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

of course, the vast majority of us live in cities here, too.


But the cities are a lot farther apart.

Yeah but I meant the psychology of living in such a vast place. I do think those things matter in terms of national identity. Maybe because all my life I've been brought up to think we're just this little island. But maybe it doesn't figure so much as a Canadian thing.

To my Romanticised view its this vast essentially virgin landscape, with cities either end.(Please don't bash me over the head for saying that..)

But I think history is also a big factor. And I'm relieved that it is part of our national identity that we are a mixture of people, even people like my parents who are quite conservative and right wing really, seem to have a pride in the richness of our culture, rather than some idea of 'purity'.

Maybe I'm not being clear? I'm talking about the psychology of potential access to nature..where you could go for several days and not see another human being..or even just know it was possible to get right away from roads, busyness etc. Apart from the far north of Scotland you just can't in the UK..and sometimes it just feels all too much.

Sorry, I had to go out right after I hit post.

I think you're absolutely right. There's a big philosophical/literary thing in Canada about the North (The great pianist Glenn Gould did a radio documentary titled 'The Idea of North', if I remember correctly) even though few of us ever get farther north than about the latitude of Oxford.

There's also a big thing about camping and canoeing and so on and it is still pretty easy to go some place at which being mauled by a bear is a real possibility, but such encounters are generally frowned upon. As I understand it, new Canadians are also taking up the camping thing in great numbers, which is surely a good sign.

Even in some of the cities, mine for example, it is bloody easy to get away from it all. The little pink 'A' on this google maps thingy http://maps.google.ca/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&q=moravian+church+edmonton&fb=1&gl=ca&hq=moravian+church&hnear=Edmonton,+AB&hl=en&view=map&cid=13330607207742184539&ll=53.519313,-113.476539&spn=0.005805,0.021136&t=h&z=16 is the little church where I exercised my franchise today in our municipal election. It's two blocks from my house. As you can see by the satellite picture, there's a big forest right there and that ravine connects to the river valley, the banks of which across the whole city is parkland. Sadly, the streetview pictures seem to have been taken in late fall. Anyway, there's all sorts of wildlife down there, all the way up to the occasional moose (we had one run down the street a few years ago). The biggest usual predators are coyotes, but I seem to remember talk recently of a black bear or two wandering into the city. And, as a note, this is all in a metropolitan area that is home to about a million people.

Yes, it is a little different here.

I woke up this morning to a beautiful blanket of snow outside. Perhaps outside gardening is finished for this year.

Are you sure? Your weather seems so up and down. And I thought we had it bad. It was funny last year at the winter olympics, and they had to import snow it was so mild..and didn't it turn really cold the week after they finished?

I had a look just now at that map you posted with the church marked. Yes I see that forested ravine close by..and I'm ashamed to say I confronted my ignorance about Canadian geography. I had no idea that Edmonton was there..I had it on the east coast But then I had no idea where any of your cities were, apart from some vague idea of them being at the far east or west, and like I said in an earlier post, all this virginal land in between. I realise I had actually thought there weren't any or very few roads in the main land mass but I see you have at least some. But crikey all that mass of land is quite incredible. I thought Australia was big when I went there..but it's a wee dwarf really compared to you lot..and we are just a mere little speck. I did know Canada was huge..but I have a realisation of just how huge..it's quite scary.

And I'm amazed at actually how close the far east of Canada is to the UK, as compared to say the US.

I really am very embarrassed at my ignorance. Although I'm fairly well genned up on the countries I've actually visited.

But I won't be in such a rush again to laugh at the stereotype of Americans' geographical ignorance.

I'm just guessing, but I think St. John's, Newfoundland is closer to you than it is to me.

As for roads, I could give a seminar on road patterns in relation to history in this area.


Maybe I will . . . .


If you look at the area around Quebec City http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=quebec+city&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=&hnear=Quebec,+Communaut%C3%A9-Urbaine-de-Qu%C3%A9bec,+Quebec&t=h&z=10 you will notice that the land is divided into what are called 'river lots', long strips running perpendicular to the bank of the river. This was the standard French method of land surveying and division in the early days. If you look at the area east and south of Windsor, Ontario http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=windsor+ontario&sll=46.802071,-71.244926&sspn=0.427718,1.352692&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Windsor,+Essex+County,+Ontario&t=h&z=11 you'll see that the land is divided up into little squares. That was the organized British Imperial way to do things.

