I went shopping today.
Sigh....
Remember my expose on the Invisible Car cabal going on here in Canada? Well today, I saw (or rather didn't see) an invisible SEMI! Yep, a whole semi tractor trailer. How do I know it was a semi? Well, I was in the right lane, staring at the vast emptiness between the car next to me in the left lane and the car behind him about 40 yards back. At first, I thought it was a stretch limo (invisible, of course), until a real, visible semi trailer pulled into the left turn lane. And then I realized, based on the side by side comparison, it had to be a semi - they were almost the same length - I think the invisible one was longer (a piggy-back with a 2nd towed-trailer?). I can't believe they let those things on the road! They take up SO MUCH SPACE that people have to stop 40-50 yards back from the car in front of them. I'm glad it was in the left lane, too, b/c I never would have seen it and pulled right up to the car waiting in front of me at the light, leaving the requisite space of a few feet between us. Again, it seems Canadians have super-powers I haven't picked up on yet. Funny, though, how an invisible car/limo/bus/semi never seems to be in front of me at a stop light...
Speaking of semis, they don't like driving in the right lane around here. They drive in the left lane with no regard for the concept of a slow/truck lane. Then again, NO Canadians have a regard or visible knowledge of a right/slow lane. There is no left-lane-as-passing-lane concept here at all; for cars, buses, trucks, Albertans, no one. BOTH lanes are the slow lane. BOTH lanes are the "well, why would you even want to pass me anyway?" lane. I, apparently, am the only one in the entirety of The Okanagan, who wants to get where I am going in an efficient and timely manner - the only one interested in going the speed limit - the only one interested in a semblance of courtesy shown by my fellow drivers by getting the hell over into the right lane if you're going to drive 20kph in an 80kph zone.
While at the store, I did see some odd things:
Labatts Blue "de-alcoholized" beer. Yep - that's what it says on the label: de-alcoholized beer. Even Spell-Check doesn't even like that term. 
My older American friends probably remember when Little Debbie Snack Cakes were $.79 cents a box. I recall being upset when they went up to $.99 cents a box. Now, they're at least $1.29 a box (outrageous for 6 flavourless bunny shaped tea cakes) - in the States. Here in Canada, Little Debbie Snack Cakes, run CDN $2.35! The generic/alternate brand versions (like Mr Big cakes) fare no better, costing the same amount. Forget Hostess - you're looking at triple that for Zingers the size of a Smurf's big toe.So send Nutty Bars - please!
On some other notes...
There is no Saturday home mail delivery. You can visit a Canada Post office on a Saturday, and if you have parcels being delivered, you will have them brought to your house - but letters, bills, cards, and junk mail will not be in your mailbox on a Saturday in Canada. The country seems to be getting along just fine with this arrangement - so come on, America: let Saturdays go, and save your USPS.
Contrary to popular belief, not everything is free with Canadian Health Care. You still have to pay $80 for an ambulance to take you to a hospital. Hospital to hospital transfers are covered/free - but only those. If you call for an ambulance (or have one called for you) and you refuse service, you will still be charged a $50 call fee. I just hope Canadians at least get out of the way for a screaming ambulance coming up fast behind them in the left lane (but I sadly doubt it - no, I haven't seen any ambulances on the road here, yet).The city of Kelowna unveiled a tribute to the firefighters of 9/11 here yesterday. It's a statue of a fireman saving a small child. It's just that there is no record of any firefighter saving a single child on 9/11. Pretty brilliant if you ask me.
Oh, Canada, sometimes I just don't get you....
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