Local traditions and culture in Halifax

As in most parts of Canada Main power and telephone landlines are hanging in the air, spoiling many pictures you want to take.

Not only that. I have seen power lines coming down at storms at Halifax. Be prepared.

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It must be the influence of the precense of the Universities that brings in a special creative wave to this town. Time after time you'll notice low-cost alternative things going on.
Balloons in a park, yoga in front of the Library at Spring Garden, you name it.
Don't be surprised when you are approached by one of them; share there fun and bring in your own. It will be out of the ordinary, but it won't harm anybody.

There are two bridges spanning Halifax Harbour, the MacDonald bridge (aka Angus L Macdonald) and the MacKay bridge (A. Murray MacKay). The MacD. bridge is locally known as the "old" bridge and the other is the "new" bridge. The New bridge was built in the late 60's and the Old bridge in the mid 50's.

The Old bridge is the smaller of the two and until recently was only two lanes. It has three lanes now and from midnight until noon, two lanes of traffic go from Dartmouth to Halifax, one from Halifax to Dartmouth. In the afternoon, until midnight, the middle lane switches and there are then two lanes from Halifax to Dartmouth. There are overhead signals with a red X over the lane(s) you cannot use at any given time and pylons to try to direct you to the open lane(s). Just keep a watch for that.

They are both toll bridges costing $1.00 . You can use cash but the machines will only take quarters (25 cent coins) or higher amount coins ($1, $2). You can also get change at several booths at the toll. (See "OPEN" sign for the booth with an attendant) If you are a regular user you can get a Mac pass that sticks on your windshield and is scanned. You prepay and top up your account. The per-crossing price with a MacPass is cheaper than the cash rate.

There are two outside "lanes" on the MacDonald bridge, structures on the outside of the bridge but with a 5 foot high railing. You can bicycle across on the north "lane" . You can walk across the on the south outside "lane" but you can't walk or bike on the MacKay bridge. Biking or walking is toll-free.

Generally, every summer on the Natal Day Weekend (weekend ending first Monday in August which is a civic holiday), for two hours on the Sunday or the Monday the "old" (MacDonald) bridge is closed to traffic for the annual Bridge Walk. You can walk back and forth across the bridge deck and there are often street entertainers. It's free and the view on a good day is great!

Does Halifax need more coffee shops? Apparently so. Spring Garden Road in Halifax has a plethora of them between Barrington and South Park streets especially. Another new one has just opened up and the invasion of Starbucks has begun! There was a Starbucks opened up in Clayton Park recently, and has been in the two large Chapters bookstores for a few years, but it's now hit the main drag. In the general Barrington to Spring Garden Road neighbourhood: Starbucks has taken over the old Tim's space on Barrington St., has an outlet in Scotia Squre, and is in the old Royal Bank building on the corner of Queen and Spring Garden, right across from Second Cup (also has an outlet in Scotia Square) which is around the corner from Steve-o-Reno's cafe, down the road from Tim's, the coffee shop at the back or upstairs of the Daily Grind, Paperchase (Blowers St.) and Newsbreak magazine sellers. Just past the Public Gardens (which also has an Uncommon Grounds cafe in it), there is a Starbucks in the office tower on the corner of Spring Garden and Robie Street which is just across from a Tim's. You can also get coffee to go at the food courts at Park Lane and Spring Garden place and there's always the cafe in Pete's Frootique, McDonald's and Dairy Queen where you can also get coffee to go. Barrington Street also has Timothy's which is in the TD building, and Argyle Street has Uncommon Grounds. Scotia Square has four coffee stops and you can get coffee at most or all of the rest of the food court vendors. (Tim's is Tim Horton's which is everywhere!)

If you need a caffeine buzz in downtown Halifax, you won't have to look far.

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The last few summers have seen Halifax invaded by Zombies!! Hundreds of them stream through the downtown core on a saturday in August, young and old, though mostly young. Zombie brides, schoolgirls, businessmen, Nazis, even babies and little princesses! They usually leave from the Camp Hill Cemetery and pass by or through the Public Gardens, down Spring Garden Road. Sometimes up to the Parade Square at City Hall and along Barrington Street to the Old Burying Ground. I watched it this year (2009) and it was good fun to see! It seems like it's growing and getting bigger every year. It isn't held to raise money for any charity, it's just for fun!

Nova Scotia has been working hard to protect our Earth's Resources . We are blessed with wonderful clean water and we want to keep it that way . We have an extensive and free recycling program for all homeowners and we are starting to take advantage of alternative sources of energy .
On our rececent trip to Joggins, NS we got to see some of the Green Technology up close.
A 50 kilowatt wind turbine generator
A solar heating system to preheat hot water, thereby reducing the building’s ecological footprint
Electronic self-closing faucets and waterless urinals which together will reduce water consumption by approximately 30% along with the use of dual flush valve water closets that will reduce water usage
There is still much room for improvement but it is a start

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Spring Garden Road is the place to be at Saturday mornings. Many students flock around in front of the Library and there's always activity.

Further up the road there are many small shops, small malls, eateries and coffee stops.

The only other place is town that's similar is Quinpool road, but the clientèle is older there.

What I didn't like on my last visit was the number of people hanging around and begging. It seems the public safety is dropping slightly.

New Scots copying old Scots traditions will welcome you and see you off if you go to HFX on a cruise ship. This lot were 'warming up' in the car park prior to seeing off one of the three cruise ships in port (Holland America's Veendam, Grand Princess and Fred.Olsen's Black Watch) on this autumn Saturday.