... and I would have succeeded if it hadn't been for you pesky kids!

[lolaraincoat]

You've heard me say this a time or two already but I'd better say it again, to start: I love Canada and I love living in Canada and it's much better to live here than to live in the U.S.

But Canada has a flaw, and that flaw is that it is just not that great as a place to consume. Some of these failures of consumer culture actually spring from Canada's many virtues. Having all that access to health care and education and unions and all has empowered workers to the point that service in restaurants is frequently crappy. So this is a great thing, though I have to struggle to remember that while waiting half an hour for the damn check to arrive. Similarly, though sales taxes here are very high and that's got to be the least just way to redistribute income, sales taxes are balanced by high-ish income taxes and taxes on land, so that's good, and the government spends our taxes mostly on things we approve of, like health care and education, and not so much on missiles or invading Iraq or supporting Halliburton.

But it saddens and puzzles me, the list of What You Can't Buy In Canada. Aside from strictly illegal things, like handguns and armor-piercing bullets, Ontario stores at least don't seem to sell quite a number of items I have missed: cortisone cream, for instance. Nonoxynol-9 suppositories and a few other forms of birth control. Grits. Good barbeque and country ham. Many, many types of beer. Certain Body Shop products (what? fishwhistle loves that crap.) Tomatillas. And -- this is what I'm missing right this very minute - naproxyn. You know, Aleve(tm). Just not available here.

And yes, okay, the border is less than two hours away so we could just pop ourselves into the car and go get some grits and naproxyn sodium. But since the reason I want the Aleve is that my back is paining me today, two hours in the car seems like a bad idea, and I'm cranky. But now that I've explained to you all how much I am suffering, oddly, I feel better. Either that, or the ibuprofen is kicking in.

Comments

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Would you get into any kind of trouble if I mailed you a 55-gallon drume of Aleve? I mean, it's not illegal, is it--just not available? Because I can get it easily. Ditto cortisone cream. (And, for that matter, grits, I just don't know if you want 'em enough to get them mailed.) I haven't seen any Nonoxynol-9 suppositories but maybe I could hunt 'em down.

However, the service in restaurants here in Jersey City is *grotesquely* bad and no matter how many Nouvelle Pits open the barbecue isn't up to much anywhere near NYC.

[twistedchick]

I have found that Body Shop markets their products based on the FDA (or your equivalent) in whichever country; at one point I could get rosemary toner in Canada and not the US.

But I do not understand why quercetin doesn't exist in Ontario. It's like bromelain, an anti-inflammatory derived from fruit (with quercetin it's apples and quince, with bromelain it's pineapple), it's a very reasonable thing to take for allergies (it does wonders for hay fever and seasonal pollen problems), and it just isn't there.

::headshake, and occasional headdesk::

[dremiel.livejournal.com]

I'm perfectly happy to send you grits, aleve, cortisone cream, etc. I've got tomatillos in the garden but think customs would not aprove. I CAN send tomatillo sauce.

Seriously, I lived in Edmonton for seven years and (mostly) loved it but I remember how cool it ws to get stuff from home.

Feel free to send me your address and wish list: sbarras sbcglobal.net.

..

[whorlpool.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's bad service; it's a different kind of service. In the states, people expect the wait staff to be there all the time, and as soon as one part of the meal is done, the next immediately arrives. Here, people seem to expect to wait and chat for a while, and then the bill eventually shows up. It's definitely an adjustment. I'm actually beginning to prefer it this way.

[contrary-wise.livejournal.com]

No tomatillas in Toronto? Come to Montreal! The canned ones are easy enough to find all over my neighborhood. Just yesterday I noted that the Chilean takeout place down the block sells them. And in late summer I can usually find them fresh at the farmer's market. I'll bring you some next time I'm in Toronto!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

No grits? That's just wrong. On the other hand, I'm grateful for my trips into Canada so that I may obtain ketchup-flavored potato chips.

[tournevis.livejournal.com]

Aleve is available here. With a prescription.

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

do you want me to send you some?

A friend of mine had a very very bad experience with it, btw- I avoid the stuff as a result, and maybe that's what Canadia is protecting you from. (It relaxed the sphincter at the top of her stomach and her esophagus was so badly burned by acid that she couldn't eat for weeks.)

So, um, want me to send some?