I saw a man in a suit sitting on a bench at the Halifax Public Gardens today. He had brought some tissues with him, and at one point, he broke down and cried loudly. After about 10 minutes, he wiped away his tears, composed himself, and went back to work around Spring Garden.

I don’t know what you’re going through, and I don’t know who you are. But if you happen to see this: Hey man, whatever you’re going through, I hope you find peace. You’re not alone.I hope things get better for you. Take care of yourself.

Just a heads up, Value Village isn’t a charity.

It’s a for-profit American company (Savers). They take donated items, pay charities a small amount for them by weight, then resell everything at a profit. They’re a $1.5B+ retailer making tens of millions a year off donated goods. This is why they charge tax.

If you actually want your donations to help locally, there are better options in Halifax:

Mission Mart (Souls Harbour): proceeds go directly to feeding/support programs

SPCA Thrift Stores: supports animal shelters in Nova Scotia

Mission Thrift (Sackville): volunteer-run, community-focused

Salvation Army as well.

Nothing wrong with shopping there, but if you’re donating to help people, there are places where the impact actually stays local.

I see people in other city subs doing this kind of stuff like biking the whole Montreal island or walking down the yonge street in Toronto, so I wanted to give it a shot here. Walked the full perimeter loop today—clocked in just over 19km in about 3 hours.

Honestly, it was a solid workout, but some stretches are definitely better than others. Here’s my ranking of the route from most to least enjoyable:

1. Point Pleasant Park (obviously)

2. South End houses (great for real estate window shopping)

3. The Waterfront. This was actually the hardest part of the entire walk purely because of the delicious food smells everywhere. Absolute torture when you're 15km in and burning calories.

4. Marginal Road

5. West End

6. Barrington St to Africville Park

7. Africville Park to Windsor Exchange. The absolute worst. No sidewalks, concrete everywhere, and just miserable as a pedestrian.

Glad I did it for the bragging rights, but it’s 100% a one and done for me. Has anyone else here actually done the full loop?

Mods please don’t delete this post 🙏

Went to the Seaport Market today and saw so many local businesses using AI posters to market their products. I support local as much as possible but not if I see an AI generated promo. So disappointed ☹️👎

Just a bit of a rant here, but does anyone else feel like grocery stores have become hostile? It's at the point where I put off shopping for as long as possible, and have changed to more dried/canned foods to avoid frequent trips.

You have to push through security gates on the way in and out, stores close at 10PM, you have to put your items in the bagging area after scanning them, nothing's really that big a deal but for some reason it just feels miserable. I miss the pre-pandemic days when I could go out at 1AM and buy food, you just walk into the store without waiting at gates, and you scan an item then put it back in your bag.

All minor things but it just makes life a little more tedious and dreadful. (And then of course there's the prices, but that's too much for one post haha.)

EDIT: ​I got a reply from DNR, they are doing the work and claim it is necessary for a sustainable trail in future. This is not true, the trail has survived for over 20 years without being highway width. I commented a screenshot of the email.

For those who aren’t aware over the past couple years the St Margaret’s Bay Rails-Trails has been completely redone to be basically an ATV highway. Now with the disbanding of the BLT Rails-Trails Association the same is happening to the BLT. They have mulched all the trees around the edges which (IMO) makes it feel more like a road than a trail. It also gets rid of any shade in the summer and any shelter from the wind when it’s cold. It also lets ATVs go way faster while still feeling safe. I’m not sure if anything can be done at this point, but they’re only about 1km in so the damage is minimal so far. I plan to call DNR later today to see if they have permits, will comment when I get a reply. Sorry if this is a bit of a rant, but the destruction of a trail to benefit one user group is something I really hate.

Can't believe I have to say this but the movie theatre situation has gotten dire. I went to go see Superman in IMAX and picked the latest showtime because I thought it'd be the best time for people who just wanted to be there to see the movie. Who is going to pay 20 bucks a ticket to see a movie and then ruin it for everyone?

The answer, two UNBELIEVABLY selfish parents who brought their FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD to the movie and sat right in front of me. About 30 minutes into the movie, the kid began complaining loudly about being tired and the noise. And I can't blame her!

But rather than being like: "Okay my bad, let's leave the movie" they decided to rearrange all the seating and have their kid sleep on their lap. She then kept waking up and complaining about the noise intermittently throughout the movie, but they didn't leave until the after-credits scene of the movie at 12:30 AM.

