Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

That was my first thought but it's closed on Mondays.

Kensington Market/Distillary... thoughts?

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

The Distillery tries a bit hard but is pleasant enough. Kensington Market could be combined with a wander along Spadina which offers a shopping experience not easily replicated.

Alternatively, you could take the Queen car to, say, Scarborough Road, and wander back. It's a block south down any street to the Boardwalk which, in March, will be cobweb clearing. There are lots of antiquey shops on Queen.

I think I'd go to the necropolis and the Riverdale zoo but the area's more about lovely houses than lovely shops.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Then again, it's a good aquarium and that's near Queen's Quay and that has shops and food and whatnot and is all flat.

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Dinner at the 360 restaurant at the CN Tower. Choose the fixed menu...entrance to the tower is included in the price making it a good deal. Go about 1 hr before it gets dark and see the city in daylight and darkness.

If you are near Queens Quay...give me a shout. If I'm around we could grab a quick coffee.

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Just got back from the UK today and used the Canadian Citizen/US Citizen an PR line for first time. Had to ask the other half how you worked the machines but so easy though.

I actually felt like I was coming back to home because after visiting London on our trip where it was crowded and people were so rude (including the people working in the London Underground) it was nice to get a friendly skytrain attendant when we asked a question about paying surcharge for airport.

The only thing I wasn't happy about was coming back to a city bi-law warning ticket on my car because apparently they needed cars moved for street cleaning on 28 feb and didn't put the signs up until the day before. Apparently it's still my problem as it's up to me to move the car or get someone else to do it. My argument is give everyone at least a weeks notice then. Thank god I didn't have to pay anything and it was just a warning.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Putting the signs up day before is harsh, here they usually give us 3 days and when they tow your car , instead of taking it to the pound like they used to, they just haul it around the corner to an adjacent street. . Next time you'll know to check the schedule on-line. I thought to myself, "How can Regina have something and Vancouver not?"
Street Sweeping | City of Vancouver Washington

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Machines? Tell more.

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Thats the annoying thing. I asked the women I was on the phone to if they put the schedules up in advanced and she said they didn't - so stupid because they must know well in advanced of a day when they need to clean the roads.

I don't have to worry about it until next year now anyway but I gave them that 'constructive feedback' for the city idiots not to use!

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They scan your PR card/CAN passport and your customs form.

When I scanned my PR card it had my full name come up and everything.

I didn't get a 'welcome home' though :(

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Wrong Vancouver...

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While you're in line or at some other point?
I remember someone else mentioning this, also for Vancouver and it's still a puzzle for me.

I don't know if it's 'new' or because it's Vancouver or what. But I arrived at Montreal with only visitor status 6 times in 2003-04 and it was one long line for everyone. Donald Sutherland was just in front of me in the line. :confused:

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Oops :o It's an alternative Vancouver.

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Fake Vancouver :lol:

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It's a 'cheaper to buy property' Vancouver lol

You can buy something in this downtown Vancouver!

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Well we were one of the first off the plane so we legged it down to passport control. No lines up on the Canadian/PR side but all other passports there was a small line up.

Basically there is about 20 of these scanning machines and they look like the things at airports that BA have to print off your boarding pass.

You scan passport/PR card and then you scan your customs form. If everything goes ok then you get a print out of your form and you give it to customs guys when you exit.

Funnily no one was interested in my passport, only my PR card lol

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Okay, ta. I've seen the check in machines before but not used them.

Does that print a luggage label as well as the boarding card? Or is it only if no luggage? The idea of labeling your own luggage and then having it sent to Australia or somewhere by mistake is a little disconcerting. :lol:

"legged it"....that's been a long time no hear :lol:

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

I think becki is talking about the scanners when (re-)entering Canada, not check-in machines (on departure), although they are somewhat similar.

For whatever reason, neither version has ever liked or accepted my passport/documents so I tend to ignore them & head to the human beans.

"Legged it" made me grin too :)

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

There are a number of airports around the world that have the check-in kiosks (including Pearson in Toronto). A few airlines have now moved to exclusively using the kiosks for check-in (with a staff member or two hovering around the kiosks to assist). The kiosks will print luggage labels as your boarding card, and you attach the labels yourself, and then carry your luggage to a luggage drop-off location, where airline staff place your luggage on the conveyor.

