Back again!

Yes. I'm very glad to have my laptop back. I use my laptop for a lot of things - recipes, knitting patterns and help, facebook (of course) and email, banking, blogging, general household tips (ie. how to revive a crispy-dried-out plant), shopping, planning activities for my "Little" visits, renewing library books, managing my photos and music .... etc. etc. etc.

So this EDO weekend was spent travelling. I visited the family on Sat., and then took some time to explore the Halifax Regional Municipality a bit more. I really haven't seen much of this part of NS and I figured this was a good opportunity (despite gas prices being the highest they've been - 121.7/L). Soooo.....I drove to the Dark Side (aka Dartmouth), and explored Eastern Passage, Colby Village, Cole Harbour, downtown Dartmouth, and then Dartmouth Crossing. I kept thinking as I drove into these villages/neighbourhoods/whatever they are, "Is this it?" I was never quite sure where I was until I circled around a bit. Of course, I wasn't really following a map either. I just drove and drove and drove. On the Halifax side, I ended up following the St. Margaret's Bay Rd. through Beechville to Timberlea and Hubley. I always kind of thought Timberlea was a larger village with a shopping centre, but if there was I didn't find it. Just rows and rows of houses.

The more I drive around, the more I appreciate where I'm living - so close to the city and all its amenities. Though I see the advantages of living further out (being removed from the busy-ness of city-life), the landscape seems so desolate and I think I would feel too isolated being so far away from the city-centre. I don't like the idea of a longer commute than what I already have.

And one more observation before I go and do my taxes:
Dartmouth Crossing is just a little big creepy. It's a lot like Bayer's Lake - a sprawling shopping district of big box stores and restaurants and an Empire Theatre. But the part that creeped me out was the cobblestone storefront shopping district. For those who are "from away" and don't know what I'm talking about....in the middle of nowhere (and I mean NOWHERE!), they've developed this false downtown shopping area where you can walk from storefront to storefront, like you would in any downtown. The creepy bit, is that this ISN'T a downtown. You don't wander down to Dartmouth Crossing to window-shop; it's not a community or a neighbourhood with any kind of identity or history. It's an outdoor mall, really in the middle of nowhere. You have to drive down a relatively new highway for 10 minutes, with no development as far as the eye can see. The highway itself is deceiving because it's not finished so, in several places, it's actually going nowhere, except into a quarry of cut granite. What makes me a little bit sad, is that all the commercial/retail development is moving into this one area, and downtown Dartmouth (and probably downtown Halifax) is going to become more and more depressed. Dartmouth makes me sad - the roads are terrible!, the city planning is terrible, there's a lot of neglected and depressed buildings and the businesses seem to be hidden away off the main roads (Did I see a Sobeys or a Superstore at all? I can't remember.). I think I'll be sticking to the Halifax side for awhile, until I explore the Darkside more.