It has been 7 months since I was last in Vancouver. It is quite hard to believe that I have been away from my beloved little city for so long. While it is true that I was not born there, nor did I really grow up there (well, I moved there when I was 15, so I guess I did a bit of growing up there) Vancouver is, for most intents and purposes, my home. The only other place that I would consider home is India...
It is amazing how much I miss that place. I miss the rain terribly. I miss the greenery, the mountains, I miss the good food, my good friends, the transit system... the sensible design, the politics of Canada, the TV... the list goes on. To the casual reader, the obvious question that has no doubt crossed the mind is, well if you miss it so much, why the heck are you not there? I don't know how to answer that except to offer sub par excuses... like, I need money to go there. Well, don't you work? Sure I do. Well then, why not just take a week off and go home? I don't know.
I've watched season 1 of Little Mosque on the Prairie and I am so glad that show was made. That is the sort of stuff I expect from the CBC... they make real good TV. Not your fancy million dollar give-away shows. Not you dancing with second rate celebrities or being belittled by some frumpy (usually English) bastard on a talent show of some sort. I watch the National every day I can. I watch the Rick Mercer Report when I can. The big thing for me is the sanity of it all. If you watch the National, you will see Peter Mansbridge do the news well. Now, its not like others cannot cover the news. I am an ardent fan of the BBC and am glad we get the BBC in Canada on regular cable. And I don't mean BBC America. I mean the real deal, BBC World Service. But, for me, the CBC newscasts cover Canada. The politics of Canada, the intricacies and lunacies of Canada and Canadians. I cannot find a parallel to Rex Murphy anywhere else on earth.... he's one of a kind. The same can be said to some degree for Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry.
The CBC also made TV shows like This is Wonderland about the legal crazyness in a Toronto court. And then there are awesome shows like 22 minutes, Corner Gas (not a CBC production), DaVinci's Inquest and so forth. The CBC ended up cancelling This is Wonderland for some reason, but I still think Canadians are quite lucky to have the CBC. And I miss it.
I miss hiking the mountains of British Columbia. I even miss seeing them everyday. Every day, they are there. Go outside and you see them. Take the skytrain and there they are... Of course if you're from DC and end up in the middle of winter in Vancouver and don't realise you are surrounded by mountains... because you can't see them, you can be forgiven.
I miss Canadian politics. I live in the heart of the political establishment of the United States and it is something for sure... but I am fairly disappointed with the way politcs work here. It seems that there is so much horse trading and lobbying that occurs here that I am surprised the good people of the United States are not taken aback or angered by the way things take place here. I am sure Ottawa is not much better, but at least we don't hear as much of it. And when things do crop up, swift action seems to be taken. Take the case of the deputy commisioner of the RCMP. She lied to Parliament. And they held her in contempt of Parliament. I cannot see her being employed by the RCMP for too much longer. And it is a very symbolic slap in the face to her. There's still the question of what the commisioner of the RCMP might have done relating to the income trust scandal. I am sure at the end of the day, justice will be done. We also have an awesome Auditor General named Shiela Fraser. She's kicked a lot of butts in Ottawa so far. I think someone in the public once sent her a bunch of roses for all the good work she did.
Then there are the idiot politicians in Canada who end up saying stupid racist things and ending up apologising. These people are usually are rewarded with defeats in the next election should they choose to stick around. I have a lot of faith in the inherant stability and goodness of Canadian parliamentary democracy.
I also found out today about Zenn: Zero emissions, no noise. They are an electric car manufacturer from Ontario/Quebec. I love cars. I love big fast cars. If I could, I would own every supercar ever built. I'd even get a nice old gullwing (the mercedes one). But, I have to be practical. Ever since the Smart fortwo came to Canada, I thought it was one of the smartest vehicle technologies and concepts of late. Small, urbans car with small carbon footprints and ones easier to park/drive. Well, Zenns are little electric cars running on batteries. I think currently they make cars that top out at about 25 miles/hr or so. They're talking about cityZenn, which uses fancy electrical technology called EEStor which recharges the batteries quickly (I hear it can be done in 5 minutes) and can run like normal cars (topping out at 125 km/hr).
