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Last week, we made a day trip to Ganges, Saltspring Island, British Columbia to visit friends.
For those of you who aren't familiar with Saltspring, it's a gorgeous, laid-back, self-sustainable, old-school lefty paradise located ninety minutes away from Vancouver via ferry.
It's full of laid-back folks; artists, writers, musicians, organic farmers and the like, all of whom years ago found their version of nirvana on Saltspring. Very few people need a car; most can get by with a bike or moped, and half the population leaves their car on the mainland anyway for these obvious reasons.
WORSE KEPT DARK ISLAND SECRET: Americans, mostly Microsoft types from Seattle, have been quietly "buying the place up" for years (long before the current "troubles"), sending real estate prices soaring, and generally changing the "feel" of the place. However, they DO keep to themselves, and offer little if nothing to the community.
SEEN LAST WEEK AT AN OUTDOOR CAFE IN GANGES: A "SECURITY MOM" FROM WASHINGTON STATE IN A HUMVEE. Truly the most offensive, yet hilarious, sight I've seen in ages, esp. in a place like this. The whole town "stopped dead", not unlike one of those old westerns when the stranger pulls into town. Some town folk (a few of the "older types") actually approached this woman in a very friendly manner, and sincerely offered her up some "advice" on just how inappropriate, not to mention "asking for it", it was in bringing her vanity monstrosity onto the island.
An "international (keying) incident" in the works if there ever was one. I'm still wondering how "Security Mom" fared on her visit.
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