Here in Ontario we order a drink called a Ceasar. I know most places in the US don't know what I mean if I ask for one. Vodka & Clamato with a drop of Tobasco in a rimmed glass with a celery stick. And of course there's the Canadian delicacy "Beaver Tails"

Here is a link that might be useful: Beaver Tails

Mush, that Ceasar drink is very similar to our drink called a Bloody Mary.

This is so interesting to me; I've always wanted to see your beautiful Canada, don't think I could afford to live there. The cost of so many things mentioned just shocks me.

And it never occured to me Canadian schools don't get involved in sports like we do here. It can be a lot of fun when the school rivalry begins and the spirit of the game is exciting.

Sue that's a strange way of looking at the bathroom/restroom thing......you don't really rest in there either! LOL In fact bathroom is a generally accepted term, houses have 1/2 baths that have only a sink and a toilet, no shower or tub. And I do "wash up" in a bathroom/washroom, I hope everyone does. LOL

A few more I thought about:

Our judges are not elected, they are appointed by the provincial government and in order to be a judge you must be a lawyer.

In Newfoundland we don't have counties and I find the idea of counties very confusing.

Anne is right about everything coming with an English and French label. This is because Canada has 2 official languages. Funny story, when we were on vacation in Washington we had a cab driver from Russia. It was a long cab drive (from Dulles airport to downtown DC) and he was quite talkative. When he found out we were from Canada he told us that the cab we were in was made in Montreal. He said he knew this because of all the French signs and labels in it. LOL

I think you in the US have more things you can deduct on your income taxes than we do. I know you can deduct the interest you pay on your mortgage, we can't do that (I wish we could!).

Casey nfld I guess I should have said rest rooms for places in public buildings and such. Although I have heard of some people that use them as a place of rest it seems while at home, hence the magazine racks in a bathroom? Not me though. Love hearing about our bit of differences.
Someone said something about icing sugar (powdered sugar here) in plastic bags, we too have bags and boxes.

Sue

This is a very interesting thread.

I was told once that when you learn geometry in school, that it is 3 dimensional. It is only 2, here. I don't know if the 3 dimensional part is correct or not. If it is, it must be very difficult.

Once while visiting a museum in Montreal I took my small children to the cafeteria for lunch. One of the items on the menu was a grilled Swiss cheese sandwich. I inquired as to whether they had American cheese (my kids don't eat Swiss) -- and the counter person rudely replied No -- and told me that I was not in America. I am not a quick thinker and tend not to have "comebacks", but as I thought about later, I wished I told him that we weren't in Switzerland either. And that last I checked, Canada was part of North America.

Sorry, this turned out to be long, so you can SOB if you wish.

Were a little island stuck in the middle of the Atlantic and even though weÂre British we have more of an American influence here. Mainly because our nearest neighbour is North Carolina, which is about 650 miles away.

Transportation
We have several daily flights back and forth from different parts of the States. One daily flight to Canada and England. Anywhere else we hub in one of the cities and catch a connecting flight.

The island is only 21 square miles (1 mile wide) but you can easily get lost  even after living here my whole life I still do. The speed limit is 21mph and the biggest car that you can own would probably be a Kia SUV. Our driver side is on the right. We have pretty pink buses and lots of huge trucks and tons of motorbikes, which is the preferred method of travel for guest workers and tourists. Extremely dangerous though because weÂve been through a huge population growth and the roads are narrow and crowded.

The cost to license your car is about $1,400 maximum a year, depending on the engine size and length of the vehicle. Insurance starts at $700. Only one car per household. A gallon of gas is now under $8.00 (yippee!).

Food
Just about everything is imported so the prices arenÂt cheap. If you can find a loaf of bread for under $5, then itÂs a bargain. We have milk in cartons of different sizes and that is either imported or come from the local dairies. Eggs start at $3.89 a dozen.

Shopping
Again everything is imported and we have to pay a tax of 25% on everything besides school supplies and reading materials. Many retail stores have closed due to locals travelling overseas to shop. ItÂs not unusual for the airplanes leaving New York and Philadelphia refusing to take off because of the overload of luggage. Declared goods from overseas can easily clear $2 million a quarter.

Our shops are really, really nice. We have department stores that mimic the MacyÂs, etc but on a smaller scale. Several boutique shops where you can get your designer purses for thousands of dollars. Our drug stores are well stocked. You know the retail price that is printed on the tags on clothes? We pay that price while other countries tend to pay a reduced price.

