The big differences

So I guess in the interest of fairness it's only right I should spend some time on the things that I really like about living in Canada. Now I know I said there would be loads, and of course there are, but there are definitely some that are more equal than others.

- Food. Seems trivial, but tell me that after a bowl of Fruit Loops. I shun the Frosties and Cokes of this world in favour of Captain Crunch and Cranberry Soda. The variety is amazing and just when you think you've discovered it all something else pops up. Except the cheese that comes in a squirty tube and looks like emulsion. They can keep that.

- People being happier. Bit of a cliché perhaps, but people generally are nicer here. I've mentioned this to Canadian people I've met and they seem to think they're pretty grumpy and I'll see that come winter. Maybe I will, but when customers are telling ME to have a good day you know it's different to the UK.

- Animals. Dogs, cats, squirrels; that's all you ever see in the UK. Here you have all those (as well as black squirrels) in addition to raccoons, skunks and seals. If I went up to the forest in North Vancouver there's a small chance I'd see a bear; and a small chance is a lot bigger than no chance. Today Rosie and I saw some unidentified black bird dive beneath the water for fish and he literally disappeared. I'm not even sure if he came back up for air, but it doesn't really compare to a Mallard shaking himself because some kid threw bread on his back.

- The price of stuff. OK cell phones, bank charges and drinks aside, a lot of stuff is cheap. I bought two huge bottles of soda today for about £1, even this lappy was about £50 cheaper than it would have been in the UK.

So there is other unimportant stuff like paying less tax and lower crime rates but no-one wants to hear about that. And I'm not trying to paint Vancouver as this wonderland where everything is awesome, in fact there are some pretty shady areas of town. But there seems to be a sense of community here as well, which is quite surprising for a town that has so much income from tourism. Now if only I could find some people in this community that are United fans...