I’ve been in Chilliwack close to two months now. It’s obviously a completely different lifestyle out here, one that I’m quite enjoying. I wake up every morning to an apartment that’s filled with light, and I go to sleep each night without the sound of loud sirens or drunken idiots screaming outside.
But without a doubt there’s one aspect of living out here that still seems unnatural — seeing children outside. Living in the downtown core of Vancouver you don’t really see a lot of kids. Sure, you see the odd infant, or on the weekend, a few kids going to the aquarium or what-not. But it was pretty rare to see a bunch of kids playing in the streets, or riding bikes around. It’s a welcome change to be honest, and it reminds me of all the fun I had as a kid after school.
That is true.. not many children around the west end/downtown area. Though there is a highschool and elementary school 2 blocks from me too.
I’m glad there arent many children around I suppose. Coming from the area near 4 elementary schools and 1 highschool I like were I am. For me its a big change being in the city and not in the burbs.
Yah, I guess the grass is always greener. But I quite like the change in scenery.
When I lived at my dad’s there was a school behind his house, in which when I was studying for college I would hear the recess bell, and see all the kids playin from my window. It was beuatiful, because I couldn’t quite remember any recess memories clearly, but knew by the sound of the screams and the playing and the energy that it was righteous, and that the sound of a few hundred boisterous kids was divine.
I recorded it, and to this day I can playback the sound of those kids playing whenever I need to be reminded to lighten the fuck up.
The odd time when the bell goes off in the morning, I still think to myself another day that I am late for school. When I was just a lad I lived right next door to my school. The funny thing is that I was always the last to get to school. No matter what time I got up an hour or five minutes before the bell I was the last kid to school. These days I live right behind one of the schools that I attended (well if you could call random days at school attending lol) and it is funny how it reminds me of when you have no cares in the world and all you had to do was go to school. Boy do things change
I’ve noticed that as well when I’m in Chilliwack a few times a week. There are more kids out and about then there is around here.
When I was growing up in Richmond, I lived beside a elementary school. Since I moved I miss the sounds of kids playing the school bells. Now in Cloverdale, I know where are kids living on the same street as me but I don’t see them out and about like I have when I was in Richmond.
Hhhmmm..recess: I remember when i was in Kindergarten or Grade 1, some jerk tripped and pushed me face first into the snow on the soccer field. What a dick.