We have nice clean supermarkets and smaller mom and pop stores that open late. Several liquor stores. We have just about all the brand names here  Sunbeam, Nabisco, Humpty Dumpty, Mars (& thank you Canada for still making Cheese Curls).

The latest trend is what I think you call box shops  where everything is sold in bulk. They do quite well.

Family Life
Tons of one parent households, due to most of the men being jerks (just kidding, somewhat). Women tend to be the bigger bread winners and they climb higher up the corporate ladder than males. We pride ourselves in our houses and some of them are breathtaking. Even though we have skilled people here, workers from overseas will come in temporary to do work on houses, such as carpentry.

Average income is around $53,000.

Medications
Most of the over-the-counter medications come from the States while the majority of the prescription drugs come from England. Depending on your insurance you just pay a few dollars at the counter for prescriptions. Shelved and OTC drugs are costly. Eg I bought a bottle of Tylenol, think it was 50 caplets, and it was over $11. Which is sad because the childrenÂs medicine is just as costly (over $10 for a bottle of liquid Tylenol).

Taxes
We have payroll taxes, import taxes, mandatory pension contributions. Luckily most companies, by their choice, pay for all this. So what you make is what you take home.

Insurance
Children have free insurance as long as theyÂre in school. You can buy private insurance but that can be as much as $2,400 a month. We have HIP here which sounds very similar to the Canadian system, which is probably what they fashioned it after. Many unemployed and senior citizens purchase this for around $350 per month which is a lot to them because the pension payments from government start at that, monthly. But private insurance covers everything  eye (including Lasik), psychiatric, hospitalization, preventative treatments, emergency room visits, dental, dental surgery. I have a whole book on what is covered. They even cover overseas treatments, which works out cheaper for the insurance companies and this includes the air ambulance.

Education
Mandatory education starts at 4 years old. That is one year and then we go into Primary school. After that itÂs Middle school and then High school. I graduated at 16 but now itÂs 18 for the public and private schools. When I was in school we had no graduation, no graduation pics, no cap and gown and I donÂt even have a diploma. Had a prom though. Yet we worked hard! We needed a minimum of 5 GCEs to be able to leave school.

We have private schools and the most expensive is $17,000 per year.

We have one college but you can only obtain a 2 year degree. Then most go on to Canada (Halifax being the most popular) or the States.

Politics
2 parties. CanÂt say much about it because I donÂt follow it closely. But itÂs not unusual to wake up to new laws that were made during the night.

Culture
Very limited prejudice here. Two-thirds coloured, one third Caucasian and other. Many are mixed. Lots of immigrants from places like the Philippines, India, Dominican Republic now. There has been an outcry lately because they donÂt mind living several to an apartment and they occupy the cheaper places that the locals could afford.

Housing
If you can find a studio apartment (basically one room and a bathroom) for under $1,500 per month then consider yourself lucky. One bedroom for under $2,000 is a steal. If you want to purchase a stand alone house, donÂt even go to the bank with less than $500,000 cash. Average price of a house is $1.4 million. Square footage is seldom more that 2,000 sq ft. Lots of condos being built due to land space being used up. You can get the majority of those for under $1 million.

We have strict building guidelines so that it looks uniform and the buildings must be able to withstand the hurricanes. It used to be 5 stories maximum for office buildings. If I wanted to put fencing around my yard I would need planning permission.

Climate
Right now itÂs colder than England, windy, rainy and miserable. We are in the hurricane path but the past few years we have been spared. Hot in summer, cold in winter; typical four seasons. No snow but rainy.

IÂve travelled throughout Canada and the United States and they both seem very similar. I thought that Toronto was much like New York. Maybe a bit more goes on in Toronto though because I once saw a topless woman standing on the sidewalk talking. But Canadians are die-hards about their country and are very proud people. Some of my relatives moved there years ago and it was a standing joke in the family that no one bring up the country name because they would go on and on about it. Once they were visiting my uncle and he had a bottle of Canada Dry on his counter with the word Canada taped over, lol.

This is a great thread. I only found out from reading this, that not all of Canada has the milk in bags. Stupid me. I for one, am glad Ont. does! LOL

I would love to be able to buy the butter in quarters as they do in the States.

