I had never heard of a Bonspiel until this week and as a linguist I couldn’t help but wonder if it might have a particular meaning; perhaps from the French ‘bon’ meaning good and German ‘Spiel’ meaning game. In any case the curling tournament held this week between the local schools was a good game. As I have mentioned before, Winter sports are big in Canada so curling is pretty popular around these parts, for people of all ages. Ashern’s…
Although the snow has melted and as the clocks have ‘sprung ahead’ it feels as though Spring has finally arrived, I couldn’t help sharing some advice in case there’s a freak snow storm to send us back into those Winter boots. In order to avoid a wheel-spinning, snow-spraying situation that might require the neighbours coming over with a tractor to tow one’s car out; it is always best not to neglect the snow clearing duties! I’m just saying…
On my Erasmus year in Cergy on the outskirts of Paris, from about mid October until at least the end of March, the words “Que frio hace” usually preceded by “Joder” were uttered constantly by my Spanish friends (meaning more or less “Shit it‘s cold!”). I know from experience that Spain can reach temperatures below zero and it’s not just rain in Spain that falls mainly on the plains. Snow is certainly not unheard of, but nevertheless the Spanish are…
Windswept and interesting or rather dragged through a hedge backwards! Visiting Point Pelee just after your hair’s been styled, even on a summer’s day, is probably not the best of ideas with the strong winds that come in across Lake Erie. Going on a November afternoon straight from the salon when it’s pouring down with rain would be a totally stupid one! A trip to Windsor however would not be complete without setting foot on the southern tip of Canada….
I am off out to party.. spurred on by the realisation that it’s Canada Day so that’s what all my friend’s and family over there will be doing. I know many people may think it a bit OTT that Canada celebrates a day in name of the country but why not? In the UK we celebrate patron Saint’s Days, the French have le 14 Juillet and the USA celebrates Independence Day; just to mention a few. Wikipedia gives a good…
Coming from the U.K. pretty much the only time we eat a roast turkey with all the trimmings is on Christmas Day. We don’t have Thanksgiving so, not being Canadian, I hadn’t anticipated doing anything special. A newfound friend invited us to spend the afternoon in the company of her family and friends whicch certainly made the holiday weekend a little more lively than dinner for two. It was a lovely way to spend my first Thanksgiving in Canada and…
I cannot express my disbelief upon hearing the tales of execution this week. All I can say is I am glad I’m not an animal living in these parts. Hunters show no mercy towards any creature no matter how great or small! You only have to glance along the highway to realise that the locals do not think twice about mowing down the wildlife. You could pick up a rather large variety of road-kill, ranging from raccoons to deer! On…
At the moment the fact that it’s raining and the fact that it’s Monday cannot “get me down”. If it’s raining it means that it is not freezing cold and if it’s Monday… well what difference does it make to someone who isn’t working? In theory my online course starts today but with no access to the internet it just means I’ll have more to do when I finally get started. Considering the amount of time I have to spare…
At last we have a postal address. My first ever P.O. Box address! Of course no-one has the address yet so it’s not that exciting because there won’t be any mail. Since we bought postcards in Winnipeg last weekend and have now sent them it would be interesting to see how long it takes for them to reach their destinations. Even sending and receiving mail in Ontario could be temperamental; sometimes taking days and at other times weeks. However with…
Thanks to a tip from our local informant we left Ashern, armed with a map enabling us to locate a shopping mall, cinema complex, food superstore, football stadium and other signs of life. As in the previous week, we arrived at around 2pm and headed straight for the food-court. The mall is quite large but it didn’t take us too long to find it and settle on Greek for lunch. The Greek take-away place didn’t have much of a queue…