Subj : Re: National Anthem
To   : Rob Mccart
From : Mike Powell
Date : Thu Jan 23 2025 10:24:00

-=> Rob Mccart wrote to MIKE POWELL <=-

 MP>When I was in Canada, I noticed that most of the Canadians I ran into had
  >no accent.  They were sometimes difficult to understand, though, because by
  >no accent I mean they also didn't accent any of their syllables.  If they
  >spoke fast, it was difficult to catch some words.

 RM> I was about to say you must have hit an area that speaks a little
 RM> differently but then I thought, one thing I notice about a lot of
 RM> American accents is that they draw out vowels so maybe you were hearing
 RM> our usual 'accent' and to us (like for most people) we feel WE Don't
 RM> have an accent..   B)

Quite possible.  :D

 MP>This would have been in Ontario, mostly north of Lakes Superior and Huron.

 RM> That covers a lot of area. I grew up in Southern Ontario never more
 RM> than a few miles from the Great Lakes. The last 39 years I've been on
 RM> the shores of Georgian Bay, which is on Lake Huron. We are considered
 RM> Central Ontario although treated like Northern Ontario by most
 RM> government plans that change with where you live since anyone much more
 RM> than 150 miles North of Toronto have the same basic living problems, a
 RM> long distance between places and much colder temperatures in Winter, so
 RM> we tend to get small rebates on energy used to heat the house and such.

I had a discussion with someone who lives Jack Fish, ON.  He owned the
hotel I stayed at.  He told me he got a letter from the government telling
him he'd have to move to one of the big cities if he wanted to continue to
receive his government healthcare.

As his plan was to retire to Florida, he was not too concerned.  ;)  Still,
as there is what seemed to be a decent sized town about 25km to the W of
there, I was pretty surprised to hear about the letter.  Terrace Bay looked
big enough to have health facilities.  Otherwise, you were pretty far away
from Thunder Bay or Sault Ste Marie up there.

That was my first impression of how the government treats folks who live
farther north different than those who live near Toronto.

I thought those areas of Lake Superior and Lake Huron were beautiful.

 MP>The few people I ran into that had accents either sounded like a Red Green
  >character, sounded slighly British, or sounded slightly French.  That was
  >very few people.

 RM> Yes, a lot of Northern areas are like that, and probably similar things
 RM> in Alberta, which is sort of the 'Texas' of Canada.. (Not the French
 RM> part)

LOL, I have heard that about Alberta before.

 RM> This year for the first time in many years I am staying through the
 RM> winter in my cabin on the bay. For many years because they needed my
 RM> help in winter I stayed with my parents in Parry Sound over the winter
 RM> but they have both passed now and I had to decide what to do. I spent
 RM> winters here for 13 years quite a while back so I had a rough idea of
 RM> what to expect but it's a bit more of a challenge now that I'm older.

Sorry for your loss.

 RM> This place has poor insulation and, for now, I can't use anything but
 RM> the inadequate electric heat (60 AMP service) after the insurance
 RM> company banned my use of the old wood stove I put in 40 years ago. Last
 RM> night the temperature dropped down to at least -25c (-13f) and pails of
 RM> water I had on the floor in the kitchen froze quite a bit. It was down
 RM> near 40f when I woke up. I turn off the bigger heater and use just a
 RM> single 2000 watt baseboard heater at night. It's actually left set to
 RM> about 68f but it can't manage on its own when it drops much below
 RM> freezing. On several cold nights I've woken up to it being near 40f in
 RM> here, and most mornings it starts off closer to 50f than 60f.

Wow, I actually prefer it a little cool so the air doesn't dry out so much,
but 40F would require a lot of blankets!  Any way to improve the insulation
situation?

 RM> There's no practical way to keep running water going so I have a 'box'
 RM> about 200 feet out on the ice covering a hole I break through each day
 RM> to get pails of water and I have an out house (privy?) for a toilet so
 RM> I am 'roughing' it a little bit here..

That is what most in this day and age would consider "roughing it" but
would not have been so uncommon several years ago.

 RM> BTW, this is not a money thing. I could easily afford to rent a house
 RM> or apartment for winter or even year round but I would go stir crazy I
 RM> think living in town all the time. Here, I spend so much time and
 RM> energy just staying alive that I don't have much time to get bored..
 RM> B)

I can understand wanting to stay out of the city if you are not used to it.
I can see why you'd not be bored, too.  ;)

 RM> Oh, and I sort of read with amusement what some people there say when
 RM> you get a little snow. 3 or 4 times this year withing a day or two I
 RM> have gotten 20 to 30 inches of snow at a time, which can make trudging
 RM> out to get water even more fun.. 6 to 8 inches of snow is nothing..  B)

Yeah, going through that I bet the stories of a few inches seem trivial.
Here, that much snow isn't so bad but it is often accompanied by freezing
rain which is what really gives us trouble.

Mike

.... Tell me, is something eluding you, Sunshine?
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