Castanet

We did this poll last October so I figured we'd try it again this year to see if the results have changed.

All things considered, do you feel happy living in the Okanagan? Did the spring flooding & summer smoke have any impact on your thoughts & opinions? Feel free to vote in the poll & post your reasons why you voted that way if you'd like.

Here's the results of last year's poll for comparison:

I voted yes, of course.

In a perfect world which doesn't exist, I would qualify that with a wish that the fires hadn't happened, the long and cold winter we just had, nor the flooding, and that vehicular traffic had been planned for with the great increase of residents that we have and are experiencing.

No perfect world but we are doing ok when compared to other places that are under assault from Mother Nature presently.

“Do You Feel Happy Living in the Okanagan?”

I used to. Fires, smoke, floods - that has no impact on my answer personally. That’s just Mother Nature, and just like the weather - there’s nothing one can do about it, so why fret over it. The real issues are the terrible infrastructure planning and subsequent traffic chaos; homeless and transient issues; housing costs; zero rental availability - but more than anything, it’s the overall general look and feel that Kelowna is now the Ed Hardy-wearing-tattooed *bleep* - bag capital of Canada complete with hair-straightened bleached-blonde Botox-lipped Barbies by the handful to adorn their wakeboard boats tied up at Roses and the Eldorado - or cruising in Audi/Beemer convoys to any one of the now over 100 estate wineries. Congratulations Kelowna - you’ve come a long way from the tiny tourist town that pretty much rolled up the streets after the Labor Day long weekend and then returned to the monotony of agriculture, mining and forestry.

I used to live up north of PG.
This in comparison, is the tropics.
Beaches - orchards - farmers markets everywhere.

No real winter to speak of, when compared to the north.
Have to laugh out loud, when I hear some wimpy person, who has never left the valley, whine about -20.
Try 3 weeks in Jan of -40 with a steady wind.

There are many, many, many worse places to live than here!

Some people have no idea how good they have it and need to travel a bit to understand.

NotNorthAnymore wrote:I used to live up north of PG.
This in comparison, is the tropics.
Beaches - orchards - farmers markets everywhere.

No real winter to speak of, when compared to the north.
Have to laugh out loud, when I hear some wimpy person, who has never left the valley, whine about -20.
Try 3 weeks in Jan of -40 with a steady wind.

PG doesn’t get the depressing low cloud for 2 months like we do here. I’ll take the sunshine and -40 with winds thank you

WalterWhite wrote:“Do You Feel Happy Living in the Okanagan?”

I used to. Fires, smoke, floods - that has no impact on my answer personally. That’s just Mother Nature, and just like the weather - there’s nothing one can do about it, so why fret over it. The real issues are the terrible infrastructure planning and subsequent traffic chaos; homeless and transient issues; housing costs; zero rental availability - but more than anything, it’s the overall general look and feel that Kelowna is now the Ed Hardy-wearing-tattooed *bleep* - bag capital of Canada complete with hair-straightened bleached-blonde Botox-lipped Barbies by the handful to adorn their wakeboard boats tied up at Roses and the Eldorado - or cruising in Audi/Beemer convoys to any one of the now over 100 estate wineries. Congratulations Kelowna - you’ve come a long way from the tiny tourist town that pretty much rolled up the streets after the Labor Day long weekend and then returned to the monotony of agriculture, mining and forestry.

I concur.

I'm happy here but mostly because I can't be bothered to move anywhere else. At the moment.

Rates low for:

Crime
Job opportunities
Social values
People
Sense of community

Rates ok for:

Outdoor opportunities
Four season stuff

Rates good for:

Rural/relaxed living
Shallow snobby people

There's a lot of trashy, snobby, rushy, hurried, fake, vacuous, nasty, egotistical, "me-me" Hollywood Wife sort of folks in this town. Without them it'd be a much nicer place. But it is what it is. They call it progress. I call it an influx of arseholes.

Bsuds wrote:There are many, many, many worse places to live than here!

Some people have no idea how good they have it and need to travel a bit to understand.

Yeup..... And there are likewise many , many , many , BETTER places to live than here ...

You know I'd take any place on the Island over Ktown ...

I'm pretty much ok living in the okanagan. It's better than most, worse than some.
I certainly wouldn't want to have to live the way many in kelowna do. I guess if I didn't live where I do in kelowna I might be a bit more pessimistic.
It would take quite a bit for me to trade off living where I do.
I'm good with the little niche I carved out.

So, yea, I feel happy living in the okanagan, but I'm not happy coz I live here. I'm just very content overall.
I'd rather be content.
Happiness in itself can be very short-lived sometimes.

I just voted, and it's a dead heat.
18 votes, all 3 catagories show 33%

I love it here but live in Vernon so don't have to deal with the traffic as much which I hate. The island would be nice but I hate the ferry.
The Cayman Islands might be better:)

i did 20 years ago . the kelowna let folks from alberta move in. been sad since

I voted "No" But, It has nothing to do with the Okanagan,
I doubt that at this time in my life I could be happy anywhere.

One tragic event that happened a couple years ago seems to have robbed me
of my past happy life into a life where I can no longer physically partake in
the things I loved doing, and did very well.

Now just left with a huge void, constant pain, and mental stress, and at every turn things
just go wrong, real or percieved

My Kidlet is all I have left, and we find a form of happiness when together.

I much preferred living in Kelowna in the 80's. Summers were busy but the tourists left at the end of August and the town went back to sleep. There was a lot less traffic in those days, a lot more green space, and the hills weren't being flattened, stripped bare, and covered with wall to wall houses. Not nearly as many snotty rich people or rednecks with money back then.

I'll probably move eventually if I can find a nice small city (50,000 pop) with reasonably priced real estate.

techrtr wrote:Not nearly as many snotty rich people or rednecks with money back then.

The rednecks with money are the worst. I don't think they are all from Alberta as some people suspect though.

Other than that the Okanagan is a pretty sweet place to live. Good for those that got in 10+ years ago.