A few words on victoria

So I'm spending an extra week in Victoria, officially house-sitting for the newlywed couple off on honeymoon, but more than that, I'm using the extra time to try to get under this city's skin. Partly because it seems to be a city full of wonderful contrasts and partly because I'm beginning to feel quite certain that when the pull from this country eventually grows strong enough to make me lift up roots and move across the pacific again, Victoria is no doubt where I will likely land.

Victoria has a great youth culture, contributed to predominately by the University of Victoria but also it seems by the swaths of 20 somethings from all over the island who migrate south in search of work and of nightlife that just can't be found in, say, Coombs. But Victoria's population also has the largest percentage of retirees in the country. Add to that the constant influx of tourists from all over the world and it becomes a city with a bit of something for everyone with an energy built on relaxation and recreation, in various forms.

Historically, Victoria was the lone British outpost that stopped the newly forming US from taking the wide strip of land that is now British Columbia. After Alaska was bought from the Russians, this particular chunk of Canadian West was sandwiched between two rather large slices of America. It was the settlement in Victoria that formed the base for a resistance that kept BC for the crown and then for Canada. That said, such close proximity to Washington State means that the number of (rather rotund) American tourists loping about downtown does make you wonder how successful the resistance was.

Today is seems that Victoria has a strong counter-culture, based in environmental conservation, a bit of cooperative communalism, and a general political left-wingedness. But this is balanced by the realities of a tourism-driven economy and the subsequent need to keep up appearances. The Empress Hotel, one of the icons of Victoria's Inner Harbour, is slowly sinking into the swamp on which it was built, but of course any suggestion that it should be demolished as the unsafe building it is becoming is met with fierce opposition.

I like Victoria and Victorians. They are a friendly lot, for the most part. And despite the pockets of crime and homelessness, I really could see myself living here at some point. Although, I think I'd better do it soon while I'm young or else I'll have a long wait till retirement.