Canadian culture - hockey and hortons

So this is my last night in Newfoundland. Well, to be perfectly honest it is a half night. For some reason flights to and from the airport of Deer Lake are scheduled in the wee hours. I arrived here at ten to one in the morning. I'm leaving at twenty past 6....am. Which means that the "limo" is coming to collect me from my B&B at twenty past four. It's called the "limo service" none of that prosaic "airport shuttle" malarky. I am curious. Will it really be a stretch limo? I find that hard to believe. Probably I'm doomed to disappointment - it's bound to be a people carrier or something equally unremarkable. Right now I'm just praying that the weather gods are on my side. I've seen (and experienced!) far too many cancelled/delayed flights on this trip. It's not just the flight that concerns me - what about the drive to the airport? I was assured by my taxi driver yesterday that the "limo always gets through". Yep, they know how to drive in snow here! This point was forcibly illustrated last night after a hockey game in Deer Lake. No need to put the word "ice" in front of "hockey"... in Canada there is only the one sort of hockey! It was a semi-final playoff between the local Deer Lake Red Wings and another Newfoundland team - the Cataracts. We hadn't realised that it was such a serious match and were lucky to get tickets. Only the front row was left (and the guys at the ticket office were quite apologetic about selling them to us) as these are the less desirable seats - the ones that everyone walks past to get to the toilets and refreshments. In fact - front row seats are the perfect place to become acquainted with the ritualised violence that is Canadian hockey. Crack - we wince as the puck ricochetes off the clear plastic shield mere feet from our faces. Thud - the shield shudders as two hockey players collide and crash. One shakes off his gloves onto the ice. This is the signal for a fight... there's quite a lot of fighting in hockey it seems. Definitely after every goal and quite often in between. The action happened so fast I could barely keep up. The puck flys from end to end of the arena within seconds, and the players skate faster than I could believe possible. One moment "lawtons' drugs ... got milk" is defending his own goal... the next moment he's at the opposite end of the arena battling with "moose and crown pub". The Cataracts sponsors' names were printed relatively small, whereas the Deer Lake businesses definitely got their moneys worth. "DL HIRE... WEED FREE LAWN... JJs CHILDCARE". I strongly approved of the emblazoning of sponsors across the back of their shirts... it was so much more entertaining to think about "Dormodies Financial Services" doing battle with "Pizza Delight" than to think about number 4 jersey tackling number 22. There are only five players plus a goalie for each team allowed on at any one time, but there are continual substitutions. Players skate up and through a swing door into the sub box, while their waiting teammates vault over the side of the box and wade into the fray. The referees wear black and white vertically striped shirts which are, possibly unfortunately, very distinctive. Whether their brightly patterned shirts caused them to look like targets or not, the referees appeared to come in for far more than their fair share of injuries! When we left the game snow was falling and my friends were glad that they had booked into my B&B in Corner Brook rather than face driving back to Norris Point through the South East Hills. Once in the car we began to wonder if we were even going to get out of Deer Lake. I don't know how Mark managed to drive. Not only was snow falling, but it was blowing... great powdery swirling updrafts that reflected the headlights and made it impossible to see. Where was the road? Which side of it were we on? It was a slow, slow drive but finally we made it to Corner Brook. More than ever I was thankful that I hadn't rented a car! Canada is definitely a car based culture. It's very difficult, if not impossible, to get around without one. There isn't even a bus service for the ten minute journey between Corner Brook and the ski hill which seems ridiculous...but then again, everyone (apart from me!) has a car! At times it has been a pain not having my own set of wheels and I've felt quite bad about imposing on people for lifts. On the other hand, it has been lovely meeting so many new and generous people...most of whom I would never have got to know if I had independent transport. So yet again, thank goodness that I ran out of credit at the crucial moment! Who would have guessed that my lack of good money management skills could have been so fortuitous? Not only have I saved quite a lot of cash (spot the Scottish streak coming out!) but I've made lots of new friends because of it - perfect! Well, I thought I'd got to the end of this post, but I still had to think of a title for it and a nice bit of alliteration sprang to mind "hockey and hortons". As in "Tim Hortons" - a coffee and donut fast food cafe which seems to be deeply embedded in the Canadian psyche. There is a connection between those two "h"s. Tim Horton was a famous hockey player, and to this day the company sponsrs junior hockey and summer camps for kids. I think one has to actually be Canadian to understand the significance of Tim Hortons - I'm not even going to pretend that I appreciate its true importance! I'll restrict myself to the far less mentally challenging task of appreciating the donuts (not doughnuts) and coffee.