The Canada I miss: April 2008

One of the things I miss the most about Canada is the perspective that Canadians have on Americans.

Canadians are pretty serious folks but they don't take Americans nearly as seriously as Americans take themselves.

Sometimes I think it helps to take a step across the border and look back at the United States through the eyes of Canadians.

This morning I read the the Toronto Star Opinion piece, "One final dance for Three Amigos." The article makes a good case for making sure that our border between Canada allows trade to flow freely.

In the current political climate that's a tough argument since all the American politicians are short on leadership and long on pandering to whatever sentiment will get them votes. Having wasted plenty of time in my life crossing the US-Canada border, I think movement for the citizens of both countries should be close to unimpeded.

I am not going to lay the arguments out since I try to stay out of politics. I focus more on the good things in life. As I said in my post, View from the Kayak, on Sept. 30, 2006, I have said about all I want to say about politics.

I'm for as little government as possible, and I'm going to leave it at that. I am for protecting our environment. It doesn't make a lot of sense to foul our own nest. I would like the next generations to have the opportunity to experience some of the wonderful places that I have seen.

There are more political commentators in the world than you can count. However, there are not enough us of us lifestyle gurus who will explain that you are likely working too hard. No matter what you cannot take all that money with you, so figuring out how to enjoy the world around you should be a priority. I can show you the way.

Actually I think Canadians are pretty good at enjoying the world around them. Let's be honest, if over one million Canadians can live in Edmonton where it is snowing on April 21 and not overturn their government because of never ending winter then Canadians are a pretty balanced lot.

I can tell you that here on the Southern Outer Banks if it started snowing on April 15, we would probably think about seceding from the union.

I went out in my kayak this morning just to check it out. As an afterthought I took my fishing rod. I ended up with a nice flounder which was a good start to lunch.

Southern pan fried flounder is pretty hard to beat even without my famous hush puppies.

We are having a few thunderstorms today, but at least the weather is warm. This past weekend we enjoyed a visit to Tryon Palace in New Bern, NC about 45 minutes from Cape Carteret.

I took pictures of the palace grounds, the flowers, and their amazing vegetable gardens.

I am pleased to live in an area of North Carolina that reminds me of Maritime Canada. The area is full of friendly people, small towns, and lots of open space just like I remember from Nova Scotia.

On top of that we have fantastic fishing, low taxes, and some great places for second homes not far from the beaches of Emerald Isle. Most importantly we don't do snow. In fact in January 2007 when I tracked the temperature, I figured out that we only had nineteen hours of below freezing temperatures the whole month.

I live in a small subdivision, called Bluewater Cove. I can be walking on the beach in less than ten minutes by car, or I can be in the Intracoastal Waterway in ten minutes by boat, or out Bogue Inlet and into the Atlantic Ocean in twenty minutes.

That is the kind of access that I care about, and pretty hard to beat. We have some great homes including this one which I think could be had for something close to $300K.

When you are tired of the snow, come visit, fall in love with the area, and help me populate our beautiful beaches with friendly Canadians. Trust me, you will not miss the snow.

Actually it was scenery that gave me my taste of Canada. It was some Canadians who helped me remember how wonderful Canadians can be.

Their outstanding courtesy and helpfulness reminded me of my time in Nova Scotia which got me to dredge up an old slide of the point on farm on the Bay of Fundy.

When I was finishing up my US taxes yesterday, I was digging around in a drawer, and I came up with a statement of Canadian Pension earnings. It was not a complete statement so I thought I would try to get one just out of curiosity.

First I tried the web with my Social Insurance number, but it would not work. Surprisingly there was a phone number to call for problems in logging into the system.

I called the number and even more surprising, a human being actually answered the phone. Not only did she answer, but she was also extremely helpful and knew immediately what was wrong. My account had gone dormant.

Even more surprising she knew exactly the person that I needed to call. I made the call fully expecting that I would never talk to another human. I was flabbergasted to get yet another human and one who asked a few security questions and told me that I would have my form in a few days.

Maybe Canada is special because it has not reach the size where humanity disappears.

I shudder to think of how different my experience might be when trying to get an answer out of the US government. The last time we tried to call Social Security for my mother, it took three days to get someone on the phone.

There is more to Canada than meets the eye.

I was even surprised today to find out that the weather in Halifax, Nova Scotia has warmed almost to our mountain weather temperatures in Roanoke, Virginia today.

I know that is unusual and there are probably no signs of spring in eastern Canada, but I suspect courtesy on the phone is part of Canada's character. It was obvious in the both the conversations I had today.