I actually don't mind having the luggage label printed, as it gives you a chance to confirm the destination of your luggage (the luggage label looks exactly like the label you would get from the airline desk) - I had a flight from point A to point D, through points B and C. My luggage tag only went as far as point C. After inquiry, I found out that I had to pick up my luggage at point C, and then recheck it (new tag) for the last leg of the trip. Had I used the desk, I may have assumed that it would go all the way through, and ended up at point D with no luggage. (Ironically, I arrived at point D with no luggage, but that was because it didn't make the plane between points B and C)

Biggest stress is putting the luggage tag on, since it stresses me out a bit to not 'screw it up' :)

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Self check in, no meals, extra for a bag...I wonder how long before we have to fly the plane ourselves. :lol:

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With increasing connectivity of the world to the Internet, the development of VR technology - may come a time where one never needs to actually 'go' anywhere to experience it (which would be kind of sad)

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I think the opposite. In spite of the technology, people will want to experience things in person (or face to face) even more. Fuel costs permitting.

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Just as he starts toward the taxi-way get all the other passengers on the junket to shout in unison "Take this plane to Cuba!" :rofl:

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There are about 20 of those machines at Pearson and I've always been in a line up for them tho it does move fairly quickly. Then there is a line up of grim faced CBSA people who grunt at you and point you in the right direction, eith out or to the people in booths for more questions. If you mark that you have food they ask you what you have then give you a "why are you bothering me" look when you say that it's chips, or Christmas pudding, or candy.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

or PG Tips lol

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My invention.

For the person who likes to dunk their biscuits but doesn't like crumbs at the bottom of their cup:

It's a sort of elongated tea-strainer and you dip your biscuit in and any crumbs or floppy bits are saved from drowning when you lift the strainer to drink your tea/coffee.

Just $39.99, two for $70. Paypal accepted. :lol:

http://i63.tinypic.com/2pynmsn.jpg

(perhaps this should go in the retirement planning thread :lol:)

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Eddie the Eagle returns to Calgary; 'Eddie the Eagle' soars again for young fans in Calgary | CTV News

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I used to fly four, or more, legs a week until WebEx was invented. That technology allowed people to experience me without my having to go anywhere.

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It's my brothers funeral on Friday and I won't be there.:cry_smile:

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By sad, I meant that there may come a time when people take 'virtual travel tours' - where they can 'walk around' say Angkor Wat, without having set foot in Cambodia - without understanding the local perspectives and challenges etc.

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That's an interesting mixed blessing, people may not fully experience the place but then they're not wearing it out either.

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So the other TWP at work as been in a strop all day today because the CIC want more evidence of her marriage before they grant her PR. This is for the husband that was on her original application, who she then took off as he decided he wanted a divorce, they didn't get divorced and he wants to try again so is back on the application. He lives in India still. She needs to supply photo's of the wedding which she hasn't got, hmmmm.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

Stinky might be available for wedding photos. ;)

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That's sad

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This one aspect of photography that I have never done and one of the few that can earn you a reasonable amount of money


Canada named 2nd best country in the world…again, report finds - National | Globalnews.ca

Oinky- you are wrong :lol:

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

I'm sorry Siouxie, sending you a lovely hug

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To quote the article, "Canada didn’t do so well in the “Heritage” category, scoring 2.5 overall and placing 41 in the rankings . . . As a country known for poutine, beaver tails and ketchup chips, Canada scored 0.9 in the “has great food” sub-category. They also only scored 0.2 for having “a rich history” and two points for having “many cultural attractions.”

When asked for comment on the overall ranking, the President for the Society to Help the Lobotomized, drooled, "It meets our communities' needs, that's for sure."

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That was just one category that they didn't excel in! They didn't do particularly well under the movers category-I would have thought that Pickford's would have won that one... I am actually amazed that cultural influence scores at number 11 considering our musical heroes here are the Biebs, Nickelback , Avril Lavigne and our own local heroes, Cod Gone Wild... I suppose playing lacrosse and clubbing seals also possibly dropped us down the rankings a little bit

Obviously I moved here "because of the kids" and therefore feel vindicated in view of their fifth ranking there, and number one in education… How the effing hell did they judge that one?????

The quality-of-life category is a little bit subjective to say the least which partly depends on for example whether you have a job, how much holiday you get per year , whether you have to pay for expensive medications out-of-pocket and presumably also whether you have spotted a moose in open country... It was probably that last one that swung it for the Canucks.

Nice to see that North Korea didn't come bottom of the corruption perceptions Index-it was beaten into place by Somalia and South Sudan. The United States came 41st last year in the World Press Freedom Index-apparently this year they are rumored to be down from those lofty heights to number 181-below Eritrea :unsure:

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or want one :lol:

52 weeks :rofl:
Oh yes:(...(taking away the fitness and money to enjoy the holiday time) Should be able to make up for that now but not in the way I originally hoped.
A raccoon was my best...although I think I saw a groundhog in the back yard. Thought it was a beaver at first.
Oh...and fireflies too. That was something.

Re: Random stuff - the anything else thread
 

When I was carp fishing here with a man from Bristol back 12 or so years ago we were night fishing and he said "Look, there's someone over there, with lights." He'd never seen them so I guess you don't have them in the UK.