DH still calls the washrooms "restrooms" from his time living in the U.S. He says "Yes Ma'am" often, out of habit as well when answering ladies.

Ont_Gal, I'm about 45 minutes from Listowel, and I'm FROM there! You are obviously familiar with it, or knows someone from there. I still go there for my dentist, even though I'm in a city now.

I know that there are still places that don't recycle, and it's a shame. On April 22, there won't be any plastic bags given out in retail stores anymore. We'll have to buy them. THAT I don't agree with. I do use the cotton bags when shopping, but I also get the plastic for my garbage and kitty litter etc. So they're not giving them out for free to reduce the landfill, but are forcing people to buy the heavier, more expensive ones made by Glad for example, that will take longer to break down. I don't care what anyone says, we do need plastic bags. We can't eliminate our garbage 100% and they have to go in something.

There's going to be a complete ban on pesicides and herbicides for our lawns and gardens in April as well. (In Ont) The landscape companies are up in arms, and people are stocking up like crazy while they see them in stores.

No smoking in public places. No one under the age of 19 is allowed to purchase cigarettes. No one can smoke in their car when there are kids under the age of 16. Funny thing, a parent was charged a couple weeks ago with smoking. While he was talking to the cop, his teenage daughter lit up a cigarette!!! LOLOL

Zeetera that's interesting.....would be more interesting if I knew where you lived!!!! What island are you talking about? Your profile says you are from the US.

Oh, I should mention our city's claim to fame......This is where the Blackberry is founded and made.

Visitors to Hawaii from the mainland US are shocked by the prices for milk and bakery products. From what's posted here, they are similar to the pricing in Canada. I understand the higher costs in Hawaii because almost everything is shipped or flown in, but why so high in Canada? When someone in Canada posts $3.05 US for a gallon of milk or $4.00 for a loaf of bread, is some of that that tax? (Tax on producers? Tax at the retail end?)

In the US costs and taxes can be very different depending on the state or city you're in. One reason gasoline is so expensive in California is because it has to meet higher pollution-control standards.

I'd like to know how many hours a day children are in grammar school in the various areas. I live in an 'upscale' suburb of Chicago and I think our kids have too little time devoted to the 'three R's'. (Readin', Rightin' and Rithmetic - LOL)

How many jobs in other countries requite college degrees? IMO a lot of US kids attend colleges -- sometimes graduating with huge financial debt -- and end up in jobs that in earlier times would have been filled by high school graduates. As 30 is the new 20 regarding maturity, it seems the Podunk U B.A. is the new high school dipolma.

How good are the roads, trains, busses, air services in your area? Where does funding come from? Do you have a good library system? How far to you travel to shop? Do you have clean water? Do you have good sanitation? Do you have recycling -- and if so, for what products? How's your crime rate? Are there gangs in your area, or nearby?

As for school sports, that whole thing has taken over many a school -- and lots of small towns where there's little else to talk about or do. It's especially bad in colleges where academics take second place for funding to rah-rah team sports. (DH is proud of the 90+% graduation rate of athletes from his alma mater, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It's the exception, not the rule. Many colleges recruit taleted athletes who are functionally illiterate; waive scholastic standards for them; use them for four years; dump them back on the streets they came from.) It's pretty sick that 'book' is made on school athletics.

How are public schools funded in other countires? We have a combination of federal, state and local funds, but the bulk of funding is dependent on local property taxes.

I've lived in New York all m y life. My best friend Sue recently bought a co-op apartment in Ottawa. Can't wait to go visit here. All I know is people on Long Island drive like maniacs- always speeding, cut you off, tailgate, beep you if you wait a split second at a green light. As soon as I leave metro area, I notice drivers are much more relaxed. A car once followed me in Lancaster Pennsylvania. When I stopped, the woman driver got out, alked up to me and apologized to me for changing lanes in front of me several miles back. That would never happen back in LI.

Zetera I too would like to know what your Island is called.

In Holland and some other European countries they don't have Ice, Ice Cream, at least not when we were there.

In the US now we have over 2-300 drugs for $4. That is a great help for the elderly and families that have to have drugs. Not sure what is all covered by that. When I needed a no narcotic drug. It wasn't on the list and cost us $180.dollars for two week supply. Drugs are very expensive in the U.S.

