[JohnnyB]

I live in the home reno district of Shanghai. Seems all the shops around here are about home renovation. Unbelievable what people will pay for furniture here. There are stores around me selling things like a chest of drawers for CDN$20,000. Nutty! At least in my complex a lot of people like to take care of the street cats. My wife and I have two cats at home and probably another 15 outside that we feed and take care of along with others in the complex.

I'm sure that doesn't help with OP's issue, but I would be interested to know where any poster lives.

Edit: To add my Calgary experience

I grew up in Hawkwood. I loved it. When I was growing up, the pond that is now part of a retirement/nursing home was just a public pond and beyond that was the countryside. I spent my childhood with my brother and my best friend playing in that pond and in little forests as well as in the construction sites of new houses being developed. I felt so free and had so much fun in my childhood. We spent summers riding bikes, catching frogs and salamanders, setting fires, shooting slingshots and just generally having fun and exploring.

The neighbourhood seemed to go through a rough period, but I was back in Calgary for the first time in a long time this summer and spent time with my bro and best friend in our childhood stomping grounds (even hanging out drunkenly under the crab apple tree in my childhood backyard well after midnight) and I thought it seemed like the neighbourhood had come back around to having more young families and feeling like a positive place to be.