My fondness for Vancouver uses the other side of the number line.
Oh sure, as far as cities go, it's lovely. And when the sun does come out (for a couple weeks in the summer), it is gorgeous.
But the rain.....
I moved to Raincouver in '94, from Armstrong BC. Folks said "you're going to hate the rain" and I didn't believe them. In the Okanagan Valley, it'll be STINKING hot for an entire week, then a 1 hour thunderstorm will blast through (leaving a wonderful smell of "fresh") and be gone for another week. I loved rain.
Not so, in Vancouver.
I had moved to start BCIT in September. By mid Sept it started raining. By late Sept I bought my first ever umbrella. I didn't own one before. I was soon to learn they actually wore out. I think the rain let up by May.
Windshields wear out, from the wipers. Holy crap.
Laundry: Does. Not. Dry. Even on a sunny day.
Moss will grow on a car that sees regular use.
Everything smells of mildew. Always.
First autocross of the season was always a Biblical downpour. I didn't even take the R's off, I just drove home on them, in the rain, poured a hot bath, peeled off the soaking wet everything, and lay in the tub for the rest of the day just to warm up.
By the time I moved away, I hated Vancouver so bad (for so, so many reasons), that if I died I wanted to be buried in "not there."
The family and I concluded our trip and left Vancouver this morning. By Merritt, the skies were essentially dry, and once back home in Kelowna (the desert of Canada), I did some yard work without a jacket, hat, gumboots, or umbrella. My kids commented on how much they had hated the rain.
Vancouver is NOT representative of BC, though "those people" won't admit it - they don't always get out enough to discover what this VAST province has to offer. It's their own little bubble there. "We's all jest a buncha hicks elsewhere."
I would rather slit both my wrists with running, flaming, chainsaws, than have to move back.
It was nice to spend time with the Brother-In-Law, and very cool meeting up with you fellers (and Mrs. Trans_Maro), but I'm so glad to be back home. Where I have to slice the baked/melted wipers off the windshield at the end of September.
Oh crap. I'm ranting again.....