Nookie - very interesting . France sounds interesting. I have lived in the same house since we were married. Now that we are retired we hope to do traveling. Once this economy gets back on track. We do raise most of our food. With living in the country this is a great advantage to living in town. At Least we have a choice in town you don't. WE do have Farmers Markets in most towns on certain days. Depending on the season you can buy almost anything you want. Loads of homemade breads,jams and jellies, baked goods to handmade knitted sweaters,lawn furniture. You name it it will be for sale. We love to go to these.

Now in March we have March Madness. I'm sure everyone has heard of this. It does make the winter go faster when you have your high school through College kids all in Basketball tournaments. In the MidWest I think every family knows a someone that is in one of the games. With Football, Wrestling,Basketball, Our winters are active going to grandkids games. Sports seem to occupy a lot of time. If you aren't at a game the TV is tuned to one.

In Canada is your Vinegar on Fries similar to our Long Johns. This is our Fish an Chips place. They have a good vinegar that I love on fish.

I am thinking maybe Zeetra might be in Bermuda? I cannot remember having seen too many RED hot dogs in my lifetime other than when visiting USA. I couldn't bring myself to eat one. Many people will laugh at first finding out some of the "hotdogs" from certain companies in Canada have to be peeled before cooking, they are encased in a saran wrap like cover. Rather tough to chew...and will explode over a campfire!!
One thing I agree to is recycling, which we have been doing for well over 25 years especially with veg and fruits, coffee grounds teabags and eggshells which we have a composter for. It makes great stuff for the garden when it works over the winter..as far as grocery "plastic bags" having to be purchased by the consumer in the near future then they should provide plastic bags because the crap they pass for plastic now is not worth even taking out of the store. The cashiers either cram products in and they rip as soon as you pick up the handle or they put two things in a bag ....when you buy $150.00 grocery order ..that is a lot of bags. Pay me 3 cents a bag..my cloth bags hold a lot more and they are not going to the landfill. Actually pay me 5 cents ...I saved five or more "recycled to the limit" bags from your store.
Garbage pickup....sidewalks...street lights..recreation, police, fire and emergency services..libraries...parks..recycling and composting and much more is where our property tax monies go. A good deal for the money even though we all groan when they say taxes are going up. I am sure they will go higher before they will ever go down so we grin and bear it.
I am another that would be finacially wiped out if our medical was anything like some have described on here. I worked in the medical field and cannot imagine having to charge for every single step of treatment from bandaids, slings, casts, O2 , forbid if it be some treatment needing surgery. Where would you start? Granted there are things not all right about the Canadian system too but until you get the higher ups to listen to reason there will never be change. The step to letting a pharmacist do refills for common drugs rather than tie up an emergency room with a bunch of sniffling kids running around while mom needs a something for a headache. Those that are truly emergencies having to wait longer, because of those tying up doctors for trivial things rather than going to their own primary care. Most drugs stores now have a database with your name and all your drugs on it. It sure cut down on double doctoring where peoples would go to two or more drs for meds. My biggest pet peeve is insurance companies that let Joe Blow pay 3.00 for his 'script and I have to pay 78.00 for the same one just because I do not have medical insurance anymore. Joe Blow is not monitored very well either because I have seen him supply friends with things they need. Just because insurance companies cover enough people, the drug companies know they are going to get what they ask for so they supply it. Too bad for the little guy.

Yes, sorry I'm in Bermuda. See link.

Maggie, when were you in Europe? I was there about 20 years ago and they did have ice cream back then.

Thanks for the photo of the bag of milk. How on earth do you get it home??

Casey-here,in my neck of the woods in Ontario,we have counties,municipalities & townships.Int he larger cities,like Toronto,most of the "sections" are boroughs.
It takes awhile to get onto what is what
When I lived up north,I lived in the county of Haliburton,the municipality of Highlands East,in the township of Cardiff...lol

Yes,jasdip,a really good galpal of mine is in Moorefield,and works for TG Minto...lol,hence my knowledge of the Toyota...

Hey Mush..I've been to Ottawa and had the reknowned Beaver Tail...certainly nothing I would crawl over broken glass to get again,altho,they appear to be in great demand by some.

And yes threejs..myself,I *only* go to a hospital ER when it is just that,an emergency..but when there,there are usually 36 ppl there,complete with a dozen kids and their relatives,and most times,only for a cold or simple sprain...definitely a misuse of the medical system,which then of course,causes the ones of us there for a real good reason to have those 6-8 hour long waits.

