Home and Travel

I am currently in the courtyard area of the motel I am staying at with my Dad in Naramata, BC with my laptop. The crickets are chirping, the frogs are croaking and the Sun has completely set. People are milling around outside and one guy has his laptop on and is listening to Neil Young songs via YouTube. ("Needle and the Damage Done" as I type) The room is too hot but my Dad is relaxing on the bed. On Monday we travelled up to the Kootneys and stayed in Ainsworth, visiting Kalso, Riondel (my Aunt Muriel and her husband) and Nelson (my friend Graham and my Grandmother's grave) on Tuesday and motored over to the Okanagon to hit wine country (Naramata) today.

I arrived back in BC on the evening of the 5th. Always good to visit home, but would I really want to come back here to live? Vancouver is very crowed and congested, and all the construction going just hammers that point home. The people have changed as well. I'm not talking the immigration population here - I mean the attitude. It seems snobbier than when I left, more superficial, more superior. I ran into a woman I knew on the 6th just after meeting with Peter Chattaway and we talked about it. She agreed with me and added that people are becoming pretty unfriendly.

I suppose that it is a good thing that the Lower Mainland of BC isn't so appealing to me any more (aside from my family and friends who live there) as the "BC" in BC could probably stand for "budget cuts", which will keep me from working in my field here. Still, I am feeling a bit restless in Saskatoon these days. I like the city and moving there has helped me find a job I am good at and... well "like" is the wrong word, but find interesting seems appropriate. But I need something more, something different. I have been looking into the UK as the NHS actually offers me some better options in my area. Still, it is far away from home, family and good friends.

If I could get something else going I think I may have found the three spots in BC that I could consider living in. I like Nelson. It is a small city with a well preserved sense of history. It has some big city perks, like a transit system, co-op organic grocery, decent pubs and restaurants. I also liked Kaslo, much smaller with that same sense of history. I have always liked that part of the Kootneys and could see myself living there. I like the lake and the rapidly shifting weather fronts. The hippies might irritate me though...

Then there is Naramata. I have never really considered living in the Okanagon, but then my exposure has mostly been Kelowna and Vernon. My Dad calls Naramata the "Provence" of Canada and I think agree. (unlike my Dad, I have never been to Provence) It is wine country and it is beautiful. I like the life I see here and could see myself settling quite nicely, provided I could get work.

I dunno. My paternal Grandfather was despised by his wife's step family. He had traveled extensively (not by choice) when he and his family left Eastern Europe for Canada and the referred to him as "the Gypsy". (being farmers they could immigrate to Canada freely) My Grandfather eventually set down roots, however. Somehow, I am still feeling rootless. Saskatoon does not feel like home and home is no longer quite so homely. I have been through this before, I know, but the question for me is: when does it end?