Boxing Day on Port Burwell beach….

In the US, the day after Christmas is a big shopping day, almost as frantic as Black Friday. I've always avoided it.

To many Catholics around the world it's the feast of St. Stephen, almost as holy a day as the Christ Mass itself.

In Canada, as in the UK, Boxing Day (as it's called), seems to be a day for quiet reflection, not a shopping bacchanal, but neither a high holy day.

A good day to walk on the beach, which, in this weather, belongs to the birds. Great squadrons of geese arrive from the north and pause on their way to warmer climes.

Just six months removed from the sandy chaos of BeachFest, and its own squawking cacophony of kids, vendors and reddening skin.

My question exactly!

Just watched a cute and funny documentary called "Being Canadian" written and hosted by Canadian writer and director Robert Cohen, featuring an array of Canadian-born celebrities, such as Mike Myers, Martin Short, Rush, Bare Naked Ladies, Alannis Morissette, Dan Akroyd, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, William Shatner and many more. 


The host and his guests examine the same questions that have intrigued me since my arrival. Actual segment titles include:


*Why do we have such an inferiority complex?

*Why is Canadian TV so bad? (Followed by examples of really, really bad TV. Can we talk about The Beachcombers?)

*What's with the Love-Hate Relationship with the US? (Best response -Jan Brady's lament: 'Marcia Marcia Marcia!')

*Why are Canadians so nice? (Followed by a "Canadian Content" segment featuring all the Canadian celebs saying "sorry" and confessionals describing times they've said 'sorry' to inanimate objects such as Catherine O'Hara relating how she says 'sorry' to her keyboard when she makes a typo.)

*Maybe we're NOT so nice. (Apparently "sorry" can be the passive-aggressive equivalent of US Southerners' "bless your heart")

*What the Hell is "Canadian food"? (Not one respondent mentions poutine or pea meal.)


Worth a watch - btw, none of these questions really get answered. 


There is an interesting pattern to the questions, though, and the film begins with the title-slide statement:

All of this is, sadly, true.