs??? Vancrians??? Vancouveros???) are health conscious and, like their cousins south of the border, damn nice (beaver alert). Therefore they don’t drink to drunkenness, they can be seen engaging in lots of out-door activities such as walking, running, biking, roller-blading and their speech is generally of an up-building and perky nature. But it’s not all cheerleaders and jocks. Fear not, there are plenty of weird and wonderful specimens to keep you entertained. Not just Spandy Andy (the spandex-clad entertainer who spends his days riding around the city on his vespa with music blaring, taking advantage of every traffic light to dismount and dance around the cars) but a full army-sized host of strangely coiffed, oddly dressed, unusually behaving individuals who cannot be accused of conforming with any trend, group or genre. Watching them is of itself an interesting activity. Just yesterday I saw a young lass working as a greeter in a pub restaurant (they have strange fits of over-employment here) who looked like a cross between a punk, an alien and a Medieval princess. Despite being quite pretty, I would have been more than a little frightened had I met her in a dark alley. Since I don't frequent dark alleys and it was daylight, I could instead just stare at her in bemusement, wondering how one would actually describe her look in 2 words or less. Strange kept coming to mind. Nevertheless, I was intrigued (hence not bored) for several hours - and that was before I saw Spandy Andy.

Secondly, Vancouver is a very diversity-friendly city which naturally yields loads of activities. At the moment, there is a big gay-pride festival coming up and rainbow flags and “pride proud” (???WTF???) stickers abound. It’s also a big(ish) city so there are plenty of events, concerts, shows and things to do. There are at least four different “hop on, hop off” bus tour companies - there must be loads to do just by virtue of their presence. How can a city with so much to do be considered boring? Sure, the weather isn’t as great as ours but as someone once said to me “there is no such thing as bad weather, just inadequate clothing”. In other words, the weather is what you make of it. And frankly, I hear it's better than Montreal's and Toronto's.

Thirdly, Vancouver is a visually stunning city. Truly beautiful. Given my recent meeting in Curitiba and reflections on Adelaide, I have been considering carefully what makes Vancouver so beautiful. Certainly it’s physical location helps - being set between snow-capped, tree covered mountains and the sea does not detract from its beauty. But it’s more than that. The city itself - that is the skyline, the buildings, the whole effect is beautiful quite apart from the natural scenery surrounding it. Why? I’ve narrowed it down to three things (I can’t help it, I like lists).

1. Scale - buildings vary in height. There are very tall buildings but there are also single-storey houses right in the middle of the city. This makes the skyline interesting and it also stops the city from dwarfing you (no short jokes about the author please) the way Sydney does.

2. Placement - buildings are set well back from the streets, which themselves are generally wide (even the one-way streets have room for parking on both sides of the road). The set-back means that, most importantly, footpaths are wide and in many places there are double rows of trees - one in front of the building and then one at the edge of the street with a wide footpath in between. This creates a lovely, soothing, leafy colonade on the majority of streets. Again, it prevents the dwarfing effect and it encourages a feelings of tranquility even amongst the hustle. (There is also an abundance of balcony and rooftop gardens and public parks but that is another story.)

3. Materials - Vancouver is a city of glass. Most buildings have enormous windows. As well as making indoor spaces light and making use of a recyclable material, it means there is plenty of light reflected throughout the streets and therefore even the streets surrounded by very tall buildings feel light and spacious.

So, there you go (another excellent Canadian expression). It is easy-peasy to make a damn (beaver alert) beautiful city. Now I’m sorry but I have to go - I have damn (beaver alert) important things to do.