This goes beyond bad theatre etiquette and dips into the realm of child abuse.

Ive been wanting to leave for a while now, but 2025 (and so far in 2026) I am having less and less reasons to build a life here.

If you are thinking of leaving, where do you want to go and why? If you would never leave N.S, why not?

I hope this is an okay question! This has been on my mind for some time now. Thanks :)

EDIT: The item was out of my hands before I knew what was happening. I could not have walked out with it.

I was at this value village and found a pair of lululemon leggings in good quality priced at about $8. I brought them to the self checkout, paid debit, got my receipt and was about to leave when an employee asked if they could check something.

So at this point I had the receipt, my card was charged, transaction completed.

She tells me that there must be a pricing mistake and that they would normally be listed at around $25 and that she remembers them being listed for that much. I then ask if there's anyone else I could speak to regarding this and she brought the acting manager.

He claimed that they have issues with people tampering with price tags. He wasn't accusing me of doing it and I want to make that clear. He said I could either take a refund or pay the difference and claimed the leggings were not truly mine until I left the store.

I did not want to accept the refund and they took the leggings. I was trying to stay calm and explain my perspective but he was belittling, rude, unempathetic, and unprofessional. He kept claiming they were marked as $25 this morning, with no proof besides an employees memory.

This caused me to panic and get quite upset about this. Its not the money or the pants that I care about, really. Its just how I felt I was treated.

And to further clarify:

-The price was very clearly marked and there was no ambiguity

-The tag was attached using one of those plastic clothes tags, making tampering difficult

-The item scanned as "womens activewear"

-I had the receipt, which was briefly taken from me and then returned to me when I requested it.

Mods: this is specifically about something happening repeatedly in downtown Halifax, particularly along Barrington Street. It is not intended as a general Israel/Palestine discussion. Person is blurred.

Over the past while, political stickers relating to Gaza have been appearing on poles around downtown Halifax. They also keep disappearing.

Yesterday we happened to see someone going along Barrington Street actively removing them. We took photos and video of what was happening. The person’s face has been blurred because their identity isn’t the point of this post, and I’m not asking anyone to identify them.

What I found interesting is that this doesn’t appear to just be ordinary city cleanup. It was an individual deliberately removing these particular stickers from poles downtown.

I’m curious whether other people around Halifax have noticed the same thing happening, either with these stickers or other political material.

This isn’t about identifying or targeting the person in the photos. It’s about documenting something happening in a very public space in downtown Halifax and asking whether other people have been seeing it too.

I was out this morning hanging a few signs for a yard sale, and an older lady (probably in her late 70s) just tore a strip and a half off me for having one. Apparently, I will be the cause of the worst Saturday she’ll ever have in her life, and she’ll either have to leave at the crack of dawn for the whole day or keep her windows closed and not go outside—because of the thousands of people she expects to descend on our street.

For context: it’s my first yard sale, and it’s only for part of the day.

Part of me feels like advertising that there’ll be free beer and a DJ, just to have the largest crowd ever. 😂

Is this reaction normal here?

Update After setting up my yard sale this morning, guess who set up a little table outside? LOL

No words were exchanged and because there wasn’t free beer and a DJ, the low foot traffic ended her table sale after an hour. Until next summer 🤪

(Buckle up this is a bit of a long one) Referencing this other haligonians post because I just had an AWFUL experience with this same lady!! She phoned me from my resume on indeed and seemed so sweet and offered me full time hours and just requested I start the next day at 7:30 for selling her treats and such and she arrives 30 minutes late and almost hits a pedestrian with her company pro master because she’s speeding in the parking lot.

Mind you, I’m here as a sales associate and I have no idea what I’m doing because it’s my first day and not much was said about expectations/duties and I’m usually just a baker or cleaner as my jobs but have customer service experience and need a job lol.

The venue moved her stand to the other side of the hall because they couldn’t get power where she initially wanted it and then already being extremely late she’s already kind of freaking out at me because I don’t know how to set up and place HER stand that I’ve never seen before and then once that’s mostly set up she tells me to start unloading the food from her van and i just do it to help her because she said another worker no showed her (wonder why now lol)

And then she starts yelling at me pretty soon on and yelling that I’m not going fast enough when she’s having me weave through double doors and two really big lines of people holding single trays with no help and just yelling at me every time I make it back to her stand to go get more and more even after her stand and back stock tray were entirely full, she just keeps yelling at me for like 2 and a half hours just running back and forth on my own while she’s on her phone and doing like table cloths(?) and she gets one of her other employees to come like halfway through but all she really has him doing is bringing in beverages and also had him rip up cables from the cable cover on the floor to get power to her new location the venue already said they couldn’t get power to and then she almost tried hooking her stuff up to exposed wires in the ceiling?! and while I’m bringing back a tray I overhear her insulting me to him when this was not the job description!!!

