Subj : canada's own vonnegut?
To   : August Abolins
From : George Pope
Date : Wed Jan 05 2022 18:35:14

> An update on "Dirty Birds, by Morgan Murray".  I'm lovin' it.
> The satire is pratically non-stop.   Excerpt:
> "Saskatchewan is the distillation of geography into the purest
> mathematical form of utilitarian colonial averageness.
> "It's what happens when history and landscape are erased, and a
> kind of bland Victorian modernist utopia is designed from
> scratch by bureaucrats who had never seen a prairie sky in its
> full spring fury, who had never had a whiff of native prairie
> grasses in late summer, who had never had their nostrils freeze
> shut in a cold prairie winter

Reminds me of episode one of Corner Gas:

A stranger pulls up to the gas station & addresses Brent S: Sure is flat here. . .
B: How do you mean?
Hank: Maybe he means topographically? S: I mean there's nothing to see here, it's so flat and empty. B: Plenty to sees, like those tall majestic purple mountains over that way;  wjat th'? I could've sworn they were there this morning! S: Is this hgow you treat all your visitors? H: Nothin' else to do.

> "The Queen's Own Rulers and Her Majesty's Protractors drew a
> perfect rectangle in the middle of an imperfect continent.

Somebody slapped a ruler down & drew a line on either side, & voila!. we had an even ten provinces!

> I think the book might be more enjoyable for folks who are
> somewhat familiar who Leonard Cohen is, the streets of
> Montreal, and perhaps a lil'bit of french.

I'm out ohn the streets of Montreal. . . The boroughs, maybe, as I broke up my  doctor search by them. . .

> "Milton had lost his will to go on. He was sure he was going to
> die there, in a pile, on the sidewalk in front of a McDonald's.
> Another stranger handed him a couple nickels.
> "The custom of giving new arrivals loose change struck him as
> odd, but also a bit delightful. What a kind and generous place,
> he thought, as someone handed him an entire loonie.

I & a coulpe mates were in Victopria for a day out, & an older lady pressed a  handful of change into the one guy's hand, who usually dressed rather down  home-y. . .

Apparently they do this to try to forestall am unconfortable meeting where  someone asks them for change & they have to lie.  Or mybe it's for good luck?

My buddy didn't care. Free money.  I was just jealous (was almost $5!)

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5
 * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

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