Our grocery stores here in Belleville have been doing the pay 5cents for a grocery bags for years...I have always taken my own,or will utilize a box,simply due to the environmental issues and the fact that like one poster mentioned,the bags are crap.
We pay 5cents if we need a bag,and almost always bag our own now..very few of our stores here do the bagging...and carry out is definitely a thing of the past.

Soemthing else here that drives me nuts is the having to pay 50cents to use the air machines for refilling your car tires...that is a major pet peeve of mine.
The old old-tyme type gas bars still have the free air,but most modern places charge.
And telephones.....if you do not use a cell phone,and have to use a pay phone,*if* it takes money,it has to be 50cents now..that too nearly sends me around the bend...lol

Minnie,
That is one individual bag of milk. The milk comes packaged with 3 individual bags of milk inside one larger one. So 1 bag of milk holds 3 bags of milk, which equals 4 litres, almost a gallon.
If you weren't confused before..... LOL

I know that the Formula for Preparation H in Canada is different than the Formula used for the same product in the States! LMBO!!!

LOLOLOL Country Bumpkin!! Hmmmm wonder HOW you would know that??

Hey Zeetera,
Do you live in Bermuda???

I grew up in Northern Ontario. Our town had and still to this day has a curfew. The siren rings at 9:00pm and anyone under the age of 16 can't be on the streets. I went to one school for kindergarden to grade 8 then high school from grade 9-12, grade 13 is if you wanted to go to university instead of college. Milk came in bags. One liquor store and one beer store. Our high school had no football team, there was no prom and we didn't get to wear a cap and gown for graduation.
Now I live in Alberta, and my kids went to elementary school from K-6 then junior high 7-9 and HS 10-12. I know here they need 125 credits to graduate, in Ontario we needed 27 credits to graduate from grade 12 and 36 for grade 13.
Also, in Alberta milk doesn't come in a bag and now the liquor stores are private so there is one on every street corner and they also sell beer and just a few years ago beer finally came in 24's not just 12. I always knew a "case of beer" in Ontario was 24, but in Alberta a "case of beer" is only 12 and a "flat of beer" is 24.
Like another poster said, I know way more about American politics than Canadian. I know who my Prime Minister is but don't know his wife's name or his kids name. I know my Premier of Alberta, but he's the only one I know, I couldn't name the other provinces Premier's. I do know all the city captials and that Ottawa is the captial of Canada.

Ont_Gal,
I just put air in my tires, and yep it cost 50cents. I hate paying for air as well.

I dug up a gas receipt that has the taxes broken down.
Some posters mentioned the high cost of living in Canada and it is the taxes.

I put $15 of gas in the car. The total tax was $4.45. That's a large chunk of tax for a $15 bill.

oh for sure jasdip...that is $4.45 that you didnt get in fuel!!! lol

AND,we just had another budget day!!!!...here it comes!

zeetra, I have tons of family in Bermuda, although I've never been there. My grandma was born there. I wonder if you know any of them.

Ont gal, you live in Listowel? There is a Food Basics there, isn't there?

jasdip, I buy butter in quarters at Zehrs here in St. Catharines. It's wierd how some cities don't get the same things within the same province.
Maybe we get it because we're so close to the border?

I don't know if you get CNN with Satellite or how far our TV stations go but if you really want to go "NUTS" Listen to CNN or the Rush Limbaugh (Radio) or as Rush says the Obama station. I am fed up with our politics. Hope that didn't offend anyone but I am. Both sides. Just wish they could get their act together.

What TV shows to you watch or get.

We've be once to Holland in the '60's' and to Ireland a few yrs ago. They had Ice I guess but it was hard to find. I remember Ice coming with or with out gas! Carbonation.
In Ireland they had one hamburger place that we had one night for supper. Hubby was hungry for a burger but when I asked for mine with everything. The kid looked at me funny and said 'with sauce?' Yes, I said......not knowing what I was going to get. It wasn't bad but no ketchup and mustard. Sauce...don't know. They also had a ice cream place in the shop too. Had a soft serve dipped in chocolate. The best chocolate....I have ever had. The only one we seen. We also couldn't find any bakeries in Ireland. I was hungry for something sweet but it might have just been where we went. They did have two dollar stores like we have dollar stores. Holland I don't remember too much we were young and dumb. Just married and in the Marines. Just followed my man. Didn't even have a camera now I want to go back so bad.

zeetra, my grandma's maiden name was Seamus, I believe. Some of her brothers and sisters stayed in Bermuda, while a few others moved to the states.

susan_on, Do you know Listowel? I was there yesterday. Yes, they have a Food Basics as well as Zehrs.

