# The CanaDoper Café, 2013 edition. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 1, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736 "2013-01-01T03:29:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/441 "2013-02-25T14:46:27Z")
Today is “National Cupcake Day?” So says a sign at work this morning. Huh? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![jools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@jools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jools)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/442 "2013-02-25T15:11:34Z")
In Ontario it is… I hope you’ll buy one it’s for the SPCA! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/443 "2013-02-25T16:18:38Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Wha…you don’t have local rinks in backwoods BC? I thought it was government mandated, that every small town have a rink for hockey and curling!?! Yeah, I thought dinky little towns had MORE curling per capita, not LESS! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/444 "2013-02-25T16:34:48Z")
He grew up in B.C. interior - they don’t have any flat land there for a curling rink - all those pointy rocky things take up the space, unlike the Prairies, which are God’s curling rink. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/445 "2013-02-25T18:47:28Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > …and your wife takes an _awesome_ photo of a prairie winter’s day! 🙂 > > (Hey, with the Lethbridge Hurricanes doing as poorly as they are, I’d be happy to move the discussion off junior hockey.) Last season the 'Canes went 0-for-October; this season they seem to be doing much better, only three games under .500, although they’ll have a tough time catching Kootenay for the last playoff spot—they’re picking the wrong time of year to be tanking. The Blue Jays broke Curtis Granderson’s arm and he’s out for 10 weeks! Way to stick it to the Yankees! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/446 "2013-02-25T19:23:01Z")
> [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](#): > > Last season the 'Canes went 0-for-October; this season they seem to be doing much better, only three games under .500, although they’ll have a tough time catching Kootenay for the last playoff spot—they’re picking the wrong time of year to be tanking. They’re having a better season, true, but nobody is surprised to see them “back to normal” lately, as it were. If they do, by some miracle, get that playoff spot, local sentiment doesn’t see them advancing very far, if at all. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/447 "2013-02-25T20:42:09Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > They’re having a better season, true, but nobody is surprised to see them “back to normal” lately, as it were. If they do, by some miracle, get that playoff spot, local sentiment doesn’t see them advancing very far, if at all. Well, on the upside their goalie just set a record for most saves by a Hurricane in a season! Or maybe that’s a downside, since he’s had to face that many shots. YMMV… ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/448 "2013-02-26T04:58:58Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > I’ve heard stories, not quite that bad, but Grandma mentioned someone coming for a visit to Alberta once years ago and suggesting they drive to Vancouver for high tea (or something) one day thinking it was a day trip. > > Love the picture Cat Whisperer. 🙂 I’m always fascinated by mountains when I’m taking pictures, maybe I need to turn my focus towards the foothills and prairies now and again! I had a friend in Vancouver who’s parents were coming to visit from New Zealand. Her mother had been a big fan of Anne of Green Gables and suggested they “rent a car and go see Cavendish, PEI.” as a side trip. :smack: My friend’s husband, the Canadian, said it would make more sense doing it as a side trip when they went to England the following year. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/449 "2013-02-26T05:10:13Z")
“To try to give you an idea of how big Canada is, imagine half the globe. Now imagine that Canada goes from one side of half the globe to the other. Now you’re getting close.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/450 "2013-02-26T05:12:10Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > I don’t remember the exact dates, and Mum is no longer around to ask her, but… > > My Mum and Dad were married in Glasgow the day before D-Day, 1944. He was born and raised in Ranfurly, Alberta; she was born in Motherwell and raised in Uddingston - both are now considered part of Glasgow. Dad was in the RCAF, flying Mosquito aircraft primarily for air defense of the UK. > > \ > > She stayed; she came to love the prairies, but it’s hard to imagine what it was like for such a city girl to make a trip like that… My grandmother’s brother married an English girl, but died in the war. With a three year old in tow, she came to Port Arthur ON, thinking to be near her late husband’s family. My great grandmother didn’t speak English, and my own Grandmother, as much as she wanted to help her sister in law had 4 children under 5 herself. I believe my great aunt lasted about 2 years of Canadian winters and headed back to England. Her son eventually moved to Australia. In the past 10 years he and his wife have struck up a friendship with my parents, visting every few years. For all his English/Australian accent, he looks for all the world like my family and I could expect to see him eating pancakes at the [Hoito](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hoito)in Thunder Bay. I’m glad your mother stuck it out in Canada! ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/451 "2013-02-26T05:49:19Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > “To try to give you an idea of how big Canada is, imagine half the globe. Now imagine that Canada goes from one side of half the globe to the other. Now you’re getting close.” 🙂 Seriously. We cover six time zones (PST, MST, CST, EST, AST, and NST). Because of the time differences, I once actually made a 9:00 a.m. business meeting in Toronto in the morning, left that and went to the airport, caught a flight to Vancouver, and made my 4:00 p.m. business meeting in Vancouver (i.e. 7:00 p.m. in Toronto). Needless to say, I was pretty tired by the time I got to my Vancouver hotel that night. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/452 "2013-02-26T06:20:25Z")
