Tuesday, October 15, 1996
A Pre-Fribble Fribble
or
Does Anybody Have A Canadian Phrase Book (Eh?)?
by MF Runkle

On October 8, I'm making a trek to British Columbia, Canada. I'll be a little bit north of Vancouver, so I'm going to try to visit the infamous exchange. I have no idea what the Vancouver Stock Exchange looks like. Do they have a grand Romanesque type building like the NYSE? I keep imagining them having a trailer in a gravel parking lot. I also wonder what the floor looks like. I know the NYSE has different color blazers for all the different type of brokers that work the floor; does the VSE have different color leisure suits required? Are natural fabrics banned from the building?

I have been to Canada, so I don't have to ask to many questions about that country. We don't have any major fortifications on the border, and U.S. Customs won't shoot you if you try to leave this country to get there. The only barrier is a rather lame looking fence, and it doesn't go the whole way. While we joke about this, how many other countries in the world have had such thinly guarded borders with each other for so much of their history? You can drink the water, although I don't actually know anybody that drank water in Canada. Canadians I've known call our beer "training beer." My Canadian friends told me to bring my bathing suit, Hawaiian shirt, and LOTS of sunscreen with me up to British Columbia. I can hardly wait, just thinking about sitting on that Canadian beach soaking up the rays!

I've seen films of polar bears invading Canadian towns, but I didn't see any in Toronto when I was there. The Canadians told me it was the wrong time of year. My friends up there assured me that I would see polar bears in British Columbia, and they are going to take me snipe hunting too! This is going to be so much fun.

When I return, I shall Fribble again about it.

Transmitted: 10/15/96