April, glad you enjoyed yourself. Would love to read a report.

Yes, your remarks call for another observation. We saw no aggressive driving in Victoria. I suppose, it's because the roads are uncrowded. SD driving is probably not as unpleasant as the LA metropolitan area. Yes, it is the fatigue of driving here that makes us want a car less holiday.

Hi Annetti.
Nice to read your summations. You observed a lot in your stay here.

Our 'homeless' problem migrates here from the rest of the country. This is the only place you do not freeze to death outdoors at night. Victoria City itself is 90,000 people stradled with a problem from a country of 40,000,000. Federal / Provincial funding for infrastructure is hard to come by, and if it were easy to come by, where would you build the housing?

Most big cities around the world did very poor jobs of this by building large 'ghetto' areas.

The problem is not easy to answer.

Regarding
Insignificant observation: Incredible numbers of tattoos on young people and more piercings than I can remember seeing in a long while.

Fashions take a long while to reach this outpost. So we probably have the same proportion of 'proud tattooes' that LA had ten years ago.
We did not see a single facial piercing in London last month, so there is hope.

Hello Icthecat: I suppose, it is generational, but I can't see beauty in nose rings extended from the nostrils; and as far as tattoos go, I hope that the majority of them are not permanent, though I am sure that they are. We were sitting one evening by two young women at Ferris' Oyster Bar and the young woman diagonal to me was wearing a tank shirt. Her entire chest was tattooed and in the dim light, it appeared to be a very hairy chest. Not the look she was searching for, I imagine.

Thanks for your report - my sisters live in Victoria but I know more about it from reading your report than visiting with them.

Re: No facial piercings in London...London, England?...not my experience so maybe they're taking the rings out now? I saw them first there - now I'm horrified by what I see - why on earth does anyone want a ring in their nose like a bull? And I see more intimate piercings in the locker room at the gym.

That hairy chest description is funny - I have to think that all these people with so many tattoos are going to wake up one morning and realize they've made a very permanent mistake. They can be removed but it's expensive and painful.

Yes Morningglory,
That would be London England.
That is why I am hopeful the trend has past.

Those tattoos appararantly cost about $1,000 per square inch to remove. I do not know personaly. I imagine we will have a lot of 'wrinkly old tatooed women' around later.

Thank you, Morningglory47. I keep hoping that some of those tattoos are temporary, and will eventually fade away. Certainly, the enthusiasm for a particular design will be gone. There will be lot of business for dermatologists and plastic surgeons in a couple years. I imagine someone out there is trying to figure out how to minimize the pain and find an easy way to do remove the tattoos, because right now it is very expensive as Icthecat pointed out and involves several treatments to remove even one tattoo.

Dear Annetti.(Jan 09/10)
I spend the afteroon and eve reading this blog instead of packing for my one week trip to Victoria. Argh! But it sure was fun and I thank you for all the info. My hubby just told me:I'm almost packed :)

este: You are very welcome! I am very sure that you will enjoy your trip to Vic (as the locals call it) and luckily you have a good amount of time to enjoy the place. Have a good trip.