The beauty of the Prairies! My mom was born in Saskatchewan, and always spoke of the wide beautiful land, the incredible sky, the birds and grasses and storms in the distance. I finally made a road trip to Edmonton in the company of friends around 15 years ago. It was amazing. We did stop and shut the cars off and feel the wind and just get drunk on the _space_. Also, I had to irrigate the prairie, so to speak. On Highway 41 south from the Trans-Canada towards the Alberta/Montana border, there is a sign that says, “No services or residences, next 137 km”. If you broke down on that road in winter, you could easily die. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/453 "2013-02-26T14:10:33Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > The beauty of the Prairies! > > My mom was born in Saskatchewan, and always spoke of the wide beautiful land, the incredible sky, the birds and grasses and storms in the distance. I finally made a road trip to Edmonton in the company of friends around 15 years ago. It was amazing. We did stop and shut the cars off and feel the wind and just get drunk on the _space_. Also, I had to irrigate the prairie, so to speak. > > On Highway 41 south from the Trans-Canada towards the Alberta/Montana border, there is a sign that says, “No services or residences, next 137 km”. If you broke down on that road in winter, you could easily die. Yeah, winter road trips definitely take things like that into account. On our recent trip back from Prince Albert, SK, we were on a fairly small highway in bad conditions, but we were reassured by having traffic go by fairly regularly - if we managed to end up in a ditch, _someone_ would have stopped and helped us rather than letting us freeze to death. We did have emergency stuff in the car, too - shovel and food and a blanket, winter clothes, cellphones, etc. I wouldn’t do a winter trip at night, though. Not unless I absolutely had to. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/454 "2013-02-26T16:38:40Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > I had a friend in Vancouver who’s parents were coming to visit from New Zealand. Her mother had been a big fan of Anne of Green Gables and suggested they “rent a car and go see Cavendish, PEI.” as a side trip. > :smack: > My friend’s husband, the Canadian, said it would make more sense doing it as a side trip when they went to England the following year. :: nods :: When my stepfather’s English relatives came over one time to visit us in Whitby, Ontario, they wanted to see “Niagara Falls and the Rockies”. We could handle Niagara Falls no problem, but we had to do a bit of explaining about how long it would take to get to the Rockies… ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/455 "2013-02-26T17:06:30Z")
Canada is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to Canada. – With apologies to Douglas Adams ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/456 "2013-02-26T17:18:56Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > we were reassured by having traffic go by fairly regularly - if we managed to end up in a ditch, _someone_ would have stopped and helped us rather than letting us freeze to death A few years ago during a snowstorm, a fellow went off the Trans Canada at the edge of town (TBay at the Terry Fox lookout). The combinaton of deep ditch, tree cover and a lot of snow resulted in his not being found until the spring, despite a lot of searching for him along his usual route. It was determined that he was pinned in his car and froze to death. The poor bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/457 "2013-02-26T17:56:21Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > On Highway 41 south from the Trans-Canada towards the Alberta/Montana border, there is a sign that says, “No services or residences, next 137 km”. If you broke down on that road in winter, you could easily die. A friend of mine says that during a Canadian winter, your car is not just a means of transport - it’s your life support system. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/458 "2013-02-26T17:58:33Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > A few years ago during a snowstorm, a fellow went off the Trans Canada at the edge of town (TBay at the Terry Fox lookout). As soon as I read this bit, I knew the story would not end well. I’ve driven past that lookout a few times and it’s not a good place to go over the edge. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/459 "2013-02-26T18:09:59Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > A friend of mine says that during a Canadian winter, your car is not just a means of transport - it’s your life support system. Here’s the [road](https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=highway+41+alberta&hl=en&ll=49.474371,-110.247803&spn=0.331954,0.596008&sll=43.948357,-78.878351&sspn=0.367805,0.596008&t=h&hq=highway+41&hnear=Alberta&fll=49.424821,-110.24231&fspn=0.334076,0.596008&layer=c&cbll=49.474087,-110.248188&panoid=YSg7dNc5st0L-r7e_ut9aw&cbp=12,216.64,,0,7.15&z=11) I was mentioning… and here’s the [sign](https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=highway+41+alberta&hl=en&ll=49.581336,-110.263596&spn=0.331228,0.596008&sll=43.948357,-78.878351&sspn=0.367805,0.596008&t=h&hq=highway+41&hnear=Alberta&fll=49.551944,-110.255356&fspn=0.331428,0.596008&z=11&layer=c&cbll=49.581242,-110.263972&panoid=Lxik0PWxguWjRfRcV4z8rg&cbp=12,230.89,,0,4.04). 🙂 (Okay, there is bugsplatter of the Google camera lens, and you can’t actually _read_ the sign, but that’s the one.) ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/460 "2013-02-26T21:25:42Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Yeah, winter road trips definitely take things like that into account. On our recent trip back from Prince Albert, SK, we were on a fairly small highway in bad conditions, but we were reassured by having traffic go by fairly regularly - if we managed to end up in a ditch, _someone_ would have stopped and helped us rather than letting us freeze to death. **We did have emergency stuff in the car, too - shovel and food and a blanket, winter clothes, cellphones, etc.** I wouldn’t do a winter trip at night, though. Not unless I absolutely had to. I still do, every day. BTW, you know you’re in W.Canada when you ask someone how far away something is and they tell you in time. “Oh, Calgary is about 3 hours from here…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736.md?page=24)