Another country #2

I mean - can you imagine a newspaper called this back home? It's the free local rag and a free laugh for C and I every Wednesday.

So, what other cultural differences have we observed so far?

Traffic lights: "No wonder you can right turn on red" said the man of my dreams this evening. "Otherwise you'd never f***ing go anywhere." There are a lot of traffic lights.

Canadians: The ones I have met have been unfailingly polite and pleasant. Chris is at work though and his exposure levels are considerably higher. He reports that they are great when the going is good but in a crisis.... maybe not (of course that may be that they haven't had enough practice).

Nationhood: They have it here.
The first thing Dominic said when we got off the plane was "Why are there so many Canadian flags? Are they show-offs?" I seriously considered gagging him until we got through immigration.
But it seems it is more than just flags. We registered the boys at school this morning and found out that they don't do assembly in the morning here. Instead, the Principal gives out messages over the tannoy after all the children have stood up and sung "Oh Canada" in the classroom.
--- pause for dramatic impact ---
This prompted much discussion at home with the Braithwaites. We used the lovely internet to listen to said anthem and then discovered that Dom and Max had absolutely no idea about our own national anthem. Obviously with the river of olympic gold flowing back in the UK this gap in their education would have been easily filled in the last couple of weeks but here in medal-drought Canada, they haven't heard a bar of it. Still, fear is a great motivator. We are learning God Save the Queen over the next week - just in case anyone asks them about our anthem when they get to school.