2 weeks in

So we've been in Toronto for 2 weeks now, and it has been interesting to say the least.
We've had ups (Niagara Falls, a really cool airshow-with fighter jets-that we saw last weekend) and we've had downs (The huge hassle of the drivers licence, the 3 apartments we've applied for being already rented).

So I've quite enjoyed today, which has been the first day that has been all positive.
We both managed to pass the (hand written) paper driving test, which was actually quite hard, and nerve racking :-)
And we both managed to get social security numbers with not just minimal fuss - there was no fuss at all !

C is off to Cleveland on Monday for a couple of days, so I will be stuck here with no car trying to find us somewhere to live.
Oh the joy.....

Anyway, a couple of observations about Toronto.

The US Open tennis is on, right ?
Well, the TV stations over here keep putting the American Gridiron, the Canadian Gridiron & the Baseball on instead of the tennis. I didn't get to watch last night's quarter final because there was both baseball and gridiron on.
Nuts, absolutley nuts.

The Roads.
I've already been told that there are 2 seasons here - Winter & Roadwork seasons.
This is true, there is an absolute (pardon the pun) truckload of roadwork going on everywhere you look.
I can understand why though.
The roads are in pretty crappy repair, largely due to the severe weather over here.
The temperature range is about 70 degrees, 30 degrees down to minus 40.
Can't wait to experience that minus 40......

The Roads part duex
The expressways they have over here are awesome.
abso-effing-lutley awesome.
You can get an express road from anywhere to anywhere.
And they all join and merge so even if you take the wrong one (which I've done, even with the GPS) it's easy enough to either take another road or to get back on the one you're supposed to be on.
Of course the down side to the expressways is that while I've been driving on them (a lot)now for 2 weeks, I still could not tell you how to get to the local grocery store (a 2 minute drive).
I sincerely hope that I will start to understand them a little some point soon.

The Food.
There always appears to be 'low fat' option, but they sugar things up the wazoo !
I mean I like my sugar as much as the next person (hey ! I heard that laugh !) but I mean come on, does absolutely everything need to be glazed/powdered/creamed ???
The brekkie that we get here at the hotel is an example - one of the options is donuts, for brekkie. Yuk.
Even the fruit tins have a very heavy syrup coating the fruit, which sort of defeats the point of eating the fruit doesn't it ?

The People.
I have not met one mean/nasty/rude Canadian yet.
And they all have smile on their face all the time !
Must be something in the water....

The Weather
It has been mid to high twenties since we got here, with the exception of today which has been low twenties/high teens.
I've been reliably told this is very unusual for this time of year, and I've also been told last winter was very unusual - record snowfall, VERY VERY effing cold, instead of just VERY effing cold.
I'm hoping this means a 'mild' winter is in store.
You know, only minus 30 instead of minus 40 ;-)

The TV.
They have a mix of really cool ads, and ads that clearly have some sort of cultural reference that we're missing (like I'm sure a lot of foreigners would miss the point of the XXXX ads with the stumpcam).
And the slogans for some of the products ?
Weird.
Advil (headache tablets) - their ever so brilliant tag line ?
Advil - One if often enough.
Very strange.

Hopefully I'll have more on the home front soon.
Really hopefully !