Mush.....I had NO idea some stores here sold butter in the sections. Guess I'll have to do some shopping in places close to the border. BTW, do they have great music acts at CasinoFalls??
We saw CHICAGO last nite at CasinoRama. We love that venue, but it's a heck of a treck. I'd love to see what the Falls has to offer.

Maggie, if you pay for cable tv (which we do) you get the major US networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX) plus many other channels. We watch all the same shows you guys do. But because I am in Newfoundland, prime time starts at 9:30, 1 & 1/2 hours behind eastern time, so I don't watch many shows that come on late.

Jasdip, I haven't been to Listowel, but my nephew lives there. He is an assistant manager at FB.

Zeetera- my son and daughter in law and family love ,love love Bermuda. They have been traveling there for the past 17 years,as many as three times in a year. Never less than 2 times a year.They have made friends with some of the natives and would live there in a heartbeat.

I've got a couple more differences between the US and Canada - with a different twist. I'm American and I've always lived in the States. In my working life, I worked 15 years for an American company and 10 for a Canadian company. In general, I think Americans are bigger risk takers and Canadians are more risk averse. In the US, working people nowadays work at a number of different places during their careers (although it wasn't always like this). In Canada, it seems as if one gets a job and then stays there forever. Mortgages are different in Canada, too, I think - aren't all mortgages for just 5 years?

We amortize mortgages for 20-25 years usually, and sometimes 30. I believe you can do it for 35 years now but that's not common. But you renew your mortgage for different terms...eg. 6 months, one year, two, three or no more than five. You can get fixed or variable rate mortgages. These are the basics, but there are other types now too. Anyway, you try to guess what the market might do when you renew your mortgage contract. We always did really well, and got rid of ours 12 years ago.

No Susan...I am east of Listowel about 4 hours...closer to Kingston

I have a g/f that is in that area tho(Listowel)

Casey-what do you's get for cable there?
Rogers or Cogeco.....I have cogeco.

We have Rogers cable. Only one option for us unless we want to go with a sattelite company (Bell or something else, can't remember).

Kec, actually most mortgages are for 20 years.

jasdip, yes I live here.

jenmonkey, I looked up Seamus in the phone book and there's none listed. Do you have another family name? The only one I know is David and he's in his sixties.

gemini40, that's great that they get to visit here. If they were to come now they would be treated like royalty because there's NO tourists around. I hope they make it back soon.

Like Ann I live right on the border with Michigan about 60 miles north of her Sarnia Ont/Port Huron MI. There really isn't much difference day to day wise. Some different stores/gas stations on either side and many just the same. You would be hard pressed and probably could not tell the difference which country you were in if you were just walking or driving around in a neighborhood without seeing a mailbox because the streets and houses all look the same.
I find the prices now in Michigan are very high at the grocery store to what they used to be.. It's often cheaper to buy the stuff here now with a few exceptions. It's not even worth going over to get gasoline unless you have a large gas tank like on my Dodge Ram truck and it is almost empty. Since I'm so close, in fact I'm closer to a Michigan Kroger than our own SuperWalmart I can scout out the bargains and what's not a bargain. Why I mainly go over to the Port Huron stores is to get stuff that isn't available here, the selection is much better, the prices not. But the I've heard Michiganders say the opposite that we have a better selection LOL

PKGuy,
Years ago we'd often pop over to Port Huron and Roseville for a weekend holiday, even though it's 3 hours away. We loved the prices, and the shopping.

Now that BestBuy, WalMart, and now SuperWalmart, etc are everywhere here, it's not the same. I didn't know that pricing has come up in the States though. And our dollar is falling against the US buck as well. It would just be a matter of finding things that aren't available here. I think there is more selection in the groceries than here....many different flavours of diced tomatoes just for an example.
I love Dodge Ram's. Congrats, they're sexy!

