GeoffW wrote: ↑03 Oct 2024, 12:00
I thought you might have a commentary on the YouTube I posted!
In general I am somewhat "down" on videos posted by excited people exclaiming how their life was incomplete until they'd seen
The Wave Rock near Hyden, and/or why
The Goolwa Barrage was a rip-off. Such videos are Personal Opinions, and frankly no-one's opinion, personal or otherwise, is as important as mine, and I defy anyone to transform my prejudicies. I've spent YEARS building them up...
As you and other's now I am still too ashamed to admit that I was so stupid as to spend time living in downtown Toronto before seeing the light in 2017/18/19.
And so to the specific video.
First off I was terrified that a one-time lady-friend of mine had moved to Bonavista. After first moving to Alberta. But after I'd gotten past 0m22s I realized that I was still safe here.
Most articles about Bonavista seem to contain inaccuracies, and those inaccuracies are of two sorts: (1) facts and (2) perceptions.
In the video we are told that the population of Bonavista is 4,000, but prior to this the highest number I'd been told when I arrived was 3,800, and last week I saw the population pegged at 3,100. Of course, as in anywhere, the population of
what? Some folks include Spillars Cove, Elliston, Maberley etc in the count, while other rely on something else. Nonetheless 4,000 sounds healthy, but the population must be dropping steadily year by year. Twelve brick-and-mortar businesses have closed since I moved here. When a bank pulls out of town the message is "There will be NO more new business loans here; ever".
I tried running the video at 2x but Caroline still didn't sound like a Bonavistan. I could still understand her. I can't understand Ram when he slows DOWN!
Comments on the Mayor and his "Heritage Building" project: all well and good, but I'd be more impressed is he focused on bringing new business here to Bonavista. His project does employ carpenters and electricians and others, but that just makes it nigh on impossible for individuals to hire a contractor.
I noted the comment on bikes and the cafe. The cafes are open only June-September. Bonavista is more bike-friendly than Toronto, but we still have far too many pickup-truck drivers who feel that as long as their paint doesn't get scratched, it's not a collision. (Strange looks I get when I gently steer around a series of potholes that, you'd think, I ought to ride out on my saddle, whereas strong pickup trucks slow down to walking-pace to negotiate the bumps)
There's more, and I'm not in particularly bad mood, When I get
truly homesick I search for
videos on The Yilgarn, but those aren't how I remember The Yilgarn as an impressionable ten-year old

.
Cheers, Chris