# hellllllllllllllooo00000oooo from vancouver!



## Guest

hey everyone, i'm Richard from True Snowboards.

I live in the Vancouver area (bc, canada) & ride at seymour, whistler/blackcomb, and will be hitting up cypress, grouse, baker, hemlock, big white & silverstar.


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## Guest

hey, whats going on?


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## Guest

not a whole lot... not much snow around these days, so i'm chilling in front of the tv tinkering with a bmx bike i'm converting to a ghetto rigged gravity bike for some laughs.


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## Guest

cool cool, this is actually wakeboarding season for me, having a fucking blast.

Hope to see around the forum often.


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## Guest

it's mountain biking for me for another week or two, then squamish will be going off & it's weekend warrior kiteboarding season for me.  i'm hoping to be able to board up wind and all over the place w/o any downwind drifting by the end of the summer!


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## Guest

I was going to learn kite boarding this season, but unfortunately the windy season for florida is on winter. The winds actually slow down a lot this time of the year.

Feel free to post anything about kite boarding in the wake boarding section


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## PaoloSmythe

hello vancouver dweller.

i am currently looking for a house and work in 'couver.

do you have an recommendations for the best neighbourhoods for a home and industries for a wage? i am hoping to find a big construction company somewhere in the city....


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## Guest

my father's worked in the construction industry in vancouver for nearly 35 years, so i'm familiar with quite a number of outfits in town - as well as via some of my own work, and work of friends. etc.

what trade do you specialize in? experience level/certifications?

i've lived in the suburbs of vancouver my whole life, but i do know areas of van fairly well too. how far/driving time from downtown do you want to be? type of home? (condo, townhouse, detached house?) i have some ideas for the BEST neighbourhoods lol but man oh man the best neighbourhoods cost millions of dollars to live in lol, i don't quite think too many of us can afford to live in the best neighbourhoods in vancouver.  what criteria are you looking for? good schools? low crime? low property taxes? cheap rent? public transit? close to the night life/entertainment district? big yard for a dog to roam in? rural farm atmosphere? proximity to certain ethnicities, ethnic districts, or a specific religion?

more details & i'll have some more specific answers.


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## PaoloSmythe

hey T-R

as far as work goes, i have no specific trade or certification. i am just a pedantic bureaucrat... so any major corp / multinational with mutliple multi-million / billion dollar projects is what i am used to. the sort of set up that would have a HQ in the city. something along the lines of _Fluor corp_.

as far as housing goes.... we speculate that a townhouse might be good as far as buying outright is concerned..... but we can start small, get a condo and speculate towards the future. 

ethnic centers are of little concern.... what with us being immigrants, we expect to be in the minority. but having said that tho, the missus is sure to get home sick and so is there a 'little italy'? no kids and so no need for schools. low crime and taxes would be nice. a yard for the dog and the wife would be bonus!  a close hockey rink is a must! 

i guess for a general community scene, we are looking at a beach neighbourhood. do you know Kitsilano at all?

cheers fella.


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## nzboardlife

PaoloSmythe said:


> a yard for the dog and the wife would be bonus!  a close hockey rink is a must!
> 
> 
> cheers fella.



A hockey rink near anywhere in suburban canada is given im sure :laugh:.


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## Guest

nzboardlife said:


> A hockey rink near anywhere in suburban canada is given im sure :laugh:.


lol there are 3 arenas within a 5 minute drive of my house & one of them has, i think, 4 rinks in it.


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## Guest

PaoloSmythe said:


> hey T-R
> 
> as far as work goes, i have no specific trade or certification. i am just a pedantic bureaucrat... so any major corp / multinational with mutliple multi-million / billion dollar projects is what i am used to. the sort of set up that would have a HQ in the city. something along the lines of _Fluor corp_.
> 
> as far as housing goes.... we speculate that a townhouse might be good as far as buying outright is concerned..... but we can start small, get a condo and speculate towards the future.
> 
> ethnic centers are of little concern.... what with us being immigrants, we expect to be in the minority. but having said that tho, the missus is sure to get home sick and so is there a 'little italy'? no kids and so no need for schools. low crime and taxes would be nice. a yard for the dog and the wife would be bonus!  a close hockey rink is a must!
> 
> i guess for a general community scene, we are looking at a beach neighbourhood. do you know Kitsilano at all?
> 
> cheers fella.


construction companies seem to be run by italians in greater vancouver - so that may help you.

ONNI is a *huge* condo builder, possibly the biggest in the city, that was founded by 4 italian brothers back in the 50's.
BOSA properties builds a ton of condos - many of them very high end.
Polygon Homes is another.
PCL is a big outfit here. commercial buildings mostly.
Ledcor is huge for large scale commercial construction projects.
Peter Kiewit is huge in road/highway construction. they're doing most of the highway projects for the olympics.
Bilfinger Berger (germans) and other companies are building a new bridge way out in the suburbs. goldenearsbridge.ca
keith plumbing & heating is possibly the largest plumbing & mechanical contractor in the city.

then there're a zillion smaller companies like the company(s) my father works for. (he works for artek (drywall division), but the same man also owns: belpar (cabinet/fabrication/refrigeration shop), bc drywall, fusion project management, brooks corning (office furniture) and some other crap.) and naturally there're 98773983987398734 more.

there's a skilled & unskilled labour shortage here in the vancouver area, partly due to olympic venue construction, so whether you want to do iron work, concrete work, painting, insulating, plumbing, drywall/something else entirely - just about every single company, big or small, that you could possibly look up in the phone book is hiring. this year has been the first time in my life here (all of it) that there're "now hiring" signs on damn near every business and on many commercial vehicles. so long as you're legal to work here, pretty well anybody could find a job in a matter of hours - if that.

