Under the Maple Leaves
Relax and Enjoy!
A friend of mine told me that Canada was renown for its ice hockey (of course!), peaceful disposition (“we have NEVER started a war!”), biting winter temperatures (“and many people don’t even wear sweaters at this bitter cold”), home-made maple syrup (“it’s not for nothing that maple is regarded as our national tree”), jams (I had to admit that I had never heard about this specific local celebrity) and- “did I mention ice hockey?!” All in all, this list doesn’t seem to be too overwhelming for a 32000000- populated state scattered over a truly vast territory- had the word “renown” been synonymous to “good” and “worthy”. For example, Broadway or Hollywood are really world famous- they are trademarks well known even to hordes of those never having visited LA or New York. I am not sure that such a combination of words as “the entertainment district” would ring a bell for too many people outside Toronto (let alone “outside Canada”). A rank and file street (though quite a long one, too!) stuffed with leisure attractions- theatre buildings, a concert hall, probably a score of night- clubs as well. All that sounds like nothing special and definitely no competition for the big names. And so it is- which doesn’t prevent the “Lion King” musical show from running about three years in a row and still drawing certain public attention, to say the least. In fact, by saying that I might enter an “Understatement of the Year” contest because the level of this “certain” attention is such that the house is totally and fully booked for weeks ahead. I personally have failed to sneak in but was rewarded with witnessing a couple of black market vultures begging for a spare ticket from incoming spectators! Poor creatures hadn’t managed to get their everyday share the usual way and felt that their supper was being under a serious threat. That truly unforgettable picture convinced me better than anything else that the Torontonian “Broadway” was quietly- without vying for the top spot with any famous name- running its show. And in more than one meaning of the word.
While the entertainment district seems to combine pleasure with some business (rephrasing a popular cliche in a somewhat sadomasochistic way, I might say that it’s probably suffering heavy financial gains!), the organizers of the “Local Talents’ Exhibition” in Moonbeam (Northern Ontario) were obviously putting an emphasis on pleasure proper. Officially, it was called “exhibition” but as a matter of fact it was a typical workshop where wolves and lambs (that is, experienced professionals and utter beginners) were peacefully working side by side and obviously having a whole lot of fun. I visited the place only hours before its final closure- and even then it was literally buzzing with activities. Paintings, pictures, drawings, photos and carvings were everywhere, and everyone could try hir hand in an attempt to add to the existing score (which some of my fellow visitors happily did). Nobody seemed to care in the least about the quality of the others’ work- and maybe that’s why this very quality was unbelievably amazing. A well-composed and truly thoughtful painting produced by a teenager girl, a spree of light and colour lit on canvas by an abstractionist, a philosophical triptych inspired by the likes of Vrubel and Dali and performed by a mature and very self-aware professional (like everyone else, she absolutely didn’t seem to regard sharing her artistic views with a layman like myself offensive to her “chosen” status), a bunch of most breathtaking photos I have ever seen and a collection of refined wooden vehicles populated by teddy toys (a fresh and simple idea touching in its very simplicity)- one could probably expect to see all that under the roof of an established world-class museum, but hardly in a little provincial town. I could bet that something talent-enhancing must be hidden in the local air or water. Or could it be the omnipresent mosquitos?!
