Enjoy Canada Day!
Or else.
Carrying on the annual lettershometoyou Canada Day tradition, we now present – for the fourth time – 10 facts and opinions about my Home and Native Land.
1. I am in Canada right now! Not only in Canada, but in Ottawa, the nation’s capital.
2. I have never been anywhere near Ottawa on Canada Day.
3. The Queen of Canada is also in Ottawa today as part of a nine-day Royal Tour. As I make last-minute changes to this post, the Queen is standing in front of the Parliament Buildings as a band of Mounties in full-dress regalia plays O Canada. To an expat American on a trip back home, this would be like being in Washington, DC on July 4th listening to a stirring speech by a resurrected George Washington.
4. The Queen of Canada does not have a beard, despite appearances as shown on the only photo posted on this blog without attribution… in other words, stolen. So sue me. WordPress.com encourages you to copy stuff these days anyway!
5. Nobody has ever attempted to walk backwards from the Skidegate, Queen Charlotte Islands to Come By Chance, Newfoundland.
6. Sorry, as of four weeks ago, Queen Charlotte Islands is now officially known as Haida Gwaii. Prounounced Hide-a-gwei, it really means “cold and wet as fuck.”
7. Canada’s coastline is the longest in the world at 208,080 kilometers. About 5km of that is swimmable for seven days in summer.
8. Poutine, a rich, gooey mess and major contributor to the crisis in Canada’s healthcare system, was invented in Drummondville, Quebec. Or somewhere else, depending on who you’re talking to.
9. I will not be enjoying poutine as I used to do when living here. I’m also dragging around about 20 fewer pounds.
10. I must return to the CBC coverage of Canada Day. So no 10th fact or opinion this time.
The banner photograph shows the town of Britannia Beach, BC, Canada, where I grew up. It's home. But I don't live there anymore.
Love it!
Happy Canada Day! Love the little red-head’s forhead decoration….the Canadian version of an East Indian women’s red dot
PS…I have subscribed now so I can read all your posts
Say a big hello eh from us 
Happy Canada Day! Your post made me laugh. Cold and wet indeed! We were in Haida Gwaii 3 years ago and we hit the only 2 weeks in history when it was sunny and in the mid 20′s practically the whole time.
Ian, love the post. Especially the part about the Queen being to Canada what Washington is to the States. Had a real chuckle over that. Enjoy your time back there and make sure you tell us ALL.
First, Happy Canada Day! Maple leaves all around
I did more link-clicking than usual and had a couple of thoughts. That Poutine business must be better than it looks. The Wiki says it’s commonly served in high school cafeterias. I remember my high school cafeterias. Perhaps yours are better.
Now, as for the Come by Chance refinery complex… If they’d like to expand their holdings and do it on the cheap, I hear there’s a company working the Gulf of Mexico that’s run into a little problem and might be looking to liquidate some assets (and maybe some execs!)
Happy (belated) Canada Day! I get a kick out of your Canada Day posts and the associated celebration of weird links. For example, I had never seen your post on the Queen’s foundation spammers. I love how butthurt some people get over a photoshopped beard.
It’s a royal thing, I guess. Happy Canada Day once more (just to get another one in.)
Happy belated Canada day from me too. Very funny post – I should send it on to my sister-in-law who’s now living in Joburg.
Woo hoo! Haida Gwaii finally has the correct name. We celebrated that on Canada Day. Are you still in Canada? Or have you returned?
I am now back on EU soil somewhere south of Denmark, west of Poland, east of England and north of Switzerland.
Hi Ian…….made a boo boo! Please write again…computer crashed & I lost all emails…& more…I can’t find your email address anywhere…:(
The Queen doesn’t have a beard but she does have a flask in that purse of hers…lol
I dunno – you seen her up close??
When I visited some friends in Ottawa four years ago, they introduced me to poutine by driving up to a poutine truck in a parking lot somewhere and then we ate in the car with plastic forks. I surprisingly liked it. It’s such a solid meal that, hey, you don’t have to eat again for the next three days.
It’s a bit like what Dennis the Menace said about peanut butter – it sticks to your ribs.