Ontario, Canada

Today I am worried that Ontario is not a well known place. In fact I'm worried that British people in general don't know much about Canada. I always get the same answers when I ask what people know about the country. Niagara Falls is a definite, Calgary sometimes [the Stampede?], Winnipeg frequently - but the name of a province or territories?

Canada is very big [and that is not an understatement. For example, from Vancouver (British Columbia) on the west coast to Saint John's (Newfoundland and Labrador) on the extreme east cost, it's 3110.5 miles; whilst the distance from London UK to Saint John's is only 2322  miles. That's why you'd get an odd look if you asked someone from Ontario [east coast] if they might know your second cousin who lives in Vancouver. Would you expect someone from London to know your second cousin from Newcastle and just how far is that? 283 miles

Then there is the thing about Canada and snow. Not all of Canada is covered in snow all of the time. The town of Niagara-on-the-Lake is actually further south than Cannes. We expect the South of France to be hot so why not Canada? I've just got these two temperature maps from the internet and you can see that the temperatures were slightly higher in Canada at lunchtime today.

In winter, it is the other way round. I was never good at Geography at school so I can't tell you why. Something to do with land mass heating and cooling maybe? Having said that I was never good at Geography [which is true], the only thing that I do remember being taught was the names of the Great Lakes. How odd I should fall in love with Canada so many years later. Might even look out my old school report and see what was said about my geog skills - that they werre non-existant probably!

So - lecture over, school's out and I'm looking forward to next Wednesday when I will be on a flight bound for? How did you guess? Toronto and then a drive onward to Collingwood on the shore of Georgian Bay. Hope there's a cool breeze off the lake [Huron !]. It's currently 6.27pm and 22c. Taken a peek at the town webcam and it looks glorious. Can't wait.