LOL at immigrants being the minority! vancouver has been rated the most diverse city in the world with approximately 1/3rd of it's population born outside of canada. richmond is mainly chinese. vancouver also has a chinatown. the suburb city of surrey, 4 blocks away from where i live, is home to the largest indian population outside of india. and there're brits & aussies & italians & philipinos, mexicans, japanese, vietnamese, korean, africans, greeks & & & & etcetera - being a white male born in vancouver, it's ME that's quickly becoming the visual minority here! 

you're in luck, we do in fact have a little italy section of town: Little Italy, Vancouver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

































































kitsilano is nice. very chill atmosphere, home to a mix of hippies/hipsters & yuppies. it's not cheap to buy there, but rents aren't too outrageous in older buildings. the following are low end of the scale STARTING prices: ~$330k gets you around a 500sf studio (not even a 1 bedroom), half a million dollars gets close to 800sf in an older building, $800-900k & you're looking at the starting prices of townhomes & narrow 1/2 duplexes, and the cheapest detached house for sale in kits right now is a bit over $1.3million. the most expensive property currently listed is in the point grey area of kitsilano at $11.9million.

search virtually all properties for sale in kits here:

mls.ca - Property Results


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## Guest

a view of the pool at kitsilano beach:










kits beach facing the west end of vancouver:




















the marina:










and back to jobs, the best most comprehensive job search database i've ever used is a government run one that copies ads from dozens of applications & compiles them here: Bienvenue au Guichet emplois / Welcome to Job Bank


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## PaoloSmythe

hey T-R many many thanks for your efforts. i have been checking out heaps of property and employment websites but there is nothing better than getting info from a local.

i feel this is all a bit premature to be looking into such things, as the immigration authority are still assessing my medical results and so i am a few months from being given a green light (assuming all to be well); but i am a cautious fella and so it is good to be forewarned i think.

thanks especially for the fotos of little italy. i have read that during the 1970s, the italocentric aspect dwindled and now the areas around Commercial Drive are more diverse. diversity is no stress for someone who's lived in London for the past 12 years tho. 

the fotos will do much to suggest to my missus that vancouver isn't entirely filled with cloudy, rainy days.... in fact, it seems that you get as much drizzle as we do in the UK except that when summer arrives, it is actually warm and sunny!

i will be searching out those construction company names which you kindly listed and seeing if they have recruitment opportunities. i had figured i would want to get a job secured before i left to get over there permanently; but if the worker shortage is such that finding at least something quickly is assurred, such cautious steps might not be necessary? i have no skills beyond the office to speak of, but i can lift and carry and learn fast..... so if i have to make like a mexican and petition for site work on street corners for a few months.... well so be it! 

property prices with that many zeroes seem scarey... but when you consider that UK prices are identical, but in pounds sterling, you realise that BC real estate is effectively half price for me! i just hope that salaries aren't half too! (of course they will be! )

cheers mate!


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## Guest

may not need to be so cautious, but i believe it does help w/ work visas and immigration and such to have a job lined up. i think. i'm not 100% sure - but i know who is: i know a canada customs/border patrol/immigration officer - i can ask him what the best process would be in terms of ease of coming over here would be, employment wise.

if a job fell through, at the present time, it's not overly difficult to land another gig pretty quickly. maybe not the best job/rate of pay, but for anyone in need of A job while they continue looking for a job they want, there're plenty available.

ya it can get warm in the summer... the past few days have been around the 30C mark. i'll be heading to a desert area on a camping trip in the middle of the month where it routinely gets above 40C many days throughout the summer. at the present, it's storming outside... there's been a lot of lightning strikes over the past 5 hours - the biggest bolts of lightening i've seen in my life! (real lightning storms like this are very rare for us, so it's cool to watch. )


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## PaoloSmythe

well don't trouble your border guard buddy on my account T-R. i am several years into the 'permanent residency' process with the local canadian commission. so whether it was 'the best' route or not, is no longer a concern! 

these enquiries are preparations into home and work situations when we get out there (assuming they eventually say "okay", which if they do, will be in the next 90 days or so!!!) 

i am just unsure whether my fears should be listened to (ie get a home and job before you leave; easier said than done) or whether i listen to my intuition and go over there with neither, but look to secure both quickly so we can start our lives....

a challenge for sure. and so thanks for your help.

there is a desert in BC? how are the mosquitoes and black flies during the summer?


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## PaoloSmythe

good grief! if your news resource is the same as that for your fotos.... i can see how you acquired your 'special' global perspective. 

you should probably take the rest of the week off and go for a lie down....


