I’m throwing this one out mid-week as my first rendition was posted on Facebook some time ago so it is not totally new … that said, I have tweaked it a bit and it is still a Great Idea!
This photo is not mine. A friend sent it to me and I do not know who to credit but it suited.
Here we go!
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I read in The Globe and Mail some time ago, ‘Come to Vancouver, it’s Right as Rain.’
At that time, ‘they’ denigrated us from one of the top Cities in the World for liveability to 131st! What the hell?
It seems that these Opinion-People have never visited our City but are going on the expressed feelings of people coming here in the midst of the deluge of rain that we experience most years during the Winter months.
Complaints have been that none of the Tourism Vancouver shots show the reality of our winters – rain, rain, rain. That is true – so very true.
We are a beautiful City AND part of a Rainforest with ancient trees and a multitude of parks – you can’t water Stanley Park with a hose – we need rain to sustain our beauty (and cut down on the wildfires).
Not everyone appreciates that.
In my opinion, there is a very simple way to change that view – we can’t change the weather, obviously … but we can change the perception.
I put forward that we become the City with the most colorful and whimsical way to deal with our rainy weather. Let’s make Vancouver a beautiful, fun destination ~ even in the rainy season!
Let’s start a movement to bring some light to our City in the Winter by embracing and encouraging bright and colorful umbrellas! If everyone decided to sport an umbrella that reflects their personalities – bright colors, polka dots, checks, blue, family crests, flowers .. whatever your style is … we would have even in the grayest and rainiest days, an interesting City. Photos would be awesome! Picture the business district downtown with a cornucopia of color!
(As an important aside, fewer pedestrians would be killed – black clothes with black umbrellas with dark streets and rain = Not Good)
Let’s get this City (and perhaps others with this challenge around the World with our Latitude and Climate) excited about the idea – perhaps a cheap option for those that cannot afford much by having a ‘community umbrella’ programme?
Leave the high end stylin’ umbrellas to the high end stores to step up and provide options for those can afford that.
Vancouver is a Rainforest – that is what makes us beautiful. Let’s embrace it. I am proposing an ‘Umbrella Share’ City-wide incentive!
We have bike-share and car-share ~ how about we put out a zillion umbrellas that you can use and leave wherever! Imagine the stress relief not to have to remember where you left your umbrella?
Make them free and mobile – and beautiful and colorful.
That is my thought.
Your thoughts?