Minnie’s Musings

And Ontario is very flat. At least it is in its southern half and along the St Lawrence River, where we spent most of our time. As we have already holidayed in Holland this year, we have rather overdosed on flat. Next year we will go to the mountains. And I am officially launching my campaign to go to the Slovakian mountains (which my Slovakian friend has shown me pictures of) if Putin can be persuaded to pull out of Ukraine this side of Christmas.

And Ontario roads are almost universally straight. Nary a bend in sight. In England we call these Roman roads because the last people to build a straight road in England were the Romans. Straight roads make driving easy and less stressful but are boring and tempt speeding (which is a bit of an issue for me).

Canada is also FULL of trees. Given that much of the land has been cleared for farming, the extent of the woods and forests prior to the spread of modern agriculture is mind-blowing.

And the variety of trees is spectacular. Even on the islands that dot the Great Lakes. They have discovered trees that have lived for more than a millennium clinging to the rocks.

The combination of enormous distances, long straight roads and dense woodland began to freak me out as we trundled through darkness to one of our destinations. I was transported to the dark and lonely roads of horror movies where no one is lurking save a mad man in a truck who wants to drive you into a ditch and eviscerate your liver for his tea.