Canada
for Brits - Page Three
Fleeing Britain
For Canada
by Klondike Pete
| Pastimes
In fact this is a good moment to introduce
to you the main Nova Scotian pastime of grass-cutting. These guys
have huge lawns, (acres) of grass, and spend days driving their sit-on
mowers around keeping it short. As the land is so fertile, and the weather
so sub-tropical, that as soon as it’s finished one end, it’s time to start
over again. A Canadian’s manhood is judged not by the length of his
willy, but the height of his grass.... |
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The rented house was
huge
but at the price who’s
moaning
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Another oddity are log piles. These
suddenly sprout up from nowhere, ready for winter. You never see
anyone assembling them, but there must be some secret midnight competition
going on, as each pile is stacked to perfection. It doesn’t matter
if the house is falling down, providing the grass is short and the log
piles neat, that’s all that matters.
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Canadian Log piles -
the eighth wonder of the world
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Wheels
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The first day out and around required us to
purchase a set of wheels, the hire car having to be returned. What hits
you first with the car dealerships is the sheer volume of brand new pickup
trucks forming a wall, like a fort, around the lots. This, I have
to say, is a very poor part of Nova Scotia with high unemployment, but
here are parked up loads and loads of “uts” (utility vehicles) and “caravans’
(7 seaters), plus a sprinkling of saloons, but no estate cars (station
wagons). The reason is high sales due to affordable finance. In many
cases nothing down 0.9% finance and around £ 25 to £ 40 a week
payments. |
As soon as we drove into the lot, the salesman
appeared, in jeans and as friendly as you could wish. No pushiness and
happily showed us around the pre-owned stock. Here’s another tickler -
the cars are not washed nor valeted until you’ve purchased them.
Any quirks are fixed, but again only after you’ve bought it! Work that
one out. We picked a GM Chevette Cavalier 1997 for £ 3,500. If you
do the same, go to a newsagent first and purchase the Canadian equivalent
of Glass Guide to compare prices, before buying.
| However when we came back to collect the
car, we didn’t recognise it, it being in showroom condition and fully serviced.
Before we could drive way, we had to take the sales documents to the local
Department of Transport and purchase a number plate. This is yours and
transferable from vehicle to vehicle for the rest of your motoring career,
unless you choose to surrender it. On this you place a “month” sticker
that indicates you’ve paid your £ 35 for two years motor tax - yes
you read right, £ 35! |
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The wheels
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The Canadian MOT certificate is an official
2" square patch attached to the windscreen (sorry windshield) that indicates
when the next testing is due. Car insurance is much the same cost as the
UK, but bring evidence of no-claims bonus with you, as it also counts here
when seeking cover.
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Your very own registration
plate
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Motoring
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So now we were mobile and off to tank up.
Compared with the USA, petrol (sorry - gas) is expensive, but to us Brits
at 35p litre(£1.60 an imp. gal) it’s cheap, boy is it cheap!
Buying an economic vehicle is also important, as distances between
everywhere are much longer. Never fall for the Canadian measurements of
time and distance. If it’s “Oh just a couple of miles down the highway,
won’t take you more than five minutes”, be prepared for a thirty mile trip
and half-hour ride..... |
For us to run from Bear River to Halifax City
and back, costs just £17 - that’s around trip of 450 km about 280
miles - not too bad for a 2000cc car. For our American readers, gas
in the UK is around US $5.50 a US gallon at the moment, so you can see
it from our perspective. Something missing here, are garage air gauges
that work with air lines. They don’t have them. Yes they have the air lines
themselves but you have to use those tyre gauges like pens, remember them
back in the late 50's?
Another mention here about roads in Nova
Scotia. In the whole of Canada, the second largest country in the world,
there are about half the amount of people that there are in the UK (which
is tiny by comparison) and so expenditure on far more roads is a great
deal less. This results is what would be unacceptable states of disrepair
in the UK. However, the Provincial Government do their level best
with what they have, patching up whenever fiscally able. In light
of this, and the fact that you might like to use the comprehensive network
of dirt roads, it would be worth the hardy adventurer considering a 4x4
jeep or off-roader as first choice of transport. The pick-up 4 seaters
are ideal for this, or a two seater if the kids don’t mind wobbling around
in the butt, with the pet Rottweiler and logs.
| If you ever wanted to locate a classic
American car, here would be a great place to look. Just bring a machete,
for it seems, Nova Scotians, when finished with a vehicle, drive it round
to the back of their lot and abandon it, leaving nature to do the rest.
There must be thousands of old cars and trucks lying in the bush waiting
to be rediscovered. A plot of land we recently bought has two 1950's International
pick-up trucks just waiting for someone to renovate. I passed one guy’s
house yesterday and it had 15 old pickups lined up like a showroom forecourt,
just rusting away. |
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Hidden treasures in the bush
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A final two items before leaving motoring.
The first is Canadian road signs. These are fine and absolutely no
problem, but it’s where they are positioned. For some unfathomable reason
these are stuck by the roadside a great distance from the actual place
they refer to. Mainly for turnings, it will tell you miles away that it’s
ahead, but when arrive, unlike the UK, there isn’t actually a sign at the
point where you should turn. Also on major highways, you will see
the normal sign, say for junction no. 24, telling you what towns are at
the next pull-off, but before you reach it, another sign will tell you
about junction no. 25 and the towns at that point, leading to great confusion
for the visitor, as you’re never sure whether you’ve missed your turn-off
or which junction the next one actually is. Closing on a sweeter
note, the pedestrian is King! No matter whether you are on a small
country side road or in the middle of Halifax City, the traffic will stop
to let pedestrians cross. It’s an unnerving experience but the city
dwellers have perfected the art of simply walking straight out into the
road, looking neither right nor left, and the vehicles just stop a respectable
distance away, like the parting of the Red Sea! Could you imagine that
in central London where drivers accrue points for knocking down pensioners?
Something to watch out for when driving through the City, though.
This reflects the Nova Scotians great regard and care for each other.
Next Issue - Down to Basics
First, as Brits, you will find yourself
being drawn in to conversations that appear to be going nowhere.
This may be in a supermarket, bank, restaurant, on the phone or in the
street. In fact what is happening is that your new found friends
are listening to your accent, they love it. Which is a delightful exchange
of humanism. Wherever we have been in Nova Scotia, we have always
been made most welcome, and the people extremely generous with their hospitality.
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