and …

The company is quite international, and lately i’ve started to really enjoy being the only Canadian. I’ve been with this Aussie company for 5 months now and being surrounded by Australians, Kiwis, English, Belgians, French, … German … it gives me plenty of opportunities to reflect on what it means to be Canadian.
The politics, health care, accents from tv? Mike Myers has said: “Canada is the essence of not being. Not English, not American, it is the mathematic of not being. And a subtle flavour – we’re more like celery as a flavour.”

Flavour or not, things the Aussies and Kiwis don’t have a clue about: double-doubles, what it means to jersey someone, how warming poutine is on an icy cold -25C winter day, the ache of shoveling snow. By the way, expressions that only work in Canada: “Have you seen so and so today? No, we’ve been playing Polkaroo” (lots of strange looks when i said that the other week.

As the lone Canadian in the company of several hundred my pride and love for Canada has grown. Even if I can’t pin point “canadian”. But I have caught myself picking up Australian phrases. Today, I actually used “reckon” and “mates” in the same sentence. The antidote? playing You Tube Tragically Hip videos on full volume. Is the Canadian back in me? Not fully, completely, but almost.

Sadly with my lousy vision I’ll be lucky to keep my driver’s license after 35. Speaking of which, I picked up an eye infection in Northern Ireland this weekend.

Imagine you’ve had enough. You decide to get away from civilization.
You go to Canada

(I’m not kidding)

There you are in your log cabin … but you still need supplies from the outside world. Tartan jackets, Davie Crockett hats – that sort of thing. But the problem is most trade comes by ship across sea and rivers. But because Canada is so perishingly cold (note, this is word for word) … most of the seas and rivers are frozen solid for 3 months of the year. The question is how do you secure a regular supply of fur lined boots and lumber axes when the rivers are frozen stiff. How do they do it?

Canada.
It’s the middle of winter and the balls have frozen off every brass monkey within a hundred kilometers. In a nutshell, it’s absolutely freezing! This wind swept plane is actually the mighty St. Lawrence river one of the most vital trade routes in north america. Except in winter …

Crickey! I do miss my lumber jack axe.

(photo from Globe and Mail)

Meanwhile in UK it was gale force winds, flooding and one bad day for my poor umbrella.

(photo from BBC, obviously I didn’t take this in London…)

Anyway, either way you had one bad storm to contend with.

Unless you’re my brother and sister in law, well then you had the joy of both!! A 24 hour delay in Montreal getting off the ground, and another delay in London as you try to make your way to Italy. I still can’t believe you even landed this morning!  The wind was insane.  I woke at 3am to the sound of my recycling bin doing laps down my block.  Hope you enjoyed all that time in the airports, see you next week!

http://rickmercer.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/2/20

So what happened this past week when these Canadian scientists came to Parliament Hill for a reception in their honour with their Nobel prize tucked up underneath their arms? The Prime Minister, the guy who’s job it is to represent us at these things refused to attend. The Canadian cabinet refused to attend. And why? Because these scientists, who – I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this or not – won the Nobel Peace Prize, had the gall to do it by formulating a plan to fight climate change. And my guess is it doesn’t call for an increase in oil sands production. So as a result, not a single cabinet minister would cross the hall and shake their hands.

Sigh.

Travel this year for Sylvia and I has included Fiji, The Cook Islands, Hong Kong, Thailand, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, and all around England. Weâ€ve already got a few more trips lined up to Germany, Italy, Ireland, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. My business travels have taken me to Taiwan, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, The USA, and Canada with a total of over 63 flights this year – and thatâ€s just from flights where I kept the boarding passes! I managed to avoid going to Korea somehow, despite having LG and Samsung as customers; weâ€ll see how long that lasts.

This year weâ€ve viewed more flats in London than Iâ€d care to remember: dealing with estate agents is a truly painful experience. We have had a few friends make the long journey over to visit and we have as many again coming in the next few weeks!

Weâ€ve had lot of interesting experiences that have made it to the blog including attending horse races, dealing with the tube, travelling by train, hunting for the perfect flat, buying Manolos, navigating the floodwaters, watching local sports, exploring English cuisine, mobile blogging, tasting sweeteners, bitching about the weather, hanging out with the cats, stumbling through the language barrier, getting well deserved status, attending tradeshows, exploring the Sunday pub culture, tasting cheese, the trials and tribulations of international professionals, ranting about the commute, ranting about budget airlines, and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of travel.

So what do we think about living here? We bloody love it. Let’s hope 2008 is even better.

Also… how often does a hangover specialist leave MTV Canada’s studios and then a few weeks later win a scrabble championship?!

It was a sad night, quite teary, and yet I’m an idiot. I forgot to bring my camera!
Goodbye – I’ll miss you all!

Pedestrians struggle through the wind and blowing snow on Bay Street as another winter storm slams Toronto.

I’m not going to miss wet snow and freezing rain.

vs

I’ve had enough of this winter nonesense. I think snow, ice and all that winter stuff should only be for weekend-short-plane-rides-away.