Why I love Canadians - Reason #42

Saturday morning, no wait, afternoon now.  Still in bed because I have a horrible cold.  It's visiting the North West region so Fiona Land, holidaying in my sinus track although indications are that week two will be a visit to my chest via a raw sore throat. I could get up and do stuff - I spent two days at work feeling like this, but maybe a day in bed with the cats is better. They certainly seem to think so.

That's an old picture, but still a goody. They are mahoosive now and still growing. There is talk of getting the a treadmill wheel thing so that they can get more exercise...we shall see.

Second day of Spring today.  Yesterday I spent 9 hours getting home form New York.  A journey that should take less than 3 hours.  A sloppy wet blizzard hit NYC just as my flight was due to take off.  The plane arrived two hours late, but hey, it arrived.  Some people were looking at 3 days to get home.  The lucky ones boarded the plane and settled in for the 55 minute flight.  We were still there three hours later.  Plane had to be sprayed with de-icer, then they found a fault that took 2 hours to fix by which time the de-icer was useless so they had to respray us. But it took off and we got back to Toronto.  Having left Manhattan at 11.30 I walked in the door of my house at 9.30.  

So is there a point to this blog?  Yes, it's another one of those gratuitous " I love Canadians" stories.  As we sat on the runway waiting for hours, I think it was close to 4 hours in all, no one complained. No one shouted at the aircrew, no one talked loudly expressing an opinion hoping for others to start a riot.  It was very polite, very civilized, very calm.  What conversation there was was " yeah, it's annoying but better safe than sorry".  I love Canadians.

Now off to sleep to let the snow bugs travel south for their week two vacation in my chest.  

Namaste.

Friday 13th. Hmmmmm

The sun's out, snow's melting.  I can't really ask for more than that.  Today sees the start of Spring Break, so no school for a week.  Small person is brewing a snotty cold, and having spent the day at school in his PJ's as part of festivities he has come home and taken to his bed with a cuddly Ipad.  He knows that he is not allowed to watch the American MineCraft videos on YouTube because the guys curse and swear, so what does he do?  He has shut his door "so you can't hear what I am watching."  Nice!

I had the day off today which is a misnomer for a home worker in this century I think.  When your home is also your workplace I suspect the only true way to get a day off is to leave the house.  I'm not grumbling, its all in my gift to control, its more of a realisation. I spent a very quite three hours tying up some loose ends at work, then an equally quiet hour filling in immigration forms so that we can stay in Canada a little longer.  Hard to believe that we have been here for 18 months already. 

Small person and I went back to the UK last month, just to check that it is still there.  It was physically unchanged and it felt compact and bijoux.  The bank has turned into Domino's Pizza.  We deposited some cash and withdrew a medium veggie feast pizza and he gave us a free Tex Mex.  I suspect he was trying to entice us back...sucker!

We had a great time seeing friends, colleagues, colleagues who are friends.  I had a few pangs of home sickness, mostly for the countryside and landscape as Kent is very beautiful and Ontario is very flat and dull in places. but 5 days into our trip we were both missing "home".  I was increasingly grumpy about having to get out of the car to get a coffee; and not being able to park near the shops that I wanted to go to.  I missed cheery shop workers and an automatic car.  Oh that poor rental car...the gear box cried real tears.  Small person missed his dad, TVO and the cats but I'm not sure I got the order right.

Without wanting to sound like UKIP'ers, who are screaming loonies with black shirts in their closets, it did jump out at me that most people working in the shops and restaurants that I went into were from Eastern Europe. It was very noticeable, and as an immigrant myself I say good on them but it just felt very different to be in England and to hear so many different voices.  Here I take it for granted - I really hope that the UK can get to where Canada is with newcomers.  Unless I am missing something everyone seems welcomed here and comes understanding the need to, and with a willingness to, contribute and join into society.  To be fair you kind of have to work hard here because there are no social handouts or tax credits like in the UK. 

One thing I do miss here is British TV.  I miss watching John Snow read the news on C4 and I miss programs that make you think and form an opinion. I watched a few "documentaries" I think they were.  Nothing Bafta nominated - one about people living on benefits in the UK and one about Romanian Gypsies looking for a better life.  I have to be honest - if I was handing out the money those kids in Romania would be getting the cash tomorrow.  The contrast between their lives was stark...penniless in a ghetto living in one room of a burnt out building vs. living in a rent paid flat, getting cash for nothing from the ATM twice a month and spending it all on booze and upgrading your iphone.  One couple moaning that they had to pawn the XBOX to get food.  One guy said "I'm only 18, I'm too young to settle down and get a job, I want to live a bit first."

There is something very wrong with a society that lets you leave school with hardly any education; a mindset that getting a job is a life choice rather than a necessity and give you money rather than help to get on a more self sustaining track.  I guess that's easy to say from here eh?