Moving to Hamilton? - Page 8

matt602 · #**141** Posted **Jul 20, 2008, 10:11 PM**

Cogeco does indeed offer an on-demand package, however I'm uncertain how it compares to Virgin Media. It honestly looks pretty bare bones to me, though I know nothing about on-demand TV.

http://www.cogeco.ca/en/on_demand_o.html

sofasurfer · #**142** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 8:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by omro

Please, I'd be interested to read the anti-Hamilton comments.

Here you go: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=549477

matt602 · #**143** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 9:04 AM**

That was a bit hard to read without getting angry.

sofasurfer · #**144** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 2:37 PM**

You're telling me!

I suspect these people are cut from the same cloth as those cited on http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/

omro · #**145** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 4:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sofasurfer

Here you go: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=549477

Ouch. Those are harsh comments. Unjustifiably so.

I think they are biased. I had read similar comments and been told the same from a former resident. But that's not how I perceived the city upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised.

I will agree with the Sheffield comparison, I've made that comparison myself more than once.

However, while I agree that Hamilton is more like Sheffield was, than now is, it suggests to me that the future is bright for Hamilton - if it can improve itself the way that Sheffield has.

I hope the local government learns from Sheffield and similar cities around the world that have taken the effort to improve themselves. For those of you who don't know, Sheffield was England's Steel City.

I feel that for Hamilton the only way is up.

Millstone · #**146** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 4:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt602

That was a bit hard to read without getting angry.

I'm sorry, I had to register just to give that Mikey kid a piece of my mind.

DC83 · #**147** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 4:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt602

That was a bit hard to read without getting angry.

There was a forum on the Vancouver Tourism site as well (I think Flar posted the link like forever ago), and the comments it had re: Hamilton was disgusting. They were mostly made by Western Canadians who have never once stepped foot in this city.

If you think those comments from the Brits were bad, be happy you didn't read the Canadian comments on that other board.

People don't understand the complexity of Hamilton. Despite the Mafia-based politics and depressed view most Hamiltonians have on their own city, Hamilton is a fantastic place to live/grow/raise a fam if you want. I guess you both already know this, hence your decisions to move.

Can't wait to have you guys here

omro · #**148** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 4:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DC83

People don't understand the complexity of Hamilton. Despite the Mafia-based politics and depressed view most Hamiltonians have on their own city, Hamilton is a fantastic place to live/grow/raise a fam if you want. I guess you both already know this, hence your decisions to move.

Can't wait to have you guys here

That's the part that surprises me the most, how many ex-Hamiltonians hate their home town. One of my best friends has a flatmate who is formerly from Hamilton and he says awful things about the city and can't believe that I'm moving there and infact thinks I'm stupid for doing so and will regret it within a month.

I can't wait to move there and live a whole new life.

I can't wait until my second visit in October, armed with lots of information from this forum, I'll be checking stuff out

Jon Dalton · #**149** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 5:21 PM**

Interesting that western Canadians in particular would knock Hamilton. I just read the latest crime figures in the Toronto Star and the worst 3 cities are Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. Hamilton is near the bottom with lower crime than Toronto, Montreal and Calgary as well.

I believe I've only heard one 'armpit' reference in my life.

Gurnett71 · #**150** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 5:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

I believe I've only heard one 'armpit' reference in my life.

Heard that several times from a friend who hails from Windsor, in which we both joked that if Hamilton was the armpit of Ontario, Windsor was the asshole of Ontario.

I, Sinclair · #**151** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 5:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Millstone

I'm sorry, I had to register just to give that Mikey kid a piece of my mind.

perhaps you could rebut his idiocy with a link to flar's phototours of downtown that *aren't* barton st

drpgq · #**152** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 6:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

Interesting that western Canadians in particular would knock Hamilton. I just read the latest crime figures in the Toronto Star and the worst 3 cities are Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. Hamilton is near the bottom with lower crime than Toronto, Montreal and Calgary as well.

I believe I've only heard one 'armpit' reference in my life.