Now, if you look at Edmonton http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=edmonton&sll=42.292676,-82.993335&sspn=0.231105,0.676346&g=windsor+ontario&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Edmonton,+Division+No.+11,+Alberta&ll=53.549538,-113.484135&spn=0.023202,0.084543&t=h&z=14 you'll see a funny thing: to the North and East of the marker there's a section of downtown where all the streets are twisted from the North-South grid of the rest of the city. Those are the remnants of river lots layed out in the old days when there was a very large Metis presence in the area and they were used to French style river lots.

Now, if one were to zoom out a bit from Edmonton http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=edmonton&sll=42.292676,-82.993335&sspn=0.231105,0.676346&g=windsor+ontario&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Edmonton,+Division+No.+11,+Alberta&ll=52.643063,-113.005371&spn=3.033175,10.821533&t=h&z=7 one would see that the whole of the southern halves of Alberta and Saskatchewan are stippled with the little squares. In the late 19th and early 20th century the entire area was surveyed into 1 square mile blocks called 'sections' generally the roads form a grid one mile apart from east to west and two miles apart from north to south.

So, actually, there are roads everywhere around here and usually on a very predictable pattern.

Thanks for that. I particularly like the last thing with all those squares in the south of Alberta and Saskatchewan. It's quite amazing, I kept thinking there was something wrong with the picture...it's unreal..

Here's something even better. In the south, where it is exceptionally dry, there are some interesting fields: http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=magrath+alberta&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=&hnear=Magrath,+Division+No.+3,+Alberta&ll=49.414994,-112.868042&spn=0.203254,0.676346&t=h&z=11

The fields are irrigated using systems which are basically long pipes on wheels attached to a central hub: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_pivot_irrigation

Completely unsustainable, of course.

When the first Europeans came through the area which is now Saskatchewan and Alberta, they came at what was an unusually wet period. They sent reports back talking of how lush the area was and how it would be prefect for farming. Then when the poor sods came over from the old country, the climate went back to normal and they were left scrabbling to make anything grow in what is only a little wetter than a desert.

I just thought of something more I should mention about those round irrigated fields in dry southern Alberta. Where do they get the water? you might ask. Well, if you look at the satellite view http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&q=50.113889,-114.720556&ie=UTF8&ll=49.512727,-112.807617&spn=1.316085,3.56781&z=9 you'll see a few largish lakes, but also a number of long, serpentine lakes. Those long lakes are artificial, created by damming seasonal and some permanent streams. One of the biggest ones http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&q=50.113889,-114.720556&ie=UTF8&ll=49.586233,-113.982124&spn=0.164262,0.445976&z=12 was produced by the Old Man River Dam on the -- you guessed it -- Old Man River, and thereby hangs a tale with at least one wonderfully named character:

'n 1990, the Alberta government sought to dam the Oldman, which would have (among other things) flooded a Peigan/Blackfoot cemetery. In response, the Blackfoot, led by Milton Born With A Tooth, diverted the Oldman themselves, leading to an armed standoff.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldman_River

and a wee bit more about Mr. Born With A Tooth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Born_With_A_Tooth


Yes, the West is still a little Wild at times.

We've had a fair few strong winds and squally showers here of late. Most of the leaves are now off the trees. And every day I've religiously raked them off the areas where the wildflower meadow is planned or just starting to grow, to minimise nutrient levels.

The pond has had a few leaves in it, which I've left. I've read that leaf fragments are important food for larval forms. Unfortunately my pond now seems bereft of any animal life whatsoever, though I've probably a few protozoa and bacteria in it. I'm still annoyed to read on the net, stuff like some guy building his pond in August..and it already has over wintering water beetles and mayfly larvae in it.

One of my types of garlic has already sent up strong shoots, so I'm a bit worried how they'll cope with coming frosts, but the other lot are still keeping snug.