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## Guest

oh yeah there's desert areas... merrit's probably about the closest to vancouver that begins to qualify as desert (i believe) at about a 3.5-4h drive away.

this is the most touristy desert spot though, osoyoos:










it's pretty well the hottest spot in the province in the summer & nothing more than a tourist resort lake beach town from what i understand. (never been, first timer)

bc is also home to the great bear rainforest:










which is apparently the only home to these guys:










the Kermode aka spirit bear - the only black bears with, due to a recessive gene, snow white fur.

as well as grizzly bears... big, big grizzly bears.

and it wouldn't be bc w/o mountains, duh - but more than just mountains... plenty of glaciers:










it's almost pretty much you name it you can find it here. 8)


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## PaoloSmythe

hahahaaa i am defo showing the missus this thread.

we know about the mountains, we also know about the rain soaked cities.... and the smell of cow shit everywhere near calgary......

we have been out to BC / alberta for a few weeks on several occasions and tried to live 'like the locals'... but this is easier said than done over such brief periods and more often than not, in a mountain resort.

my missus, who's from the mediterranean would go bonkers i think if she couldn't be certain of a hot summer (i can live without to be honest) and so a desert lake (of all things) is perfetto!

cheers mate. i am sure to bother you with more Q's soon....  such as do you have to pay for TV licenses?


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## Guest

ahahahahahaha pay for tv licenses - only the uk has invented such a thing as far as i know. people just pay their cable provider for whatever package of channels they want, or bundle their cable, phone & internet with one company for one lower package price. or get a satellite dish and pay them... or don't  (although those with free satellite will lose it next year when signal types change to digital, or so i was told.)

if we had to pay for tv licences i'd start a vancouver tv party & start pitching the things off a ship into the harbour.


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## PaoloSmythe

honestly, the TV licensing laws are one of my pet hates. it is infuritating!

for those who do not know.... back in the good old days of one maybe two black and white, grainy TV channels which would air from about 5 pm to 10pm, the BBC was publicly funded; ie you paid a tax!

now.... you have a gazillion channels from the world over, but to watch any of them, you have to pay the BBC this tax still (which is £135 per year).

it is worth noting that the BBC sells their programming the world over to people who do not have to pay tax to watch their programs. the BBC makes a huge profit from this, and yet, we still have to pay tax.

because of the presumption that everyone watches TV, if your address has no license registered to it; the BBC are allowed to assume you are watching their shows without a license and thus, you are a criminal. to this end, they send out letters which closely look like and are worded in accordance to those letters sent out as acourt summons! 

even if you announce that you do not watch TV, you are pestered every 6 months by the license people, who request permission to enter you home to check for the presence of a TV or anything similar. if you say no, then you really do get a summons.

one wonders what would happen if a private cable / satellite TV provider / programmer tried such aggressive and out right threatening 'sales' tactics.

it is a disgrace. yay canada!

rant ends.


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## Penguin

Yo 

I hope to move to Vancouver soon. Actually I have to visit first, but people tell me if I go there I might not come back. Haha.


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## Guest

it's true.

i may not be financially wealthy, but you simply can't beat the richness of our surroundings here! just the other day i was talking to a buddy on the phone the other day and i literally burst out laughing at how awesome it is to live here when our biggest dilemma is weather to go mountain biking, kiteboarding, or snowboarding on our next after work trip out for some fun. aaaaaah, vancouver. 8)


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## Penguin

WORD!!!

I don't need to be financially well off, as long as I can snowboard I'd be happy.


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## PaoloSmythe

Penguin said:


> WORD!!!
> 
> I don't need to be financially well off, as long as I can snowboard I'd be happy.


if by being able to snowboard, you would include the ability to pay rent, eat food, buy lift tix etc.... then in 'couver or whistler or in all places in between, being able to snowboard and being 'well off' are one and the same thing!


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## Guest

ah yes & no... sure it's an expensive city, but you don't need to earn the kind of money it takes to buy a house here in order to live here and enjoy the place.


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## PaoloSmythe

well living in london for the past decade plus.... i am hoping a move to counver will put me on easy street! (fat chance but still....)

so what the latest news from V?

do you think an english accent would do me any favours with the locals? if so, should i go for an upper crust, queen's accent or salt of the earth mockney cockney?


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## Guest

latest news: a power substation caught fire & burned up a bunch of cable splices underground causing 2200 businesses to be w/o power for a few days now. politicians are pointing fingers at each other over who's fault it is that some stuff is getting old and wearing out. whatever, it'll be fixed asap. the weather's been hot & sunny 30-33C for the last few days and will be the same for the next week.

no idea about the accent bit... i don't know what the difference is between upper crust & queens accent. there's every accent from around the world here. some may like the english accent. i don't think anyone would dislike it. and if you could pull off talking like brad pitt from snatch, you'd probably get a few laughs.


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## PaoloSmythe

i don't do pikey

but from experience, they really do sound like that! Pitt was epic in that film. _its not quite irish, its not quite english, its.... well its pikey!_

to be honest, i probably sound more like brick top or turkish!

_oh no tommy, its tip top; i'm just not sure on the colour_


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