Good evening: As I've said to History students over the years 'consider the source'.... opinions expressed by anonymous posters on internet forums are well down the reliability/validity scales...guess that means my opinion is just that, an opinion not fact..hmmm ..conundrum?? Anyway..always interesting to see how immigrants view Canadian culture...I've made a multitude of observations about the UK much to the delight of my English OH.

Canucklehead.

whats that then that we are all sooooo lovely

Don't quite get the comparison there mate. From poor service to "happy-slappers" and scallies?

The thing with the cell phone companies is not necessarily to do with the size of the country or the population, it's more to do with lack of competition.
I mean, c'mon - 3 year contracts? Paying the cell company for phones that are out of the Ark? Paying for incoming calls? For a country that prides itself on its landline technology and the fact that local calls are free, they are still well behind the times with mobile telephony. The industry needs a European company to come in start offering a similar service to what we had in the UK - decent phone for free on a 12 month contract, free calls within the network, no charge for incoming, etc.

lizwil - funny you should mention about the banks and ATM charges. It winds me up no end that you pay twice for getting your own money for using another bank's machine. Like they don't make enough money!! I remember when Barclay's (re-)introduced this back into the UK four or five years ago which led to other banks following suit. There was a huge public outcry and they eventually backed down. I was watching a news article over here a few months back that was referring to Canadians being charged at ATMs and it mentioned the British debacle. It turned out that the guy who tried to reintroduce it in Britain via Barclays was a new boss who'd been drafted in from...Canada!

In my limited experience Canadians vary just like any other nation. It seems like when you're out and about in society though - whether at the bank or round a friends' house for dinner - there are RULES that are very carefully followed for whatever reason. It's pleasant

On the cellphone issue, while I agree with Lee, competition would definitely change things, but the limits imposed by Canadian geography really are the defining factor. The cost of masting up such a huge area (and they've nowhere near covered 100% of the country, or even 99% of the population taken for granted in the UK) and the lack of users in most of that area means that investment is slow and premiums are charged. What company is going to splash out tens of billions like they did here for the 3G licenses when a lot of the masts they construct are going to cover sparse populations, and even the metro areas are full of people who took years to catch on to texting?

Despite RIM coming from Canada, I've found the average Canuck to be much more keen on carrying on a long conversation or downloading games or browsing the web at home, where it's not so bloody cold 6 months of the year. They do need to simplify their call packages though, I get brainfried every time I try and put a value-for-money contract together with Rogers.

Canucklehead - would be very interested to hear your views on the UK, my mrs is from TO and her opinions after two years in Manchester with me were, strong, let's say

The connection is that perhaps the british are so wimpy now that they wont stand up to these street-corner neardowells , whereas perhaps canadians are less wimpy and although they will suffer the ignominy of <gasp> paying for incoming cell calls, they wouldnt put up with that sort of behaviour...they would be enrolled in little league hockey and have the snot kicked out of them or something?

I do sometimes wonder what happened to the british collective psyche that all the "daily mail" reported (exaggerated?) antisocial behaviour, social problems and welfare scrounging have been allowed to sneak up on us...collective years of looking the other way or something? Its all very well to blame "political correctness" , but ultimately politicians are just a cloudy mirror reflecting the society they are drawn from.


Free local calls...you are having a laugh. My free local calls cost me $35 a month to Bell for the privilege, and the problem with your cell phone master plan is that it wouldnt make enough money to cover the infrastructure costs across the country. You arent in britain anymore, so the business plan is necessarily different. You might as well hope for $50 internal flights...it not economically viable...its only viable in britain cos of the increased volume.

no kidding, you know i actually got told off the other night for being too loud, this was in a pub, watching a hockey match!!!

We were hoping to go to New York for a short break in February. For this short break it was $1,500 in airfares, a complete joke! No way were we paying that when we could go to London for a similar price but it was going to only be a few days so it was pointless going to Europe. In all my time here I have been to more of Europe than Canada/US.

Phones, I was looking at the Virgin pre-paid cards. Picked up a $100 card and saw that the expiry date was 1 year, I though not bad it must have changed since I last looked then I picked up a $15 card and it expires in 45 days! For someone who doesn't use the phone much I pay a lot on the couples plan when in England I would just have pay as you go and hardly pay anything.

Normally complaining in restaurants works, you do get somewhere, if I ask for something I expect to get, once we got 50% off in Rainforest Cafe!!!! when the steak was well done and not medium like I ordered - a small thing maybe but when you are paying all that money you expect to get what you pay for. I sound difficult but it all depends on the circumstances, the other day I ordered a frappucino style drink in a privately owned organic supermarket, they asked me how it tasted and I wasn't too keen on it, they said about making it again I said it was ok, they were stressed so I didn't bother for that.

The guys on the rink are smashing the last few remaining teeth out of one another and the people watching are meant to sip martinis and golf-clap?
Find a new pub or follow the RULES dammit!

Hmm...tenuous to say the least.

So what you're saying is that even though Canadians will put up with being shat on from a great height by big business, they won't tolerate insolent youths, whereas the British, now having found their voice in the field of consumer rights, are afraid to do battle with roaming gangs of hooded adolescents?

I'm afraid I still don't see what this has to do with anything "wimpish" apart from the possible argument that if Britons put as much effort into thrashing groups of deserving scallies as they do into complaining to big businesses who try and rip them off, then...

No sorry, you've lost me.

Maybe its the misconception that things are so good in Canada that we have no right to complain. watch parents at a peewee hockey game then you will see the inner savage of a Canadian.

A-ha! Misdirected anger is the point. I understand now. I think.

My missus knows all about that.

Someone at work gives her jip and I get smacked in the face for it. That kind of thing, yes?

Good morning: My observations start with rubbish, dog crap, projectile vomiting and go down hill from there 12 years in the southeast has unfortunately jaundiced my opinions...time for a move!

Canucklehead (also a native of TO then many years in Iaink's neck of the woods)

thought of an incident tonight which made me kinda sick of myself. I was taking the buse home from work, (I'm the only one in SK that does not driv). This drunk lady gets on the bus and start harrassing this other woman, and I do nothing.

did things get out of hand, or was the other lady not capable of looking after herself, i must admit i tend to jump in feet first and sometimes have got myself in to difficult situations, i still would unless i had the kids with me, bit naughty like that.

I should meet your misses we'd have alot to talk about.