Canadian Welcome

If you are new to the Ottawa area or are looking for a place to go for some winter fun, then the Ottawa Winterlude Celebration is the place to be in February. Here is a little background about the Festival so you can decide if it is the place you would like to go and share some fun with your loved ones this coming winter.

Every February flocks of visitors come to Canada’ capital city to partake in the fun winter activities that can be found here. For three weekends, fun and excitement are yours to discover with ice sculptures, to an awesome playground made of snow. You can Read the rest of this entry →

My parents used to live in downtown Toronto. Their home was on a busy street, but I parked at a meter and deposited enough money for a long visit.

Imagine my surprise when I left at suppertime and my car was no longer in its parking spot. In tears, I told my parents that someone had stolen my car.  But my mother knew better. She explained that the car had probably been towed to the pound and I would have to pay over $100 to get it back.  This was about 20 years ago, so $100 was a lot of money then.

It didn’t matter that I was in a designated parking spot. It didn’t matter that my time had been paid for. The only thing that mattered was the sign at the end of the street that said “No parking between 4 and 6 pm.”  Those times are considered evening rush hour in Toronto and very busy indeed.

I did get my car back, but it was an expensive mistake and took hours of running around to get it done. I’ve learned my lesson and watch for any signs that might be posted. Especially during morning or evening rush hours.

Technorati Tags: parking in the city, rush hour in Toronto

You’ve gone to visit a relative, or you’re at a party and are too tired to drive home. Your car is safely parked on the street in front of their house and there aren’t any ‘no parking’ signs that you can see. So it’s fine to park there overnight, right? Sorry, not so simple.

In many places, the overnight parking regulations don’t have to be posted on every street. For instance, I live in a small town just outside Toronto. Although you would miss it if you were looking in a different direction, there is a sign posted when you exit the highway that says something like ‘NO PARKING ON CITY STREETS BETWEEN 2 A.M. AND 6 A.M.’

I’ve lived here for two years now and never noticed that sign before. One night Read the rest of this entry →

Below is a comment I received from Frank Cummings in answer to a question about Chalk Lake. Sharon wrote in to ask if this was indeed the Chalk Lake near Port Perry as she is doing research for a family history. Rather than delegate Frank’s answer to the comments area where it might not be seen, I thought I’d create another post for it. I continue to be amazed at the number of people who are interested in this small, beautiful lake.

Here is Frank’s reply: Read the rest of this entry →

When I worked within the English as a Second Language (ESL) department at George Brown College, the students were often very interested in learning some of the slang terms used by native Canadians.

Although the majority of slang is used by younger people, I thought I’d mention some of the most common terms and their meanings (these will probably not be found in any dictionary and are slightly fadish, which means that they may become unfashionable to use as time goes on).

• wicked – while the proper definition of wicked is “bad”, people use it to mean something that is really amazing. For instance, “that’s a wicked movie”, meaning it’s a really great one. This is my least favourite slang term.
• my bad – used when someone makes a mistake or admits to doing something wrong. Example: “I didn’t finish my homework. My bad.”
• bro – short for “brother”, but used as a greeting not only for actual brothers, but good friends as well. Example: “See you later, bro.”
• later – instead of saying “see you later”, the phrase has been shortened to “later” when saying goodbye to a friend.
• peeps – refers to your “people”, that is, your circle of friends. Example: “I’m going to the movies with my peeps”.
• not – used after you say something obviously untrue. Example: “I hate chocolate. Not.”

There are many more slang terms that I, as a grandmother, don’t know. Just be aware that words in the English language aren’t always used the way they should be.

Technorati Tags: slang terms, English expressions