h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm a Canadian too, from Ottawa, and I came across your page after clicking on a link from the Guide Entry on Forteans. I wanted to invite you by my page sometime for a puff of logic or whatever else you might fancy puffing on. I have neat bits on a variety of topics and some good discussions I'd love to have your input on.

-Cheers

Hi Twophlag. Thanks for the invitationl; I'll be right over.

JTG

I thought that "invitationl" didn't look right; but I'm a bit too flu-befuddled at the moment say exactly why. You have an interesting homepage, which I shall make a point of popping in to visit often. The nature of human existence is something that should interest more humans than, sad to say, it apparently does. I've been trying to explore the subject myself with the Tibetan Greenhouse Dugout...

http://www.h2g2.com/A202654

JTG

On my way...

hi again, John. it's alicat from Welland. i just came from a forum where your name camee up. how have you been? just came by to say hi, eh.

Where the heck is welland anyways?

it's about 15 minutes (by car) from Niagara Falls. i've been to Ottawa a few times. interesting place. are you born Canadian? i've lived in Toronto and Vancouver. you've got ingrown toenails, don't you? me too.

Yah I've lived in Ottawa most of my life give or take a couple of years when I tried to make a go of it in Windsor (the armpit of the universe). Never been to Vancouver. Toronto is a bit big to my way of thinking; hard to feel anything like an individual when you live in a big termite mound with 5 million other termites. Yes I have ingrown tonails. As a non-sequiter I also have an ex-girlfriend of two years asking me to support her decision to bear the child of the person who stole her from me. I told her to never speak to me again. I also have a pet gerbil. Her name is Mary-Jane and she lives in a hemp house. She bit me once. Everything is wretched. Except diet coke and cigs. Ok, cigs are a bit wretched. Taco Bell gives me heartburn.

I'm your Xorcist.

'I should have been a plumber' - Albert Einstein

Hey Twophlag, good call on the ex-progeny issue.

I lived in Toronto for a short time. Apart from the very many great places to eat, I had hours of fun riding back and forth on the subway, watching people get on and off the trains (there's a post somewhere about a man I watched talking to two garbage bags). It's interesting to ride across the city by bus too; the various ethnic neighbourhoods are very distinct... it's almost like a trip around the world in microcosm. The commuter culture is an interesting phenomenon: huge crowds, tens if not hundreds of thousands, flow back and forth like the tides. Most of the individuals are as conditioned as sideshow chickens: I used to watch the same crowd get off the Go-Train: they would *always* emerge in the same order, briefcase switch from one hand to the other, lope off in exactly the same way... you could, I believe (and I was tempted to try), mark where each foot would fall. Some were so well programmed they might have stepped on a baby.

Did you see your piece on the benches? Let me know what you think.

JTG

ps Let's put Halifax, NS on the map.

John; I did indeed see the piece as it appears on the benches, and I wanted to thank and congratulate you on an outstanding editing job; it looks great. I should have you proofread my book

Regarding Toronto; what more can I say? That eerie level of mindless automation drives me up the wall. I guess I'm a small town boy at heart. One thing I really like about Ottawa is that I can walk around at 3 am in whatever damn neighbourhood I want without fear; I also am not worried about leaving my doors unlocked accidentally. I can afford to sacrifice a few fast-living conveniences for that.

Thanks kindly. I'm very glad you like it.

I wonder if the people in whose neighbourhoods you walk at 3 am worry about leaving their doors unlocked. Ottawa's a fine city. The Byward Market alone makes the place worth a visit. Mmm... a good subject for an Entry that. Toronto has the insidious tendency to make visitors rush. The hurried pace of life makes a short visit exciting and exhausting. Still, it's fun to spend a day, once in a while.

JTG

I actually did an entry on Ottawa tourism that you might enjoy. As for Toronto, I have been there often, visiting relatives, driving through, or taking layovers at the Greyhound bus terminal ( I used to do a lot of travel by Greyhound). As you say, it is nice for a day. As big cities go it is less overwhelming than Chicago and the people are more polite than in Detroit, and the ecology is less devastated than in Boston or Cleveland (or Sudbury). So it's not all bad.

i much prefer small town life. i don't lock the doors where i live and am free to roam the streets at night. mind you, i always have two large dogs with me. the village where i live is at the intersection of the old and new Welland Canals. there are about 1000 people here and there are horses within walking distance. we see deer, foxes, raccoons, etc. i lived in Toronto and Vancouver for a while and would never live in a big city again. the next move is to the country.

A few years ago I crewed on a boat going through the canal at night; it was a surreal experience. It's like something from Dante's imagination... when the locks start to fill, and you can't see anything but a hundred feet of slimey, dripping wall and the night sky... I'd love to do it again.

JTG