Sunday, April 26, 2009

An Un-Fond Farewell

To all my loyal readers: the time has come for me to bid adieu to this wretched province. Like so many before me, I am leaving Saskatchewan for another province - BC to be exact. I hear it is the best place on earth so I consider the move a slight upgrade. Maybe Saskatchewan should consider changing its license plate motto to something more accurate like:


Saskatchewan: We Apologize in Advance
Saskatchewan: A Great Place to Drive Through
Saskatchewan: At Least It Can't Get any Worse
Saskatchewan: Come and Live the Nightmare
Saskatchewan: Yes, the Jokes are All True
Saskatchewan: Take the Smorgasboard Tour
Saskatchewan: Sunfire Hotspot
Saskatchewan: Canada's Heart Disease Sanctuary
Saskatchewan: Imagine a Broke Alberta
Saskatchewan: Atkins Diet Killed Our Economy!
Saskatchewan: Canada's Largest Retirement Home
Saskatchewan: Canadian Tire's Parish
Saskatchewan: Seafood is Against the Law
Saskatchewan: And I Thought You Were Kidding About This Place!
Saskatchewan: Where the History is more Interesting than the Future
Saskatchewan: Kill me Please!
Saskatchewan: It's Just like the Movie: The Village

and of course....
Saskatchewan: The Worst Place on Earth


So long!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!

After losing my job in a so-called downsizing measure and not being able to find similar employment we (my wife & I) packed up and headed west to the promised land of BC, Vancouver to be exact after 40 years of living in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

It was heaven. The month of May was like our best days of summer, trees were in full blossom and skies were blue with fresh mountain air providing an unforgettable welcome to us prairie dogs. Ah yes, this would be the life. We both found work within a month and settled in to our rented condo.

Three years later we moved back to “the land of living skies”. Why, you ask? Here are the top 10 reasons - David Letterman style.
10 The only direction you can travel without traffic delays, ferries and borders is east on Hwy #1.
9 The only place to see the sun actually set is from Vancouver's Westside sandy beach of English Bay.
8 Shopping for more than 3 items is an all day venture.
7 Gas prices are the highest in the country.
6 Fashion dress is nonexistent unless you like straight hair and blue jeans.
5 Never leave home without it – your UMBRELLA that is. The sun disappears from November to May.
4 Public parking downtown is not available under $4.00 an hour.
3 Starbuck’s coffee is overrated. There are too few Tim Horton’s.
2 Most Vancouverites have never been out of BC and don’t care to go.
1 Saskatchewan’s FOUR seasons of sunshine offers more recreation opportunities.

If you’re running away from Saskatchewan because of politics, BEWARE, BC’s socialist history is bogged down with political baggage much worse than the NDP mindset and stronghold we’ve finally overcome in Saskatchewan.

Minimum wages are less in BC than in SK and unemployment is greater. street crime is greater, traffic is greater, city noise is greater, and cost of living and luxuries are greater. It’s not cheap to live in BC.

BC, and particular Vancouver offer a lot for amenities and entertainment for travelers and visitors, but is out of reach for most locals. The myth that one can live off the land and sea or on a beach eating mushrooms, crabs and berries will only work for a few days. I suggest you put away the equivalent of a bus fare back to Saskatchewan in case you lose your job or can’t find work, or you’ll end up getting stuck there, and remember… without any shine sun for six months every year.

GOOG LUCK!

Anonymous said...

I wish you the best of luck in B.C!

I am very curious as to where you went though.

I moved to Washington State (pretty much B.C.) just a month before you posted this, and now I live in Yakima.

I do miss some things about Saskatchewan, but it is hard to consider moving back there when I think of the winters. =P

I would move to B.C, if I moved back to Canada, but not Vancouver (nice to see, terrible to live I hear) or Victoria.

One thing Washington lacks is solitude. It's hard to just find a gravel road or something to drive on in peace. Almost everything here has a tamed feeling. Driving in the forest roads of Mt. Rainier or Gifford Pinchot only further the tamed feeling. In Saskatchewan, getting stuck on a grid road was something to worry about, not here.

I know it is stupid, but I like the adventurous feeling of traveling somewhere not well traveled.

I am wondering if B.C. is like Washington in this regard.

Best of luck!

Would love to know how life for you is in B.C, if you are there now!

Anonymous said...

Good riddance, douchebag. Hope you never come back.

BT said...

Honestly, I hope it works out OK for you. May you find the maturity and grace that you so obviously lack right now, and learn to become an asset to your new home. If you DON'T change, I guarantee that in short order, you will be whining and moaning about your new home.

I Hate Saskatchewan said...

anonymous 1:52

Sadly, your bad experiece in BC is a common one for ex-Saskies. You see, almost half of your top ten things are car-related. You should have ditched the Sunfire and used public transit like everyone lese in Vancouver. Less stress overall. A lot of your other reasons also dont add up. You can see the sunset from numous other beaches (i.e. Kits, Spanish Banks, Wreck beach) and unless you have a penchant for hypothermia and ice fishing, Sask has only one season for recreation. That season is summer and the activity you get to enjoy is bug-swatting. I'd also never utter the words "fashion" and "Saskatchewan" unless I wanted to tell a joke.

colin said...

I'm from Edmonton and I recently had to go to Saskatchewan for work. I was only there for a month and my work took me through much of the province. I realize that Alberta, especially Edmonton, is not always that highly regarded (although Edmonton is improving by leaps and bounds over the last few years), but I have never been so happy to be home. Everything you say is entirely true. I know people from Saskatchewan who work in Edmonton and they are all very good people; however, I was not a huge fan of many of the people I encountered in Saskatchewan.

I was expecting to see some comments about their road signs. They don't say "km" after the given distance (trying to save money??), and they are tiny and only posted every 50 kms (or should I say "every 50 __"). I got lost and my blackberry had no reception (another problem) for GPS, so I drove for almost an hour unsure of where I was going before I was able to reach a road sign.

Sorry to all Saskatchewaners. Good people, bad province.