Canada rules, car accidents don't

http://www.cbc.ca/story/sports/national/2005/01/04/Sports/canada-russia050104.html

Canada dominates once again - I really can't believe how much we rock at ice hockey. Thank God for this with the NHL season cancelled. The acquisition of ultimate victory in our nation's favoured sport irrevocably musters a warm pride in my heart for the otherwise discouraging leaf that serves as our national symbol.

But, car accidents really do suck. It will never cease to amaze me how cultural differences manifest themselves on even the most mundane levels. Living in Paris last year, I was accustomised to the brutish parking procedure with which all parisiens managed to secure themselves a side-street lot in the cramped quartier latin - the ol' whack-the-other-cars-with-your-bumpers-till-there's-enough-space. On Sunday, a moron (for he can only be called that, as I can clearly not be held accountable in any regard) drove into an unmarked intersection and collided with me despite my having the right of way. We both still broke in time, but due to the -23 degrees weather that is gracing my Canadian winter, our attempts at damage mitigation turned into a spinning ballerina act as we glided across silky smooth ice, the trunk of my shitty 1990 horizon nicely denting the side of this guy's SUV. Damn. And so ensued 3 days of paperwork and phonecalls, and a lot of time spent worrying about whether I was going to have to fork over $2000 for repairs. Thankfully, I was spared.

So after an awesome night at the police station filing accident reports, I came home and played 3 hours of chess with my Dad. I beat him twice, but playing white both times. My black game doesn't fare as well. But we spent most of the time playing endgames, the heart of chess. Is it possible to mate with only a knight and bishop? We couldn't figure it out.