Strange Customs

Thanks to a foiled plot and some knee-jerk reactions I had some concerns about our trip to Victoria this weekend. They call came to naught as we didn't have any problems on the trip. On the way to Canada I was asked three times about felony convictions. I'm still not sure it's possible to commit, be arrested for, tried for and convicted for a felony in less than an hour.

We had a bit of rough going on the ferry ride to Canada. I was so sick that hollyqueen said I was green. So I was a little out of sorts when the Canadian customs official asked me if I had ever been arrested. I was busy trying to figure out did he mean arrested for anything, arrested for something major or arrested and eventually convicted. Then I realized it had taken too long to answer the question so I just said, "Yes." He then asked why I had been arrested and having recovered I told him that I had been picked up for unpaid parking tickets. (True story.) Maybe I was still green or he was satisfied that I wasn't some crazy yank who decided to attack the land of maple trees and friendly people, but we were waved on through the gate.

On the way home we had a much smoother trip and I was in a much better state. There was a bit of a mixup with unloading the checked luggage and some people reached the front of the line without their bags. One guy was getting pretty agitated and kept ignoring the directions of the customs official. For a second it looked like he was in for a bit of a beat down which might have been fun (See schadenfreude) but it would have really made a mess and delayed our exit. So I guess it's for the best that there wasn't an ass whoopin'.

When we were going through customs the official asked if we had brought back any goods with us. I said we had "About 1/2 a kilo of candy, a few needlework kits and a stuffed bear." Too bad I didn't have a camera to capture his expression. I was talking about the MapleFoot bear we bought. He must have thought I meant a different kind of stuffing¹.

1. I hope that business and all like them die the death they deserve. I'll debate hunting & fishing for food and useable items but killing a beautiful animal just to demonstrate the fact you have a prick should be stopped.