In response to a message in which I mentioned I was thinking of moving to Saskatoon, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< if you want cold, Saskatoon is the place to be. Saskatchewan is one of the few provinces that I havent been to, however, Ive heard nice things about it.>> Hey, Mags -- I actually have been considering Saskatoon, partly because of the you-know-who connection, it's a big-enough town, it's described as "a progressive prairie town" in one of my guides, it's relatively inexpensive, one guide book said (without laughing, so I assume it may be true) that it's the sunniest province (right, when it's -40 in December or +90 in July, it's sunny), and it's so much fun to say: [In a bar back in my home state of RI: Stranger: Where you from? Me: Well, originally, here, but now I live in Saskatoon. Stranger: Where??!! Me: It's in one of those big provinces in the west of Canada -- Saskatchewan. Stranger: Get out of town. Me: Honestly, I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Stranger (standing up, ominously): I mean it -- get out of town.] And so on. In all seriousness, Mags -- well, you must know this -- people in the lower 48 can be astonishingly ignorant of the Great White North. One summer in the late '80's (again, in RI) a friend of mine from Calgary, a fellow grad student, didn't want to drive all the way back just for 3 months, and I got his car for the summer. After a week of explaining to almost everyone on the East Side of Providence that no, the car was not from Alabama or Alaska, I got a break -- or that is, someone else did: my close friend and assistant in the program I was running (she had to live in a dorm with international students and run constant errands) broke her ankle badly, and I had an excuse to give someone else the car. This friend is exotically beautiful, and when questioned about the car's origin, she just shook her head with a shy half-smile and murmured "no English"; this would have gotten me murdered. I should say that I am guilty of similar confusion in the e-world -- I just had to ask someone who write me a lovely note what the heck country "za" means in an e-address. <<What about British Columbia? It is progressively gay friendly as well as being beautiful and very warm. That said, Vancouver is expensive if a city is where you need to be. And all that said, that is IF you are serious about moving north to Canada . (I could be making some prettty big assumptions here :-) >> Assume away. All joking aside, I do dream of living somewhere else that I can actually afford; and I'm seriously unhappy with the current government here in the US (that being one motivation, you'd think I'd want to deeply study the government of Canada. Ha! As an American, I'm ahead of the game just knowing the geography, sort of; I'm pretty sure Canada's a democracy, but I'm extremely vague as to what if any ties it has to Great Britain; and the Prime Minister is Jean Chretien, which I find an amusing name). So I do think of Vancouver/Victoria, Calgary, Saskatoon, and the Atlantic Provinces. But first I have to handle the medical problems, and here (San Francisco, if anyone reading this has gotten confused; I have) is pretty much where I have to be to continue getting medical care, at least for now. But I can dream: (To music:) Saskatoon I'll be there soon Manitoba, I'll be right ovuh... big hugs, Mags (and everybody -- I always write too much, and then get lazy and send it to all the list), Walt