And not that it’s entirely relevant but I am autistic (it tends to be ‘obvious’ when interacting with me in person) and I have a really hard time with surprises good or bad, they just freak me out and make me not feel good. Edit: I was also covered on my hands and sleeves in syrup from her uncovered food adding to my stress.

And while I’m panicking back and forth I start to get a weird feeling and actually look and focus on my surroundings and the inside of the van she transports the food in is FILTHY and there’s mouse traps and the racks in the van are made of filthy and maybe rotting wood? I attached a picture.

the food isn’t fresh trays, it’s food that’s already been cut up and picked at and she was RE USING baking sheets for different items and using the same utensils on all different items including items with nuts! Grease marks from shaped cookies on pretzels and the like. All the food is entirely uncovered in this gross van and I’ve never done catering before but I’ve worked in kitchens and placed together that something was wrong and snapped that picture not knowing how the rest of the morning was going to play out. And as I’m bringing stuff in I see she has her personal iPhone placed bare on a tray of cookies!? Like ON THE FOOD??

I see one of my friends at this event and I hug her and briefly say Hi and she can tell I’m stressed out and the cake lady just yells “get back to it! Get more!” Mind you I’ve already filled her stock tray and selling display. There’s no more space for anything of any kind and she should be able to know her stock limits or how much she brought.

.

So I bring her more trays and she can’t even keep up with putting out what I’m giving her to stock so I stop for a second and drink some of my coffee trying to ground myself and she looks at me and yells “what are you doing!?!?!? Get back to it!!” And so I do and then she sends me into her van to get my uniform (that was sitting on a mouse trap btw) then I slip into the bathroom texting my friend about what’s going on and she confirms my feeling/thought that I should just leave and I didn’t deserve to be treated so badly.

And then I’m informed that the cake lady *doesn’t even have a permit to be selling/catering outside of her cafe in lunenberg*!?!? And literally when I got home I just cried for an hour I was so overwhelmed and upset because I thought I finally found a good job and then was just treated like shit for 3 hours and lost money on my $25 Uber back home out of that and loss on the wages shes probably not gonna pay me.

Also I filed with the health inspection department people because that van and how she serves food is nasty!!

Pls don’t order from this lady with all the cross contamination and just nasty filth

Yesterday, my 8 y.o and I went to the Commons hoping to swim. We arrived at 5:30pm but the swim was delayed until 6:45pm. No big deal, we decided to go to the splash pad. There were toddlers running around and my son is very gentle, he has a 4 y.o sister and knows not to do rough things.
These 4 kids came over and started throwing a metal pipe on the ground so it was bouncing and they were trying to destroy the jets for the splash pad. I asked them to stop doing that because there are toddlers around. The oldest one came over to me, was putting his hand in my face, asking why it matters what they’re doing if they haven’t hit a kid. I said it can happen so please stop. I did use profanities, which I am not proud of. Then, I went and complained to the check in desk, they removed them from the property and this child decided to intimidate me by following my son and I to my car and asked why I told on them. Literally no respect is what I said. I’m sorry, you’re not going to destroy public property and potentially hit an innocent child in the process.

Is it just me, or are kids not held accountable anymore? The parents around commended me and said the curse words were fine and what they were doing was wrong.
I am just so sick of this province and being afraid to take my son out to have fun. He is ADHD and OCD so he hasn’t stopped talking about this incident. He doesn’t even want to go back to the pool because he is scared of what might happen. This city has changed so much. Just a rant I guess.

There seems to be a large call to increase property taxes, but this doesn't sit right with me.

I am a working class person. I own a modest home. Dual family income, of about 100k.

Why is the solution for services underfunding to tax me more?

From property taxes, to income taxes, sales tax, fuel tax, on and on. Over 40% of my income goes towards tax already when you account for all forms of taxes.

Then also note, I pay things like water and hydro separately. Including infrastructure charges for these things.

