Canada abroad

Improving; still not great. I gather lots of people at home have this vile bug too. Why do they say "Sick as a dog?" Do dogs cough and snivel like this?

I spent yesterday with Cousin David, driving around in his vintage gold Lexus convertible. He drove me to see his new house, in a classy subdivision near Sarasota; he has his own small pool and many luxury features, and lots of artwork done by his mother Chet, a vivacious woman whom I remember vividly, and his father's sister Belle, ditto, talented artists both. There was a sand crane, a tall, dignified bird, stalking along on the sidewalk outside his house. Then we drove around Florida, which means mile after mile of malls. That's all there is - malls and individual shops. I was looking for a watch and a skipping rope, and in order to buy these, we saw more consumer goods than is comprehensible. My watch cost $19.99 and the skipping rope $6.99, and the combined value of all the crap we saw in the shops was eighty million dollars. Or so. Giant people shopping and planning where to eat next, that's Florida.

And yet today was gorgeous, I was able to borrow a bike and ride in the sun and walk on the beach and even, despite my raspy lungs, float briefly in the pool. The number of different seabirds and shells on the beach is stunning. I have had a sublimely tranquil week here, so much work done. Tomorrow, my last full day.

My cousin told me he found it strange to arrive, as a sour New Yorker, in a state where everyone was so cheery. Finally, he said, he realized that "Floridians will say hello to anything that moves. They'll say hello to a palm tree swaying in the breeze. It doesn't mean anything." Made me laugh.

Then he asked whether all Canadians were supporting the filthy tar sands project. Canada now has the honour of being known, internationally, as a pusher of the worst pollutants, and its people as greedy and conscienceless. I've just read in a December "Economist" about Canada being the first country to pull out of the Kyoto Accord, which Harper described as "a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations."

The article in this radical leftist mag (not) concludes, "Canada will eventually have to find something more than a do-next-to-nothing policy on emissions." No kidding.

Ah, they await - Harper and Ford. I've not thought of them for days. Soon, back to the boys, and winter.

P.S. I will be happy to leave this land of Republican lunacy, however. I watch Rachel Maddow, a left-wing commentator, until I just can't stand to see any more of what she's showing about the right. Appalling. Tonight, that Virginia has an incredibly right-wing governor who may be a candidate for Republican Vice-President, and is pushing through a bill forcing any woman who wants an abortion to have a probe inserted into her vagina as an ultrasound. Believe it or not. Get me out of here.

For those who want some very funny, very dark humour, watch "How TV Ruined Aspiration," on YouTube. Hilarious, true, pretty harsh.