Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : NNBM - SI Branch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Clappy who wrote (39178)	12/29/2004 10:57:17 AM
From: Crocodile	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 104197

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