I had that same problem in Toronto – how times have changed!
Just checking in from Calgary.
The storm was brutal, and clean up will take a month or so. I’m really, really sad about the tree damage. I am sure you’ve seen the pictures on the news, but it’s widespread and significant. We live in an older community with lots of big trees and the streets and sidewalks are littered with branches. Halfway through my Tuesday morning walk to the train, I decided to take the bus to the station instead because I almost got crushed by a falling branch. Thankfully the loud crack that preceded it warned me.
We lost power for about 13 hours yesterday too. The generator we bought during the floods last year was useful!
Sun was out today and the melt has started! When I look outside it feels like early May! :rolleyes:
There’s going to be soooo many free firewood postings on Kijiji Calgary. The park next to our house looks like it was hit by gale force winds.
Thank you. It is amazing, considering I have met so few of you, that I do wonder how various people, especially the Canadopers, are doing.
Are there any other parents in BC affected by the BCTF strike? Next week I am back at work, depending on how things go, my son may spend some time in Parksville with my parents. They moved this summer, leaving Thunder Bay, ON where they have lived for most of their lives, took possession of their new “garden home” (condo/strata thing) on their 49th wedding anniversary.
I spent some time this summer in Thunder Bay, saying “goodbye” to my home town. Other than a few weddings or funerals, I don’t see myself returning very often. Actually, it is more likely I will go to Kapuskasing than Thunder Bay, and my husband, who is from there, doesn’t seem to be planning any visits soon.
Hi, Mona Lisa! Welcome back!
Hey kids, it time for some urban poetry!
It’s the first day of Autumn, and my son, age 10 goes back to school tomorrow. Finally. I have had a whole extra months of trying to fill his brain with knowledge, and trying to answer his various questions. It is definitely someone else’s turn. Does anyone else whant to explain to him why there is an uneven distribution of wealth, food, and infrastructure in this world?
I just had a Republicans versus Democrats discussion with my 15 year old son. I’m happy to report that he actually had a nuance of the differences. When I was young and watching “Family Ties” I had no idea why Alex Keaton being a young Republican was supposedly a funny plot subject.
We are way beyond that. My son at 10 can basically give a thumbnail sketch of the policies of the federal Conservatives, NDP, Liberals and Greens. He’s a little confused about one issue parties, (why bother?) and thinks that Libertarians might be insane. 
He currently wants to be a Member of Parliament when he grows up, but I am afraid he is too honest. He looked at the grocery tape and figured out that since his dad and I buy the pop in the house, and we pay the deposit, then he hasn’t really “earned” the deposit refund I let him keep in exchange for returning cans and bottles. I say he has earned it by cleaning up and taking them to the store, but he isn’t quite sure. Too honest, he will never make it in Ottawa.
And yes, here in BC tomorrow really is the first day of school for kids in the public school system. He goes to school for 35 minutes tomorrow. Just enough time for me to cross the street, get a coffee and meet him on the way to walk home.
OK guys. You’ve got to watch this. This is the Ukraine president’s address in the house of commons. It’s about 22 minutes long, but please watch it. It is incredibly patriotic for both our nations. He even mentions Wayne Gretzky. Please watch it.
I’ve just come through a debate with a number of Americans, all of whom seem to think we say “aboot.”
In all my life in Canada, I have never heard a Canadian say, “aboot” for “about.”
I agree that we may say something different from the American “abaouwt,” but it is definitely not “aboot.”
What say you, fellow Canadians?
Yeah? What?
Change? Cigarettes? Why?
Oh, you’re a Native. You think you deserve money and cigarettes. And that means what?
Of course. I’m a guilty whitey. You’re the noble red man. In touch with the environment, and all that.
Except you’re not. You’ve got a skateboard, you play World of Warcraft, your uncle has a jacked-up Ford F-150 pickup, and you’re out to make Whitey feel like a racist.
Seven days out of the last seven, I’ve been approached by natives looking for a handout on the streets of Lethbridge. Every time, I have refused to give them anything. A simple “no” means nothing, they just try harder, and they bother me more. And in the end, when I give nothing, I am called a “racist bastard.”
As a former Torontonian, who got hit up enough times at the corner of Yonge and Dundas, I wonder how Torontonians would take to such a situation. I also wonder how long it would take for supposedly-liberal Torontonians to say, “F*** the natives.” Because I’m about ready to say that.
Anyone following the New Brunswick election returns. I started watching because my son was excited to watch it, and I have been continuing because … well ties, electronic tabulators, fracking, Green Party holding the balance of power… Energy Minister possibly going down in defeat to the Green Party.
And apparently a statement “Our lawyers have advised us not to concede.”
Honestly Spoons, living in rural Ottawa I don’t see panhandlers or natives. I’m pretty sure I know a couple of guys at work who are native, I’m not about to ask them though!
Too touchy a subject.
There was a reserve near where I grew up in southern Ontario. The native kids were bussed into my school. I never made friends with any of them. I only remember one making it to high school. He was friends with my friend’s brother.
I will accept anyone as a friend, but these kids were, for the most part, truly messed up. They hated us whiteys for no apparent reason. I wish things were different, but they’re not. We’re probably to blame for the mess we’re in.
Out of all the damned natives I grew up around only one kid made it to high school, and then subsequently college.
It just sounds different to them, and that’s how they reproduce the sound, since it’s not something they CAN accurately reproduce. I am sure a Canadian attempt to replicate an Alabama accent would include many similar examples.
Not exactly Alabama, but barbed wire is Bob War in many parts of Texas. Roofs are Ruffs, and you’re right RickJay, it is an approximation both ways.
We went to visit my sister and brother-in-law the weekend after; we had seen the news stories, but damn! It blew my mind when we saw the extent of the damage. When they say there were trees down everywhere, they were not exaggerating.
I was coming here to post this - The one place in Canada where racism is still tolerated is native reserves. From the article:
This community is the Kahnawake native reserve.
I feel much better since I gave up any White Man’s Guilt; I have never done anything negative to an aboriginal person; I have nothing to feel guilty about.
Just wondering if anyone has a favorite Canadian scandal? (Rob Ford? Tunagate? Mike Duffy?) My favorite was Bre-X - hard to beat the sight of several billion dollars getting pissed away in a few short days.
Well, 'round these neck of the woods the total implosion of Nortel Networks is still claiming victims. Getting a job in the once prosperous and booming high-tech sector was a no brainer. Now we have high-tech employees out of work or if they’re lucky working at Home Depot.
I had to reinvent myself and accept a job a hundred miles away.
But, no one in the rest of Canada even knows or cares about this.
Wow, based on a quick read, Nortel even made RIM look positively well managed. I was vaguely aware of it but assumed it was just a “standard” bankruptcy.