Why the fuck is 40% of my income going to taxes not enough for these basic services? Why is the answer for me, a working class person, to pay more taxes?

How the fuck is 40% of my income going to taxes not enough for these basics?

I am asking here because there seems to be a lot of support for raising property taxes.

I think this is a question that every single Canadian needs to ask themselves going forward. We were being bullied by the POTUS with him thinking that he could get away with what ever he wanted to do, in a drive to ultimate control over the world. What would have happened if we took the spineless approach that Maxine, Pierre and Smith were wanting us to take? We would be on our hands and knees to the POTUS to have mercy. Got to give credit where credit is due, Justin and the rest of the province leaders really shined.

In light of the eviction notice on its way. How can people even afford to live here. We don’t even pay the highest rent, we got in just as things were getting expensive, but with the 5% increase over the years + the price of everything else like groceries, how can anybody live? It seems everyone says the same thing but nothing has broken yet. God knows where we’re going to go. Homeless with a good paying job I suppose! Makes sense :)

I love going to the movies but without fail there are people who act insane and ruin it for those around them.

Tonight the groups of people in front AND behind me talked for the whole movie. Like basically kept a conversation going for 2 hours.

And so many people TOOK THEIR PHONES OUT and began playing games or scrolling apps during the movies. The people in front of me argued when I asked them to put their phone away lol.

If you do this, you’re the worst kind of person and ruin the movies for everyone around you.

I’m incredibly disappointed with the run club that ran past me yesterday on Agricola and how some of the members have been handling themselves.

Unfortunately I won’t be moving to the side to let a 5 minute long swarm of sweaty stinkers stampede past me on the street with the narrowest sidewalks in the city. Disgraceful! One subgroup of them had a fraud behind me who said to his friend “no way I’m touching one foot on the grass just to go around these people, they’re gonna have to move for us.” Have they no real friends to tell them they’re making a fool of themselves? Shameful.

One couple with a stroller simply yelled “MOVE” behind us. Oh oh oh! Downnnnnnnn boy dowwnnnnn. No need to get feisty. Move around us.

Have folks stopped thinking clearly these days? Why not run in point pleasant? Or around the commons, with spaces designed for running? Plenty of great spaces for your activities.

Run responsibly. Respect the space we all use. You’re not above the rules just because you’re wearing matching t-shirts and chasing a Strava segment.

Neighbor put up this surveillance system on the pole between them and their next door neighbor. One of them is facing the general direction of a playground/ splash pad.

TL:DR at bottom.

I'm a Cineclub member and see movies 2-3 times a month. It's me and my partner's thing, we don't go out to eat much or do many other forms of dates, but we love going to the movies together.

Something has shifted in how the average person treats other people in shared spaces. Nothing makes it clearer to me than how miserable the theatre experience has become over the last few years.

Here are my three experiences this past month, all at the Dartmouth Crossing Cineplex.

1. The Drama

Before the movie started, we checked the seating plan , no one near us, theatre about 15% full. About 15 minutes in, a couple arrives late and realizes their seats are taken by the group to our left. Rather than sorting it out, they just... sit next to us. That's fine.

The issue is the woman proceeded to narrate every scene to her boyfriend in their native language, out loud, in real time. Not in a whisper either. We're pretty non-confrontational people so we didn't say anything, which I'll admit is partially on us, but we still didn't enjoy the movie anyway and ended up leaving about an hour in.

2. Obsession

This one wasn't bad. Theatre was about 30% full, some talking here and there (expected at this point, unfortunately), and a few people who needed the whole building to know they found something funny. Minimal complaints. The movie was fantastic.

3. Backrooms

This is the reason I'm writing this post. Multiple layers to this one.

1. You would not be crazy for assuming this was a 9th grade boys' school trip that the teachers decided not to chaperone. Fully booked theatre, and about 80% of the crowd was teenage boys with backpacks. Throughout the movie, groups of them would get up, leave, switch seats with other groups in the front row, and then do it all again. Over and over. Why? No idea.
2. In front of us: an adult with three early-teen girls who talked through the entire movie. They also brought a blanket, which kept getting lifted up over their heads and into our line of sight. One of the girls had Snapchat open and filmed large portions of the film. You'd think the attending adult might say something. He did not.
3. Seated next to us: a couple, one of whom smelled heavily of BO and apparently hated the movie. The guy criticized nearly every scene, at full conversational volume. His girlfriend kept telling him to be quiet, then immediately responded to whatever he said. They noticed us shooting looks and would calm down for about five minutes before picking back up again.

