Canada Without Bears

[smokingboot]

Badger's back looking tanned and happy. He didn't get to see bears. Somehow he seems to have been living close to a Mennonite community. I am confused about this as I don't think the family member he visited is part of any such group, so does she live in a suburb nearby or what? I had no real chance to find out as everyone was talking together and a whole bunch of conversations were happening at the same time.

He mentioned Lake Erie as well as a little graveyard he visited full of Scottish surnames, but his fascination was with that almost lost world, electricity-free, horses ploughing the fields and buggies riding by. He mentioned the separation of alcohol shops, how some would sell spirits and others wine or beer (Mennonite thing or Canadian thing?), how sometimes produce would be left outside in crates, and you just rock up and take what you need leaving something appropriate in the honesty box. He mentioned how expensive it was though I don't know if he meant the alcohol or everything. He spoke of a nuclear power station near either the community or Lake Erie. What an interesting combination of worlds! Will he go back? He grinned at the suggestion. It's clear he loved it all.

I am so used to considering Canada as a cold place of beautiful wilderness, Anne of Green Gables, and the CN Tower. Just goes to show that I've got a lot to learn, and you know, one day...

But when it happens, I must remember there's more to Canada than bears.

Comments

[mallorys_camera]

I'm a little bit familiar with the American side of Lake Erie since one of Ben's brothers lives there, in a little town called (wait for it!) Edinburg. 😀 It's a very pretty pastoral place, and yes, lots of Mennonites and Amish. The spirits and beer thing must be a Canadian thing—here in the States, those laws are regulated on a state-by-state basis: In California, for example, you can buy gin and beer in a supermarket; in New York, you can only buy beer.

You & R would quite like Montreal & Toronto.

[flemmings]

Canadian thing: private company outlets can sell wine or beer (and now, some convenience stores can sell beer and cider) but hard liquor is a provincial gov't monopoly.

Some pretty large cities live cheek by jowl with the Mennonites.

[flemmings]

Oh and yes, gov't markups do make spirits expensive. Otherwise the pound/ dollar exchange should be heavily in his favour.

[smokingboot]

Interesting, thanks! The cities/Mennonite closeness especially intrigued me. I envisioned the Mennonite communities as almost suburbs of the cities. Badger says it isn't like that and he spoke of great farmsteads and barns at some distance from each other. but I don't have a clear picture of this in my head and wonder if I have quite understood it.

[smokingboot]

Intriguing! I guess my expectation of Amish and Mennonites is based on nothing more than the supposition that they would avoid 21st century settlements at all costs. I don't know much about Canadian cities but yes, Montreal and Toronto do look appealing.

[flemmings]

They probably are a distance from the city proper. It's just that ten or fifteen miles from a place in NAmerican terms means 'round the corner'. You can still be in the same municipality.