The Canadians

The Canadians...Gary,Marilyn,Larrisa, and Rick

Our new Canadian friend...Gary.

Returning to our flat last night we had the pleasure of meeting a nice guy from Canada named Gary . He was sitting on our steps and, in Canadian fashion, stuck his hand out and introduced himself and his wife Marilyn. They were in town with their son Rick and his wife Larrisa. As I look back on my travels, I’ve had an opportunity to meet lots of Canadians, these people are always the most fun, outgoing, and laid back group around. They usually know how to party but also can have a nice peacful conversation. Anyway, Gary and his clan had been in town for a few days and were off to Florence (via Pisa), in the morning. When your on the road, and in a country with a foreign tongue (to yours), these chance meetings of someone from around your part of the world are wonderful. We chatted for awhile and found them to be a very nice couple, and besides they gave us a chance to practice our english (just kidding). So, this morning I hear someone downstairs yelling, “Roger from Colorado, are you awake yet”? I recognized the Canadian english, went to the window, and there was Gary with a bottle of wine they had bought the previous night and not able to drink (not able to drink? now I’m questioning if he really is Canadian)...his wife Marilyn came over a couple minutes later with some excess milk and I added it to my haul.

     Nanc and I finished getting prepped for our trip into La Spezia, filled the backpack and headed down the 382 steps to the station. Sitting there with all their bags were Gary and his wife and kids. We had about 30 minutes to kill before the train and picked up our easy conversation where we left off earlier. Gary’s son Rick is a teacher and his wife Larrisa has just recently finished medical school. Of course you all know me, I had to ask her about the media reports regarding the Canadian Health Care system and how it is so deeply rationed that care is really unavailable. She didn’t exactly laugh, but you could tell she’s heard this before! So everyone out there...this is from a Canadian Doctor who has to actually deal with this everyday. Care is available immediately for people who need it, the only real rationing (and that is not a word she would use), is for things like replacement hips, knees etc... She explained it by saying, “people who have not cared for their health through the years, and find they need replacements due to their own negligence, may need to wait awhile for surgery. Other than that there is no rationing...that is just another greedy medical insurance lie! They were thrilled they never had to worry about being sick and the cost. Did you read that...”they were thrilled”. If Canada can do it, why can’t we?

Every right wing politician in the USA tells us we are the greatest country in the world, so lets become great.

     Gary and family we wish you goodbye and good luck and maybe we’ll meet again. Ciao.