In Moore's film he also demonstrated how Canadians do not lock
their doors. He walked down the block and was able to walk
into each house he tried.
Is it like that where you are too?
Yes, it is out in the country where I live.
I never lock my doors unless I'm taking off for the day.
I don't lock my truck when I leave it in the lane either
and never have a problem. The barns have never been locked.
I do lock the doors at night though, but only started
doing that about 3 or 4 years ago after there were
some break-ins in our area (times are changing a bit, unfortunately).
Btw, should mention that just about everyone in my neighbourhood
owns at least one or two big dogs, and it's only the
ones with no dogs that seem to ever have break-ins.
(Consider that to be a plug for breeders of large dogs!).
Couple of anecdotes for you.
A few years ago, we stayed at a B&B in Vermont.
The rooms were along an L-shaped house and most had
their own sliding doors looking out onto a swimming pool.
The house is a private residence on a large lot in
the country, surrounded by farm fields and with a mountain
that you can walk to and wander up about a mile away.
When we arrived, the husband gave us a key to the room
and told us that we could either lock it or not
as they kept all of their doors unlocked all the time
and that we could let the Siamese cat sleep in our room
if we liked, or else shut it out.
We kept the room unlocked the whole time, including the
sliding door out to the pool, and came and went hiking
and off to do a bit of sightseeing.
The Siamese cat seemed to like being with us and sat on
the bed watching TV with us in the evening and spent
at least one night curled up on a chair in our room.
A young couple from Buffalo, NY, were staying in another room
and they even locked everything up to come to breakfast
each morning...and locked their car in the laneway.
We were kind of amused. They said they never ever leave
their doors unlocked at home in Buffalo, so I expect
they just couldn't get used to leaving doors unlocked.
Other B&Bs we've stayed in over the years, we always
just leave our room door open when we're off somewhere
if the hosts say we can if we like.
The second anecdote.
I do a lot of canoeing and sometimes park my truck somewhere
along a river and buzz off for the day in the canoe.
Never seem to have problems with theft, although I do
lock the doors when I leave -- usually.
Couple of years ago, I parked in a waterside park
that had a baseball field, boat launch ramp,
a little dock for fishing, etc...
I put the canoe in and then my dog jumped in the canoe
and I never went back to check the truck doors.
I get back to the park after paddling upstream and back..
gone about 3 hours.. and see my truck sitting there with
the passenger door wide open.
I'm thinking, "Man! Somebody broke in?????"
Then I recall that I forgot to go close the passenger door
after letting my dog out to get in the canoe,
so the truck has been sitting there half the day with
the door wide open -- and my belongings on the seat,
and a good Swiss army knife in the unlocked glovebox,
various other stuff in the truck...
and kids running all around playing ball and fishing.
Nobody touched a damned thing while I was gone.
I've had a lot of those kinds of experiences over the years
and barely any of the 'bad sort' --- except for one time
when some bratty little boys stuck a squished frog on
my windshield while I was off canoeing down the river
after launching at a public beach and park.
I don't like having to "worry" about my stuff,
so I don't like having really good stuff that I have
to be concerned about having ripped off.
Same goes for my house -- it's just a little bungalow.
I don't imagine anyone would figure there was much
worth stealing in it so they wouldn't bother me.
I like having things that way.
My grandfather was born and raised in Quebec until his folks
moved to Maine. He often talked about ice skating all the way
to school each day.
Carleton University in Ottawa, where I did my graduate studies,
is right next to the Rideau canal that runs through the city.
Quite a lot of students used to skate up the canal from
their apartments further in the city.
In winter, the canal freezes and the city maintains it for
skating. On most days, there are thousands of people
skating along.. wonderful in the evenings when the lights
are lit along the jogging paths above the sides of the canal.
You should check it out sometime if you like skating.
I'll see if I can find some photos on the web to show
you what I mean.
Perhaps this summer I'll have to take the family on a vacation
up in Canada.
You should. It's a big country.
Lots of interesting places to visit.
(o:
~croc |
