Toronto, Ontario, Canada - The End - for real this time

Ok, after procrastinating on finishing the last blogs, I am now in denial that our travels really are over and will follow through on my promise to write this last entry (the last, last) from Canada, “our true north strong and free”.

We literally squeezed into Toronto in between snow storms, as they had had a dumping two days before our arrival and then another storm of freezing rain and relentless, continuous days of snowfall to follow. It’s great though! There really is nothing quite as beautiful as waking up in the morning and seeing every single thing under a perfect blanket of white. Yes, it’s winter, and yes, we did miss it. However, Scott did not expect to have to shovel a driveway 20 times within a week, and I didn’t expect to have to re-learn to drive in deep snow conditions on the other side of the road the day after arrival. No time like the present though

This is apparently the most snow Toronto has gotten in just under a decade when the then mayor called in the ARMY (!) to dig us out. We were the laughing stock of the country. At least this time the high-maintenance Torontonians are toughing it out and the city workers are working around the clock to transport the snow to fields around the city (there is too much snow and there is no longer a place for the plows to pile it onto).

Anyway, a few things that make Canada so… well, Canadian that we once again get a kick out of:

- The weather being the top story of the evening news discussing the performance of the snow plows for about 15 minutes, how much more snow is to come and how much cold we have to endure. Honestly we were laughing so hard a tear rolled out of my eye. In Australia it’s like “Sunny all week, back to you Bob!”

- I bumped into someone by accident at the shopping centre and they said sorry to me

- Tim Horton’s coffee and apple fritters

- The hot dog vendors on the street, specially the dude at the corner of Yonge and Dundas that sells the BEST regular and veggie dogs with a million toppings

- A nation completely obsessed with ice hockey even when the home team is performing pathetically the current season

- Caesars! For those that don’t know it’s a drink

Ahhhhhh! To all of you in Australia though, we miss you so much… and we miss Australia too. Both places are equally our home. Please keep in touch...