Read all about it!

There's been a lot to get used to in these first months here in Canada; some things you just wouldn't think about until you're actually presented with them.

Case in point: newsagencies. In Victorian towns at the very least, they're the go-to place for not only newspapers but magazines, stationary, special occasion cards, and oddments along those lines. Every town has at least one, and Melbourne suburbs have several. Most shopping centres and strips have at least one, often with a Post Office tucked away at the back so you get even more services from the one little shopfront.

It doesn't seem to be the same here. Newspapers are dispensed from machines (or delivered in a flurry of junk mail to your door, but that's no different to Melbourne. We used to call Hoppers Crossing the junk mail capital of Australia given that if we didn't keep on top of it, legitimate mail would blow away down the street as it no longer fitted in the box).

We're not unfamiliar with the concept, and have similar machines in Inner Melbourne, but you have to remember that I'm now living in a relatively small town and it's very common here.

I thnk the snow plough just went through...

I have to wonder why. I hope that those who really like to read their papers have them delivered on the blizzard days, because I can imagine how hard it must be to both deliver and purchase them with the machine buried under all that snow!

There are specialist shops around such as the Hallmark Store, and Wal-Mart and the like certainly sell a wide selection of magazines and stationary items. They also sell greeting cards for all kinds of celebrations I'd not have thought of. However there simply isn't the abundance of newsagencies we're used to back in Melbourne. It's not quite the same seeing little bunches of newspaper machines clustered on street corners as it was to go into the local newsagent. It kind of reminds me of this:

Daleks are ©BBC and Terry Nation

"YOU WILL BUY A PAPER OR BE EX-TER-MIN-ATED!"

I suspect I may watch a wee bit much Doctor Who.