Partially discharged

Usually not the type of advice you give.

American football? baseball? There is assimilation and then there is taking it too far.

gubby07

@Trinkers,

Well that's bloody worrying. Is there criteria for special authorization?

If it takes that long, I'll have no choice but to fly on my British passport when I go in 6-8 weeks.

This may be a daft question, but how do they know if you're dual nationality? The birth place on British passports is just a city name isn't it? Or when they scan does it come up as Canada? Not trying to be mischievous but if for some reason I didn't get special authorization, I'd be royally screwed!

Thanks

dbd33

It was too horrible for me to contemplate someone being in a bar full of MUFC fans. I don't even watch the Yids in the pub as the geekery among expat football fans is unbearable. A visit to a Manchester United Café (a chain like McDonalds) was a depressing experience.

At least the Superbowl comes with good snacks and most people are only there for the adverts anyway so it's all quite light hearted.

JamesM

CityPlace is better than Liberty Village as it would be walkable to your office. Liberty Village to downtown is a nightmare during rush hour unless you want to run the gauntlet of biking.

Around the Esplanade there is some great new condo's too. Even Cabbage town is on the up and might be worth considering.

Football is now widely shown in Canada so bars like the Wheatsheef and Scotland Yard regularly screen games.

Your best way to meet people in Toronto is through hobbies. People don't really hang out with work people and you may meet some decent folk in bars but generally you will meet mainly fickle folks with nothing interesting to say but think they are experts on everything. The reason they are there in the first place is no one else wants to listen to them.

This is a good place to start:

https://www.torontossc.com/

You'll be able to get $500 to $1000 unsecured no problem. Whilst going beyond that is difficult with out putting some money down your credit rating will build quickly. I went from $500 to $5k in just under a year.

Definitely get your passport renewed. I think to get an ETA if you are a Canadian is not allowed. The last thing any human being needs is complications with CIC.

JamesM

The Barmy Beach Club is quite sociable actually and has a rugby team. Grab a car and start hanging out there.

For the winter you'll need a high quality North Face/ Canadian goose. Gloves and a Beany/Tuque. You may want to consider boots or gortex shoes for the snow days. I go to SportChek or SportingLife normally.

As DBD mentioned MEC also has good stuff (primarily MEC branded) and everything you need.

You lost me there mate. Then I realised you were talking about Americanised Football and Based Ball. Why did you not mention the most popular game Iced Hockey?

They've been trying to get me to join the Spurs club for 8 years (since I made the mistake of going to a game at Scallywags). An old chairman of the club was my co-ed football goalkeeper for several seasons.

One positive is they now watch all the games at the Yard as apparently it's owned/operated ultimately by a yid. These days though most of the games are on the box so one can relax at home and watch in the boxer shorts.

dbd33

I suppose that's Peter though he'd be ancient now. He used to own all the bars from Brandy's (now a plastic paddy chain bar) to the Keg, maybe still does. He'd come into the Yard now and then.

A colleague here goes to the games at the Yard. I dare not as he was part of the crowd there in the 80s and I fear the slide back into tequila slamming and fornicating in the library. My children tell me that's no longer appropriate behavior.

I didn't mention iced hockey as I think it's a bit of an ethnic thing. You're born to it or you're not.

Partially discharged

Wouldn't NFL/CFL football and baseball also be in the same boat.

Here in Ottawa kids 'american' football and baseball tend to attract the long standing canadians while footie/cricket/field hockey tend to attract those who 'aren't from here'.

I'm assuming you watched the Super Bowl just to drink. There can't be any other rationale reason.

dbd33

I haven't heard the CFL mentioned since about 1982. A visitor wanted to see gridiron football so we went to the Ex and watched the Argos. I got the start time wrong so the game was in progress and we wandered in without having to pay. It was more like an Edgware Town game than a Brentford one. I understand that it's popular in the west and that the teams have the same name. I don't think it's televised.

The NFL attracts a reasonable crowd because it's on Monday and nothing else is. It has some pizazz to the marketing. People in bars take a half hearted interest but it's never discussed in the office so I don't think anyone is keen enough to watch it at home. There are parties for the Superbowl, it's an event with new adverts and pop singers and the like, the game is expected to be a blow out and isn't really relevant.

Baseball had a phase of being popular. The Toronto team won, twice, and there were lots of people in the Yard both times (not like Italy vs. Brazil but quite crowded). People play it in bar leagues, I did that and have some Scotland Yard Holmers shirts somewhere as well as a selection of bats. It's mellow and sociable, village cricket in exile.

I suppose our perceptions differ because I'm really not exposed to many cradles and those I meet are in the computer business and are, er, not worldly. At a lunch last week I listened to a Russian trying to explain to some cradles who Jeremy Clarkson is and then the concept of a show about cars and then what an Aston Martin is and then who James Bond was. I couldn't hack it and moved to sit with the Chinese guys who, at least, can sustain a chat about chicken keeping. IME the exciting time in bars and offices is when the World Cup is on, everyone has a team in the World Cup and knows what's happening, even if they're shouting in Korean, they're engaged and alive. Iced hockey may be a fast game but the people who talk about are Canadians so the conversation isn't.

MarylandNed

Actually AMEX now provides car rental loss and damage protection for vehicles rented in Ireland, Israel and Jamaica. I believe the change is effective today (Sep 1st, 2017)! Australia, Italy and New Zealand remain on the exclusion list.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...rance/faq.html