When I heard about a Canadian tradition to spend summer weekends “in the open” (one of our tour guides even called it “the national favourite pastime”), it hardly struck me as a surprising one. After all, having to endure long and cold winters, people would be naturally drawn outdoors at the first opportunity. I would think of three main ways to reach for the sun and fresh air- one could visit nature as a guest, pass by as a tourist or stay as a part time inhabitant. For the former it would be necessary to leave home early enough and- having spend the whole day somewhere in the wilderness -come back at the sunset. Pretty convenient- considering that in a car-oriented society one can easily cover as much as 300-400 km a day while at least some “wilderness” is usually much closer to the majority of human-populated areas. To accomplish the latter (the middle version requires a 1-2 days’ camping), one might have to build a hut amidst bushes. I myself probably wouldn’t venture spending a week or two in a hut without electricity and running water, but I could freely admit that someone else might well like it- as an adventure or just for a change. I was actually curious to see such a hut, and when a chance acquaintance mentioned her “summer cottage in Moonbeam”, I got extremely interested. And then she let drop the word “trailer”…
The only picture I could visualize in connection with this word was a big truck. So, when another friend of mine told me later that many people around would not only stay in trailers for the whole summer months but even live there permanently, I asked the only question that seemed to me fit for the situation: “Are they homeless?” The idea of someone CHOOSING to live in a trailer instead of a house just wouldn’t penetrate my brain area- by any civilized standard it looked totally impossible. But if talent is required to produce creative sights and sounds or even worthy artifacts for an everyday life, having an ability to come up with fresh ideas also doesn’t go without saying. It takes some prominence and sometimes even a little magic to do it. An Englishman Gerald Durrell turned a manor into a menagerie. Modern Canadians have developed the idea but their expertise seems to be vans- some of those learned to fly and became Cessnas while their fellow cars underwent a different transformation having become a living place. Some of them are at present located in Moonbeam, and being there I simply couldn’t miss an opportunity for a visit to draw my own conclusions. I was looking at the trailer’s interior slightly open-mouthed (my hospitable hosts were being obviously amused by my surprise) because what I saw there reminded me of travelling monarchs as depicted in movies. Since not even a royalty can set hir palace on wheels, they had to make their personal trains look like palaces- and no luxury was being spared for the purpose. The modern trailers didn’t look that luxurious but they impressed me as being extremely neat and convenient in every detail- not a single commodity was lacking. Those carriages would smile derisively not only at the above-mentioned hut without electricity and running water, but at quite a lot of nowadays apartments as well. Their proud owners were enjoying both the spoils of the 21 century and the closest proximity to Nature characteristic primarily of those living in much earlier times. An entrance platform to the trailer was transformed into a balcony, the territory right outside it- into a court and a garden respectively. A big tree was decorated with lanterns and balloons and looked like a real Christmas tree. A river was rushing its water at a two-minutes walking distance from the trailer door- and if those modern Robinson Crusoes ever got bored of the view, they could always bid a farewell to the fallen-out-of-favour spot and move their abode elsewhere (all that without leaving the borders of the Green Kingdom). Like a magic coin that pays for everything and never gets spent, trailer-owners enjoy all the advantages of the modern civilization without suffering from any of its negative influences. I realized that subconsciously I was already substituting the awkward- sounding concept of “trailer” by the much more ear-pleasing name of “Wheeled House”. When Hemingway wrote his “Movable Feast” in 1925, he was referring to the city of Paris. Probably, the new function of trailers hadn’t been discovered yet…
A friend of mine told me that Canada was renown for its ice hockey (of course!), peaceful disposition (“we have NEVER started a war!”), biting winter temperatures (“and many people don’t even wear sweaters at this bitter cold”), home-made maple syrup (“it’s not for nothing that maple is regarded as our national tree”), jams (I had to admit that I had never heard about this specific local celebrity) and- “did I mention ice hockey?!” All in all, this list doesn’t seem to be too overwhelming for a 32000000- populated state scattered over a truly vast territory- had the word “renown” been synonymous to “good” and “worthy”. For example, Broadway or Hollywood are really world famous- they are trademarks well known even to hordes of those never having visited LA or New York. I am not sure that such a combination of words as “the entertainment district” would ring a bell for too many people outside Toronto (let alone “outside Canada”). A rank and file street (though quite a long one, too!) stuffed with leisure attractions- theatre buildings, a concert hall, probably a score of night- clubs as well. All that sounds like nothing special and definitely no competition for the big names. And so it is- which doesn’t prevent the “Lion King” musical show from running about three years in a row and still drawing certain public attention, to say the least. In fact, by saying that I might enter an “Understatement of the Year” contest because the level of this “certain” attention is such that the house is totally and fully booked for weeks ahead. I personally have failed to sneak in but was rewarded with witnessing a couple of black market vultures begging for a spare ticket from incoming spectators! Poor creatures hadn’t managed to get their everyday share the usual way and felt that their supper was being under a serious threat. That truly unforgettable picture convinced me better than anything else that the Torontonian “Broadway” was quietly- without vying for the top spot with any famous name- running its show. And in more than one meaning of the word.
