chickenfeet

panjianlien asked:

1. Why Canada and not some other Commonwealth country?

It was basically an accident. Work brought me here. I liked it. I have also lived in Australia and spent a fair bit of time in New Zealand. In both cases I find the remoteness rather daunting. Australia has a great climate but a culture (or lack of it) that I really don't enjoy. New Zealand I like in lots of ways but the smallness is a constraint. So on balance I'll take the accessibility, tolerance and multiculturalism of Canada and, especially, my adopted home, Toronto, despite the shocking climate and the distance from the ocean.

2. How has the shift been going, overall, since you decided to do without a car?

Pretty well. I find i need a car once or twice a week for a few hours which is about what I expected. I haven't had any trouble getting a car when I need one and the whole thing has worked pretty smoothly.

3. What are your favorite specialty foods of the country of your birth, and of the country in which you currently live?

Black pudding! I guess I also miss some of the rather old fashioned prepared foods like potted shrimps and whitebait. As for Canadian specialties, I think I would have to say that some of the artisan cheeses are excellent but that the only thing that I can think of that is a true regional specialty that I like a lot is Mennonite summer sausage.

4. What visual art would you most like to master?

This is almost as abstract as asking me what super-power I would like to have. I guess something book arts related. Either book binding or perhaps an intaglio based illustration technique. I suspect that both though would require rather better drawing skills than I have.

5. What is Lady Jane's most adorable quirk?

She is all adorable quirk! Maybe her habit of landing in my lap at high speed with a noise announcing her arrival which is almost impossible to describe but is something like m'reep. Her carefully escalated way of getting attention when I am typing is pretty funny too.

Comment for your very own set of questions.