dbd33

You seem to be contrasting an episode of the OC with one of Coronation Street rather than describing anything recognizably Canadian.

Last night I was in the pub with some Canadians, they seem always to be in the pub, occasionally stepping out for a joint or some fries or Chinese food, except in hunting season when they go and blast bambi (as well as neighbouring horses and innocent dog walkers). One described how the Children's Aid had just locked his daughter up in a secured halfway house, he hoped she lose some weight there, kids today all being all fat because they get no exercise and drink too much. The major topic of conversation was the failure of a competing pub, people think it went bust because a black guy bought a share, that brought in some new, mainly Jamaican, customers but drove away the, mainly white, regulars. I mention this last topic to show that day to day life here is not so wildly different from that in the UK.

I don't think we, as a family, do anything in the way of exercise here that we couldn't do in the UK. It's difficult to ski in England admittedly but I have a colleague here who's a keen skier, in the winter she goes to Austria because it's cheaper than going to the Canadian west or to Quebec and, depending on the exchange rate, can be cheaper even than Utah. I haven't checked but I'd guess White Hart Lane is closer to skiing than we are here.

The UK has swimming pools, horses, sailing boats, the facilities we use here. It may be that we couldn't afford to do the same things in England that we do here and it might be that, in the UK, we wouldn't realize that we could do them, but those are different arguments. It's not the case that these things are unavailable in the UK and, in many cases they're nearer; we drive fifty miles each way through dense traffic to get to the barn.

Your example of skiing as something ordinary people in Canada can do grates with me because at the time when Canada had Olympic caliber skiiers, Podborski, Read and so on, I lived with a Swiss woman. She ranted and raved constantly about the rich kids from Canada having an unfair advantage over the good Swiss kids who learned to ski from their farms to their school. iirc Podborski grew up in suburban Toronto, skiing to him would have been an everyday activity in the same way it is for kids from Hampstead.

oceanMDX

The word "pub" isn't even part of the Canadian vernacular. Fact is, the word "pub" sounds very UK to any native born Canadian.

Austria is cheaper than Blue Mountain, the NY resorts or Mont Tremblant for a resident of Ontario? Yeah, I'll bet.

dbd33

Ocean, I was drinking with a fellow from Listowel and one from Gander, they use the expression "pub" but they may have got it from me. Substitute "bar", "legion" or "tavern" if you prefer; that place where Canadians guzzle jugs of X, Blue and 50. I'm surprised you don't think such places are central to Canadian life; are you Canadian by background, where were your parents born?

Blue Mountain is hardly a mountain and it's not her first time on the slopes. My colleague has a condo at Tremblant but it's a better deal financially to rent it out and go to Austria than to use it. She's never mentioned NY or Vermont, I'll ask about that when she comes in.

Atlantic Xpat

I can confirm that there are 'pub's' as well as bars in Newfoundland. So the chap from Gander probably wasnt confused at all. The chap from mexico on the other hand...........

dbd33

Isn't the one from Mexico the lesbian?

Rich_007

This isn't a popularity contest there's no prize for niceness in a BE "let's-all-have-a-nice-cup-of-tea" way.

Rich.

Rich_007

It may so, but I'm talking of a normal person being able to afford used gear (very accessible in rela terms) and travel 40km up to the XC ski area. Total cost plus a chopped meat sandwich and flask of hot coffee/chocolate is very accessible even to the working poor. You can even wear cheap lycra gear, no need for expensive downhill clobber. No need for lift passes, turbo trucks, bling bling and $400 ski boots there. It's everyday stuff, is what I'm saying. Of course the rich kids hit the resports and do their pro/semi pro thing. The industry is bigger in Canada than most of Europe combined I'd imagine ? [just a guess]

No need to grate, old bean.

Rich.

dbd33

Ah, cross-country skiing, yes, that's accessible.

oceanMDX

My family (on both sides) goes back at least 200 years in the Region of Waterloo. There is even a road in Wellesley township named after my family.

With respect to the place "boozing" has in Canadian culture as a whole, this has changed markedly over the past 35 years. Canadians - as a whole - have cut back severely on the habit of imbibing alcoholic beverages over that time. I can easily recall 35-40 years ago when the ditches of both sides of any highway in southern Ontario had plenty of empty beer bottles in them. Then the culture/laws changed; programs promoting an end to "drinking and driving" where largely successful. Over time, "social drinking" in Canada also became far less popular.

The only people that I have ever heard complain about the lack of pubs in Canada are a few expat Brits on this web site - Canadians aren't troubled by that. If you go to a "pub", I would imagine that the Canadians you meet there are onto boozing more than average. At any rate, drinking at bars, taverns or at a legion, is not central to lives of the majority of Canadians. A small minority perhaps, but not the majority by a long shot.


I agree that Blue Mountain is hardly a mountain - it's just a big hill, but there are far worse places to go skiing. A resident of Toronto can be there in 2 hours, ski all day and then drive home. It's so close to Toronto that you can ski there without paying for a room. That has to be a pretty cheap day of skiing.

oceanMDX

I'm not from Mexico, I just reside here in the winter. I also lived in Nfld for a year, and "pub" is a British word that Canadians are familiar with. In English Canadian vernacular the name for a drinking establish is: "hotel" or "bar" - not "pub".

Sure there are pubs in Canada, but they are connected with ethnic Brits, and are not Canadian in origin. A "pub" is about as Canadian as a Vietnamese restaurant - but we have those too.

dbd33

Certainly there has been something of a move away from alcohol toward illegal or semi-legal drugs but I don't think we need fear for the future of the Canadian sports bar or the LCBO. Bob and Doug Mackenzie continue to represent the Canadian archetype.

dbd33

Ahem. If a Canadian invites one to a hotel the drinking is incidental.

dbd33

Just a minute, Waterloo, Mexico, skewed view of Canadian society, are you a Mennonite?

oceanMDX

Do you have any idea just how may beer/alcoholic beverage plants have shut down in Ontario over the last 30 years? I don't think so.

Bob and Doug Mackenzie continue to represent the Canadian archetype about as well as the Beverley Hillbillies continue to represent the "American" archetype.

Rich_007

Seems to be 'bar' or 'pub' hereabouts. Nobody seems to spend an inordinate amount of time there though, home-based imbibing of alcoholic brews is preferred, IMHO. Excesses seem to be handled privately or at specific points such as Christmas works parties. And only where the hard core laggards are remaining in situ.

Rich.