[URBAN NOTE] Overheard on the Dufferin TTC Bus, Southbound

[rfmcdonald]

The rain is suspended in the air, this evening, which is itself teetering on the brink of being just humid enough to provoke a downpour but hasn't decided yet. Boarding a bus at Dufferin station, entering via the back doors for haste's sake. (I've my Metropass, I'm fine if the driver asks me.) I found myself sitting opposite to two standing American couples, tourists, who remarked that the New York buses would never have allowed people to enter through the back, and went on to talk among themselves about the politeness of the Canadians they met and the good service that they delivered.

Upon such overheard things does Canadian nationalism feed. The current incarnation, though, in its most benign sort, absent our historic pride at the purity of our Nordic blood and kneejerk anti-Americanism. We must maintain these distinctions.