For some, the term “do-it-yourself” (or “DIY”) evokes images of a Bob Vila-type handyman installing their own light switches or toilets. For others, it means a lifestyle comprised of responsible choices—a slower pace of life in a supportive community. For the most part, Iris Porter identifies with the latter definition. While her DIY theory also […]
City
Posted inNews + Opinion
The wheel world
It’s been four years now since Halifax passed its Blueprint for a Bicycle-Friendly HRM and progress has been, well, like riding a one-speed straight up Duke Street. That is to say, slow and painful. There’s a handful of bike lanes, curiously placed around the region with little-to-no continuity for practical, day-to-day cycling. There’s a bike […]
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Seven-day tripping
Stuck in the house, sick of the bus, hot under the collar? Solution: Beg, borrow, steal or rent a car and follow this guide to mainland Nova Scotia hotspots for a week’s worth of kitsch-heavy day trips that allow you to head back to Halifax and sleep in your own bed every night. Other indications: […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Grave matters
Death is a fact. In the Old Burying Ground, running along Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road, it is a fact made humbly beautiful. The Old Burying Ground is Halifax’s oldest cemetery. It opened in 1749, and it is the final resting place for close to 1,300 grave markers and approximately 12,000 bodies. (Some were […]
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Beyond the Basilica
Halifax offers many opportunities to the urban wanderer: plenty of great streetscapes, changing landscape, people and buildings. While some follow the prescribed paths leading to favourite and famous places—the gazebo in the Public Gardens, Citadel Hill or Saint Mary’s Basilica—others may meander off in search of the modern. Modern buildings are the old new buildings […]
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Harbouring secrets
To be fair, right off the bat, your Harbour Hopper guide will tell you a tremendous amount about Halifax, and most of it will be fascinating, and mainly accurate. The tour, however, is just a little under an hour long. Which means there will, by necessity, be certain gaps in the information your guide will […]
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Theodore’s struggles
Andrew Cochran and I are sitting in a Halifax coffee shop. He’s moving my Olympus mini-recorder and his bottle of Dasani water around the table top—sort of like play ships sailing on a play harbour—to explain some otherwise inexplicable concept of intellectual property law. He’s already told me a recent study by the Law Commission […]
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Stone face
Mason in the corner The Old Burying Ground closed for good in 1844, but for a polished monument of granite plinths (the only granite in the graveyard) located in the far left corner of the Ground on Barrington St. near Dalhousie’s Sexton campus. This particular monument and the cleared space surrounding it occupy roughly one […]
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Big love
There is a rock and roll version of this wedding and it’s probably the one you want to know about. I don’t blame you. I mean, how exciting can reading about a wedding be? Even a $200,000 wedding with two planners, hundreds of volunteers and a 600-pound 25-foot copper dragon sculpture travelling from British Columbia […]
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Drawing interest
The hot-pink clues arrived, scattered across Halifax’s north end, on the morning of Thursday, May 11. There were no concert announcements on the recipe-card-sized papers, just the words “Gottingen and Cunard,” cryptically laid over a photocopy of wood grain. Signs were everywhere: stuck with masking tape on Staples’ glass doors, the old legion building on […]
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Good to grow
After almost five years of consultation and studies, the final draft of the municipality’s new Regional Plan is online and ready for one last blast of public scrutiny. A public hearing on the plan—the very last stage before city councillors decide whether to approve it, amend it or reject it—will open Tuesday afternoon at city […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Remembering Norma Verge
Along with posters announcing various cultural events, a Help Wanted sign and a notice reminding patrons of the cash-only policy, one announcement stands out in the curtained windows of the Ardmore Tea Room. Written in marker on a whiteboard – usually reserved for announcing specials or highlighting new and classic menu items (and there are […]