Archives
9:29:00 AM EDT
Hearing If I Needed You -- Emmylou Harris
Oh, Canada!
Aside from the hassles of trying to enter the country, which are not its fault, I have to say I'm enjoying Canada quite a bit. Cory Doctrow, the Canadian writer and blogger with whom I took up space at a bar last night, described America and Americans as "just like us, only not," and that rather apt description works in the other direction as well; things are close enough to the American experience in Canada that you feel mostly comfortable, but different enough that you realize (at least subliminally) that you are indeed in a totally different country. As I noted to Cory, it's like an off-brand America (not to run down either Canada or off-brands in that description).
There's lot to chat about concerning Canada, but here are a couple of small things that I think are both different and cool:
* All distances are denoted in kilometers, which are (as I'm sure you know), shorter than miles (1 kilometer = .6 miles). For Americans, this has the psychological effect of making you think you're blasting along when you drive, because you pass a sign that say "Toronto -- 150" and then five miles later you pass a sign that says "Toronto -- 141" and you think: Cool. I'm sure Canadians in America feel like they're driving incredibly slow.
* Canada has a one dollar coin (the "Loonie") and a two dollar coin (the "Toonie") and no one or two dollar bills. So people up here actually use their dollar coins. This is totally practical (coins last substantially longer than bills, so in the long run they cost the government less) unlike the way the US does it, in which everyone uses bills and you never see the dollar coin. The only drawback is that you accumulate change at an astounding rate. Everybody up here jingles when they walk. Other than that, however, a thumbs up from the numismatic in me.
More Canada notes when they come to me. And of course, feel free to share your feelings about our nothern neighbor in what I like the call The Great North American Duplex.
Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
-
How could you forget to mention that gas is sold in liters instead of gallons. On my first trip to Canada, I was very excited driving in and seeing a sign that said .68. I thought, "Wow! Gas is cheap!" Well, as you can very well imagine, I was astounded to learn that 68 cents pers liter is over $2.25/gallon!! Talk about a major drawback!
-
Emmylou Harris Rocks! My favourite is Evagaline!
10/8/07 6:24 PM