Yes, prices have gotten very high to the point many items on the shelf are priced even higher in Kroger than they are here in Sarnia. Then to add the dollar exchange makes it even worse a bargain. For example two weeks ago Kroger had their usual 10 for $10 deal and I bought 10 Idahoan instant mashed potatoes (so kill me, I like em LOL) Well then I look here and they're abou $1.29 reg price and just yesterday I got them here for 99 cents CDn.
Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker cake mixes here are always on sale for 99 cents I never see them for that in Port Huron and the regular price is $2.29 iirc, more than here. Peanut butter is cheaper here, breads about the same now. Bananas about the same 59-69 cents. Definitely cheese and meat products are much cheaper in Michgan, much much cheaper. Those packages of shredded cheese for Nachos etc are always on sale at Kroger for about $1.80, they're more like $6 here so I stock up on those. I dunno, maybe the prices in Sarnia are lower than elsewhere in Ontario because we're so close and it isn't really isn't an inconvenience for people here to cross border shop and they do.

ABout a month ago I bought a DVD on Ebay and the seller was from Canada. I heard that some packages can take forever to be mailed from Canada. Well, I got my DVD within a week from the seller. You guys have a great Post Office IMO.

In Illinois....OMG! DH and I have our Chicago Tribune delivered through the mail..that is when we get it. Yesterday we got 2 papers..one was dated March 20th and the other was March 2nd. Still waiting for all the others inbetween. And they have the nerve to raise the postage again!!!!!

SamKaren
your resident DJ

zeetera, I'll email my dad and find out some names...he was just there visiting family a few years ago.

Similar: Football
Different: Football

It still stands out in my mind when I was first in Canada we were driving down "the" highway, came up behind someone and they pulled over onto the shoulder of the road. Surprised us both, but we passed without changing lanes. That's something I really like. Should help avoid accidents. And is just plain courteous. But I have also heard that it's not as common in CA as I guessed.

Also, at least parts of CA have square plastic ice cream pails, here they're round. Square just makes more sense.

Was just watching a Triumph, the insult comic dog bit, where he said about poutine looks like somebody took a dump on my fries! LOL Gotta love old Triumph!

And don't get me started about the post office delivering (or NOT delivering) newspapers. 15 days to go 180 miles? Sorry it's not the workers, er employees that should be taking firearms in there and blasting away... I'm amazed more of the bilked public aren't going postal

Some milk jugs have a deposit on them, most don't. Some states require deposits on normally non-returnables to encourage recycling.

And the first trip up we made the mistake of asking for a "liquor store" when we wanted to buy some beer. Carried a couple brands and it looked so strange to see PBR in the "imported" section. Otherwise things looked so similar.

Also seemed to me most stop lights would be horizontal. Most here are vertical although some places, like portions of Wisconsin have horizontal ones. Was a reminder to Toto that we're not in Kansas anymore.

"Beaver Tails" sound much like what our bakerys call "cinnamon crisps", "crispies" or "elephant ears". A flaky, crisp, cinnamon sugar pastry. Many places make them, not all make them well.

Oh, and another difference, I guess "Preparation H Raymond" had to become "Nupercainal Raymond" when they did the show in Canada. (The one that got Parliament all up in arms.)

Thanks for straightening me out, susan and casey. I knew there were elements that are different.

Oh, and we don't have mail delivery on Saturday.

Many Canadians rent our Maui condo. I have to say they are much more polite than most of our American guests, from first responses to our vrbo ad to the way they often send payment enclosed in a friendly note. Many also write me a 'thank you' email about how they enjoyed the condo once they've returned home. I see a big difference.

When my Mom and I were in Quebec in 1971 I asked for ketchup for my fries. I got a nasty look and was given malt vinegar and then the waiter went and talked in French to the other staff, pointing at us Americans. I guess I committed a faux pas.

I always wanted to get up to Prince Edward's Island. My grandmother (Mom's mother) came from there and it sounded like a beautiful place.
Clare

We used to have bags years ago, still have two of the jug containers that the bags went into. I used to cut the wrong end and its pretty hard to pour from. LOL

We have small and large size jugs and then small and large size cartons.

The cartons we used to throw in the garbage which is a shame but someone here started up a recycle the last Saturday of the month close by where we live and they accept them which is great.

The plastic jugs we take those and other plastic items to this recyle plastic place and dump them all into this huge bin outside.

The only thing that store will accept is if you pay recycle and deposit like water bottles, juice, pop. Then you return them at customer service and they give you the money and then you dump them into the invidual ones that are marked.