While the entertainment district seems to combine pleasure with some business (rephrasing a popular cliche in a somewhat sadomasochistic way, I might say that it’s probably suffering heavy financial gains!), the organizers of the “Local Talents’ Exhibition” in Moonbeam (Northern Ontario) were obviously putting an emphasis on pleasure proper. Officially, it was called “exhibition” but as a matter of fact it was a typical workshop where wolves and lambs (that is, experienced professionals and utter beginners) were peacefully working side by side and obviously having a whole lot of fun. I visited the place only hours before its final closure- and even then it was literally buzzing with activities. Paintings, pictures, drawings, photos and carvings were everywhere, and everyone could try hir hand in an attempt to add to the existing score (which some of my fellow visitors happily did). Nobody seemed to care in the least about the quality of the others’ work- and maybe that’s why this very quality was unbelievably amazing. A well-composed and truly thoughtful painting produced by a teenager girl, a spree of light and colour lit on canvas by an abstractionist, a philosophical triptych inspired by the likes of Vrubel and Dali and performed by a mature and very self-aware professional (like everyone else, she absolutely didn’t seem to regard sharing her artistic views with a layman like myself offensive to her “chosen” status), a bunch of most breathtaking photos I have ever seen and a collection of refined wooden vehicles populated by teddy toys (a fresh and simple idea touching in its very simplicity)- one could probably expect to see all that under the roof of an established world-class museum, but hardly in a little provincial town. I could bet that something talent-enhancing must be hidden in the local air or water. Or could it be the omnipresent mosquitos?!
When I heard about a Canadian tradition to spend summer weekends “in the open” (one of our tour guides even called it “the national favourite pastime”), it hardly struck me as a surprising one. After all, having to endure long and cold winters, people would be naturally drawn outdoors at the first opportunity. I would think of three main ways to reach for the sun and fresh air- one could visit nature as a guest, pass by as a tourist or stay as a part time inhabitant. For the former it would be necessary to leave home early enough and- having spend the whole day somewhere in the wilderness -come back at the sunset. Pretty convenient- considering that in a car-oriented society one can easily cover as much as 300-400 km a day while at least some “wilderness” is usually much closer to the majority of human-populated areas. To accomplish the latter (the middle version requires a 1-2 days’ camping), one might have to build a hut amidst bushes. I myself probably wouldn’t venture spending a week or two in a hut without electricity and running water, but I could freely admit that someone else might well like it- as an adventure or just for a change. I was actually curious to see such a hut, and when a chance acquaintance mentioned her “summer cottage in Moonbeam”, I got extremely interested. And then she let drop the word “trailer”…
The only picture I could visualize in connection with this word was a big truck. So, when another friend of mine told me later that many people around would not only stay in trailers for the whole summer months but even live there permanently, I asked the only question that seemed to me fit for the situation: “Are they homeless?” The idea of someone CHOOSING to live in a trailer instead of a house just wouldn’t penetrate my brain area- by any civilized standard it looked totally impossible. But if talent is required to produce creative sights and sounds or even worthy artifacts for an everyday life, having an ability to come up with fresh ideas also doesn’t go without saying. It takes some prominence and sometimes even a little magic to do it. An Englishman Gerald Durrell turned a manor into a menagerie. Modern Canadians have developed the idea but their expertise seems to be vans- some of those learned to fly and became Cessnas while their fellow cars underwent a different transformation having become a living place. Some of them are at present located in Moonbeam, and being there I simply couldn’t miss an opportunity for a visit to draw my own conclusions. I was looking at the trailer’s interior slightly open-mouthed (my hospitable hosts were being obviously amused by my surprise) because what I saw there reminded me of travelling monarchs as depicted in movies. Since not even a royalty can set hir palace on wheels, they had to make their personal trains look like palaces- and no luxury was being spared for the purpose. The modern trailers didn’t look that luxurious but they impressed me as being extremely neat and convenient in every detail- not a single commodity was lacking. Those carriages would smile derisively not only at the above-mentioned hut without electricity and running water, but at quite a lot of nowadays apartments as well. Their proud owners were enjoying both the spoils of the 21 century and the closest proximity to Nature characteristic primarily of those living in much earlier times. An entrance platform to the trailer was transformed into a balcony, the territory right outside it- into a court and a garden respectively. A big tree was decorated with lanterns and balloons and looked like a real Christmas tree. A river was rushing its water at a two-minutes walking distance from the trailer door- and if those modern Robinson Crusoes ever got bored of the view, they could always bid a farewell to the fallen-out-of-favour spot and move their abode elsewhere (all that without leaving the borders of the Green Kingdom). Like a magic coin that pays for everything and never gets spent, trailer-owners enjoy all the advantages of the modern civilization without suffering from any of its negative influences. I realized that subconsciously I was already substituting the awkward- sounding concept of “trailer” by the much more ear-pleasing name of “Wheeled House”. When Hemingway wrote his “Movable Feast” in 1925, he was referring to the city of Paris. Probably, the new function of trailers hadn’t been discovered yet…