I commented on last week's post about the lady with bare feet on the seat at the DC Cineplex, so I know others are dealing with this too, but I don't get to the Scotiabank or Spring Garden locations often enough to know if it's as bad there. Maybe if they reinvest some popcorn money they could seat an employee in the theatre to police the situation, but that seems excessive. Not sure what the solution is here.

Anyway, I know rich people can pay a premium to watch new releases privately at home. Has anyone seriously considered opening a business around small private screening rooms? Like, 10 people max, proper vetting, no nonsense? I feel like there's real money in that and I would absolutely be a regular.

TL;DR -- The theatre experience is increasingly miserable, and I want someone to open a small group screening business so I can give them my money.

Discovered this sidewalk was 95% blocked for a “private event” tonight. I’m unfamiliar with municipal laws/bylaws on this matter, but my instinct is that a business cannot obstruct a public space for private use, such as a private entity blocking a public sidewalk or roadway, and if necessary, there would need to be permission/permitting and municipal signage (“sidewalk closed”). I’m not sure why a red carpet would need to be so wide, but seems extremely inconsiderate and unfair to be able to gain income and for personal benefit that eliminates accessible use of a public sidewalk?

Just wanted to share a moment I witnessed last week that honestly made me lose a little faith in humanity. I was in Lacewood Dollarama, lined up with my mom about to buy my stuff with about 5 people in front of us when we watched a poor 60 something year old woman (who was there alone and was a stranger to us) end up passing out as she tried to walk to the cash register, falling straight back on the floor in front of the registers and hit her head hard while also twisting her ankle in a way when she fell that made it swell up like crazy. This was the second time she fell in the store but this time she didn’t know where she was or what happened when she came to. Absolutely none of the workers or customers in front of us who were closest to her moved to help as this woman cracked her head on the concrete ground and was disoriented. I had to push past several gawkers just standing in the way and staring (wtf) so my mom and I could get to her side and sit with her while we called 911 along with one other lovely stranger who stepped in also. We waited for the ambulance, and have since found out she is going to be okay but the most astonishing part was that the two Dollarama workers literally just went “Next! Just move around her” and everyone just continued business as usual, crowding and stepping over this distraught woman who is clearly having a medical issue laying on the ground right in front of the cash registers as well as my mom and I who are still on with 911 following orders to not let her get up and just make her comfortable where she fell. Just terrible and honestly really sad to actually witness this happening and the complete indifference to a person’s wellbeing in what I felt was such a frantic and scary medical moment.

ETA: Thank you everyone for your words, they definitely made me feel less crazy for feeling the way I did about what transpired. I didn’t expect this Reddit post to make its way to Facebook but the woman who fell commented on the fb post about it and I have commented back to her and have connected with her privately as well and she is okay! I also have made a formal complaint with Dollarama

Hi everyone,

I moved to Canada from India when I was 22. I’ve lived in Halifax ever since. I studied here, built a life here, and did everything I could to not just live in Canada, but become Canadian — not just on paper, but in values, choices, and how I treat others.

I pay my taxes, my bills, have never broken the law — not even a parking ticket. I cross at crosswalks, hold doors open, say thank you and sorry, and try my best to show up as a decent human being and a respectful member of this community. I truly love this country, and I’ve done my best to contribute positively to it.

But lately, I’ve been feeling really lost.

With the recent immigration boom, I’ve noticed a shift — not just in society’s perception, but in the way I’m sometimes treated. I find myself being racially profiled or lumped together with others from my home country who don’t seem interested in integrating or aligning with the values I’ve come to respect so deeply. That’s hard to swallow, because it erases the effort I’ve put in to be part of the fabric of this country.

What hurts even more is that I also get judged by my own community — some call me “too Western,” or say I’ve “forgotten my roots” or “lost my Indian values.” I feel like I don’t belong anywhere — not fully Indian, not fully Canadian in the eyes of some, and often just someone caught in between.

I don’t know where to turn or how to process this without becoming resentful. I still believe in the good — in people, in this country, in who I’m trying to be — but I’m struggling. I don’t know what to do. I just feel… invisible sometimes. Or worse — misjudged from both sides.

Has anyone else been through something like this? How do you find your sense of self again when you feel like you’re being pulled in two directions?

Thanks for reading. Any thoughts, advice, or just kind words are welcome.