waterloo, on.

I've gotten deep enough into Canada to hear their distinct speech patterns, the classic "sorry"s and "eh"s are accurate. I love how they twist their vowels.

I had taken this moment to capture some thoughts that I hadn't had a chance to write down yet:

• Back in the boonies of Minnesota, power line poles had signs posted: "Do not climb! High voltage." And I thought to myself, only in a place like this would a sign like that be necessary! Of course these people would try to climb those poles.
• When I first came into Canada, power line poles had signs posted: "Caution! Look Up! Power Lines Above." And I thought to myself, how tall are these Canadians??
• Michigan has super lax booze laws. Convenience stores are lined with enormous walls of liquor. Canada is the opposite--alcohol is unavailable in stores. You have to go to a "Beer Store" for beer and I don't even know where they keep the liquor.
• I passed through a town in Michigan and below the welcome sign was the town's two claims to fame. The second of these was "2010 Girls Bowling Runners Up". What a strange claim to fame... they weren't even the 2010 Girls Bowling champs. Later in the day I went through a town that similarly displayed their accomplishments: "2012 Girls Bowling Champions". Girls Bowling must be unbelievably competitive in Michigan.
• In Canada, I biked past a sign: "Blind Person Area". I wonder if the blind person is aware that the sign is there. Later I saw a "Deaf Child Area" sign. Canadians are a thoughtful people.