I was getting used to the wonderful shapes and sizes of the homes I walked by in Quebec; brick, stone, log homes, everything seems unique. So, I was shocked when I came to a new sub-division outside Sainte-Sophie, where every third house was the same, the fencing was all the same colour, and the siding was all the same, only with slightly different shades of brown.
I was horrified. But this is what we’ve become used to, isn’t it? People normally don’t go to an architect anymore to have their houses designed. For the sake of cost, most of us have decided that uniformity is OK. We can always make the interior unique to our liking, after all. It’s when we see uniformity in contrast to the uniqueness of older homes do we even notice.
I was one of those people. I owned a home in St. Albert, what some people refer to as a bedroom community just outside Edmonton, Alberta. The third house down to the left had the same look and the third house down to the right had the same look. We could put up a fence, but we had to follow the exact fencing plan for the neighbourhood, and we all had to use the exact same colour. I didn’t like it. But that’s the way of the new world, so I’ll grin and bear it and accept that travel will keep things fresh.
I’m caught in no man’s land between embracing the new world and resisting it with all my heart. When I arrive in a town, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to distinguish it from any other town. There’s always a Timmy’s, a Subway, a McDonalds and every other kind of franchise. Often, these are the only choices available. Where I struggle is that I really like Timmy’s. I like the soup and sandwich, I know it will always taste good no matter which Timmy’s I’m at, and it’s reasonably priced. And although my dear friend Richard, designer of the perfect latte, might gasp to hear this, the coffee is pretty darned good too.
But the best experiences I’ve had have been the meals in the little cafes and mom-and-pop diners along the way. You never really know what kind of experience you’ll have, so it’s always a little bit exciting.
There will always be a market for uniqueness. Almost all of the artisan cafes I’ve been to in the Okanagan are busy all the time. To get a seat in my favourite cafe in Penticton, you’d have to get there pretty early in the day.
Uniformity is becoming the way of the world, though. But I suspect I’ll frequently be seeking out those lovely unique homes and those artisan cafes. They make living more fun and interesting.