Seattle in Gray Tone

Still love the old episodes of Frasier? Want to come to the mecca of coffee and lattes? Eager to be a microchip off the old block? Learning how to drink coffee and watch television will be easy. Here are the harder knocks to learn if you move to Seattle.

Seasonal Depression

If you are a sun child or like your vitamin D in natural doses, I hope your body can store it long term. In Seattle, there are only 71 sunny days a year. You can get another three months of partial sun where you share the sky with the gray clouds. That leaves over half of the year where you have very little to no sun at all. Seattleites actually use depression as an excuse to stay home and not go to work. If you work inside a building all day from 8-5, you won’t see daylight from November to March, except on the weekends and then it will be gray sunshine.

Seattle Freeze

This has nothing to do with the weather. Seattle can be very cliquish to newcomers. Oh, the people are very nice and polite, but just try and get together and actually spend time as friends. Excuses come out of the woodwork. Excuses like seasonal depression.

Isolation

Seattle is in its very own corner of the country. In fact, it is actually closer to Canada than the rest of the country. It is a very nice, trendy place but if you like to spend your life in something more than just one city, you will find the rest of your world far away. Of course, f orsome this is a plus.

Crime

Robbery is two and a halftimes more likely in the Emerald city than the national average. Violent crime is more than twice as likely in Seattle than the rest of its own state. This may or may not be a factor in the Seattle Freeze.

Driving

This is a case of too much of a good thing. Seattle drivers are very polite. They are less likely to cut you off or hog the road. The problem? There are too many instances of traffic stoppage at four way stop signs because no one wants to go first and be impolite to the other driver. It is like driving with a whole city of Chip and Dales. “You go first”, “No, you go first.”

Housing Prices

Remember the housing recession of 2007-13? In Seattle, it was more like a hover and be stable until the prices continue going back up. Great for the individuals who already own their home. Terrible for the home owner wannabe. In 2000, your average house went for around $225,000. Now it goes for almost half a million. If you do come, rent. It’s a little cheaper, but not much.

Seattle Supersonics

Even if you are not a sports fan, this one will affect you. For those who don’t follow the NBA, the Sonics were bought buy an Oklahoma billionaire (He who shall be Nameless) who promised to help build a new arena and not move them to Oklahoma City, or at least inferred as such without becoming legally binding. A year later, the new owner gave up and moved the team to Oklahoma City. Fans felt betrayed and were very angry. Now, about seven years later, the anger has dissipated somewhat and turned to hate. Yes, they still have their Mariners and Seahawks but the Sonic fans feel their team was stolen from them. Do not expect to cheer up the mood of anyone in Seattle by mentioning the Sonics or Oklahoma or He who shall be Nameless.


Have you ever been to Seattle?  What was your impression while you were there?


 

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