Anyway, so much for all that. I miss home and one of these days when I sort out my problems, I will be heading home. And one day, god willing, in the not too distant future, I will go home, this time for good.
It is amazing how much I miss that place. I miss the rain terribly. I miss the greenery, the mountains, I miss the good food, my good friends, the transit system... the sensible design, the politics of Canada, the TV... the list goes on. To the casual reader, the obvious question that has no doubt crossed the mind is, well if you miss it so much, why the heck are you not there? I don't know how to answer that except to offer sub par excuses... like, I need money to go there. Well, don't you work? Sure I do. Well then, why not just take a week off and go home? I don't know.
I've watched season 1 of Little Mosque on the Prairie and I am so glad that show was made. That is the sort of stuff I expect from the CBC... they make real good TV. Not your fancy million dollar give-away shows. Not you dancing with second rate celebrities or being belittled by some frumpy (usually English) bastard on a talent show of some sort. I watch the National every day I can. I watch the Rick Mercer Report when I can. The big thing for me is the sanity of it all. If you watch the National, you will see Peter Mansbridge do the news well. Now, its not like others cannot cover the news. I am an ardent fan of the BBC and am glad we get the BBC in Canada on regular cable. And I don't mean BBC America. I mean the real deal, BBC World Service. But, for me, the CBC newscasts cover Canada. The politics of Canada, the intricacies and lunacies of Canada and Canadians. I cannot find a parallel to Rex Murphy anywhere else on earth.... he's one of a kind. The same can be said to some degree for Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry.
The CBC also made TV shows like This is Wonderland about the legal crazyness in a Toronto court. And then there are awesome shows like 22 minutes, Corner Gas (not a CBC production), DaVinci's Inquest and so forth. The CBC ended up cancelling This is Wonderland for some reason, but I still think Canadians are quite lucky to have the CBC. And I miss it.
I miss hiking the mountains of British Columbia. I even miss seeing them everyday. Every day, they are there. Go outside and you see them. Take the skytrain and there they are... Of course if you're from DC and end up in the middle of winter in Vancouver and don't realise you are surrounded by mountains... because you can't see them, you can be forgiven.
I miss Canadian politics. I live in the heart of the political establishment of the United States and it is something for sure... but I am fairly disappointed with the way politcs work here. It seems that there is so much horse trading and lobbying that occurs here that I am surprised the good people of the United States are not taken aback or angered by the way things take place here. I am sure Ottawa is not much better, but at least we don't hear as much of it. And when things do crop up, swift action seems to be taken. Take the case of the deputy commisioner of the RCMP. She lied to Parliament. And they held her in contempt of Parliament. I cannot see her being employed by the RCMP for too much longer. And it is a very symbolic slap in the face to her. There's still the question of what the commisioner of the RCMP might have done relating to the income trust scandal. I am sure at the end of the day, justice will be done. We also have an awesome Auditor General named Shiela Fraser. She's kicked a lot of butts in Ottawa so far. I think someone in the public once sent her a bunch of roses for all the good work she did.
Then there are the idiot politicians in Canada who end up saying stupid racist things and ending up apologising. These people are usually are rewarded with defeats in the next election should they choose to stick around. I have a lot of faith in the inherant stability and goodness of Canadian parliamentary democracy.
I also found out today about Zenn: Zero emissions, no noise. They are an electric car manufacturer from Ontario/Quebec. I love cars. I love big fast cars. If I could, I would own every supercar ever built. I'd even get a nice old gullwing (the mercedes one). But, I have to be practical. Ever since the Smart fortwo came to Canada, I thought it was one of the smartest vehicle technologies and concepts of late. Small, urbans car with small carbon footprints and ones easier to park/drive. Well, Zenns are little electric cars running on batteries. I think currently they make cars that top out at about 25 miles/hr or so. They're talking about cityZenn, which uses fancy electrical technology called EEStor which recharges the batteries quickly (I hear it can be done in 5 minutes) and can run like normal cars (topping out at 125 km/hr).
Anyway, so much for all that. I miss home and one of these days when I sort out my problems, I will be heading home. And one day, god willing, in the not too distant future, I will go home, this time for good.
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