i have seen so many license (spelled "licence" here) plates from the states and i love it. i get all giddy inside and give them the "nod" like we're old bro's or something. i've seen: michigan, new york, vermont, rhode island, virginia, florida, california, new jersey, pennsylvania, TEXAS (woo-hoo...okay, just mine), illinois, missouri and ohio. one day, there were 3 american cars in a row: michigan, texas and virginia! what fun! i wonder if their speedometers are also difficult to read since ours are in MPH instead of KPH? it's interesting not really knowing exactly how fast you're going - i know that 90 KPH is somewhere around 55 MPH but instead, i choose to just go with the flow. although, i do know an american who got a ticket because the speed sign said 60 (they don't actually say MPH or KPH here...it's just a number - i say technically you could argue that since it could be either) and she was going 60 MPH in her car which is actually about 100 KPH. the judge didn't let her off either. such hate! i've decided to see how long i can keep my texas plates. they've become a conversation piece - people a) can't believe you'd ever move to canada from the us and b) can't believe you'd drive all that way. every person who's commented on my plates ask me if i like canada - they are very interested in what we think of their country. oh, i've seen the majority of license plates from the provinces, too: newfoundland and labrador, nova scotia, quebec, ontario (obviously), manitoba, saskatchewan, alberta and british columbia. the only ones i haven't seen are prince edward island or any of the northern territories (like nunavut - pronounced "none of it" or yellowknife). i personally think alberta's are the prettiest.
my first best buy experience here was exactly like the states - slow. geez - even in canada it takes forever to return something (no comments, d) even though there were 974 employees standing around doing nothing.
the high today was 83 and a cool front is coming through so the high this saturday is going to be 69! nice!
i met a famous canadian over the weekend. what's funny to me is how accessible things are in T.O. i guess it's equivalent to being in new york city in the states, but everything seems to happen right in my backyard. i've seen claire danes at muchmusic right around the corner from my house, david beckham and tara reid were at a club 4 blocks from me and rachel mcadams was evidently seen riding her bike on a street 2 blocks over. cool!
i met the leader of one of their 3 main political parties, jack layton of the new democratic party. he would run for prime minister if they were to call an election since their elections aren't at specific times. he was at "taste of the danforth" and the canadians we were with were like "go take your picture with him - he's famous! so, of course, i did. he's the equivalent to obama or hillary in the us. and lemme tell ya, he kissed many a baby that night.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Layton) the elections here aren't like ours - theirs here is like the british system so you don't necessarily vote for a person, you vote for a party here and whomever is the leader of that party becomes the prime minister. it's not my best photo, but you get the picture (ha!)
i found out today that the retirement age in canada is 69. ew. moral of the story - have a baby in canada to get a year off, then move to the us and retire at 55.ooh, i found another great restaurant! boy, research sure pays off in a city as dense with places to eat as T.O. it's called epicure cafe on queen street west (my favorite street). everytime i eat out i get so angry about how slow the service is. then, when i get my food, i realize that it takes time because everything is prepared freshly here. you'll see workers at the fast food place in the mall cutting up fresh fruit and sandwiches being made freshly right in front of you. the food that is served in restaurants never seems to have come from a bag and i can tell it's fresher because my hands don't swell up here from the salt & preservatives like it used to when i'd eat out at home. so, i guess a trade off for speedy service and always being on the go at home is slow service but very fresh and yummy food. (http://www.theepicure.ca/home.html) they play a french jazz radio station inside so it's cozy, yummy and one of my favorite new places. plus, they give you a lot of coke - at most places, i'm basically parched after eating. how do these people not drink when they eat?
signing off with hugs,
carm
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