I've heard the armpit reference a few times, although not as much lately. Once it was from one of my engineering profs at Mac. I have also found when I ran into Canadians travelling outside the country that the people who reacted negatively when I said I was from Hamilton were often Edmontonians.

flar · #**153** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 8:10 PM**

I only knew of Hamilton as "the armpit of Canada" before I moved here. Too bad my gritty phototours are being used for the purposes of evil. No matter how many nice ones I post, people only see what they want to see. If people think that Stoney Creek is nice and the lower city is crap, then I suspect many of them are the same types that need the reality of life sanitized so they can sustain a dreamworld where they are not boring and mediocre.

omro · #**154** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 8:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by flar

I only knew of Hamilton as "the armpit of Canada" before I moved here. Too bad my gritty phototours are being used for the purposes of evil. No matter how many nice ones I post, people only see what they want to see. If people think that Stoney Creek is nice and the lower city is crap, then I suspect many of them are the same types that need the reality of life sanitized so they can sustain a dreamworld where they are not boring and mediocre.

The funny thing is that some of the "grit" is just a block or two away from something great. And all cities are like this, there is always good with bad and bad with good.

SteelTown · #**155** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 9:34 PM**

The first time I heard Hamilton being "the armpit of Canada" was during the time Hamilton was bidding for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Millstone · #**156** Posted **Jul 21, 2008, 9:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by flar

I only knew of Hamilton as "the armpit of Canada" before I moved here. Too bad my gritty phototours are being used for the purposes of evil. No matter how many nice ones I post, people only see what they want to see. If people think that Stoney Creek is nice and the lower city is crap, then I suspect many of them are the same types that need the reality of life sanitized so they can sustain a dreamworld where they are not boring and mediocre.

Listen, everyone knows that Barton St has a lot of crap. I'd probably have the same reaction if someone went "hay guys look at my hometown i took a bunch of pictures look" and they were showcasing Barton St instead of King or James or John, or any of the lower streetcar suburbs like your other tours do so well. You likely did the Barton stretch because of its reality, not because you were trying to make it into something it's not.

I, Sinclair · #**157** Posted **Jul 22, 2008, 12:31 AM**

Hey Millstone, they are paging you as the resident Hammer expert over on expat.

Do us proud

raisethehammer · #**158** Posted **Jul 22, 2008, 2:19 AM**

Flar - great job linking to your Durand photour on that website.
nice work!

rousseau · #**159** Posted **Jul 22, 2008, 2:53 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gurnett71

Heard that several times from a friend who hails from Windsor, in which we both joked that if Hamilton was the armpit of Ontario, Windsor was the asshole of Ontario.

I thought everyone knew this, but have a look at the map of southern Ontario: it's an elephant on the run whose front feet have stumbled on something and is about to go arse-over-tits. Hamilton is the armpit, and Owen Sound is the asshole. Windsor is the trunk.

matt602 · #**160** Posted **Jul 22, 2008, 7:15 AM**

I admit I had a strong hatred for Hamilton when I was forcefully disconnected from Toronto 6 years ago. I also moved into a part of Hamilton that wasn't so great, right up near Congress Cr (one of the worst crime areas in the city at the time). I had gotten mugged, jumped and bullied at school incessantly within the first year of coming here. I had never been downtown, only in the East end of the city. I absolutely hated it.

As time went on, I got into urban exploration which brought me downtown a lot more. I went into old buildings like the Lister Block, Century Theatre, Tivoli, Thistle Club (when it was still around), old Stelco Wellington Works across from the hospital, etc. I discovered that Hamilton had a rich commercial heritage downtown and an even richer industrial one North of Barton St. The buildings that I went into became my fascination and I studied up on them as much as possible. I especially developed a love for the Lister Block, as it as my first conquest. Suddenly downtown became my favorite area of the city to be, and I found that I liked it even more than Toronto.

In the years after I started to appreciate other areas of the city for their positive points, eventually even embracing my own end of the city for nice things like the new transit terminal at Eastgate, Centre Mall re-development, etc.

Due to my experiences, I think the key to Hamilton is that you have to get out and explore it. If you stay locked up in a crappy area of it like the East end, you're never going to enjoy it or get what Hamilton used to be (and still is). I love Hamilton now and I'm happy to call it my home. I still miss Toronto very much as well, so that speaks volumes.

Anyway I guess that is a bit off topic, but I wanted to put in a positive tone amidst all the hate from the ex-pat forum.