Life in Canada
On Monday, after the Springsteen show, I ran into a closed sidewalk. I thought I heard someone say there was a shooting. A Canadian crime! A rare occurence, if stereotypes and data were to be believed. I asked about it, and it turned out they were shooting a movie. Not as exciting, but still, a major Canadian experience. How much of an experience? After waiting for less than a couple minutes, the Canadians in the crowd burst past the headset-wearing production assistant and ripped down the sidewalk. Who knew how many film productions had blocked their sidewalks before. All of them pretending they weren't in Canada.
On Tuesday, I went to the top of the CN Tower, drank a Labatt's Blue and ate fries with gravy at the restaurant there. Had I met Wayne Gretzky, we would have fashioned hockey sticks from chairs or tourist guardrails and played a pick-up game at 1,815 feet.
On Wednesday, we went to Chinatown. Our group of five ordered the five-person $50 special. We also all ordered beers. The waitress told us they didn't have some of them, so some of us ordered different beers. She went away. The manager then came over. The restaurant, he explained, had no liquor license. There would be no beer. The tablecloth was a series of cut-open plastic bags, perfect for lifting all the dishes off the table at once.
On Thursday, fog closed the airport. But no one cared. I didn't, at least. I was here and would be here until Saturday morning. In the meantime, I would be nervous but glad to be in Canada.
August 4th, 2009 at 9:24 AM
[...] there was quick lunch atop the fortress, like lunch atop a tower, and I could just about see my room from there (now yellow [...]