Q: I got a job offer that interest me in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada. I don't know much about the town and was wondering what it is like to live there?
A: Well, that depends on what living style you are accustomed to, and whether or not you want to change it. I also grew up in a community 10 minutes outside of Bridgewater (there's a lot of them!) and my parents still live there. Since I haven't lived there permanently for about 10 years or more, I can tell you this. It isn't the town it used to be. Once, it was a quaint river town, with small family businesses, homey community grocery stores, a tiny shopping mall, beautiful tree lined streets, and a summer fair everyone waited all year to attend. The town does still retain some charms, and they'll be appealing to you depending on what you want. Are you single or are you bringing a family with you? The schools are good (although I wasn't a townie so I'll have to hold on to my outside loyalties here), the crime is low, and the pace is big small town. If you are single and of a certain age, there isn't a whole hell of a lot to do. There's one decent pub in town, a movie theatre, a curling club.....you get the picture. The majority of the old town is on the western bank of the LaHave and this is where you'll still find the old lovely houses, the churches, the family stores, the pretty old tree lined streets, and incidentally, the pub and the curling club. The eastern bank is a gigantic strip mall. The river has been consistently filled in to provide the basis for video stores, fast food chains, drug stores and their ilk. As beautiful as the South Shore of NS is, Bridgewater is not it's crowning achievement. It is a commercial and industrial centre. The largest employer is still the Michelin plant, and the population, while expanding to almost 8,000 people in the last census, owes it's quick increase mostly to the influx of retirees. As a result, development in the area has been without thought to structure, elegance, or the beauty the place could have retained. 'Development' translates as condos, subdivisions, and the construction of ugly ugly box store centres like Walmart outside the town limits in the loftily named Osprey Heights. Titled after the equally loftily named Osprey Ridge golf course. You don't however, need to live in Bridgewater. If you want to stay in a town, Lunenburg and Mahone Bay are very close and infinitely more attractive. If you prefer rural, the town is penned in on all sides by tiny communities. And don't forget you're only an hour's drive away from Halifax. I realise this last bit sounds very off-putting, and while I know how negative the description I've given is, it's important to know that it's people are not. For the most part, you'll be surrounded by kind generous people with warm and welcoming hearts.