There is no hope for my people.
Jul. 19th, 2004 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynToday at my knitting group, I showed 'round the photographs from the first roll of film I took in Canada. We got to a photograph of one of the Mounties in dress uniform patrolling around the Parliament buildings.
One of the women in the group blinked at the sight and said, "What, no moose?"
"Um, that's Ottawa- you know, a city-"
"I would've thought he'd be riding a moose."
THERE ARE NO WORDS.
I mean, thank GOD one of the others glared at her and said, "Nobody rides moose!", but still.
Oh, and because I wasn't sure if I'd inflicted enough pain on myself... I happened to mention that this was just the dress uniform, and that most of the Mounties these days wear regular greyish khaki uniforms unless they've got some special duty. Sure enough, not one of the women there had any idea that the RCMP wore any uniform other than the reds.
I didn't dare tell them that most of 'em have, you know, cars these days.
One of the women in the group blinked at the sight and said, "What, no moose?"
"Um, that's Ottawa- you know, a city-"
"I would've thought he'd be riding a moose."
THERE ARE NO WORDS.
I mean, thank GOD one of the others glared at her and said, "Nobody rides moose!", but still.
Oh, and because I wasn't sure if I'd inflicted enough pain on myself... I happened to mention that this was just the dress uniform, and that most of the Mounties these days wear regular greyish khaki uniforms unless they've got some special duty. Sure enough, not one of the women there had any idea that the RCMP wore any uniform other than the reds.
I didn't dare tell them that most of 'em have, you know, cars these days.
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Date: 2004-07-19 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-19 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-19 10:44 pm (UTC)I spent an hour looking for news about Canada yesterday in six major newspapers. Not one item. Not one.
On the plus side, I think Vancouver is really, really purdy.
*sneeeerk*
Date: 2004-07-20 12:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-20 01:42 am (UTC)a MOOSE? Eru H. Tapdancing Iluvatar.
This is all.
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Date: 2004-07-20 03:53 am (UTC)And we never believed they would be riding moose. Horses would have been fine.
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Date: 2004-07-20 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-20 05:59 am (UTC)Is the woman on crack??
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Date: 2004-07-20 06:13 am (UTC)The Russians keep trying to raise moose as dairy animals so that there's at least some agricultural options in Siberia. It's never worked very well.
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Date: 2004-07-20 06:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-20 06:16 am (UTC)(actually, recently around my hometown one managed to send a greyhound bus off the road.)
Not that I'm recommending it - poor moose, only trying to escape the nasty blackflies, does not deserve that crap (oh yah - and injuries and death on the part of the people in the vehicles - but I stick with 'poor moose' more) - but it's true.
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Date: 2004-07-20 06:17 am (UTC)Sorry. I get fairly regular news from them, but that's because most of my news comes from the BBC- has done ever since the Clinton scandal, when I got tired of hearing about that FRIGGING dress- and occasionally from sympatico.ca. If it were up to the newspapers I'd get Canada news once or twice a month, in those little sidebars that come straight from Reuters and AP Newswire.
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Date: 2004-07-20 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-20 06:20 am (UTC)Re: Well
Date: 2004-07-20 06:22 am (UTC)*uses icon of Susan Butcher's dogs in training*
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Date: 2004-07-20 06:23 am (UTC)A Moose? Is she nuts? Where have you EVER heard of anyone riding a MOOSE? God, need drink.
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Date: 2004-07-20 06:27 am (UTC)But no moose. As much as I'd LOVE the chance to try.
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Date: 2004-07-20 06:34 am (UTC)Unfortunately ...
Date: 2004-07-20 06:36 am (UTC)They've even been known to walk away from small car accidents (though unfortunately probably in many cases internal injuries would have occured which hurt them later).
The greyhound bus incident happened a month or so ago in Northern Ontario. One of the tricky parts of the roads up there is that it's all Canadian shield - so that in many cases, the roads have actually been 'blasted' out of the rock, so on one or both sides you have sheer solid rock walls.
So the greyhound driver hit the moose, and went off the road. Right into the rock. Man behind the driver was killed, multiple injuries in the passengers.
You learn at a very early age not to mess with moose up there - though you sometimes can't escape it because they're on the road trying to avoid the blackflies (and having worked in the woods and met blackflies, I can understand why. shudder. make mosquitos look like nothing those things do).
I can attest from personal experience though that once they're on the road - it's a pain to get them off of it. I was late for work at a job just on the outskirts of my hometown a time or two, back when I was in highschool, cause I'd come across a moose a couple of times standing in the middle of the road, and no amount of horn convinces them to move. They move when they're ready *L*
Re: Well
Date: 2004-07-20 06:39 am (UTC)Living 9 hours northwest of Toronto I was told by an american in the south that I lived in the arctic circle. And nothing I would say would convince them otherwise. Nevermind that you had to go many many many more hours to get to that level.
I would hate to see what they did to someone from an area further north - so I feel greatly sorry for you and feel your pain!! Sad though when it's technically part of their country - I mean, we canadians just generally now assume that we'll get our glee out of people crossing the border with skis in June (actually seen that. sigh. but the people just across the border in the states mock those ones just as much *L*), but you'd think they'd know better for their own country.
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Date: 2004-07-20 06:43 am (UTC)MAN #1: Yeah, so, last month we were having a barbecue outside, right? And suddenly there's this huge rumbling- I mean, the house is shaking.
WOMAN #1: I don't remember there being an earthquake around here last month.
MAN #1: There wasn't.
MAN #2: Oh, boy.
MAN #1: See, all of a sudden there's this bellowing, and around the house comes this young moose- I don't think he could've been more than a couple years old, his rack was pretty small. He'd gone and gotten tangled in the clothesline and pulled off part of the porch, that's why the house was shaking.
