On being a traveling soldier...
You know, if there's one thing about Quebec I can really respect it's their intense and pompous way of thumbing their own perceived superiority directly into your face at all times. Now I don't hide the fact that with the exception of Montreal I'm not a huge fan of Quebec, and before anyone gets their hair in a tussle realize it has nothing to do with geo-politics or blah blah blah. It's just because I don't like it as a geographic entity (I dislike New Brunswick far, FAR more) in any way shape or form. But I can respect their pompous-ity a great deal, but keep in mind I exclude Montreal from this (for that place is awesome.)
In any case, I say this all because during my drive through the Belle Provence I always notice a lot of interesting things about how they go about their business. For example, I simply love the fact that each and every sign that reminds travelers that you can in fact get important road and trucking information in English, is written entirely in French, no translation at all. I love the fact that there are signs which claim that "Quebec" (read: Quebec City - Franco sign makers must be lazy) is the national capital (and not simply the provincial.) I love the inexplicable road signs which have pictures of angry people, or cars doing random things, or random animals and have no co-responding information to tell you what they might actually mean. I can only assume we're supposed to guess what the giant snowman vomiting on the road is really supposed to mean...
I interpret this as the province basically telling me to go to hell/shove my outsider-ness up my own ass, and you can really respect a body of land that does that to you. Now if it wasn't for the carnival of idiots which make up 90% of the drivers in that province, I might actually enjoy my rides through. I'm serious, not to stereotype but last night I saw some utterly hair-raising crap performed during intense rainstorms, blizzards and other unsafe weather conditions, plus multiple emergency vehicles cut off, and speeds that wouldn't be safe in a wind tunnel.
And as crazy_female pointed out, the roads a bit hair-raising... but maybe I don't find them all that bad, since I've been in New Brunswick for so long...
I'm telling you, it's like an entirely different world out there...
I'll stick to Canada Ontario, myself!
In any case, I say this all because during my drive through the Belle Provence I always notice a lot of interesting things about how they go about their business. For example, I simply love the fact that each and every sign that reminds travelers that you can in fact get important road and trucking information in English, is written entirely in French, no translation at all. I love the fact that there are signs which claim that "Quebec" (read: Quebec City - Franco sign makers must be lazy) is the national capital (and not simply the provincial.) I love the inexplicable road signs which have pictures of angry people, or cars doing random things, or random animals and have no co-responding information to tell you what they might actually mean. I can only assume we're supposed to guess what the giant snowman vomiting on the road is really supposed to mean...
I interpret this as the province basically telling me to go to hell/shove my outsider-ness up my own ass, and you can really respect a body of land that does that to you. Now if it wasn't for the carnival of idiots which make up 90% of the drivers in that province, I might actually enjoy my rides through. I'm serious, not to stereotype but last night I saw some utterly hair-raising crap performed during intense rainstorms, blizzards and other unsafe weather conditions, plus multiple emergency vehicles cut off, and speeds that wouldn't be safe in a wind tunnel.
And as crazy_female pointed out, the roads a bit hair-raising... but maybe I don't find them all that bad, since I've been in New Brunswick for so long...
I'm telling you, it's like an entirely different world out there...
I'll stick to Canada Ontario, myself!