Canada, Wunderbar

Our three days out on the fringe of Vancouver Island had been marvelous in many ways, but when we drove out of Tofino we were ready to head home.  We switched off driving and spent most of the mid day picking our way back across the island then down past Nanaimo to Victoria on the smooth mostly four-lane expanse of Highway 1.

We got to Victoria a bit early for our ferry, so we hung out at a Starbucks, the same one where we'd been a couple days back working. The wi-fi there both times were very touchy. It took a very long time to connect via the splash page. One had to be patient. The same had been true in Nanaimo at the Starbucks in the new lifestyle center next to London Drugs. It seemed to be a trend in British Columbia. Starbucks in the U.S. had been my mainstay for three years running, but no way could I have done the same thing across Canada, at least if the ones on Vancouver Island were any indication.

On the other hand, Canada has successfully done away with the penny. They still quote prices down to the cent, but one is expected to round down or up appropriately. No change in pennies is given.

The Canadian attempt to convert to the metric system is quite an interesting topic on its own, one I shan't delve into much detail here.  On the radio the local d.j.'s quote the temperatures and other measurements dutifully according to the Directive From On High.

"I wonder if they get fined if they use the old units, " I mused to Red, as we drove.

But when they interview folks on television, the common folk still use many of the old units. Miles per hour and pounds still trip off the lips. How long will the experiment of societal transformation take place?

(That's the real difference, in my mind, between the U.S. and Canada (and almost everywhere else on Earth). In the U.S., ultimately we are supposed to decide these kinds of things for ourselves, individually, whereas in Canada and much of the rest of the world, it is o.k. to be forthright about engineering society to betterment, with ideas implemented via the Law about human behavior.  Many Americans seem to have lost this insight, of the essential difference between the U.S. and every other country that has existed. It was created as a unique experiment along those lines. A flawed experiment, yes. But really you're going to obsess on the flaws, all of which are shared by every other nation/state that has ever existed? Shared by every one of them...)

At 6:00 p.m. we drove down to the ferry, right near the Grand Pacific Hotel.  The young kid attendant at the gatehouse checked my name on the list of reservations. After we parked in the numbered line on quay I walked up to the CBP trailer with our passports and showed them to the dude inside. He was friendly and made a joke about how my appearance had changed, because of the beard I'd let grow.

The CBP trailer sort of reminded me of the ranger station at Burning Man.