A taste of small town living

For those of you who don't come from a small town, or for those willing to have a good laugh at their own expense, here is a brief rundown of what it is like to live in a small town.

First and foremost in the winter you have to be aware that there are snowmobiles. They may be on the road, they may be on the groomed trail beside the road (that's right city slickers - there are machines specifically made to groom trails for snowmobiles) or they may be tearing around your parking lot in the middle of the night. In any case - watch out for them!

Secondly, as some of you have heard already, you can receive mail simply by showing up at the post office and introducing yourself. This way they will accept anything that arrives for you with any variation of address and just keep it behind the counter until you come in the next time!

If you are trying to find some by phone there are a couple different options. You could check the phonebook. This town is so small that it doesn't have a phonebook. It is SO rural up here that actually the only phone book that exists is for the entire 807 area code. I kid you not. And even at that - its smaller than the Hamilton phone book. If the phone book isn't working out for you the next best option is to ask someone. They will inevitably know who you are talking about and know their number, or know someone who will know their number. This is sometimes even used at the hospital. For example - we had a lady that had come in for a chest xray for her son but then went home to feed him dinner and we forgot to get her number. No problem! The nurse called someone she knew who happened to take dance lessons from the mom and got their home number. Confidentiality schmonfidentiality!

So now that you've met some people, and figured out how to contact them, you might want to get together for a meal. This will involve probably involve grocery shopping. I have solved the weeklong mystery of the shopping carts - they live in the parking lot. Not a single one ever gets brought back into the store. If you want a cart, you bring it in yourself from outside when you get out of your car. Once inside the store be prepared that they may not have everything you want. One day this week there was no chicken. I'm not really sure why. I guess maybe everybody else decided that they wanted chicken that day and so I got none. Who knows. And I'm still waiting for a new shipment of potatoes to come in, cause I don't like the look of the ones that have been sitting there all week. And if you would like to decorate your table with some fresh flowers...you might just be out of luck. I have yet to locate a florist although I hear tell that in the Hallmark store they have some flowers. (Insert a shocked and dismayed looking face here - I can last without my starbucks, chapters, sushi and random shopping trips, but I REFUSE to live without fresh flowers!!!!) So maybe all this is sounding daunting and you decide to go out for a meal instead. There are only a couple options and no matter where you go you will definitely be on display.

Now that you've eaten you should probably burn off some calories. I highly recommend the local golf course/cross country skiing club. That's right. It's double duty here! In the winter they take down all the golfing related signs and decorations, and replace them with skiing related stuff. You'd never know it was actually both! They have lots of trails, and run races (called Loppets) a couple times a year. I had the pleasure of standing out in the cold today for about 4 hours timing people at the race. But it was worth it - free homemade chili and hot chocolate! Oh and for you city slickers - there are also special grooming machines for cross country skiing trails. Not only do they groom a big wide path (for the skate skiers) they also set two tracks (for the classic skiers). And if you don't know what any of that means....get the heck out of the city for once in your life!! Just kidding :)

Finally, to top off your week, you should probably go to church. There are lots of options. Pretty much every denomination including a Jehovah's Witness place on the edge of town. The best way to find out which church is best is to be accosted by the United Church minister while eating your chili. Hahahah. Actually he was quite pleasant and never once told me that I should go to his church, but everyone else did! Apparently all the docs and their families go there, so I guess I am going to try it out in the morning. I already heard some grumblings about the readings for tomorrow from a disgruntled reader who evidently has to read something about prostitutes that's worded in a mildly embarassing manner...so I figure it is guaranteed to be entertaining!

So there you have it - small town living is pretty simple and pretty easy to get used to. And at the end of the day...its pretty fulfilling and wholesome! Everyone is friendly, they have spur of the moment dinner parties and get togethers. All the docs and their spouses (who are also docs or relatives of docs!) are great friends whose kids play together and who pass along kid stuff to each successive person that gets pregnant. So I guess the REAL final step to living in a small town is getting married and having kids....but I don't think I'll be trying that out for a while!

Lots of love
Pamela