I have just returned from Canada. Winnipeg and Vancouver. I always thought that Canada would be really similar to Australia. I was right, in some respects…Colonial history and human rights atrocities, mostly English speaking (but also French), I mean we come from the same basic lineage, right?
While some things are similar, some things are really different. Here is a short love letter to the home of half my family.
Canada,
Your doors open outwards, instead of inwards…due to snow. This causes me to push into pull doors every time. The entrance is also on the right and the exit on the left. Like cars. People pass you on that side too. It leads to much confusion for a driver from Australia, used to ducking and weaving in the opposite direction.
Light switches switch up to turn on. It’s a small thing, but country wide. In fact, if I remember correctly, this is the same in North America and South America, too.
5℃ is t-shirt weather and -35℃ is cold. However, the temperature inside homes and malls and restaurants is reminiscent of the tropics and the layers you have put on to keep from freezing to death peel away quickly, as you break into a sweat.
You can drive past a trans-Canada train for 3km . They are so long you can’t see the end from the front as it stretches along the never-ending prairie. The horizon is far and the sky is huge and the train stretches beyond where you can see.
People are so polite and no-one swears. (Apart from my sister-in-law). Everyone is helpful and, well, so Canadian.
Your squirrels are adorable, and sound like sprinkler systems. The old, metal type they have in parks, on the return cycle…
Blundstones are a fashion statement and I have never seen so many varieties.
Maple leaves are on EVERYTHING!!!
Fire hydrants require long poles sticking up from them so they are visible in the snow.
Read more of Kylie’s writing at Mountain Ash Chapter
