Leaving Arizona

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It was good.  The weather was, anyway.  Very nice.  It was actually bloody ‘mawvelous, dahling’ when you consider what most of the continent went through these past two months- still are.  Still, I am pleased to be heading home.  But first, a few more observations:

Our American neighbours, the ones around me in southern Phoenix, seem to have it a lot better than we Canucks.  Economically speaking.  Gasoline is $2.30 a US gallon but, if you have a ‘club key’ or XXX card or a ‘swipe’n go thingy you can get as much as 20 cents off that per gallon price.  That means that a swipe ‘n go member down the street fills up for $2.10 a gallon on a good day.  Mind you, their gallons are approximately 20% less than is our Imperial gallon (and 4 liters is 1.05 imperial gallons) so one could use 2.10 plus 40 plus to get about $2.50 a Canadian gallon for gasoline.  BUT!!!  Our dollar is also worth less by about 30% so it would take another 80 cents to get the equivalent or $3.30 give or take a few cents.  As gas prices sat when we left, we were paying damn close to $5.40 cents per four liters and so – doing all the math (roughly) means a straight-up comparison between Canadian car drivers and American car drivers means we pay $2.10 a gallon more.  40+% more for the same thing. 

‘Our’ neighbourhood

But who cares, eh?  It’s only money.  Let us look, instead, at housing.  A brand new 2200 sft home in a stunning sub-division, NOT packed in tight, and enjoying numerous parks and several community centres with pools and all the amenities you could imagine costs the American maybe $250,000.  They enjoy 30 year fixed term mortgages and similar if not slightly higher interest rates but with virtually no money down deals.  I worked it out.  Twenty percent down ($50K) and the monthly payments were just over $600/mo.  NOT quite true…..the ‘gated community’ fees were $127.00 for everything….and so say, with any and all bells and whistles I don’t know…say about…$750.00 a month for a fancy new home (Can$1000).  That payment is tax-deductible, by the way.

Lots of open space and sports facilities

Average income in this here neck of the woods (cactus): US$85,000.

Play areas such as these are every few blocks

I won’t bore you with the price of produce or groceries or even scotch which was $17.00 for 1.75 liters or half what it is at home.  Like the wine..sometimes less than half.  Do not even ASK about cell phone costs!  Doesn’t matter how you cut it, living in Arizona is about half the cost of living in say, Victoria or Nanaimo and maybe a third of the cost of living in Vancouver.

But – you knew that.  Most people know that. And yet, we prefer Canada.  Right?  Why do we?  Why do we prefer paying twice as much for everything and sometimes more?  Why do we prefer harsher weather?  Why do we prefer less free time, less rules and even much less ‘disposable income’?

Why do we prefer our trans Canada highway to have two or four lanes instead of 16 or more?

Surely it is NOT because we believe our government is any less corrupt than theirs?  Surely it is not because we like our ‘way of life’ more than theirs – they are pretty similar except, perhaps, their MAGA contingent is larger.

I don’t know the answer for most people.  I know the answer for me.  Oddly, I prefer cooler, wetter and wilder environments WITH ocean but, of course, that doesn’t apply to most people who live in cities. I know I feel safer in Canada but that makes very little sense….I do feel safer but there is no real statistical difference.  It’s just me.  I like the basic Canuck…..but, then again, I like the basic ‘Merican….they’re mostly pretty OK, too.

I really do not have a good answer for you on this…..but I will repeat: I AM HAPPY TO BE GOING HOME!

17 thoughts on “Leaving Arizona”

  2. Hope you’re not arriving tomorrow.
    Snow predicted.
    Vancouver may be in the record books for Feb. 2019
    Coldest Feb on record measured 19 days with below zero as the average daily temp.
    We are tied with that now so we may break the cold record before March 1st… fingers crossed.

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    • Now, to be fair: I have seen few really whacked-out mental people down here that weren’t snowbirds. Some stretched a bit tight? Perhaps. Dumber than dirt? The majority if not the entirety. But truly mental MAGA-hat droolers…? Barely any.

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  5. But just look at it, beige, grey (lots of grey), brown, beige again. No green anywhere, except perhaps the golf course. You don’t mention golf, but then neither would I! Monotonous colour scheme translates to monotonous mind set? Not sure, but i guess you get what you pay for, or something like that. I will continue to pay more, happily or not, for blue, green, sea, forest, fresh air, fewer bullets to dodge…..look forward to seeing you both upon your return to the ‘hood….

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    • Looking forward to being there! And this will surprise you: the grey in the pictures is really a shade of beige…kind of a grey/green beige….it looks more grey in the picture but, if there is a way to insert beige in a colour, they have found it. Shopping malls? HUGE shopping malls? Beige. B-E-I-G-E. Hell, Costco stands out as being such a lighter shade of beige than most other buildings!

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      • Haha, hope you’ve got your long johns handy, because you will be needing those! If not, you might be able to pick up a beige set at the lighter shade of beige store on the way home. Safe travels.

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