I like to do some commentary about the place when I go on these music-related junkets. In this case, I am back in British Columbia, Vancouver to be exact, after a long hiatus: the last time I was here was in 2005. After twenty-five years in Mexico, Canada feels a bit like a foreign country, but one I used to know very well. So what do I love about Canada?
Ok, the climate is not as nice as Mexico, but the air is fresh and clean and everything, I mean everything, is green. This is a gardener's paradise. Here is where I am staying, taken from the front. There is a house back there somewhere:
Canadian corner stores like 7/11 have every form of junk food known to man--and I mean the good stuff like Hawkins Cheezies, the finest cheese-flavoured corn snack food. Not to mention Aero bars, especially the peppermint ones. A plethora of Reese's confections, O Henry bars, Creamsicles. I could go on! This was the great failing of Austria in my opinion: no places to buy junk food. Of course, Austrians tend to ride bikes a lot and look to be in shape so these things may be related.
I have had AirBnb rentals in four different countries, Austria, Spain, Germany and Quebec but this is the best appointed of them all. The host stocked the kitchen with everything: bread and jam, milk, mayonnaise, mustard, balsamic vinegar, four kinds of tea, several blends of coffee for the Nespresso machine plus ground coffee for the coffee maker. Lots of towels, shampoo, bath gel, blankets and more blankets, extra garbage bags. In a word, absolutely everything! She even lent me a computer chair to save my back.
Canadians are very polite and there are some really fine restaurants. Chinese food! Seafood! It is a fine and prosperous developed country.
But there are some oddities if you have been away a while. Walking down the street in a quiet residential neighborhood you do not say hello to someone passing by. No. In Mexico you always would. You have to own a car here, no real alternative. Things are really expensive which I attribute to the invisible high rate of taxation built into every price.
I will do a post on the concerts after they are complete, but I just wanted to make a brief comment on where I am.
Yes, I found Austrian supermarkets lacking. But one could get cheap, large bags of very tasty pretzels (hard to get in Britain until very recently).
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to Canada since a child, when we had a family friend in Toronto, but I remember it in my imagination as being a quiet and charming country. Not unlike parts of England, while America feels such a radically foreign country whenever I've been.
Looking forward to reading about the concerts and hearing the piece.
Yes, it is a quiet and charming country (with the possible exception of Toronto, oddly, which has an American feel to it). BC has a strong English influence, particularly in Victoria where I will be on Friday.
ReplyDelete