(Laughter ensues.)
MAN #2: Did you get any meat for your freezer?
MAN #1: Nah, he got away before I could get a gun.
The party was being held by a local computer company to congratulate its 15 or so employees on everyone making it through the year and being profitable, I should point out. It was all very matter-of-fact. "Moose ripped up part of my porch." "Didja shoot him?" "Nah, too slow." "Oh. Rats."
Re: Well
Date: 2004-07-20 06:53 am (UTC)She went into her house and didn't come out again as long as he was there. Too embarrassed.
On behalf of the SMART people, I should like to apologise for the rest of my country's population. Both to Canadians and to other Americans.
Re: Well
Date: 2004-07-20 07:23 am (UTC)Well, that's perfectly reasonable, isn't it? I mean, look at the current weather. Today's high in Detroit is 71 degrees -- but right across the border in Windsor, it's only going to get up to 21!
it's not just Canada
Date: 2004-07-20 07:32 am (UTC)For all I know this knowledge of other people deficiency is common around the world - I'd be surprised if it wasn't - but because of geography I tend to deal mostly with USians...
Re: Well
Date: 2004-07-20 07:58 am (UTC)I have heard a comedian who did a whole bit about 'that's how they must have decided to put in the border ... 'a little to the left ... still warm ... still warm ... brr. there's the border'.
ahh well. what can ya do *G*
Re: Well
Date: 2004-07-20 07:59 am (UTC)Re: it's not just Canada
Date: 2004-07-20 08:02 am (UTC)*cough* *choke*
Never heard that one up here in Canadia as of yet, thank goodness. Well ... okay. Gotten that gist from one doctor I ran into who was an immigrant from ... how to be diplomatic. A part of the world where women's rights isn't as forward as it is over here. No listening to the patient cause she was just a woman type thing. Didn't go back to that doctor ever again.
I admire your restraint in not doing damage to anyone who said that. I'd find that highly tempting. (though more in the 'withering sarcasm' way probably I admit ...)
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Date: 2004-07-20 08:04 am (UTC)So, I'm going to Ottawa (and Toronto) early next month. Anything you suggest I go out of my way to see?
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Date: 2004-07-20 08:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-20 08:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-20 08:25 am (UTC)You may also want a walking tour of the area in general- they've got a lot of memorials to various heroes, like Terry Fox- but I didn't take one myself. If you're a museum person at all, it's definitely worthwhile to head across the Alexandra Bridge into Hull, Quebec and visit the Museum of Civilization. The First Nations exhibits are amazing, and the rest of it's pretty damn impressive as well, though I didn't get to see the Postal Museum on the third floor.
As for Toronto, you'll probably want to see the Royal Ontario Museum before they completely cock it up with the weird new architectural expansions. The CN tower's a good view, too, and you get to see lots of international graffiti from all the various visitors. Some of the city parks are nice, and the oldest of the city's three Chinatowns is a very impressive place to visit if you're a Sinophile like myself.
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Date: 2004-07-20 08:33 am (UTC)Re: Well
Date: 2004-07-20 08:35 am (UTC)Re: it's not just Canada
Date: 2004-07-20 08:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-20 10:10 am (UTC)just being helpful, dontcha know.
and if there are no moose, look for polar bears.
~~smiles innocently~~
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Date: 2004-07-20 10:24 am (UTC)The Museum of Civilization sounds right up my alley, but can I get to it without a car? I'm staying in downtown Ottawa, but only for two days. The rest of the trip is either immersion in Convention Alley or Toronto.
Oh, I definitely want to go to the ROM. I get to be a museum geek! I will happily wander for hours in museums, especially natural history ones.
Do you know if you can leave luggage at the train station in Ottawa? Either in lockers, or check-in early or whatnot. I've an afternoon train to Toronto and am worried about lugging a suitcase around that day. Otherwise, I may have to be really light on my packing, and I'm horrible at that.
And, as a fellow knitter, any truly lovely yarn shops in either city?
Re: it's not just Canada
Date: 2004-07-20 10:25 am (UTC)I don't usually hear that one explicitly so much as... There was the guy who hit on me until he found out I'd gone to a "better" college than he had (at which point he literally backed away), and at various times I've been the first or only woman to join an officially co-ed class (usually math or a religious topic in which women's education overall is still catching up with men's) and seen the men react with surprise that (a) I'm not there by accident and (b) I can keep up. I've also heard women say that they wouldn't be comfortable in co-ed classes 'cause they'd be afraid of the men raising the level above their heads, regardless of who the men and women involved were.
I think I've usually been nice about it, but yeah, the 'withering sarcasm' thing is tempting.
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Date: 2004-07-20 11:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-20 11:15 am (UTC)There's a natural history museum in Ottawa, too, but half of it's closed down for renovations (we're talking ninety-year-old exhibits, here) and one of the available four floors is an exhibit of Creepy or Disgusting Creatures, aimed at children. For $4 it's not a bad way to kill an hour or two but it's not really vital. At least, not compared to the ROM.
I don't know about the train station in Ottawa, sadly. I took my train to Toronto, and the rest of my journeys within Canada were by car. And, also sadly, I can't say one way or the other about yarn shops. I didn't get to check when I was in Toronto last, and between seeing the Impressive Government Buildings and my Burger King-inspired case of food poisoning, I was in no mood nor condition to scope Ottawa's yarn shops during the day and a half I was there. There's a guy in the Chinese mall thingum outside Toronto who ran a yarn shop as of early January 2004- sells a lot of Sirdar- but I don't know if he's still there or not.
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Date: 2004-07-20 12:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-20 01:01 pm (UTC)Re: Well
Date: 2004-07-20 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-21 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-21 09:13 am (UTC)I know.
I've lived in/on both.