Back Again....

Well, it's been a while. The last several weeks have been interesting, to say the least.

One thing that's been keeping me occupied is the new home we've bought. It's a nice terrace home in the heart of the city, and should be ready by the end of August. Some of my coworkers think its bizarre that anyone would prefer not to live in suburbia, however I find suburbia incredibly dull. I can't stand the commute, and I need more variety then suburbia offers. We love to window shop, and you can only visit Wal-Mart so many times before it gets tiring. Also, in the summer we like to hop on a bus (gasp!) and go downtown and do our shopping in the farmer's market. One of the reasons we chose this area was because of convenient public transportation, which is especially relevant now that gas prices are going through the roof.

A couple of weeks ago, we we're in a car accident involving a drunk driver. While we were waiting at a red light, the car ahead of us suddenly moved to the side of the road, at which point we saw the drunk driver coming down the wrong side of the road at us. I was able to move far enough to the side to avoid a head-on collision, but she struck us along the side and then hit the car behind us. Nobody was hurt, fortunately, and after a couple of weeks I've got my car back good as new.

It looks like its election time here in Canada, everyone expects the government to be brought down next week. For those unfamiliar with how parliamentary government works, if the opposition parties vote down a major piece of legislation (such as the budget) it's considered a vote of non-confidence in the government and protocol dictates that an election must be called. We don't have fixed election dates here, a government must hold an election within five years of the last election, but there's no fixed term length. In a minority government situation (when the opposition parties put together hold more seats then the governing party), the government rarely lasts more than a year or so. Frankly, there isn't anyone that appeals to my vote. I don't trust the Conservatives, the Liberals have been in power to long, and the NDP is too far to the left. So, I'll probably vote based on my opinion of my local candidates, rather than along party lines.

However, it looks like Canada is entering an "Italian" phase where the no party looks like it has the hope of forming a majority government. I'll probably be voting a lot over the next few years....