Back in the frozen wastelands of the North...
About two and a half weeks ago I left Canada via the tortuous freeway system of Toronto in the rental car to get to the airport and thence to Costa Rica. The signage on the freeways in Toronto is designed to comfort the nuerotics that already know their route perfectly. For anyone that does not they are useless. The freeway splits and only after you are on the new route are you rewarded with a sign that tells you that you made the right or wrong decision. Signage for minor roads is designed so that you have to swerve across five lanes of heavily trafficked highway within a hundred meters, at 120kph or be forced to drive on safely, missing your exit, to the reach the following one and drive around aimlessly for an extra hour. Did Ontario employ Spanish road designers?



Prior to leaving I went downtown and happened upon the Toronto Santa Claus Parade, it takes about two hours to see the whole thing and takes place over a 6km route. This was the 101st year, which apparently makes it the oldest running Xmas parade in the world. Along the whole route there are children playing and families under blankets sitting on camp chairs and some of the floats are truly impressive.

I went to the Toronto Motorcycle Show today where I became convinced that life would not be complete unless I owned a new KTM 950 Adventure in Costa Rica. I'm not normally drawn to this type of bike, but as I live on unmade roads halfway up a mountain and work in a city paved like the Himalayas, they are just practical. I got depressed later in the day after finding out that Costa Rican Import Duty is 100%. Which turns a bike that in the US costs $13,900 into the price of a small farm three hours drive from San Jose. This I am sure means that the people that rent them out and organise motorcycle tours on them are bribing the customs officers.