A scholar spent 34 years living in a public park. He says he wouldn’t trade it for a ‘normal’ life

A man who has spent 34 years in a public park says he wouldn't trade it for anything else. Yes, we're talking about Christenson Bailey, who was born in the US and moved to Canada as a teenager when his dad took a job in Ottawa. Bailey quickly settled in the new country and, in 1990, fully accepted it when he began camping in Stanley Park, the iconic 400-hectare park in Vancouver. Global News interacted with Bailey, who revealed the most surprising reasons he wouldn’t choose a normal life. "He’s lived by flashlights and candles, caught wild geese and ducks for food, and stayed on good terms with the park rangers," they found.

Bailey was an academic scholar; he studied math and engineering and was even briefly married before he found his passion in art. In 1981, he first visited Vancouver on a hitchhiking trip from Toronto. It was also his first experience of camping in Stanley Park, and soon he fell in love with it. When Bailey turned 40, he decided to move to the park permanently and live there for the rest of his life. In his little, very basic, and just about okayish camping tent, he seems to have found a purpose in life. Every morning, he loves to meditate before he proceeds to spend his entire day painting abstract art pieces. Besides painting, Bailey also loves playing flute and creating his own music. Living in the park, he has experienced extreme weather changes, including the 1996 windstorm that he described as a terrifying memory. In 2006, when a horrifying hurricane hit Vancouver, Bailey had to take shelter under a log. "To see that or witness that is devastating. Really, you hardly ever get over it," he said. When asked if he knew he would live there for so long when he first went there, Bailey denied.

He even said he sometimes has to survive without the sunlight for weeks, but that doesn't bother him at all; in fact, Bailey said he is very comfortable with the setup. It may look like he is very detached from the outside world, but in reality, Bailey stays very much connected to people from the outside world. Despite challenges, it's his love for nature and his art that keep him from a so-called normal life outside Stanley Park. Once, there used to be a small lake where owls would gather to bathe. “Really beautiful,” Bailey says. “They don’t do that anymore.” What mattered most for him was that he got to experience nature as his muse. He'd be fine anywhere, Bailey claims, as long as he's in the lap of nature.

Just like Bailey, many people are now dreaming of a simpler life; they are surprisingly not happy despite so many advances in the real world. A survey of 2,000 adults from Britain found 44% are actively dreaming of a more self-sufficient lifestyle and a simpler lifestyle. The study found that people are heavily influenced by the 1975 sitcom, "The Good Life," and 28% have even tried to grow their own fruits and vegetables like Richard Briers' character in the show. They also found that 9% have created a rainwater harvesting system, and another 8% have attempted to make their own furniture or upcycle it, The Sun reported. 

Meanwhile, reacting to the video, @dansyoung commented, "He is happier than 99.9% of people I meet on a daily basis. It really makes you stop and think." @susanasanjuan-z5n wrote, "Chris is a true artist; he has really found himself. He has a warm home inside his heart; he's not really homeless; he's sane, strong, and smart. Interesting man." Similarly, @tonimarx6405 shared, "I grew up in a small town on the outskirts of Manchester, UK. There was an old guy with one arm who had lived in the local park for years — ever since I could remember. He was one of the happiest guys I had ever met and always said hello to us young kids whenever we'd see him. One day, he just vanished, and nobody in the town knew where he went. I'm 40 years old now and think about that old guy all the time."

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